After All These Years, Marvel’s Most Controversial Comic Covers Are Still Hard To Believe

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Over its many decades, Marvel Comics has endured iits fair share of controversy and scandal. While most of the publisher’s slip-ups have happened on the comic book page, very few remember (or simply wish to forget) the surprising amount of controversial cover art. Whether the covers in questions are outdated, problematic, or simply offensive in hindsight, these shocking decisions prove that sometimes, it actually is okay to judge a book by its cover.

The best and brightest of Marvel cover artists may not have intended to cement their names in infamy, but art tells its own story, and even iconic artists have been felled by their own prejudice-infected creations. Sometimes it’s a relatively innocuous decision that should have been caught by a second set of eyes, other times readers are left to wonder how Marvel’s leadership could ever approve the comic’s release. Fortunately, most Marvel comic book cover art is purely fun, enticing, and entertaining… but these shockingly controversial Marvel Comic covers are still hard to look at.

1

She-Hulk #6 – Starfox On Trial

Dan Slott, Will Conrad, Dave Kemp, Greg Horn

While this
teasing look from She-Hulk
and the Inhuman Starfox may seem innocently playful at first glance, what lies beyond the comic cover is what lends to the most pause. Among many varied superpowers, Starfox can stimulate the “pleasure centers” of the brains of anyone within his general proximity. The Inhuman has frequently used this power to sedate and seduce numerous women, some of whom were never fully willing participants in their sensual affairs. Eventually, the hero’s actions caught back up when he was criminally tried for assault against married women.

Jennifer Walters, aka the She-Hulk, originally took Starfox on as a client until even she became worried she had become a victim of his powers. Given the seriousness of what was at stake, the issue’s cover art is in incredibly poor taste. She-Hulk draping herself over an accused sexual predator while he gives a coy wink and thumbs up completely overshadows the severity of the comic’s story. While the issue itself is more known for the story’s controversy, this cover art shouldn’t have sensationalized the seriousness of Starfox’s alleged crime.

2

Mighty Thor #700 – The Stan Lee “DNA Hand Stamp” Variant

Jason Aaron, Walter Simonson, Russell Dauterman, Daniel Acuna, Matthew Wilson, Dave Stewart

This issue’s controversy actually has nothing to do with the cover art, but the actual cover itself. In addition to Rise of the Black Panther #1 (2018), the first prints of this specialized cover of Thor #700 were
stamped with Stan Lee’s signature
using ink containing the prolific comic writer’s blood. While the concept is certainly unique, this publicity move became far more sinister after the abuse and manipulation of Lee by those close to him came to light.

Only a few months after the comics’ release, various pop-culture news outlets reported that an ex-colleague of Stan Lee, from the writer’s for-profit charity “Hands of Respect,” had been swindling the comic book creator of thousands of dollars. According to the ensuing reports, this same individual had forged numerous false medical documents to illegally draw Lee’s blood for the project. Following the news break, most of the few publicly available comic issues were withdrawn from stores to support the aging icon’s safety and legacy.

3

NFL SuperPro #6 – A Marvel Crossover Nightmare

Buzz Dixon, Jose Delbo, Mike DeCarlo, Evelyn Stein, Rob Tokar, Ron Frenz, & Joe Sinnott

The NFL SuperPro series is one of Marvel’s most notoriously awful cash-grab opportunities. This limited-run series featured an NFL player-turned-superhero and his generic battle for sports-themed justice. This particular issue featured a storyline where NFL SuperPro faced off against a band of ice-skating criminals that only an American football superstar could defeat. However, these acrobatic bandits were nothing short of an insensitive mockery of the Hopi, a Native American tribe with historical roots in Central America and modern Arizona.

The villains featured in the story each depicted an overly simplified exaggeration of sacred Hopi icons. These ice-skating fiends were considered deeply offensive as they misrepresented the Hopi people and culture as nonsensically violent. In response to the release of the comic, the Hopi Tribal Council demanded that Marvel immediately recall the issue completely. While Marvel did comply with the tribe’s demands, thousands of issues remained in circulation following the company’s official recall. Frankly, everything about the NFL SuperPro series was a crime to begin with, so it’s not surprising that this half-baked concept turned into a full-blown catastrophe.

4

Spider-Woman #1 – The Milo Manara Variant

Dennis Hallum, Greg Land, Jay Leisten, Frank D’Armata, Marry Hollowell, Milo Manara

It is a deeply unfortunate truth that men and women do not get equal representation in most comics. The comic book industry has traditionally been a male-dominated field, and because of that, comics have often suffered from the oversaturation of the “male gaze,” frequently placing women in overtly suggestive poses or sexualized poses by default. But this Spider-Woman variant cover activated even casual critics, receiving harsh criticism upon its release for having placed Jessica Drew in an obviously suggestive pose meant only to accentuate the heroine’s body.

While this is not the only piece of comic art that places a well-respected female character in a hyper-sexualized pose, it helped kick off a new movement of fan artists who sought to call out these problematic habits. Artists across the internet began redesigning other sexualized comic covers with male heroes to highlight how ridiculous the “male gaze” had become in women’s representation in art and media. While there was a strong push to have this variant cover recalled, Marvel only updated the cover with an added title (seen above) and an apology for the “mixed message” it sent to fans.

5

The Sensational She-Hulk #40 – Because “You Demanded It”

John Byrne, Glynis Oliver

Unfortunately, She-Hulk has often been an easy character for artists to play for a sexy laugh. Jennifer Walters is one of Marvel’s more sexually outspoken characters and has long been known to be a frequent flirt. However, there is a scarily thin line between allowing She-Hulk to be her sensually free self, and using the hero to push the lines of feminine discomfort. Dozens of
She-Hulk’s earlier comics
often put the fourth-wall-breaking hero into provocative situations where Walters was left pleading with the artist or reader to allow her to return to her heroics.

On the cover of The Sensational She-Hulk #40, Jennifer Walters is left with nothing but the Comics Code Authority’s stamp of approval to cover her naked body. As the Marvel hero struggles to hide behind the piece of paper, writer and artist John Byrne’s hand offers her a jump rope to use because “we’ve got twenty-two pages to fill.” Shockingly enough, the first few following pages depicted She-Hulk indeed jump-roping naked as per the demand of the comic’s writer. Issues like these do little more than belittle Jennifer Walters as if she were nothing more than a green sex symbol.

6

Heroes for Hire #13 – The Cover We Still Can’t Believe Exists

Zeb Wells, Clay Mann, Terry Pallot, Brad Anderson, Sana Takeda

Another entry that received major backlash for its crude and suggestive tones, this cover art was quickly slammed for its apparent likeness to a particular type of Japanese adult artwork known for featuring sexualized tentacles. Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, and Black Cat are depicted with their costumes bursting open, revealing as much of the characters’ cleavage and bodies as Marvel would possibly have allowed. However, it’s the characters’ obvious fear of their predicament that makes this Sana Takeda art more than typical comic exploitation.

The heroes are trapped and bound as tentacled alien forces involuntarily remove the women’s clothing. Misty Knight has already been harmed by her extra-terrestrial captor, as all three women recoil in fear of the creature’s touch. In any other context, this may have been fine in the artist’s “private” collection, but it probably should have been
questioned by Marvel
before the issue went to print.

7

Squadron Supreme TPB (1997)

Written by Mark Guenwald; Cover Art by Alex Ross

This uniquely macabre
piece of Marvel controversy
isn’t limited to the cover art, but unsettlingly applies to the entire first printing of the Squadron Supreme trade paperback. When the series’ writer Mark Gruenwald passed away, as part of his dying wishes, Gruenwald requested that his ashes be mixed with the ink for the trade’s first printing. While poetic to think Gruenwald can rest within his life’s work, not every comic reader felt the same way after they first pulled a dead man’s ashes from local comic shops.

Gruenwald is far from the only person to have mixed his DNA with his work, let alone on this list, but that doesn’t mean this practice needs to become a common one. In the trade paperback’s foreword, Gruenwald’s widow left a note joking that her husband “threw himself into his work” and that it was an honor to be able to merge the creator with his most prized creation. Admittedly, the concept is admirable and oddly heartwarming, even if it is absurdly macabre.

Peter Milligan, Mike Allred, J. Bone, Laura Allred

X-Statix was intended to be a satirical comedy series to playfully mock
most other X-Men comics
. Most of the team’s powers were countered by horrific drawbacks which the series often played off for laughs. However, it’s not the acid-barfing and super-sensitive heroes that garnered controversy, but the inclusion of the late Princess Diana. Only six years after the prolific royalty’s tragic death, Princess Diana was officially recognized as a Marvel mutant.

In the original story, Princess Diana had returned to life as a ghost and was to serve alongside X-Statix as a leading member. While the series itself is an intentionally satirical one, not everyone was as pleased when the deceased pop-culture icon appeared posthumously alongside Marvel’s other odd mutant heroes. Controversy soon began, and Marvel quickly replaced Diana with an entirely new character. Fortunately, Marvel has since avoided the use of a deceased person’s likeness without any attempt to seek approval from the family.

9

Marville #1-7 – A Naked Marketing Gimmick

Bill Jemas, Mark Bright, Paul Neary, Rodney Ramos, Greg Horn

Even without this comic’s cover art as evidence, Marville is critically noted as one of Marvel’s worst series of all time. In 2002, Marvel Comics’ vice president, Bill Jemas, made a bet with writer Peter David to see who could create the best comic. Bill Jemas’s Marville series was advertised as a satirical play on the comic book industry’s most frequent tropes. However, most of the series’ stories featured low-quality, nonsensical plots, that often intended to garner shock value simply for the sake of being talked about.

To be honest, after reading even a single page of this series, it becomes clear what the real purpose of the Marville series actually was. Every issue’s cover art features a mostly-naked red-headed woman who has nothing to do with the series’ plot. Realistically, it’s safe to assume Jemas knew decorating the covers to entice curiosity would be one of its biggest appeals, but at the end of the day, all it becomes is an exploitative gimmick to make up for its writing.

10

Amazing Spider-Man #601 – The Immortal Mary Jane Cover

Mark Waid, Mario Alberti, Andres Mossa, J. Scott Campbell

As proof that not every controversial piece of artwork is best forgotten, the cover art depicting Mary Jane ‘left behind’ as Peter Parker swings into action might actually be artist J. Scott Campbell’s most famous, infamous, or in any case, discussed. Embodying almost all previously mentioned aspects of the ‘male gaze,’ Mary Jane’s cleavage, midriff, posture, and expression are far from the most offensive on their own… but together, this image of Mary Jane went on to become one of the most discussed, debated, referenced, and even reimagined.

The cover art for Amazing Spider-Man #601 isn’t going to be forgotten, as it remains one of the most actively referenced, both outside of and among Marvel Comics creatives. Artists have paid tribute to the image with different explanations for Mary Jane’s odd posture, fans have taken it upon themselves to ‘fix’ Watson’s appearance, and J. Scott Campbell even recreated the cover with a ‘married life’ spin for Marvel’s new Ultimate Spider-Man comic series. Further proving that for some controversies, the story has yet to be finished.

“}]] These pieces of Marvel cover art crossed a line.  Read More