Homage covers can be great. So great, we even have a concept page in our wiki dedicated to them. You almost get a warm feeling inside when you notice a well done homage. Some covers get done more often than others. ACTION COMICS #1 is one of those.

In the February 2015 solicitations for DC's comics, one cover in particular immediately jumped out. The cover to BATMAN AND ROBIN #39 is paying homage to ACTION COMICS #1.

Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray did a great job. The iconic image is simple. The hero is lifting a car overhead and smashing it into something as the villains (usually) run in fear.

Why is Damian Wayne lifting the Batmobile over his head? HOW is he lifting it? Assuming you haven't completely avoided all spoilers for January's BATMAN AND ROBIN #38, you're aware of what is going to happen as a result of ROBIN RISES and the return of Robin. Somehow Damian is gaining superpowers. We discussed that HERE and what it could mean for the Dynamic Duo. What his powers are or how long he'll have them remains to be seen. But it does make a great homage cover.

There have been several other great ACTION COMICS #1 homages. With the reveal of the BATMAN AND ROBIN one, we thought, why not look at some of our other favorite ones.

POPEYE #1

When IDW started up a new Popeye series, Bruce Ozella did a great homage. It's kind of weird and goofy but that's what we like about it.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #306

In 1988, Todd McFarlane did an homage with Spider-Man lifting the car. But as you can see, he's not quite being a menace. The police car is on fire and it appears he's trying to put the flames out by dipping it into a fountain. Spider-Man's not really a menace as some say.

SPAWN #228

In 2013, McFarlane did another one. This time Spawn got to be in the famous position. You'll notice there aren't any bystanders around. And by the look of things, anyone that happened to be inside the car probably won't really care about the damage. It looks pretty messy inside as well.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON EIGHT #32

In 2010, even the Buffy comic paid homage to ACTION COMICS #1. If you weren't reading this series, you're probably wondering what the heck is going on. Well, the title of this issue was, "Buffy Has F#©$ing Superpowers." It didn't last long. This was also the variant cover by Georges Jeanty. Do you notice anything else familiar in this image?

ACTION COMICS #900

In 2011, Alex Ross did a variant cover for ACTION COMICS #900 and gave the classic image a slight twist. If you're not completely satisfied with this different perspective on the image, he did do a more accurate one before.

SLUMBERLAND?

I have no idea what this magazine is but I love Mike Allred's Madman. It's hilarious that Madman couldn't even lift the car to complete the classic image.

SENSATION COMICS #51

Most of these homages were from recent times. With SENSATION COMICS, while it's not a pure homage, it's pretty close. Drawn by Harry G. Peter in 1946, we can see the idea of homages has been around a while.

LEGO Version

There's no stopping a good homage.

Obviously this isn't all the ACTION COMCIS #1 homages. You can see more on the Homage Covers page. Let us know which is your favorite and what you think of Damian able to pull off the pose.

They are going to give the most playout set of powers.

@vitalius: The ability to smash cars!

That's pretty cool.

@g_man:

Flying Powerhouse

The most homaged comic ever.

@vitalius: Imagine, "My superpower is the ability to lift cars over my head and....that's it." I say they won't last.

"Damian, if you get one scratch on this car it's coming out of your allowance!"

A while ago, we did a semi-community-wide vote about comic book covers, with AC#1 taking the top spot ===> LINK

I am hoping Damian's powers end up being more interest than they seem.

Lol! This is why superheroes can't have nice things

Either Bruce went to some extreme lengths and made a Superman type Serum to save him.

OR

One of Darksied minions made some changes to him ,before Bruce got a chance to rescue him.

Either way I cannot wait to see what happens next.

amazing

Cool. I hope soon more comics try to do homage to Whiz Comics #2

So awesome.

Wasn't the reveal an homage to the Boy Scout, too? Tomasi wants to ingratiate himself with Superman fans.

I honestly might pick this up. I love Damian and this seems really cool.

THIS SHOULD BE A SERIES!!!

Showcase homage covers. I've always wonder how many times i've seen the TMNT covers.

It must be difficult for any fans of Damian here to not have the Robin Rises conclusion spoiled when the actual reveal is released.

@g_man:

He could have bat mimic powers at least would be kind unique and interesting rather than flying powerhouse.

Awesome cover.

Way couldn't Damian have stayed dead!?

@maccyd: my thoughts exactly. I made my peace with the news being everywhere and thus having the conlcusion spoiled for me, but I found it a bit thoughtless to put it in the title here.

Well, Slumberland... I don't know what magazine is, but the title signe "El Mundo de la Historieta". It's Spanish, and "Historieta" is the Spanish terms for "Comics". So the title is "Slumberland. The World of Comics"... I suppose is a spanish comics magazine :)

@nightfang: well Damian Wayne, Tim Drake and Dick Grayson is great Robin. The only one who fail as Robin is Jason Todd

I think everyone complaining about Robin having boring powers is missing the point of giving Robin powers, but whatever.

It's a rad cover.

He gets to be a vampire.

Did Alfred get younger?

https://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/f/f3/Acolddayinhell01.jpg?t=20140403020559

I like this one

@gmanfromheck: I think the Slumberland cover might be a Photoshop job. I ran across something in my searching that says the image is the back cover of Madman Comics #10. I don't have the issue to be able to check it out though.