If the free goodies to be handed out at the upcoming launch parties celebrating Secret Empire weren’t enough to get you excited for Marvel’s next major crossover event, well, maybe a look at some cover art will. Okay, a couple of these were revealed last month, but it’s best we put them in successive order in the gallery at the top, and you’ll see why in a moment.
From the get-go, Steve Rogers’ iconic shield was prominently used as a teaser for this limited series, but as we all know, he’s secretly an agent of Hydra. As such, Marvel is going to slowly morph the shield on covers as the arc progresses, which I find to be pretty cool touch. Basically, it shows the patriotic motif gradually turn into Hydra’s emblem, being highly symbolic of their grasp tightening around the world.
Marvel’s Senior VP of Sales David Gabriel had this to say to Diamond Daily:
“We’re always looking to innovate and try new things that make our comics pop out on a store shelf, and I’m very happy with what our design team came up with for Secret Empire. Besides the fact that we got Mark Brooks to draw some truly spectacular covers, the trade dress really stands out and will morph and change as the event moves along. So as things in the Marvel Universe are becoming more and more sinister, you’ll see that reflected in the trade dress across the event.”
In addition to that, he elaborated on how the visual touches will indeed specifically reflect the direction of the story:
“We’re branding the first month (issues #1 – #3) as ‘United We Stand.’ You’ve likely seen that on the marketing so far. It’s all about the heroes coming together to face off against Hydra. For month two, June (issues #4 and #5) will be branded ‘Hydra Nation.’ I’ll let you speculate as to what that means.”
Secret Empire kicks off with a special zero issue in April before officially launching in May.
