Savage Dragon #200 Features A Jack Kirby Variant Cover, Blank Sketch Variant

Erik Larsen has released three variant covers for his upcoming, oversized anniversary issue Savage Dragon #200. You can see them below.

In addition to a blank sketch cover variant -- something Larsen has never done before, but which has been requested frequently from the book's ardent fan base -- and a standard cover that features Dragon, Malcolm and Angel, the issue will carry a variant cover by Jack Kirby.

The cover, which was sold as a print to benefit the Jack Kirby Museum back in 2013, is actually a repurposed piece of unused art featuring Captain America and Bucky, which Larsen inked, allowing him to replace Captain America's iconic costume with Savage Dragon's...err...t-shirt and finhead.

"This was a drawing I did over Jack Kirby's pencils for the Jack Kirby Museum," Larsen posted to Facebook at the time. "It was originally Captain America and Bucky but I couldn't use them. My thought was to try and create what would have been the ultimate Kirby pinup of Savage Dragon."

Asked whether he actually inked it over Kirby's pencils, Larsen further explained the process a bit, saying, "To make it--I scanned in Jack's pencils--made modifications in Photoshop and printed it out in light blue onto an Image Comics art board. Then, I inked that--so, yes, I did ink over Jack's pencils."

The blank variant, which is significantly less exciting than the other two, is shown at right.

The issue will retail for $8.99 and will be a 100-page spectacular crammed with backup features, pinups and other 200th anniversary special features. A fuller lineup of those should be coming soon, although we detailed a few of them here.

Larsen says that there are no sales thresholds for the variants, and that retailers can simply order the cover they want. Savage Dragon isn't a book that many retailers carry in heavy numbers, though, so you'll want to check in with your retailer as soon as Savage Dragon #200 is available for pre-order if you want to get your hands on a specific one.

Variants for Savage Dragon are rare, but not unheard-of. Malcolm Dragon's first issue as the featured star of the series earlier this year featured a 50/50 variant by Todd McFarlane.