Two weeks ago we took a look at 2011’s Marvel Comics’ 50th Anniversary homage variants and I couldn’t help but mention 2009’s “70th Anniversary” set. You read those numbers correctly: 70th anniversary in 2009, 50th anniversary in 2011. Using an “any excuse for a celebration” approach, the publisher decided to cobble together its history as Marvel (dating back to 1961), Atlas (operating from 1951 to 1957), and Timely (operating from 1939 to 1950) and whether you love or hate the decision, it led to some beautiful cover art from Marko Djurjevic.

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Throughout January, Marvel Comics released a series of Venom variants on 19 issues of their ongoing titles. I’m not really sure about the motivation here. Normally these themed variant months are timed as promotional pieces for something in the publisher’s schedule. Last year, there were sets of variant covers released as cross promotion with Marvel’s X-Men: First Class, Thor, and Captain America movies, as well as a set to commemorate Marvel Comics’ 50th Anniversary. There’s nothing on that scale coming for Venom barring a “24 Years of Venom” logo on last week’s Venom #12 and a comic event called Circle of Four starting in issue #13 next week.

I think this has everything to do with another “Venom-like” character that Marvel publishes trying to steal the spotlight by celebrating his 50th anniversary this year and a new movie set to debut in July.

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Last Fall, Marvel Comics released a set of 50th Anniversary variant covers on a number of their titles shipping between October and December. As expected, the 50th comes just two years after the publisher’s 2009 “70th Anniversary” as they combined their history as Marvel, Atlas and Timely Comics. The variant covers associated with that celebration featured individual characters from across their publishing line and can be found in some of our earliest posts (in parts one, two, and three). The theme for the 50th Anniversary covers pays homage to iconic covers from the publisher’s history by putting characters from other franchises into the place of the originals.

Look inside and we’ll line up the new take along with its inspiration for what amounts to a fun set of covers even if they’re not particularly visible on shelves. A complete gallery and list of issues can be found below.

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Wednesday saw the release of Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness’s Avengers: X-Sanction #1 (look for our review of the issue here). The book features the return of the X-Men’s Cable that was teased at this year’s San Diego Comic Con and is the first appearance of the character after his noble death during X-Men: Second Coming. As a fan of Cable, I have very mixed feelings about his resurrection, but with the recent announcement of next Summer’s blockbuster Avengers vs. X-Men series this series’ importance has seemingly increased. As a high profile book, Marvel has seen fit to ship seven different covers for the first issue ranging in price from its $3.99 cover price to over $200 from Midtown Comics’ online store.

More variants are planned for each issue of the series and we’ll have updates here they ship.

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I am an unabashed fan and reader of Marvel Comics’ X-Men, but I am also a collector. As a consequence, I’ll go out of my way to track down variant covers of issues from most titles in the X-franchise. A quick disclaimer before we go on, I know the interior pages are identical, I know the book will not command the price I’ll pay for it going forward, and I know I can get a high resolution digital version of the cover image on my computer that will be far more accessible long term. I seek this stuff out because I want it in my collection. It’s OK if you want to consider it a disorder, disease or other malady; synonyms are really just variant covers for words.

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