An awesome new artwork allowsWonder Womanto shine like a true ’80s icon with a variant cover in the style of a poster for an old-school power fantasy. Diana has had a lot of amazing adaptations over the years, but this cover makes one pine for a long-gone cinematic era.
As 2024 winds down, fans are getting a peek at what lies ahead in the new year thanks to DC Comics' batch of solicitations for February 2024. The month is full of exciting new offerings, including the revivalof Green Lantern Corps. But Wonder Woman fans are going to want to check out this month’s variants, including one by David Talaski.
Talaski’s cover showsWonder Woman standing confidently against a black background. She’s backlit and glowing as her Bracelets of Submission gleam andher Lasso of Truthshines in the darkness, a tableau not unlike posters from ’80s action movies.
Wonder Woman’s New Variant Makes Her Look Like a ’80s Action Star
This is the Kind of Variant Covers I Like to See
The heyday of superhero films might not have really gotten rolling until the 2000s, but long before fans were being dazzled bySpider-Man,The Dark Knight, or the litany of films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the 1980s had plenty of epic movies based on comics. From the Christopher ReeveSupermanfranchise, toSwamp Thing,The Punisher, and even movieslikeHoward the Duck,the eighties were practically lousy with adaptations of fan-favorite comic book characters. Not all of them were masterpieces, but many still have die-hard fans even to this day.
Unfortunately, while Diana had a popular television series during the ’70s, Wonder Woman never made it to the silver screen during the ’80s (despite her Trinity cohorts Batman and Superman both having films). In fact, the Amazonian hero wouldn’t get a feature film adaption until the 2017 DC Extended Universe filmWonder Woman. To be fair,Diana’s first cinematic outing was followed up withWonder Woman 1984, which did reimagine the hero fighting during the mid-eighties, but it lacked the authenticity of actual ’80s comic book adaptations.
This Wonder Woman Variant Gives Off the Right Kind of ’80s Vibe
Wonder Woman Nails the Epic ’80s Look
The ’80s may be gone, but appreciation for the aesthetic is never going to die. I took one look at this variant cover and instantly fell in love with the energy Talaski put into making it look like a genuine poster that would have been hanging up alongsideRobocoporLabyrinth. It’s just a shame we can’t actually revisit that period and make this a real-life movie, because honestly, who doesn’t want to seea peak ‘80sWonder Womanmovie starring Bridgitte Nielson with Dolph Lundgren as Ares?.
While we can’t go backwards in time, older eras live on through works like David Talaksi’s variant. Talaski’s cover isn’t just an amazing piece of Wonder Woman art, it’s a fine tribute to an era that helped shape the comic book adaptations of today. And though we’re never going to get the ‘80sWonder Womanmovie thatcouldhave been, we’ve got artists who can help us imagine just how awesome such a thing would have been.
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is the superhero identity of Diana, Princess of the Amazons. Created on the island of Themyscira, Wonder Woman is a super-powered demi-goddess with extreme physical strength who utilizes magical gifts (like her famous Lasso of Truth) to defeat her foes. As mighty as her fellow heroes Superman and the Justice League, Wonder Woman is unmatched in her compassion and virtue.
