CSBG Archive
Comic Book Easter Eggs – Claremont Kills Off Wolverine?
Every Tuesday, I will be sharing with you three comic book “easter eggs.” An easter egg is a joke/visual gag/in-joke that a comic book creator (typically the artist) has hidden in the pages of the comic for readers to find (just like an easter egg). They range from the not-so-obscure to the really obscure. So come check ‘em all out and enjoy! Also, click here for an archive of all the easter eggs featured so far! If you want to suggest an easter egg for a future column, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com (do not post your suggestion in the comments section!).
Reader Matt P. pointed out this neat little bit from 1993′s Aliens/Predators: The Deadliest of the Species #5, by Chris Claremont and the late, great Eduardo Barreto, where Wolverine’s hand and a few other familiar looking skulls graced the trophy wall of one of the Predators…
Everyone’s pal Tom Fitzpatrick suggested this nifty cameo by Jennifer Mays and Gabriel Webb (the stars of the comic book series The Maze Agency) in Justice League America #34. Hughes was the artist on The Maze Agency with writer Mike W. Barr.
Hughes also threw in a bit of gentle self-deprecating humor about what sells comics on the right side of the panel. If you can’t read Jen and Gabe’s dialogue, it goes “Jen, what does ‘Bwah Ha Ha’ mean?” “I’m not sure, Gabe, I think it’s some local dialect.”
Reader Jason A. pointed out this clever cameo of Clark and Lois in Sting of the Green Hornet #3 from Now Comics in 1992 (by writer and artist Ron Fortier and Jeff Butler)…
Thanks for the great suggestions, folks! Again, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any other nifty suggestions!
31 Comments
Jazzbo
February 7, 2012 at 8:32 am
So who do the other skulls belong to? One of them is Cyclops, and one looks like it might be The Demon? Can’t place the others, although I feel like I should be able to.
Squashua
February 7, 2012 at 8:44 am
Name the other skulls.
Orange
February 7, 2012 at 8:45 am
Don’t forget WILDC.A.T.S #8 – Spartan & Voodoo with Cyclops & Jean Gray and Lois & Clark.
Tony
February 7, 2012 at 9:08 am
@Squasha
Cyclops and Batman, and is that Magneto next to Cyclops?
sterg
February 7, 2012 at 9:11 am
That demon mask is from the Kitty Pride/Wolverine mini-series, yes?
sandwich eater
February 7, 2012 at 9:31 am
I’m continually amazed that the entire Alien vs. Predator franchise was spawned by an Easter Egg in Predator 2.
Ger
February 7, 2012 at 9:48 am
I was thinking the bottom line of heads was Cyclops, Magneto (maybe) and Etrigan.
The head on the far right looks distinctive but I can’t figure out who.
Patrick Wynne
February 7, 2012 at 9:49 am
In that Justice League panel, I think the brunette is the police lieutenant that Jen and gabe always dealt with, though i can’t recall her name.
Kevin T. Brown
February 7, 2012 at 10:17 am
@Patrick Wayne: You’re thinking of Roberta Bliss. The Maze Agency was definitely a fun book!
Michael Howey
February 7, 2012 at 10:24 am
@orange
I think that was in an earlier one.
Scot
February 7, 2012 at 10:44 am
The top humanoid skull reminds me of the Terminator.
Stephen Ferrin
February 7, 2012 at 10:58 am
I thought the skull that looks like Magneto might be Bane.
schmakt
February 7, 2012 at 11:38 am
why is the President staying in the utility closet?
chad
February 7, 2012 at 1:04 pm
the other skulls with wolveirnes look to be cross bones ghost rider and thanos and maybe caps. plus i see one of wolverines hands and claws.
R
February 7, 2012 at 2:16 pm
When will the president come out of the utility closet?
cool arrow
February 7, 2012 at 2:19 pm
Who cares about the skulls? Check out the ass on that woman!
Brian Cronin
February 7, 2012 at 2:37 pm
He’s staying there incognito.
Aaron Poehler
February 7, 2012 at 3:28 pm
It does kind of seem like if you’re going to do this and call it a regular feature you could at least identify things further than “and a few other familiar looking [characters]” , even if you don’t know what they all are. Or you could make reference to the callout to Michael Eury in the Justice League panel and explain who he is.
You also don’t explicity state who “Jennifer Mays and Gabriel Webb” even are other than in noting “Hughes was the artist on The Maze Agency”. Did you cut a sentence that gave Adam Hughes’ first name and identified the characters as coming from there? It should probably be put back.
All in all, this feels pretty halfassed.
sean
February 7, 2012 at 3:34 pm
Yeah, and also, who are “Lois and Clark”? How about more context, Brian? What do you think this is, the Internet, where information is readily available? I WANT YOU TO GOOGLE EVERYTHING THAT I MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN AND THEN SUMMARIZE IT. Have it on my desk before you leave for the night.
sterg
February 7, 2012 at 5:36 pm
If Brian pointed out every single detail, what would we have to talk about here?
Mary Warner
February 7, 2012 at 5:42 pm
I think the Green Hornet is the one in the utility closet– the second panel is down the hall a bit from the first.
I was confused, too, at first. That’s the sort of storytelling mistake that a lot of artists make, even some of the good ones now and then.
Eldric IV
February 7, 2012 at 6:02 pm
The first door opens to the inside; the second to the outside.
buttler
February 7, 2012 at 10:50 pm
Ohhhh. Thanks, Mary. “Storytelling mistake” is exactly right.
Travis Pelkie
February 8, 2012 at 1:13 am
“Everyone’s pal Tom Fitzpatrick”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….wheeze….cough….wheeze…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Or even Bwa-ha-ha!
Oh, that was…oh, that WASN’T supposed to be funny?
A. Goldfish
February 8, 2012 at 4:32 am
Sting of the Green Hornet is a great mini-series with several other “cameos” by famous characters from that era. But since they had slightly bigger roles maybe they aren’t “easter egg” material? It seems odd to leave them out.
Chris F
February 8, 2012 at 5:07 am
The skulls on the bottom the middle one is Bane . The one on the right is Doomsday. If you take in account the time when this comic came out who is more bada$$ than them.
D. Bradford
February 8, 2012 at 7:57 am
I remember that Alien/Predator issue when it came out because it was shortly before or after the x-men reboot thing where Cyclops was a villain and Wolverine was missing his left hand. When I saw the hand on the trophy dislpay I immediately thought “HOLY CRAP! PREDATOR AND WOLVERINE CROSSOVER!!!” Alas, I was wrong.
The Livewire
February 9, 2012 at 5:33 am
I think one of them is Batman, the one to the left of the big skull?
Chris B
February 9, 2012 at 1:55 pm
I think it goes Cyclops, Archangle, weird demon skull, Batman, angry spike head skull, and the top one is random normal skull.
Ken Raining
February 10, 2012 at 6:16 am
Any idea if Hughes suggested the dialog for Gabe and Jen, or if DeMatteis recognized them and added it?
Patrick
February 18, 2012 at 8:43 am
The second one from the left on the bottom looks like cross bones.