Vault announced today their new line of manga homage variant covers, Sanji. The covers will be drawn by star artist Angela Wu and designed by Vault’s Executive Vice President of Branding & Design, Tim Daniel. We have an exclusive here!
The covers will begin with Barbaric: Wrong Kind of Righteous #1, which is an homage to Berserk honoring the work of the immensely influential and beloved late master Kentaro Miura. Next up in 2024, Angie Hewitt’s Lone #1 will feature an Uzumaki homage cover honoring the legendary and beloved master horror artist, Junji Ito. The previously teased series from Peter Milligan and Amalas Rosa will launch with a Pluto homage cover, honoring the groundbreaking work of Naoki Urasawa.
Daniel said in a statement:
“Comics is a decades-spanning mosaic of artistry and expression that has always included voices from all over the globe even when it seemed only to involve a small stable of talents hunched over tables in smoked-filled New York City bullpens. Those many individuals from that bygone era have become the stuff of legend, a list of writers and artists too many to name here, yet with our incredibly popular and highly sought-after Vault Vintage homage cover line we’ve chosen to recognize as many of them as possible over the last five years and we’re prepared to continue to do so.”
“In Sanji (賛辞 – tribute), our new line of manga homage covers, we see the opportunity to expand the scope of our offerings and respectfully acknowledge an array of profoundly influential and impactful talents residing beyond the pages of American publishers. And there is no better artist capable of performing such a delicate feat than Angela Wu, whose abundant talent and powerful artistic voice is already on full display in these initial covers. As we have inside the halls of Vault Comics, we hope you’ll see the level of care and respect paid to each and every creator as well as their landmark creations.”
Wu stated:
“A sublime mix of 20’s pulp art and showa era pop was how someone once described my art. Growing up in Singapore I always felt like the media I consumed was the nexus of eastern and western pop culture. Comics and Manga were interchangeable to me, there was no delineation. All I knew was that I wanted to do “ that” for a living. To get to one day draw like Naoki Urasawa, or Jim Lee, or even Kentaro Miura.
“Needless to say, when Tim and Vault reached out to me to do a series of vintage manga homages for their new titles, it was a dream come true. I finally got to figuratively and literally wear my influences on my sleeve and unabashedly reference the people whose art formed the very foundation of my own.”
Each new Vault first issue in 2024 will be released with a Saanji Manga homage variant that can be purchased at local comic book stores everywhere. More Saanji Manga homage variants will be announced in the coming months.
