On Twitter, artist Pepe Larraz shared a cover variation they drew for episode 37 of Ki-oon Editions. The cover, colored by Marte Gracia, lavishly depicts the members of the Criminal Alliance in a more Western-like style. superhero comics they were heavily influenced by. This is fitting because Pepe Larraz worked on the iconic House of X and Powers of X series, which have redefined the X-Men for the modern era. The criminal alliance, like Marvel’s mutants, is largely social outcasts, and like some of the main X-Men villains, many of them seek to break the system. existing and replace it with another system that suits them better. Episode 37 in many ways represents the culmination of that struggle.
Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia Recreate My Hero Academia’s Villains
Episode 37 sees an escalation in the battles of the Final War when Deku finally arrives to fight Shigaraki. Deku and Shigaraki’s clash is easily the most interesting part of the book, but equally important is the clash between the heroes and the army of disenfranchised mutants led by Spinner. My Hero Academia brings attention to lesser known characters like Shoji here, and this battle makes the X-Men analogy all the more relevant. While this analogy is particularly relevant at this particular level, Larraz’s work on House of X and Powers of X can also be seen as having some similarities to the Final War series as a whole, especially especially in the way each film has transformed their respective series.
House of X and Powers of X saw most of the mutants band together and form their own nation of Krakoa, radically changing the way the X-Men normally function. After Shigaraki’s ascension in the Occult War of Liberation, the entire status quo of My Hero Academia also changed, with heroes unable to stop the villains raging across Japan. While the exact results of these status quo changes are fundamentally contradictory, with Krakoa seemingly a utopia and Japan falling into backwardness, their magnitudes are very similar. This makes it somewhat poetic for Larraz to provide art for both series at such pivotal times.
My Hero Academia variant cover shows how modern comics are connected
It’s unclear if My Hero Academia or House of X and Powers of X have any influence on each other, but having Pepe Larraz in charge of the art for both series is a great example of the connection between manga and the story. Western painting. Larraz isn’t even the only Western manga artist to create an iconic manga of his own, Inhyuk Lee also drew an iconic One Piece scene on their Twitter. My Hero Academy arguably the series that best embodies this kind of cross-cultural influence, and if this trend produces more works like it, the future of both western manga and comics is bright.
Source: Pepe Larraz
