Not that it wasn’t already newsworthy that Nas and DJ Premier, Ghostface Killah, Mobb Deep, Slick Rick, Big L, and Raekwon all dropped new albums through Mass Appeal this year. No, now Nas‘ very same label is teaming up with Marvel Comics for Legend Has It: The limited-edition comic series turns all of the New York rap legends into comic heroes.
With critically acclaimed writer Brandon Thomas and illustrator Sanford Greene bringing the pages to life, the obsessive attention to detail in the previews looks promising: Slick Rick’s eye patch turns into ‘Story Vision’, while Mobb Deep rides in matching armor, and De La Soul’s trio can combine into a full-on ‘Bionix’ mecha, tipping a hat to their eponymous 2001 album.
With hip hop and comics basically have always been in a dialogue, from Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five nodding to Marvel’s Fantastic Four all the way to Legend Has It now, it only feels right to imagine a few more names who’d look right at home in their own comic crossover:
MF DOOM
The name and mask of MF DOOM – hip hop’s very own super villain – were obviously lifted from Marvel’s infamous nemesis of the Fantastic Four anyways, reimagined through crates of vinyl and razor-sharp wordplay. Equal parts menace and genius, the rapper and producer built an entire mythology around the idea of the antihero in his music.
After his passing, Marvel even slipped a subtle tribute into a Doctor Doom issue – which is a fitting nod, but far from enough: If anyone in hip hop ever deserved a full-blown comic series, it’s the man whose whole art breathed love for comics and villains. It’s not as if the man’s alter egos, album art, and cryptic bars didn’t form a universe as rich as any Marvel saga.
Doechii vs. Tyler, The Creator
Both masters of transformation and reinvention, Doechii and Tyler, The Creator would make the ultimate shapeshifting duo: As seemingly effortless as the two artists shift between genres and artistic personas in real life already, it’d just feel natural to see both shapeshifting and existing in several timelines and universes – and it might serve as an explanation to how they manage all their artistic ventures in real life without (or with?) a superpower.
Wu-Tang Clan
Sure, Ghostface and Raekwon are already in the Legend Has It lineup – but let’s be real, the entire Wu-Tang Clan was built to headline its own comic series. Which they actually had back in 1999 with The Nine Rings of Wu-Tang at Image Comics. Not to take anything away from this, but: it’s about time for a new one.
The dues have been paid either way: From Method Man a.k.a. Johnny Blaze (a straight Ghost Rider nod) and Ghostface a.k.a. Tony Starks (Ironman) to Inspectah Deck swinging “through your town like your neighborhood Spider Man” on 36 Chambers long before nerd culture went mainstream, the Wu has embodied comic-book charisma and fandom from the jump. Even GZA’s Liquid Swords cover was illustrated by Denys Cowan, a veteran of Marvel lore.
