Astonishing! Uncanny! Marvel is going even bigger with the return of the X-Men to comic book prominence! …And what’s a “trading card variant” cover anyway?

When is a trading card not a trading card?

So, okay, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know that the X-Men are back in the Marvel Comics Universe, and in a big way. Well they’re about to get even more ubiquitous (that’s good by the way) thanks to a new round of variant comic covers.

If you’re a fan of the House of Ideas, then you’re probably more than a little familiar with this initiative. Marvel has been pumping out variants that match themes wishing their catalog over the last few years after all. This X-themed one’s just the latest.

Celebrating the launch of Astonishing X-Men #1 will be a slate of covers, running across the publisher’s releases. Oh, and if you’re an X-fan from the 90s? Yeah, I think it’s safe to say you’re gonna love ’em since they’re all done by one Jim Lee.

Yes, that Jim Lee. The co-publisher of DC Comics Jim Lee. The man was, all said, one of the most influential creative forces behind X-Men for the better part of the 1990s, so this little tribute to not only X, but his work as well, is only fitting.

Now, as you might imagine, these aren’t new pieces. And that’s where the trading card’ thing comes in. These covers will reprint trading cards that Lee worked on years back, all of them inked by Scott Williams, and all of them with new color work from a select team of artists. Yep, in effect these are remasters of Lee and Williams’ classic work, and you can look for talent like Jesus Aburtov, Israel Silva & Chris Sotomayor to all be involved.