ThunderCats homage covers only at Blowout -- shipping today

Update (Feb. 16) -- Pre-ordered copies of this one are shipping today.

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It's almost time for a ThunderCats reboot ... and it's one that will include BlowoutCards.com.

Set to arrive next week, Dynamite Entertainment's first issue of the legendary series is set to arrive with a number of variant covers in play (see some of the others here) as part of a launch that's already pre-sold more than 170,000 copies. That's the biggest-selling new arrival for the comics industry in years.

Blowout will be part of that array of arresting artistic odes to the heroes of the lair with a limited series of ThunderCats No. 1 exclusives that are an homage to not just one but two iconic and best-selling comic books from the early 1990s all rolled into one -- with exclusive artwork from an iconic creator of that era, too.

There will be four single covers and a fifth collecting them all -- and if you weren't around in 1991 to collect 'em all and to already know what that means, we'll reveal them all right here, right now.

X-Men 1 (click for closer look)

The four ThunderCats standard covers (see all in gallery below) are an homage to Jim Lee's X-Men reboot in October 1991, a landmark series launch where issue No. 1 remains the best-selling comic book ever with more than 8 million copies sold across five variants -- four singles and a deluxe book with a double-gatefold cover.

The ThunderCats deluxe issue above showcases all four single cover images in one and was created by artist Jae Lee -- a legend known for his illustrations and cover work for Marvel Comics, DC Comics and Dynamite as well as a creator who was part of the Image Comics revolution of that time, too.

Also part of this homage? The packaging.

The ThunderCats set includes a nod to DC's Superman No. 75 -- the "Death of Superman" storyline -- which arrived in a black polybag with a red logo in January 1993. That one also generated plenty of headlines, too, as it sold nearly 3 million copies and that packaging twist is part of this Blowout-exclusive package.

The ThunderCats set arrives polybagged in black with a stunning red logo exclusive to Blowout.

Beyond the nods to the past, this entire run will be rare. This Blowout Cards exclusive polybagged five-comic run is limited to just 1,111 issues and will be available at BlowoutCards.com next week.

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