Homage or Swipe, the original artist isn't asked permission nor given fair compensation in either case. They're both a form of thieving.

Does anyone even knows that Daft Punk's Robot Rock is really Breakwater's Unleash the Beast? That Beyonce's Crazy in Love is really the Chi-Lites' Are You my Woman? Joe average doesn't and doesn't care. How do you even know the original author got fairly compensated for creating the hook to an Eminem song?You can only guess! 

As far as joe average is concerned, they're buying an original song. Legally, as long as permissions were granted and the owners got compensated it doesn't matter. It's not even any of the customer's business.

All of these are swipes, only the intent varies.

Ron, how do you even know Jim Lee hasn't swiped anything? Have you read and poured over every single comic in existance? You're attributing intentions to people you don't know on things you have no clue about.

Tracing another person's work isn't a swipe, it's a trace off. Swiping is taking some elements of a composition as a base and making it into a new composition doing a different thing, holding different objects with a different rendering making it a new image. Or well, that's the way I read about it in my graphic arts text books.

QUOTE: I think this oversimplifies soimething that needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis.

Well said.

QUOTE: Agreed, Andy!

I agree as well.  Wolverine's hair looks particularly silly in the Miller cover homage.

The Cassaday cover is an odd case.  Why just copy the cover line for line?  What the heck is the point?

I'd have to say no, unless there was some very specific circumstance involved ---- tho, frankly, I can't think of one!

QUOTE: I agree as well.  Wolverine's hair looks particularly silly in the Miller cover homage.

I realize around these parts I won't get much agreement with my opinion, but I see the Wolverine homage (is it McNiven?) as infinitely better than Miller's.  Now, I'm not downplaying Miller's achievements as a creator/artist: he did it first and wonderfully.  But just by comparison, I'm surprised anyone can say Logan's hair looks silly in the second pic compared to Miller's.  In Miller's, it appears as a single solid form with a bit of a ragged edge; in the homage artist's version, there is variation among the hairs (as it is in reality for a wild hairstyle).  Some may say we're not talking reality, but looking at those two images side to side, I find the second one MUCH more pleasing to the eye (while Miller's gives me a sense of nostalgia).  Furthermore, while Joey Q is not a popular man around here, can anyone honestly say they prefer McFarlane's version of the Wolverine cover over his?  Look at the line detail in the flesh (not the masks): Joe's has shadow and line weight and blends much better with the rest of the image than does McFarlane's thin scribbly lines.  New color techniques help sell the images too, of course, but I'm looking below that layer.

QUOTE: But just by comparison, I'm surprised anyone can say Logan's hair looks silly in the second pic compared to Miller's.  In Miller's, it appears as a single solid form with a bit of a ragged edge; in the homage artist's version, there is variation among the hairs (as it is in reality for a wild hairstyle).

The McNiven Wolverine looks like he just got out of bed.  Yes, Logan has a crazy do, but he has almost always shown to be relatively well-groomed with nary a hair out of place, at least on the top of the head.  Also, I just find I prefer the graphic simplicity of the Miller/Rubenstein image and the prominence of black.  You extolled Quesada for his linework in his homage cover and criticized McFarlane for his weak linework.  Well, where are the lines in McNiven's work?  To me it looks subdued at best and relies heavily on color to convey depth.  Take out the color and which image stands out more?  I'm saying all this as someone who'd always regarded the Miller cover with indifference.  Actually, the juxtaposition of the homage with the original has given me a new appreciation for the original.

As for the Quesada homage, I agree that it's better drawn but I still think the McFarlane cover just works better (partly because the Hulk looks so goofy in the Quesada pic – an odd statement, perhaps, given the "goofy" nature of McFarlane's work).  Similar to the first example, I'm saying this as someone who isn't a McFarlane fan.