Redartz: Frequently here at BitBA, we consider comic covers. In fact, Marti has bestowed us with countless striking covers under the banner of his "Quarter Bins." And what's not to like about ogling fine comic art, displayed openly on a glossy, eye-catching sheet of cover stock? Indeed, I love looking at covers so much, I have several hundred loaded as images on my tablet: just something to browse through at lunch, if I need some visual stimulation. And it was during one such session, scanning more covers, that I figured, "okay, what would my top ten covers be?". No time frame limitations, they may be old or new; Marvel, DC, or anyone else, any genre. Just ten covers that you could easily hang on your wall and stare at for years to come.
So, today we present our picks: our personal top ten covers. After you check out our selections, feel free to comment; and then name your personal favorites. Doesn't matter if the interior art stunk, the story was awful, or the book was a reprint. If you loved the cover, it's fair game.
Redartz: My ten covers are as follows. While making my choices, it quickly dawned upon me how daunting a task it is to select only ten, out of all the covers I've encountered. So these ten might not be my exact picks if you asked tomorrow, but they all would certainly be finalists.
Fantastic Four 45, by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott. A beauty by the FF's prime team.
Amazing Spider-Man 135, by John Romita, Sr. Spidey's had countless great covers, but this one is near perfect.
Avengers 20, by Jack Kirby and Wally Wood. Wood may be the finest inker I've seen over Kirby. Wish there'd been more such covers.
Sugar and Spike 21, by Sheldon Mayer. Love the b/w cartoon background, and the face-backwards foreground.
Dr. Strange 1, by Frank Brunner. A masterwork of intricacy and mysticism.
Avengers 171, by George Perez and Terry Austin . A very full composition, but incredible in it's detail.
Archie Giant Series 25, by Dan DeCarlo. DeCarlo could have been considered Archie's "Kirby"; he defined the look.
Journey 6, by William Messner Loebs. Wonderful use of the logo, the borders, and the leaves. Poetic visuals indeed.
Adventure Comics 425, by Michael Kaluta. Stunning, magnificent image; Kaluta's simple design here is breathtaking in it's beauty.
Finally, what may be my favorite cover, period: Star Spangled War Stories 138, by Joe Kubert. That cover struck me like a slap in the face the first time I saw it, and is the only comic I ever paid twenty five dollars for JUST for the cover. An absolute masterpiece of composition, color and dramatics.
Martinex1: Those are all beautiful examples, and like you my selections are constantly shifting. Many of my favorites are based not only on style and art but also around a memory as to when I acquired the book and what it meant to me. So without further ado, here are my top ten...
Avengers 164 is the first comic I purchased (not the first I owned, but the first I bought off of a rack). It will always have a memorable place in my heart. Thankfully it was a George Perez masterpiece with a lot of characters and a lot of action. It also ended up being one of my favorite stories too. This cover I will remember until I am old and gray.
Squadron Supreme 11 may seem like an odd choice. But in 1986 this Paul Ryan cover jumped off the stands to me. It still strikes me as an unusual layout with interesting and not well-known characters. In my mind, this cover always makes my top ten. I know it is not iconic, but I just admire it.
This Carmine Infantino classic - Flash 174 - was my first experience seeing an artistic interplay with a logo. I never got over it.
I've always been a fan of Nick Cardy and his work at DC. Unexpected 119 is one of my favorites featuring his pencils. The use of lights and shadows, the shocked facial expression, and the hint of a horrendous twist just drew me in.
John Byrne had a myriad of classic covers from his work on Marvel Team-Up, Fantastic Four, many DC books, and of course the X-Men. So many examples of excellence to choose from, and I am sure others may have picked X-Men 141 (which is indeed a classic), but I have always been enamored with X-Men 138. Even with a recap story inside and the annoying Toys R Us banner, I still like the simplicity of this moody and moving cover.
George Perez makes my list twice with Marvel Two-In-One 54. Deathlok and the color scheme have much to do with this choice. It always seemed to me that a lot of effort was put into this cover and I appreciate that.
Amazing Spider-Man could have had a top ten list all by itself. With covers by John Romita alone I could have filled a week of blogs. But lately this simple cover on ASM 281 by Ron Frenz just appeals to me. Who can resist floating heads? Plus Spidey's humorous attitude just seems to shine through. This is a great example of a little goes a long way.
Frank Miller sure hit the ground running on Daredevil and issue 158 was a monumental kick-off that showcased his talent. I did not own this issue for a long time, but my desire to have it was driven by the cover.
John Buscema was just fantastic. Recently I tweeted about his cover talent and I had time selecting which comic that I thought demonstrated his work the best. I have to go with Silver Surfer #4. It is just a classic.
My final choice highlights a lot of favorites. The first Marvel Sub-Mariner series is an underrated gem if you ask me. Perhaps Subby's perceived belligerence may keep readers away. At the very least, the art was top notch with the likes of John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Gene Colan, and Bill Everett involved. But this particular cover happens to be by the great Marie Severin, and when I was very young I stared at it for hours when I first saw it as a house ad in a Marvel comic. I love the colors and the drama. Cheers!
Redartz: Excellent choices, Marti! Byrne, Buscema, Infantino, Severin- what a lineup of all-stars...
Well, there's our respective 'top ten' lists. You may ask, "how could I devise a list with nothing by John Byrne, Barry Windsor-Smith or Will Eisner?" Ahhh, ask again tomorrow. At any rate, I'd be thrilled to permanently paper my walls with any of these gems. What say you, are these decent choices? And what might your ten picks be (I know, I know, trying to pick only ten is excruciating)...
17 comments:
Good stuff indeed!
In brief because I am busy as heck at work lol.,,
Avengers King Size Annual #2 with "Old vs. New Avengers!" I craved that thing from the first moment I saw th advertisement on a full-page in-house promo! Buscema!?
Hulk Annual with his logo crushing his back by Steranko!
ASM # 100 by Romita! Love Spidey on top that black/blue cover. No true believer could NOT buy that off the spinner that Summer!
Avengers 100 by Barry Smith! Yes everyone had a face like Conan but to this kid seeing all those Avengers past and present on the cover, notably Hulk, well it was as far Irv Forbush cast a spell on me and I HAD to get it!
More later if I can shake these shackles!
I'll have to mull over my own pics, if I can possibly narrow them down, but I will simply second several of yours:
ASM #134...one of the few of these covers I know only by reputation, not by owning it, but I do love it!
X-Men #138...loved this one for a long time. But I've always been incredibly frustrated by Nightcrawler's toe blocking what issue-number that is at the bottom!
Silver Surfer #4...unbelievable! So much energy and emotion depicting an iconic showdown! (love Asgard and the bridge, too).
Avengers #164 and #171...two nostalgic favourites for me
Your other choices are great, too. I agree that the Squadron Supreme one is not obvious, but as an effective hook I heartily approve
(in that same category I humbly suggest Thor #356, Hercules shoving Thor aside, one of my most fondly-remembered impulse buys ever!)
-david p.
Those are some pretty good picks: I've got so many there's no way I could narrow it down to ten, but I'd probably have something by John Buscema, Gulacy (he always had great covers), something by Grell (Warlord had some cool covers), Steve Lightle on Legion, something by Garcia-Lopez, at least one Perez cover (most likely from New Teen Titans), and some Spidey stuff ... Romita, Kane, Andru, Frenz, Saviuk, Bagley, how can I choose? Alex Ross had some great covers too, and I like McKean's stuff, especially on Sandman Mystery Theatre.
I'll go for the ones I loved as a kid;
Savage Sword of Conan #4. Boris Vallejo's painting of Conan astride a giant man-ape.
The Shadow #1. Mike Kaluta's stylish image of our hero looming over New York's elevated rail tracks.
The Shadow #12. Mike Kaluta's image of our hero confronting a pitchfork-wielding mob, with the unconscious Margo in his arms.
Detective Comics #440. Jim Aparo's Batman battles to snap the chain holding a woman captive, as the world's purplest bear looms up over him.
Adventure Comics #436. Jim Aparo's Spectre looms large in a purple landscape, as a wannabe Nazi is eaten by a giant squid.
Rampaging Hulk #4. Jim Starlin's painting of a crucified Hulk.
Weird War Tales #24. A red-robed skeleton stands beckoning the man who's been foolish enough to discover it, by Luis Dominguez.
Superman #276. Nick Cardy's depiction of Superman vs Captain Thunder.
Phantom Stranger #33. Jim Aparo gives us Deadman emerging from a tomb, as the Phantom Stranger stands ready to confront him.
Charlie- for being limited on time, you named some great choices! That ASM 100 cover is an all-time classic. You can't beat the Jazzy One on Spidey.
Mike W.- you also list some excellent options and awesome artists. Glad you mentioned Garcia-Lopez and Steve Lightle, both offered many fine covers. And as for Alex Ross- his Justice covers (for the mini-series a few years back) kept me coming back to the DC shelf at our local comic shop for months.
Steve D.C.- great call on those Shadow covers. Kaluta is just plain astounding. And those Aparo Spectre covers were just as cool as the interior stories they bound.
Marti-- that Sub-Mariner #9 cover-- man, I would have bet MONEY that was Herb Trimpe's work. Granted, he was totally tutored by Marie Severin, as she handed off Incredible Hulk to him, and he was clearly a student of her style. I wonder if he at least had a hand in this one somewhere? I believe it would have been contemporaneous with Hulk #111 or #112. . . and in both of those issues we see very similar figures/poses to the Priestess', there--
PPSM had SO MANY great covers in its early/mid run that I bet you could get ten right there. Even when the book itself was amazingly mediocre. . .
And whenever the discussion turns to Favorite Covers, I always make it a point to cite Marvel Age #30. Summer Superhero picnic. Dr Doom. Jar of ants. Whole story in one panel. One of Byrne's best---
HB
That is interesting HB; maybe Herb Trimpe did have a role in the Subby cover. According to what I can research, the cover was pencilled by Marie Severin and inked by Dan Adkins. Adkins was working with Trimpe pretty regularly at the time. The priestess figure does seem to have the stretched hand position that was common for Trimpe. And speaking of hands - take a look at the shackle on Namor’s arm, I always thought we should be able to see some of his fingers extending past the restraint; not quite sure if that is an error or the device is supposed to be surrounding his hand.
It is still a favorite cover though. I really like that series. Many of John Buscema’s Sub-Mariner covers would make my top 100 List.
CH47 - I almost had the Avengers King Size Special on this list - I had to choose my Buscema very carefully or the whole list would have been covered.
I’m tempted to post a worst cover list. I don’t want to be negative, but there are also opposite examples when a cover stopped me from buying a book. And I can think of some hall of fame artists that have covers also fall in that category for me.
Thanks all for commenting - I’m happy to see some of our choices drew your attention as well. We didn’t just want to pick iconic books but instead wanted to include some lesser known gems. As Red said - this list could change daily.
And while we are at it with “hands” and mysteries -does anybody know whose hands are supposed to be in the foreground on the Avengers #164 cover? One of my all-time favorite covers for decades and I have never been able to decipher whose hands those are. It doesn’t really fit the story and it always seemed odd. The blurb seems to indicate that it is an Avenger but that doesn’t match. Iron Man? Vision? Scarlet Witch? None of those would really fit in light of the action inside. Nefaria’s? Today I am guessing Iron Man - but does that seem right to you? I must be dense.
And let me throw another one at you- it has been ages since I read Red’s early FF choice. Who is lifting the boulder in the background? I just don’t recall a green and yellow clad Inhuman.
Cheers!
I've always assumed the hands on the Avengers #164 cover are meant to be the Scarlet Witch's. I can shed no light on the reasons for its disconnect from the story's actual contents.
I am 100% certain that the figure lifting the boulder on the FF cover is Karnak.
Oh man, I'm late to this one; you guys made some excellent picks, and so several others here in the comments, esp. Steve (pretty much can't go wrong with Kaluta and Aparo in particular).
For my part, I know I'd go down a rabbit-hole looking over online galleries of covers to jog my memory, so I'll just pick three that always come to mind whenever anyone mentions great comic-book covers:
Avengers #187 - arguably the best cover Byrne's ever done, and that's saying something, because he's done tons of amazing covers.
Amazing Spider-man #28 - and it would be perfect if that lower text box about Peter's graduation wasn't there.
Weird War Tales #80 - just a masterpiece of composition and color by Kubert.
Steve - if I had been able to shake the shackles yesterday, and gotten to DC covers, those Shadow ones would have made it!
Marti- I agree about the SUbby series. My memory isn't spot on at 6:00 AM... were there any Everett covers near the end of his run that make a top-10? Those few stories are certainly my fav for Subby due to Bill's work.
Red - That Enemy Ace cover rocks the house! I've gone back and done a few re-looks!
I wanted to jump back in again and sort of ask the group: Do the covers from the Silver Age house ads tend to stick in other folks' minds as favorites? I think this may have been touched on above-- and I know they stick with me to this day. I'll track down the issue #'s as best I can right-quick, but I'm going from visual memory alone, here:
Hawk & Dove #5-- "You killed the Hawk!!"
Tower of Shadows #1
Flash #186-- Flash skeleton in a hole. . .
Green Lantern/Arrow #89-- Crucifixion on the jet engine
Fantastic Four #82-- charging forward w/ the Inhumans!
Micronauts #7-- w/ the Man-Thing!
Weird War Tales #4-- Soldier's hour-glass being emptied out (And how about Weird War's early logo, eh??? With the tiny dead soldiers???)
Gosh, this could really eat up a TON of time--! So--- 'zis strike a chord with anyone else, hm?
HB
Let me echo those of you who praise the Sub-Mariner series and it's abundance of great cover art. Many favorites there, the city photo cover, the intro of Stingray, and the cover to issue 69(?) with blue-clad Subby vs. Spider-Man.
Marti- love your idea of doing a , shall we say, 'not the greatest' covers! Not a negative thing, but it could be kind of fun.
Edo- yes, ASM 28 is a gem. Gave it serious consideration on my initial list (as well as issue 19 and 13; two more Ditko gems).
Oh, and HB- absolutely, many of those house ads remain in mind. DC had a load of sharp ads in the late 60s/early 70s...
I'm very late with this, but at this point I will list these picks for my own personal endorphin-rush:
1) Warlock #11: A classic Starlin image to finish up the classic Magus storyline! Love it.
2) Avengers #181: Perez would later out-do this stuff-many-characters-on-the-cover pattern, but this early example sure caught my eye!
3) Thor #356: Already mentioned this hilarious Hercules cover made me want to buy this right away.
4) Captain America #272: Mike Zeck did a lot of great covers, but always loved this haunting image of Cap defeated in a sewer surrounded by rats. Again, had to buy it!
5) Daredevil #184: So many Frank Miller choices (considered #163 and #179) but went with this, just 'cause with DD holding a gun you wanted to see where this was headed...
[just a thought: a lot of great covers had the "Ready, Aim, Fire..." template like this Daredevil one: remember Deathlok in Cap #286, or the amazing Avengers #223 (Hawkeye and Ant-Man), or of course the Punisher's first appearance...maybe there's a quarter-bin challenge in here somewhere?]
6) Marvel Two-in-One Annual #7: How could you NOT snap up this comic showing the Thing in full boxing gear with Marvel's heaviest hitters standing behind him?
7) Fantastic Four #258: Doctor Doom's hand shredding the cover of the comic is just plain cool.
8) X-Men #107: I had to have some Dave Cockrum representation here...this was one of the earliest X-Men covers I saw, and just got drilled into my head...Cockrum drew everyone so freaky, heroes and villains alike...
9) Batman #291: Thought I'd better get some DC on here, and this was my first Batman comic. A bunch of super-villains and the mystery of a dead Batman, what's not to love?
10) Alpha Flight #12: The "who will die?" issue, just a classic issue, with a suitably high-stakes cover.
11) X-Men #165: Thought I'd throw this in because it was Paul Smith's debut cover, and showing Storm becoming a Brood was both a striking image and pretty shocking for those of us who'd been following the storyline and knew the implications...
I'm sure I'm forgetting some (a Bill Sienciewicz Moon Knight cover, maybe...one of the ones with Werewolf by Night..?) but that'll do for now.
Thanks for the memories!
-david p.
I very explicitly remember house ads for at least the three: Avengers King Size 2, Huk King Size 1 (Steranko?) with logo crushing his back, and Marvel Superheroes 16 with Phantom Eagle premiere! Unfortunately the sizzle was may more promising than the steak IMHO.
Ch47-- Yeah, gotta concur. As truly iconic as that Hulk Annual #1 cover is. . . the looooooong Inhumans story within (re-printed, I believe, in Giant-size Hulk #1, or something) is rather a snoozer. Biggest Hulk fan in the world, me, and I can't bring a single specific moment from it to mind. . .
HB
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