The Quarter Bin: Front and Center!

Martinex1: Today let's take a look at comic covers with a singular intention - to put the hero, heroine, or team front and center.   Prior to the modern trend in which covers were merely interchangeable central character poses in which there was no indicator of the story inside, there was an intermittent tendency in the Bronze Age that also featured the headliner exclusively.  Often this was done in premiere issues or at significant changes in the title's direction.

One style that became extremely popular was the "breakthrough" cover in which the central characters seemed to rip right through the page.  This was made most famous by Giant-Size X-Men #1 which was mimicked frequently thereafter.  But here are some varieties of those covers from many eras to whet your whistle. Whether breaking through webbing, newspaper, quantum barriers, or the comics themselves, this was a common method if introducing the stars of the story.

 

 

Another method of introducing characters (and a style I like) was to have the character positioned in front of monochromatic or simple backgrounds with some inked action scenes, events, faces, or comic panels behind them.  Both DC and Marvel employed this technique from time to time.

 

 A variation on this is the character standing in front of an explosive or flaming orange and yellow background.  This too may happen more  frequently than you realize.

Back in 1986, during the November celebration of Marvel's 25th year, each comic got a makeover.  and featured a portrait of a character therein.  While I liked the style, I still did wonder what was going on inside as I always preferred the story preview on the cover.  Here are 28 books that followed this editorial directive for the anniversary.  It is hard to believe that the Marvel's 25th year occurred 31 years ago. Yikes, I am getting old.  I consider that period to be around the end of the Bronze Age and at a time that my collecting really tapered off.

 So what do you think of these examples? Which overarching style do you prefer?  And since it is the Quarter Bin, this is also an imaginary sale - four comics for a dollar!  Which would you choose?  Which was your favorite in each category? And test your knowledge and memory - can you tell us what the story was inside any of these mags?  If so, which do you recommend for our reading enjoyment? 

Have a great weekend and as always... Cheers!