Great Covers – BLUEBERRY #1

An exquisitely drawn image by Moebius for this first BLUEBERRY collection.

Great Covers – CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #20

Boom. This Johnny Craig CRIME SUSPENSTORIES cover is like a bomb going off. It’s not overtly gory, but it’s way more disturbing than covers that showed a lot more blood and guts.Great use of color as well.

Great Covers – MAD #14

So simple, but it tells you everything you need to know about the magazine. MAD cover by Harvey Kurtzman and Leonardo Da Vinci

Great Covers – MARY MARVEL #5

In terms of summing up a series in a single image, this Jack Binder MARY MARVEL cover is hard to beat. It’s elegant, whimsical, and has a strong element of fantasy to it. The black background tapering down to a deep midnight blue is attractive and helps to spotlight both the butterfly and Mary’s red … Continue reading Great Covers – MARY MARVEL #5 →

Great Covers – HORRIFIC #3

This Don Heck cover to HORRIFIC is chock-full of impact, even if the coloring lets the image down a little bit. It’s such a simple idea, and executed with such minimalism, that it hits the viewer right between the eyes.

Great Covers – SPIDER-MAN #5

A killer Todd McFarlane SPIDER-MAN cover. The key to this one is how torn up and ruined Spider-Man’s costume is, which sells the extent of the building collapse that he’s just been involved with. The intensity of his scream, through his typically-concealed mouth, provides energy and emotion.

Great Covers – SUPERMAN #41

And sometimes, you don’t have any good ideas for a cover at all. This Wayne Boring SUPERMAN cover is self-referential and meta, in an era when such ideas weren’t common. The strong yellow background makes the image vibrantly pop off the page.

Great Covers – WOLVERINE #27

Possibly THE classic Jim Lee WOLVERINE cover, this one is all movement and energy and savagery. I don’t love the bits of copy stuck in on the left side, but they don’t do enough to completely ruin the composition. This one works completely based on how well Lee captures the essential qualities that everybody loves … Continue reading Great Covers – WOLVERINE #27 →

Great Covers – INCREDIBLE HULK #37

Another in Kaare Andrews’ great run of HULK covers, here the title character is abstracted down to simply a massive shape, one that still dominates the image. The reticule graphics provide some good viewer context–you are the tank commander confronted by the unstoppable power of the Hulk. And the fact that the Hulk is mostly … Continue reading Great Covers – INCREDIBLE HULK #37 →

Great Covers – ALL STAR COMICS #17

I first saw this Joe Gallagher ALL-STAR COMICS cover featuring the Justice Society of America reproduced tiny and in black and white in the STERANKO HISTORY OF COMICS, and it made a great impact on me. It’s a simple, story-driven image, with the diagonal of Brain-Wave’s descending foot guiding the eye to the running forms … Continue reading Great Covers – ALL STAR COMICS #17 →