A great STRANGE ADVENTURES cover by Neal Adams, who at this point was making a real name for himself as an extraordinary cover artist. Adams tended to color-direct his own pieces, which meant that the coloring was worked into the design, as it is here. The red of Deadman pops beautifully against the subdued greens … Continue reading Great Covers – STRANGE ADVENTURES #207
Another beautiful and patriotic WWII-era cover by Fred Ray, for ACTION COMICS. A great use of primary colors to pop the figures forward–that yellow in the background could not be any stronger or richer. It’s largely been forgotten now, but three of the five characters pictured on this cover headined movie serials during that same … Continue reading Great Covers – ACTION COMICS #52
It is an obvious and blatant homage to Maurice Sendak, but this Kaare Andrews HULK cover totally works even on its own in the manner in which it channels Bruce banner’s inner rage demons into monsters following in his wake. The typical logo is modified for this issue as well, to better evoke the source … Continue reading Great Covers – INCREDIBLE HULK #49
This WAYWARD cover by Jorge Molina gets across both the series concept and the overall tone of the book very elegantly. Great use of both the color white (often overlooked) and negative space. The type treatment on the trade dress elements is also nicely unified into the overall aesthetic.
It’s been homaged an awful lot over the years, which is a testament to how striking this John Byrne X-MEN cover is. That wanted poster calling out the final fate of so many characters is immediately riveting, as are the figures of an older Wolverine and Kitty Pryde. The damaged and cracked logo at the … Continue reading Great Covers – UNCANNY X-MEN #141
I suspect this Carmine Infantino ACTION COMICS cover has the opposite effect than was intended. Rather than feeling sorrow or sympathy for the Man of Steel who has no further mission, it instead makes Superman come across as kind of a jerk–a guy who’d happily live in a world of violence and hatred and crime … Continue reading Great Covers – ACTION COMICS #368
A very simple FANTASTIC FOUR cover by John Byrne that focuses on arch-nemesis Doctor Doom, who’d be the focus of the issue. Especially fun here is the fact that the splash page glimpsed through the crumpled, torn cover is indeed the splash the reader will see when he opens the book.
Another great of the golden age, Mac Raboy produced beautiful, illustrative covers that seemed realistic enough that they were simply more plausible than most of everything else that was on the racks. This MASTER COMICS cover is a fine example, embodying the spirit of patriotism and righteous vengeance that most American citizens felt in the … Continue reading Great Covers – MASTER COMICS #27
Adam Hughes has done a great deal of excellent covers over the years, including a run on CATWOMAN from which this entry comes. Pushing the background to blue allows the central figure to pop nicely, and the combination of the tentative step out into nothing and the expression on her face very subtly but very … Continue reading Great Covers – CATWOMAN #53
And some covers need no copy at all, such as this Wayne Boring SUPERMAN cover. This was the post-War period where the selling trend was towards comedy, and so the Superman covers of this period tended to be absurd and goofball, like this classic entry.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 