Great Covers – DEADLY CLASS #3

Here’s a very nice modern cover to DEADLY CLASS #3 by Wes Craig. Great design, excellent use of a limited color palate, and excellent composition. The two leaping figures are appropriately buoyant.

Great Covers – FRONTLINE COMBAT #7

War comics often tended to have the best covers, but even among that field, this cover to FRONTLINE COMBAT #7 by Harvey Kurtzman is a stand-out. Far from the stark realism that most war covers strive for, Kurtzman’s trademark impressionistic style rather conveys the emotional weight of the moment. He’s drawing not so much what … Continue reading Great Covers – FRONTLINE COMBAT #7 →

Great Covers – DETECTIVE COMICS #880

This is a brilliant, excellent modern comic book cover by Jock for DETECTIVE COMICS #880. Simple, imaginative, elegant and graphic, it captures the attention and says something about the character–in this case, how the Joker’s fluttering thoughts are all focused on his arch-rival, the Batman. The simplified palate of black, white and red is used … Continue reading Great Covers – DETECTIVE COMICS #880 →

Great Covers – CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #37

Over time, we’re almost certainly going to be seeing a lot of Alex Schomburg on this site. Schomburg was the pre-eminent cover artist for Timely/Marvel in the 1940s, and also provided covers to several other outfits. His pieces, like this one, were routinely jam-packed with visual information, intricate dances of controlled chaos and energy. Almost … Continue reading Great Covers – CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #37 →

Great Covers – DAREDEVIL #184

This is maybe the most 1980s cover ever produced, one that tapped into the zeitgeist of the times (and also killed a proposed DAREDEVIL animated series then being shopped.) It’s a killer image, and it demands your attention. In those days, it was rare to see a super hero using a gun, and the extreme … Continue reading Great Covers – DAREDEVIL #184 →

Great Covers – DETECTIVE COMICS #31

For all of their crudity, there’s something very elegant about the covers to many of the earliest comics. Those big, bold, brash title mastheads, the clean design aesthetic. Moves all copied from the pulp magazines, but adapted and copied with more simplicity, as the artists creating them just weren’t as accomplished. This cover to DETECTIVE … Continue reading Great Covers – DETECTIVE COMICS #31 →

Great Covers – FLASH #153

For clean simplicity, it’d be difficult to find somebody more skilled than Carmine Infantino. His open lines, expansive vistas and idiosyncratic figures often combined for concept pieces that were immediately readable from a distance, and which drew a prospective buyer in to purchase the magazine. This cover to FLASH #153 is a case in point. … Continue reading Great Covers – FLASH #153 →

Great Covers – X-MEN #17

This X-MEN cover by Jack Kirby is a nice piece of art, but it’s really the coloring that kicks it into the stratosphere as a great cover. That strong monochromatic red will stand out like a beacon among other covers on the racks and gives the impression of danger, of heat. There are just enough … Continue reading Great Covers – X-MEN #17 →

Great Covers – FLASH #184

A very simple cover by Ross Andru for FLASH #184, this image simply demands that you buy the comic and read the story. It’s primarily a triumph of typography, as the image is more than ¾ lettering. But that Flash figure, with his face hidden in his hand and his defeated stance, makes an impact … Continue reading Great Covers – FLASH #184 →

Great Covers – CONTEMPORARY PICTORIAL LITERATURE #11

This is a fanzine cover, rather than an actual comic book cover, but it’s just too good to pass up. Here, Alex Toth, the master of minimalism, creates a fully-realized depiction of an alien fighter attack on an unwary ship, using design and the stark contrast between black and white to convey the information. It … Continue reading Great Covers – CONTEMPORARY PICTORIAL LITERATURE #11 →