A great Nick Cardy AQUAMAN cover, from a sketch by Carmine Infantino. This was during a period when DC was getting bold and aggressive with its covers, and one of the innovations that Infantino played with was to integrate the series logo into the image in the style of Will Eisner. It’s a great triangular … Continue reading Great Covers – AQUAMAN #42
I have no idea who the artist was on this issue of CLUE COMICS, but the image is super-cool and dramatic, even if some of it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. That shadow in the foreground, for example. Nonetheless, by filling up the picture plane with that horrified face, and centering the colors … Continue reading Great Covers – CLUE COMICS v2 #1
Covers in the 1970s tended to lean towards the cluttered, with tons of characters and blurbs all crammed into a relatively tiny space–a more-is-less approach that kept most of them from being truly memorable images. But this Ed Hannigan FANTASTIC FOUR cover isn’t too bad in this regard. Still, it requires a burst, two captions … Continue reading Great Covers – FANTASTIC FOUR #170
A very cool and intricate WARLOCK cover by Jim Starlin. This would be the final issue of the series.
Another great Alex Schomburg CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS cover, this one illustrating in horrific fashion the fate actually befalling Jews trapped in Nazi territory. Schomburg often leaned on horror as well as action in his covers, but this may have been his most horrific cover of all–because it was really happening.
Possibly the quintessential BATMAN cover of the 1940s, by Fred Ray and Jerry Robinson. This image was strong enough for it to have been reused seven issues later, albeit with some other elements added in. It’s got great drama, and also illustrates the essential contrast between the shadowy Batman and the bright and carnival-style Robin.
comicbookcovers: Strange Adventures #196,January 1967, cover by Jack Sparling
And finally, an example of a limited palate being used extremely well. Would this Jim Steranko X-MEN cover be so memorable were it not colored thusly? Cuing in on Lorna Dane’s green hair as the basis for the color scheme of the piece lends the image, and indeed the character herself, an air of mystery … Continue reading Great Covers – X-MEN #50
This Jack Kirby FANTASTIC FOUR cover similarly uses knock-outs and a limited palate, but it’s way more successful. By any stretch of the imagination, this is an odd image for the cover of a super hero comic book–Stan pretty much makes it work by calling it out as the most off-beat ending of the year … Continue reading Great Covers – FANTASTIC FOUR #87
DC weren’t the only ones who could louse up a perfectly good Jack Kirby cover in color, Marvel did it occasionally as well, as on this FANTASTIC FOUR cover. Knocking all of the other elements back to browns and reds definitely helps Crystal to pop as the center of the composition, but it’s actively unattractive. … Continue reading Great Covers – FANTASTIC FOUR #81
