Great Covers – BATMAN #200

A fun Neal Adams BATMAN cover for the book’s 200th issue, highlighting previous milestones from its history (and even using the logo from one of them as the title logo to this issue.)

Great Covers – BATMAN #29

Can you imagine seeing a cover like this Dick Sprang BATMAN piece on a comic book today? Rather than focusing on a perplexing crime, or a mission of vengeance, or an inescapable doom-trap, this cover instead concerns itself with Batman and Robin having fun by taking a ride on some 19th century-style bicycles. It’s a … Continue reading Great Covers – BATMAN #29

Great Covers – BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS #4

A bold and famous cover, Frank Miller reduces everything to silhouettes for the final issue of BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, thus heightening the iconic power of the conflict between Superman and Batman depicted. This whole series was a trend-setter in terms of cover treatment–you didn’t see covers like this on comic books before this … Continue reading Great Covers – BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS #4

Great Covers – LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION #C-25

This Neal Adams BATMAN figure was only a few months old when it was reused as the cover of this Treasury Edition, but that only served to make it more iconic. Making the background red added an eerie quality to the piece, as it’s meant to be a night sky.

Great Covers – BATMAN #205

The sketch for this Irv Novick BATMAN cover had to have been done by Carmine Infantino, who had been brought on staff by DC in the late 1960s to punch up the graphics of their line, which had grown stale over the years. It’s a masterful cover–that tilted ground line, the extreme close-up on the … Continue reading Great Covers – BATMAN #205

Great Covers – BATMAN #1

Impossible to say for certain who drew this iconic beauty. It’s signed by Bob Kane, and he may have even laid it out. But it’s more likely that assistants and ghosts such as Jerry Robinson and George Roussos had a greater hand in it. Either way, you couldn’t ask for a more classic image to … Continue reading Great Covers – BATMAN #1

Great Covers – BATMAN #9

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.

Great Covers – DETECTIVE COMICS #347

A strong Carmine Infantino cover for DETECTIVE COMICS, incorporating ink wash as well as the typical linework. I love the anguish of Robin, and the particular phrasing on the copy burst imploring the reader to keep the ending a secret.

Great Covers – BRAVE AND THE BOLD #108

This whole issue of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD is loony, and it all begins with this Jim Aparo cover. Not only are Sgt. Rock and Batman in the same story (despite the different eras in which their adventures typically take place), but the Rock is firing ineffectively at a figure who casts a demonic … Continue reading Great Covers – BRAVE AND THE BOLD #108