The cover to BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS by Frank Miller is a classic, but for all the right reasons. Here, more than in any comic book cover produced before this point, strong design and typography lead the way. This image is designed to feel far more like a book cover than a comic book … Continue reading Great Covers: BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS #1
This Ed Hannigan symbolic BATMAN cover is so ridiculous that it’s excellent! It feels very much in the style of Joe Kubert’s assorted war covers, but isn’t the kind of thing that was often seen on the super hero books. And the fact that Death is literally counting Batman out brings the whole thing to … Continue reading Great Covers – BATMAN #372
Another Jack Kirby cover, this one for his KAMANDI series from the early 1970s. This piece just screams for attention. The shark-as-monster who dominates the image to the inclusion of virtually everything else is powerful enough, but the fact that he speaks, and his line is at once so obtuse and yet also so provocative, … Continue reading Great Covers – KAMANDI #23
Variations on this WITCHING HOUR cover by Nick Cardy were common on the weird/mystery titles published by DC in the early 1970s. But on this one, the stark red face of the demon as well as the expression on the boy’s face and the white of his turtleneck really help to sell it. The red … Continue reading Great Covers – WITCHING HOUR #45
Carmine Infantino experimented a bit in the 1960s with covers that incorporated the series logo, in the manner of Will Eisner’s SPIRIT sections. This BATMAN cover was one of the first, if not the first. At the time, DC was beginning to lose sales traction to newcomer Marvel, and was looking for a way to … Continue reading Great Covers – BATMAN #194
I can’t swear to it with absolute certainty, but I suspect that this BATMAN cover by Neal Adams represents the first time that any person of color has been depicted on a Batman cover. And especially given the time period in which this cover saw print, late 1970, you’d expect that most readers would be … Continue reading Great Covers – BATMAN #230
This Murphy Anderson FLASH cover is another example of a technique that editor Julie Schwartz used on numerous occasions: a cover on which a character engaged the prospective reader directly. This iteration adds the additional wrinkle of the Flash’s fate being too gruesome to be outwardly depicted–who could resist cracking the cover to see what … Continue reading Great Covers – FLASH #193
Here’s another brilliant and beautiful classic cover from the dawning days of super heroes–so much so that the Batman’s utility belt has a pistol holster. As was typical of the period, that huge logo masthead is like a spotlight, drawing in the eye. And the blues of Batman pull your attention right to him, since … Continue reading Great Covers – DETECTIVE COMICS #33
Is this Gil Kane cover to STRANGE ADVENTURES #75 the greatest comic book cover ever produced? Could be! I mean, it has everything! A gun-toting gorilla! Who’s robbing a library of books! So that he can conquer the world! And (of course) he talks! This is one where the concept itself is more important than … Continue reading Great Covers – STRANGE ADVENTURES #75
It’s a homage to the movie poster for The Exorcist, but regardless, this JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA cover by Kevin Maguire pops. The greytone work is lovely, the red logo offsets it perfectly–and they even went to a different typeface for the logo on this issue, so that it wouldn’t detract from the mood of the … Continue reading Great Covers – JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #27
The Tom Brevoort Experience 