This BATMAN cover image with its word balloon is almost funny, until you realize that it’s not. There’s something chilling about that hanging Robin figure, and the way the ground line is tilted in the manner used by the television series whenever focusing on the villains. Artist Neal Adams frames Batman in the oval formed … Continue reading Great Covers – BATMAN #246
It’s really the cover copy that makes this Ed Hannigan JONAH HEX cover memorable. but that copy really works with the image, as does seeing Hex’s disfigurement exaggerated by the fish-eye lens of the booze-bottle. Even the fact that there’s a second, empty bottle off to the right provides more information. I also love the … Continue reading Great Covers – JONAH HEX #83
This Carmine Infantino FLASH cover was editor Julie Schwartz’s favorite of all the covers he commissioned. And it’s a tough choice to argue, as this image is so direct and so simple that you could use it as the cover of virtually any Flash story. I’m not wild about the candy cane striping in the … Continue reading Great Covers – FLASH #163
A terrific concept cover–too bad the story that goes with it is so mediocre–by Kurt Schaffenberger for LOIS LANE #63 (with some revisions to the Clark/Superman figure by Wayne Boring, it looks like.) This one’s all about the promise of the story. But that yellow background is like a beacon, and Superman’s primary colors aren’t … Continue reading Great Covers – LOIS LANE #63
Nice PHANTOM STRANGER cover by Nick Cardy, likely over another Carmine Infantino sketch. A good concept, and fine composition–see how the converging gunfire draws your attention right to the figure in the center–and a nice use of color on this one.
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
The Tom Brevoort Experience 