Mike Del Mundo has come to prominence as a cover artist adept at using design and concept as the foundation of his covers. This ELEKTRA cover is a good example. The manner in which the ninja army surrounding Elektra becomes a bullseye with her at the center is clever, and is accentuated by the coloring. … Continue reading Great Covers – ELEKTRA #9
Super-clean and dramatic, this John Cassaday ASTONISHING X-MEN cover uses the outline of the hole Cyclops has just blown through the wall to perfectly frame the characters. Stance and body language conveys something about the individual heroes. And the red background provided by colorist Laura Martin grabs your attention like the center of a bullseye. … Continue reading Great Covers – ASTONISHING X-MEN #7
Feel like I’ve been featuring mostly older covers, so for today some more recent ones. Artist Steve Epting reworked his ideas for this crucial CAPTAIN AMERICA cover a few times before finally hitting on this approach. But it’s very effective. The red of the one glove and the droplets of blood silhouette beautifully against the … Continue reading Great Covers – CAPTAIN AMERICA #25
Here’s another excellent Jack Kirby cover to X-MEN. It’s a bit strange for a super hero cover in that we’re seeing almost all of the heroes from the back, where common wisdom would want at least one of them turned towards the camera, so as to engage the reader–nothing commands the attention of a viewer … Continue reading Great Covers – X-MEN #16
A very basic but very dramatic FANTASTIC FOUR cover by Jack Kirby, emphasizing the scope of the cast and implying the energy and excitement of the story within. In rare restraint, this cover features no copy whatsoever, allowing the image itself to do the work of selling it. A white background here was almost a … Continue reading Great Covers – FANTASTIC FOUR #82
A pretty brilliant cover from Steve Ditko that reduces the iconic silhouette of Spider-Man down about as far as is possible while still keeping it identifiable. The fact that the caption boxes are also done in Spidey’s colors isn’t an accident, either. I suspect the decision was made to color Spidey’s eyepiece red rather than … Continue reading Great Covers – AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #28
Another classic Alex Schomburg WWII-era Timely cover, this one depicting an amphibious invasion of Manhattan in such detail that each element had to be individually labeled. Once again, the wealth of detail and the explosive action made this book all but irresistible. Note that the coloring halos the Torch’s fist and head with white where … Continue reading Great Covers – MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS #36
Nothing about the size relationships on this RAWHIDE KID cover by Jack Kirby makes any sense–but the cover works anyway, because it’s about a giant ape hoisting the Kid over its head! Rawhide is perfectly framed by the yellow background, and the light grey of the tiny town also causes the ape to pop. Me, … Continue reading Great Covers – RAWHIDE KID #39
It doesn’t completely work, but this Jack Kirby cover to FANTASTIC FOUR combines a photographic collage with hand-drawn figures. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s, Kirby experimented with incorporating collages into his comics work–he apparently produced them often, to relax. But the printing technology of the time, especially on the interior pages, wasn’t really … Continue reading Great Covers – FANTASTIC FOUR #33
Another ridiculously over-detailed (and fundamentally racist) cover from the WWII era by Alex Schomburg, this one for USA COMICS. There’s almost too much going on here, though it all promises thrills aplenty within the pages. My favorite detail, apart from Bucky gunning down Japanese soldiers like a fiend, is the fact that Cap can’t be … Continue reading Great Covers – USA COMICS #13
The Tom Brevoort Experience 