More than anything, it’s really the green color hold on the illusory figures that makes this Jack Kirby TALES OF SUSPENSE cover sing. It’s a very striking color choice.
Great Covers – TALES OF SUSPENSE #82
Tag: Marvel
Great Covers – THOR #157
I think that, more than anything, it’s the coloring that makes this THOR cover by Jack Kirby stand out. There’s a lot of interesting modeling being done, in a way that wasn’t typical for the time, and the overall red hue gets across a real feeling of Armageddon. Also impressive is the fact that Mangog … Continue reading Great Covers – THOR #157
Great Covers – SGT FURY #75
Another cover in which gun barrels function as design arrows to lead the eye to the subject matter, this John Severin SGT FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS piece is simple and understated, the antithesis of the kind of over-the-top action that was typically found on Fury’s covers.
Great Covers – MIGHTY MARVEL WESTERN #44
Gil Kane once cited this cover to MIGHTY MARVEL WESTERN as his favorite of all the covers he’d ever drawn. And despite the copy- and trade dress-heavy upper half, it’s easy to see why. It’s an intriguing angle to take, the reflection of the gunslinger who has the drop on Rawhide in the pool of … Continue reading Great Covers – MIGHTY MARVEL WESTERN #44
Great Covers – AVENGERS ANNUAL #2
As best as I can determine, this brilliantly drawn John Buscema beauty from AVENGERS is the first use of that classic trope of two super-teams racing at one another to engage in battle. You would think that the back background on this piece would make it more difficult to see–white or another very light color … Continue reading Great Covers – AVENGERS ANNUAL #2
Great Covers – FANTASTIC FOUR #170
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
Great Covers – WARLOCK #15
A very cool and intricate WARLOCK cover by Jim Starlin. This would be the final issue of the series.
Great Covers – CAPTAIN AMERICA #46
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.
Great Covers – X-MEN #50
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
Great Covers – FANTASTIC FOUR #87
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
