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
If you can put aside the flagrant racism sprawled all over this Alex Schomburg CAPTAIN AMERICA cover, it’s another excellent example of the sort of piece that he routinely generated during the golden age of comics. The sheer number of actions and details is staggering, in that none of them repeat. Cap both machine guns … Continue reading Great Covers – CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #38
A much emulated Jack Kirby cover, this THOR image is the earliest example I can find of one hero holding the dead body of somebody else (though the pose comes out of classical sculpture and painting.) The deep purple background sets a somber mood, but the white glow around the figures silhouettes them perfectly and … Continue reading Great Covers – THOR #127
For whatever reason, comic book publishers in the 1970s seem to have favored cluttered covers, packed to the gills with blurbs and copy, often to the detriment of the artwork, which was forced into a tiny space. This AMAZING ADVENTURES cover by P. Craig Russell suffers from this, yet the drawing is so delicate and … Continue reading Great Covers – AMAZING ADVENTURES #39
Another Kirby. No story in the world is going to live up to the potentials imagined by this cover image. It’s also an early example of Stan Lee’s hyperbolic cover copy, albeit in a restrained way. It’s a bit dicey to refer to your own work as a ready-made classic, after all–though Stan could usually … Continue reading Great Covers – TALES TO ASTONISH #34
Let’s talk about Jack Kirby for a moment. Kirby is pretty much the greatest creative force in comics. But as a cover artist, his efforts could be a bit uneven. Now, he did some marvelous covers, but also his share that were cluttered, oddly-composed or just ineffective. Given the number of covers he produced over … Continue reading Great Covers – THOR #155
