Thursday 22 December 2011

Your favourite cover of all time.

Weird Adventure comics #436, the Spectre looms over a giant squid as it kills a nazi field marshal and his men, Jim Aparo, my favourite comic book cover of all time
ABC front-man Martin Fry once said  you should never judge a book by its cover - or the look by the lover. Then again he also said that when Smokey sings, he hears violins. But we all know a good cover can drastically affect the level of fondness we have for a comic.

In a couple of earlier posts [1][2], I gave some examples of my favourite covers of all time, and it'll possibly come as no surprise to the sharp-eyed that my all-time favourite's probably Jim Aparo's for (Weird) Adventure Comics #436. The thing's plain beautiful and proves the Hulk is right, and green and purple really can mix.

But even I realise the Internet's not just about me. So, what's your favourite comic book cover of all time?

In a few days' from now, when everyone's had the chance to nominate their favourites, I'll post them on here and, wearing my awesome Steve Does Art Appreciation hat, I'll have a see what I think of them, and invite the comments of you, the cognoscentus* that is the Steve Does Comics Reader.


*Warning! "Cognoscentus" may not be a real word, and Steve Does Comics cannot be held responsible for any humiliation you may suffer if you try to use it in educated company.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Morning Steve. My favourite cover of all time is Adventure Comics no 336, simply because this was the very first US superhero comic I ever bought. The unmasking of Starfinger - and it turns out he's one of the LSH!! It doesn't get much more exciting than that when you're nine!

Steve W. said...

Hi, Steven.

Anonymous said...

Oh this is a real difficult one I love so many of Joe Kubert's John Romita seniors and the great Nick Cardy's excellent covers (to name but a few) but the ones that really stick in my memory are Neal Adams Superman 233 (the classic Supes bursting out of chains) and possibly my favourite Superman 252 (100 pager) with the flying heroes but that has to be viewed front and back cover to see the full illo - Darn then there's Nick Cardy's (my fav cover artist of all time) Teen Titans 16 with the Titans running past a big book?? (and TT 26 (great illo of Wonder Girl grrrrr) - Have a great Xmas & hogmanay - mCscotty

Ade Salmon said...

THE DEFENDERS # 16

Alpha the Ultimate mutant holding giant weighing scales with The Defenders on one side and Magneto and his evil mutants on the other!
( I was tempted to choose one of the Wrecking Crew Defenders covers ).

LUKE CAGE #15

Cage in chains - total blaxploitation cover with tagline CAGE GOES WILD !
Sweet sister!


SWAMP THING # 4

The Werewolf issue - a great cover dripping with atmosphere as Swampy emerges from a pile of leaves - in the background the werewolf on the moors. As a side note I think that the full page shot of the werewolf inside is the single best werewolf ever drawn in comics!

So many more covers I could choose but those are a few that have mean't something to me.

Christmas! ( as Cage would say. :)

Kid said...

Merry Christmas to you, Stevie boy.

Steve W. said...

You too.

Simon B said...

Extremely hard to choose favourites from a lifetime of reading and collecting comics. But let's try, anyway...

I'd have to start with some Kirby FF covers ( of course! )namely no.s 1, 4 and 5 ( because they're so iconic and much imitated ) and then 46 ( Inhumans ), 51 ( "This Man, This Monster" ) and 52 ( 1st Black Panther )because they're just the most perfect examples of the King's sense of design and drama. I'll also mention John Romita's cover to no. 106 ( "The Monster's Secret" ) purely because it's the first FF I ever owned and I love it!

At the risk of boring you, I'll just mention a few random faves:

Amazing Spider-Man 50 ( "Spider-Man No More" - so iconic it was copied by Sam Raimi for the big screen )and 59 - go MJ, go!

Conan no. 24 ( "The Song Of Red Sonja" ) - perfection from Barry Windsor Smith!

House Of Mystery 195, a typically creepy Berni Wrightson illustration of a man being attacked by a giant bat...

Action Comics 402 ( Superman being burned at the stake by Neal Adams... I mean Neal drew it, he wasn't personally lighting the fire... ) and 406 ( Superman's ghost by Swan / Anderson )

I would also mention a few Steranko Nick Fury covers, but I know what you think about Fury...
:-)

Ade Salmon said...

51 ( "This Man, This Monster" >.

Oh yeah GREAT choice !

Steve W. said...

Thanks for all your suggestions. The post in question has now been posted. :)