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Fair warning: LONG post ahead! (From me?! Surely not! )

First off, excellent thread, Sentinel!! It's fun to see everyone's picks for favorite covers - and, to me the more interesting part: the reasons behind those choices. What's struck me throughout this thread is what the determining factors are in people's choices - what "makes a great cover" in other people's eyes.

To me, the biggest question that runs through my head when trying to pick out favorite covers is: does this cover make me want to buy this issue? Is it visually captivating and enticing enough to make me want to plunk down my own money just to see what's inside? Now, I know that's pretty much the goal of every comic cover (or at least, it should be) but that bar is set pretty high for me in most cases. For the most part, the "*Gasp*, what's happening here?! Batman with his head in a vice grip?!" type covers don't actually do much for me (with one obvious exception below ). I'm looking for something that visually captures my eye, something that elicits a reaction from my monkey-brain - be it fear, awe, anger, happiness, lust or (the big one for me) humor. I discovered in the course of thinking back over the covers that pulled me in and searching out these covers that it's very much a visual thing for me - not so much with the "Amazing Story Inside!!!" or other such multi-exclamation point tag lines, but a stunning (or humorous) visual that draws me in. Don't tell me, show me - or at least, show me just enough to pique my curiosity. As you'll notice, several of the covers below are essentially wordless save for the titles and/or artists. Guess I'm much more visually oriented then I thought. LOL

Anyway, I discovered that a few of my all time favs were already covered here (pardon the pun) so I'll skip those. (And in sticking with my promise to a certain lavender feline, I'll avoid the infamous Pink Batman cover. ). But here's a few of my all time favorites.

As I said before, humor is a big draw for me - always has been. I enjoy a little "funny" in my funny books. And to me, there was one series that opened that door for me, that showed me the joy in a great Superhero story with copious amounts of humor: The Sensational She-Hulk (1989 - 1994). And to me, nothing epitomizes the true humor, fun and joy of this series than the first issue's cover - which in turn, generated one of the funniest last issue covers of all time - I've included both in the picture below:

She-hulk #1 & #60

(I also wanted to point this one out, just for Catty - Sensational She-Hulk #19. The story arc involved a rather pointed jab at the press revolving around the release of the first Batman movie and a female character based on a combination of Batman and Wolverine called "Nosferata". The reason I wanted to point it out: the similarities to another now-infamous word-play moment involving a certain feline and a certain *ahem* Bat-substitute. )


As most of you know, I'm a big Arthur/Aquaman fan and as tempting as it was to pick the Vol 2, Issue 2 cover (where he lost his hand), in sticking with the "Humor's the big draw" factor, I'll instead offer up:

Aquaman (Vol. 2) #38.
The look on Arthur's face is worth the cover price alone.

Then of course, there's the unintentionally funny covers - the ones that were supposed to be serious covers that - for whatever reason - just made me laugh out loud. Superdickery.com is full of these covers (including, once again, the infamous Pink Batman cover) but there's one from a more recent JLA Annual that just had me rolling -because, as I've long said: Monkeys = Funny.

JLA Annual #3

The last in my humorous cover selections is from the Marvel series "What If?" - essentially Marvel's Elseworlds series (or, I suppose, the Elseworlds stuff is DC's answer to the What If? Series - but I digress...). There were two main runs of this title (aside from a few one-shots/mini's over the years): one that started in 1977 and one that started around 1989. In both runs, Issue #34 became their prerequisite "funny" issue - where they took shots at everything from Marvel canon, DC heroes, pop culture and the comic industry in general. Though the first series Issue #34 started it all, it's the second series Issue #34 cover that makes my list:

What If?! (Vol. 2) #34

The character in question is Uatu - Marvel's infamous Watcher and narrator for most of the What If? Series. Yes, he's The Watcher - guess what he does.

Shifting focus now, I'll move away from the funny-bone ticklers and onto the "visually captivating" side of things. As I mentioned above, it's the mysterious, captivating visuals that tend to draw me in. And I've noticed during the course of this little venture that it appears that it tends to be the minimalist approach that draws my attention more. Not the big-bang, monster covers with huge characters in an epic struggle kind of thing but the simple - single figures in strange or powerful situations, interesting lighting/coloring techniques, etc. These are the things that poke that monkey-brain sense of intrigue.

The first selection is actually a trio of covers - all done by Alex Ross. As I'm sure comes to no surprise to anyone around here I'm a huge Ross fan - I enjoy his "photorealistic" style of painting and he's managed to do some absolutely remarkable "superhero" style shots that simply jump off the page yet still look completely real and plausible.

As far as the covers go - the first is the obvious (and the exception to the "minimalist" rule I mentioned above): the Crisis on Infinite Earths Hardcover edition he recently did with George Perez. Ross himself has called this work his crowning achievement and it's easy to see why - almost every single character ever existing in the DCU in one three-fold cover painting.
Breathtaking: Crisis on Infinite Earths HC.
(I know this one is a little small, but Photobucket has a size limit restriction and the original is friggin' HUGE. For more detail, you can find a fully "interactive" view of the entire cover at DC's webpage here. I highly recommend giving it a look-see. To really get the impact, you need to see the detail they used.)

The next two are from Ross's two first major projects for each of the big publishers. The first is from his "breakout" series "Marvels". The cover in question is actually from the hardcover collection of all 5 issues, but this was my first introduction to his work and the cover is what dragged me to it in the first place. After buying and reading the hardcover, I immediately went out and found all 5 original issues.

Marvels HC

The second cover is from Ross's DC vehicle Kingdom Come. I enjoyed the story and loved the art throughout the book, but the one cover that completely floored me was Issue 4:

Kingdom Come #4
It's just an absolutely haunting image of Superman - the simple red and black, the smoke surrounding his body and the obvious strength and anger pouring off the page. Sends a chill up my spine every time I see it.


Similar to the Alex Ross KC cover above, but from another artist - Ron Garney - and another series - JLA. This is from the (unfortunately) atrocious "Pain of the Gods" series recently run in JLA. However painful the comic was, the cover to Issue #104 was one of the most amazing pictures of J'onn I've ever seen. Again, rather minimalist and dark, but absolutely stunning.

JLA #104

Another semi-recent JLA cover that made my list.
JLA #43
A little more in-depth than the previous examples, but still a solitary character. This is the start of the Tower of Babel story arc - the infamous Protocols story. I really liked the power and imagery on this cover - Ra's standing alone (looking remarkably imperial, I must say) with the empty costumes of the JLA members draped over crucifixes. Again, another stunning visual.

The next cover is one that holds a special importance for me. Looking back at it now, I realize this is the one cover that probably started my love for this "minimalist" style - a simple, striking and haunting image. Back around 1987-88, a really good friend of mine - and the one person responsible for getting me hooked on comics in the first place - and I were hanging out at his house, reading comics, watching movies, playing around... y'know, standard teenager crap. He turned to me and said: "Oh! Here, you've got to read this series. It's incredible!" He placed an issue in my hand and I glanced down at the cover:
Watchmen #1
... only to see a simple yellow smiley face with a blood-splatter across the front. The simple imagery of it rocked me to my core. It took me a moment to realize that the "simple" red background was actually a pool of blood that the smiley face was sitting in. I was literally breathless - this wasn't Superman, standing triumphant with his hands on his hips or Batman swinging across the Gotham skyline; this was something wholly knew - and I knew that this comic could very well change my entire perception of the comic medium. And that was just from the cover. I'd never seen anything like it in a comic book before (it wasn't until years later that I discovered the old "Strange Tales" stuff that had been around forever. ). And to be honest, I don't think I'd have been so enthralled with the series (as I still am) had it not been for that simple, jarring first issue cover.


The last cover is another one that holds a special meaning. The year was 1982 and a small, pudgy nine-year-old boy climbed into the seat of his friend's father's piss-yellow Plymouth Volare, birthday money still burning a hole in his pocket. The friend - also with soon-to-be vanished birthday money (and, incidentally, the same friend that would shock the young boy 5 years later with a strange comic called Watchmen) climbed in behind him, both boys eager for the journey upon which they were about to embark. As they rode, they twittered back and forth about the trip and the prospect of spending their own money on something that would be unequivocally theirs - not something their parents bought them, not something someone had given them as a gift - it would be just theirs. Almost shaking from the excitement, the two boys tumbled out of the car as soon as they had reached their destination - the newsstand store (it would be years before the town in which they lived would get an actual comic shop). They hurried through the doors, as if spending too much time outside would make the bills in their pockets magically disappear. They both rushed to the rack near the back of the store, then froze instantly, the brightly-colored images dancing in their eyes. The boy, staring mouth agape at the unbelievable mountain of choices in front of him, scanned the shelves, looking for a familiar image - his favorite hero (whose very symbol adorned the Underoos he wore nightly to bed). But there were so many covers, so many different comics - characters and images he'd never seen before, names he didn't know or could even pronounce. He felt himself drawn to them all - he wanted to get them all and take them home and read them again and again. But then, amidst all the others, he saw it - the one familiar character he'd been looking for: Batman! Only, this wasn't the Batman from the SuperFriends cartoon and it wasn't the same "Gosh, old chum" Batman from that strange TV show he loved so much... this was a different Batman. This Batman was unbelievably strong looking; huge muscles, gripped in a fierce battle, dark features on his face - a much more powerful looking character. And he wasn't smiling, he wasn't jauntily driving along in his cool-looking Batmobile, he bestest chum Robin at his side. No, this Batman was in trouble - he had a huge chain around his neck that he was struggling against, his bestest chum Robin, tied up behind him. And Catwoman... in a cape?!? And some strange guy with them (that turned out to be some guy named "King Faraday"). And behind them all was a young girl, kneeling on the floor and crying into her hands, a strange, only partially-visible man standing behind her telling her to make a choice. Well, that was obviously the villain! But if that was the villain, then who was holding the chain that bound Batman?!? The boy had to read it - this was what this magical journey had been about!

And that young boy... was some kid named Roger Holloway who lived in Skokie, Illinois... Just kidding. Of course it was me. And this was the issue that started it all - my 20+ year love affair with the comic version of Batman.

Batman #334

I wish I could say I still had the issue - but I was nine years old at the time (Mylar and Backboards? What're they, some New Agey group?!?) and apparently, Mother Nature doesn't really care if it's your prized possession or not - a comic book folded in your back pocket as you splash around in the rain and roll around in puddles isn't going to last too long. That issue was well-loved, well-read and well-worn by the time it (quite literally) disintegrated and others like it were long since forgotten, sold, lost or similarly destroyed - until I got back into comics several years later. But I'll never forget that one issue that began a life-long obsession with that broody, lovable, pointy-eared freak.