WIZARD'S 100 Greatest Covers

[BradleyX2]

 

 

 

100 Best Covers #27: Amazing Spider-Man #129 (1973)

 

 

 

 

Gil Kane and John Romita Sr.'s stark image of the Punisher took deadly aim at Spider-Man *and* the Comics Code, which had been clamping down on comic violence for over 20 years. "When I designed the Punisher's costume, I expected to be asked to put a mask on him," says Romita Sr. "Isn't that funny?"

[BradleyX2]

 

 

 

100 Best Covers #26: Vault of Horror #37 (1953)

 

 

 

 

This spectacular Johnny Craig cover shows you a worm's-eye view of one poor sap who's decided to hang it all up. Using haunting perspective, the hangman's rope stretches into blackness, sending shivers up many readers' spines. "The EC artists were so damn good, the images were hard to escape from," recalls John Romita Sr.

[Jgel]

 

100 Best Covers #28: Marvels #4 (1993)

 

 

 

 

Alex Ross employed a crafty design using Spidey's trademark eye to reveal his nemesis, the Green Goblin. "What's important is the iconography of Spider-Man, to recognize him simply by the eye design," says Ross. "In that point of my career, I was adamant about removing this large-eye craze that was taking over all of Spider-Man's books."

 

 

Funny because this is one of my all time fav. covers.

[s-man]

 

 

100 Best Covers #26: Vault of Horror #37 (1953)

 

 

 

 

This spectacular Johnny Craig cover shows you a worm's-eye view of one poor sap who's decided to hang it all up. Using haunting perspective, the hangman's rope stretches into blackness, sending shivers up many readers' spines. "The EC artists were so damn good, the images were hard to escape from," recalls John Romita Sr.

 

Sorry...but a hanging dead guy cover?

[Bonds25]

Sorry...but a hanging dead guy cover?

 

It's an amazing cover with a great use of perspective, and is by one of the best comic artists of all time. Better than half of the modern dreck that's been posted.

[BradleyX2]

 

 

 

100 Best Covers #25: Captain America #241 (1980)

 

 

 

 

They're comics' Odd Couple. Captain America, who holds human life sacred, and Punisher, who caps criminals at the drop of a hat. When you see this pair on Frank Miller and Bob McLeod's cover, ya gotta pick it up. And when Punisher's pointing an assault rifle at Cap, all while standing on the Avenger's shield (which, like tugging on Superman's cape, is a no-no), the comic becomes worth it for the cover alone.

[s-man]

Sorry...but a hanging dead guy cover?

 

It's an amazing cover with a great use of perspective, and is by one of the best comic artists of all time. Better than half of the modern dreck that's been posted.

 

Cant argue with you about the modern dreck...wonder how they came up with this list?? Who were the "experts"??

[Aces]

 

 

100 Best Covers #30: Avengers #221 (1982)

 

 

 

 

Curious to see who makes the team? This interactive cover by Bob Hall does its job. Spider-Man? Cool! Wolverine? He's on the X-Men! Invisible Woman...? "I love the fact that there's a blank spot showing the Invisible Woman actually invisible," laughs FATHOM creator Mike Turner. "It lured me in."

 

I hate covers like that.

[Aces]

Sorry...but a hanging dead guy cover?

 

It's an amazing cover with a great use of perspective, and is by one of the best comic artists of all time. Better than half of the modern dreck that's been posted.

 

I argee completely!

I was about to throw up at the modern I was seeing but that drew me back in.

I don't particually like pre-code horror, but that cover grabs you.

[Aces]

 

 

100 Best Covers #25: Captain America #241 (1980)

 

 

 

 

They're comics' Odd Couple. Captain America, who holds human life sacred, and Punisher, who caps criminals at the drop of a hat. When you see this pair on Frank Miller and Bob McLeod's cover, ya gotta pick it up. And when Punisher's pointing an assault rifle at Cap, all while standing on the Avenger's shield (which, like tugging on Superman's cape, is a no-no), the comic becomes worth it for the cover alone.

 

Cap says:

 

"Get your filthy boot off my shield purple haired boy, or you'll be eating that assualt rifle for lunch!"

[BradleyX2]

Cant argue with you about the modern dreck...wonder how they came up with this list?? Who were the "experts"??

 

 

The article is credited to "The WIZARD staff".

 

I'll go ahead and and reprint the text they used to introduce this list:

 

 

We can't even begin to tell you the pure labor of love it's been putting together this mammoth list spanning over 70 years of comic covers. We rummaged through every Golden, Silver, Bronze and Modern Age cover book and back-issue bin we could get out grubby little hands on to be as thorough as possible. This list took up three months of out lives, producing a master list of nearly 400 covers. You shoulda seen our lobby walls caked with color Xeroxes of covers over 10 feet high!

It's been a joy to celebrate what we feel are the best of the bunch. In our minds, the criteria goes like this:

1. The cover must be from a normal comic cover. No oversized books, no trade paperbacks.

2. No nostalgia. It must engage you enough to want to buy it, without any knowledge of its interior content.

3. It must have clarity, meaning no clutter and lots of contrast. We judged not only the art, but coloring and text blurbs.

4. You'll notice more Silver, Bronze, and Modern Age covers than Golden Age. Just like the commercial art field's novels and movie posters, comic covers have improved with more clever design and rendering. The Golden Age, as a whole, doesn't hold up as well.

We can't wait to hear your thoughts on it (e-mail us at Top100Covers@aol.com to give us feedback). Go ahead and flip through these pages for a real treat - you may not have seen some of these covers before, but we guarantee you'll like what you see.

[BradleyX2]

 

 

 

100 Best Covers #24: Incredible Hulk #345 (1988)

 

 

 

 

Get outta the way! On this cover, artist Todd McFarlane focuses on the Hulk's, uh, hulking frame by making him almost too big for the cover to contain! Very clever interaction with the logo to further emphasize the behemoth's lumbering approach. No wonder McFarlane tallied four covers on the list.

[ultimatevenom]

If that cover comes 24th in the top 100 best comic covers, then i can't wait for number 1.

 

I bet it will be a modern book they are hyping.

[Bonds25]

Cant argue with you about the modern dreck...wonder how they came up with this list?? Who were the "experts"??

 

 

4. You'll notice more Silver, Bronze, and Modern Age covers than Golden Age. Just like the commercial art field's novels and movie posters, comic covers have improved with more clever design and rendering. The Golden Age, as a whole

 

What a stupid stupid statement. These geniuses think that a cameltoe cover of Emma Frost holds up better than a Schomburg, Lou Fine or L.B. Cole cover?

[ultimatevenom]

Cant argue with you about the modern dreck...wonder how they came up with this list?? Who were the "experts"??

 

 

4. You'll notice more Silver, Bronze, and Modern Age covers than Golden Age. Just like the commercial art field's novels and movie posters, comic covers have improved with more clever design and rendering. The Golden Age, as a whole

 

What a stupid stupid statement. These geniuses think that a cameltoe cover of Emma Frost holds up better than a Schomburg, Lou Fine or L.B. Cole cover?

 

Golden Age covers are much better IMHO than that drek today.

 

Give me a classic Silver Streak with the 'Claw' on the cover

[lou_fine]

Cant argue with you about the modern dreck...wonder how they came up with this list?? Who were the "experts"??

 

 

4. You'll notice more Silver, Bronze, and Modern Age covers than Golden Age. Just like the commercial art field's novels and movie posters, comic covers have improved with more clever design and rendering. The Golden Age, as a whole

 

What a stupid stupid statement. These geniuses think that a cameltoe cover of Emma Frost holds up better than a Schomburg, Lou Fine or L.B. Cole cover?

 

Golden Age covers are much better IMHO than that drek today.

 

Give me a classic Silver Streak with the 'Claw' on the cover

 

Yes, this list looks nowhere like the list done up in a 1993 issue of CBM asking readers for their Top 5 covers of all time. I think my top 5 included books such as 'Tec #31, Superman #14, Silver Streak #6, Punch #12, etc. Way too many GA classic cover books to even start thinking about the modern books.

 

On another topic, has anybody seen Jerry Weist's book entitled "100 Greatest Comic Books". This is mentioned in the latest issue of CBM (#112) and is based upon a poll from a cross section of collectors, pros, historians, retailers, and fans. The criteria includes historical impact, quality, intoduction of new concepts, rarity, and popularity. Apparently the #1 choice is A_t_o_ C_m_c_ #1. Now that should be easy enough for everybody to guess.

 

Now, this second list by Weist should be a lot more informative and thought provoking then any Top 100 list generated by the geniuses at Wizard.

[BradleyX2]

 

 

100 Best Covers #23: New Teen Titans #39 (1984)

 

 

 

 

There's no doubting the message of this George Parez cover: Robin and Kid Flash quit. "I had to get permission from DC, which was a little antsy about having the logo obscured," says Perez. "Part of the inspiration for that cover was John Romita's cover to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #50, with Spider-Man walking away."

[Jagull]

some of these books really dont deserve being in here

 

after all this is done, we gonna come up with our own?

[Jgel]

some of these books really dont deserve being in here

 

after all this is done, we gonna come up with our own?

 

I said this before. We need to do our fav's after this is over

[Susanville]

 

100 Best Covers #23: New Teen Titans #39 (1984)

 

 

 

 

There's no doubting the message of this George Parez cover: Robin and Kid Flash quit. "I had to get permission from DC, which was a little antsy about having the logo obscured," says Perez. "Part of the inspiration for that cover was John Romita's cover to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #50, with Spider-Man walking away."

 

I've gotta disagree with Wizard here... I actually have some doubt about this cover. Sure, you could think, "Hey, Robin and Kid Flash quit." Or you could think, "Hey, Robin and Kid Flash like to get undressed together." Either way, I'm not so sure...