America's first glimpse at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 1984
It is a foregone conclusion that ‘greatest anything lists’ are nothing more than opinion. Sure, there are those that put it out to a vote first, but that’s still subject to not only personal taste but a limited range of what the polled have been exposed to. Hence my motivation to present my top 20 of what I think are the most eye-grabbing comic book covers in my lifetime. The criteria was a cover for a single issue that I have actually read. So no graphic novels and no characters or arcs I’m not familiar with. Also, no variant re-interpretation or parody of a famous cover. (Which hurts Deadpool soooo bad.) Most importantly, however, was that the content inside met the expectations the cover created. Covers outside this criteria that I still like will be mentioned at the end of each installment.
#12.) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 – Never before has there been such a straight-forward title and cover image for a first issue. The shadowy image, originally a lark between creators Eastman and Laird that paid homage to Frank Miller’s work on Daredevil, shows four upright turtles with weapons and attitude – and inside was thirty pages of black and white ninja action. Eastmen and Laird recreated this cover for issue #50, the first part of the 13 issue arc ‘City at War.’ (The poster of which hangs in my home office.)
#11.) Batman: The Long Halloween #13 – Issue #1 showcased a jack-o-lantern whose grin was the shape of a bat, and the title refers to the trying year Batman, Gordon and Dent try to bring down the Falcone crime family that ultimately ends in tragedy. So it is fitting that the final issue’s cover is a half decayed jack-o-lantern, representing the corrupted half of Harvey Dent’s psyche.
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#10.) Green Lantern #49 – The image of Hal Jordan, a devious grin from ear to ear, admiring a plethora of Green Lantern rings whose bearers he’s murdered, casts the hero as the harbinger of death for the Corps in Emerald Twilight’s middle chapter. Ret-conned years later that Jordan was under the influence of an entity known as Parallax, it’s always a page turner when the hero becomes the villain regardless of the reason.
#9.) Amazing Spider-Man #258 – The truth about the costume that forever split fan preference for Spidey’s digs was revealed 6 months after its appearance to be a living, symbiotic life form. This issue’s cover foreshadows Peter’s internal struggle between his trademark strength of character, represented by the classic red and blue, and the alien’s intoxicating influence, represented by the ‘modern’ black and white.
Technicality Runner-Up: Deadpool #11 – My criteria hinders Deadpool’s cover gallery the most since his best covers are satirical takes on classic covers. Often times the cover has nothing to do with the Merc with the Mouth’s story inside, but this parody of Amazing Fantasy #15 actually prepares the reader well for a time warp romp where Deadpool takes the place of 1970’s Peter Parker. Disco Deadpool wackiness.
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