Favourite Comic Covers Part 1

DC just announced an online poll to give the fans a chance to vote for the best DC cover of all time. The deadline for voting is January 5/07, so in preparation of me casting my vote, I thought I'd post some of my fave comic covers (from all publishers, not just DC) to help me formulate my thoughts.

Certainly one of my all-time faves, both in terms of covers and the comic itself, is Avengers # 93 from 1971. There are so many things to love about this cover that I can barely type them fast enough!

You have to start by considering that the cover (and entire issue) is drawn by the great artist, Neal Adams. He's unquestionably the ultimate comic penciller of the late 60s and early 70s, as he towered head and shoulder above his peers in terms of realism, at the time. In 1971, at age 8, I doubt I appreciated how unique his style was, but I definitely knew I loved it and it became the gold standard by which I judged other artists over the next decade or more.

Then there's the image itself: The Avengers' Big Three - Captain America, Iron Man and Thor - coming to the rescue of fallen lesser light members Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and the Vision, who, incomprehensibly, are lying at the feet of the male members of the Fantastic Four! What self-respecting fan didn't need to buy that comic in order to find out the story behind the picture?

If you're like I was at eight years old, you'be certainly be wondering just what the heck a "Beach-Head Earth" is? I mean, I knew what a beach was, and a head, and the Earth, but you put them all together and I had no clue! Even though I'm sure author Roy Thomas (sort of) explained the term implicitly within the pages of the comic itself, it was years later when I was learning about World War II at school that the penny finally dropped and I got that mysterious title!

Sometime before I read the cover off my original copy (I had the coverless version as my only copy for a lot longer than that cover had ever stayed on) I probably noticed the ambiguity implied in the "... or do they??" that followed the claim that the Avengers were battling the "fabulous FF" (fabulous fantastic four? now that's hype at its finest!) Truth in advertising in the early 70s! (The 3 FF members were actually Skrulls, a dangling subplot left over from Fantastic Four # 2, ten years earlier, believe it or not!)

The cherry on the top, though, was the "All New! All Great!" text that accompanied the double-length story behind the cover. More truth in advertising, because it was entirely new material (no reprints) and it was truly great from front cover to final page, including a Fantastic Voyage homage, battles aplently, in-fighting within the ranks of the Avengers, an ending that made it seem as though all was lost, and lots more. Those square-bound 25 centers of that period were a fan's dream come true!

And in writing this post, I learned something about Avengers # 93's cover that I never knew: there were apparently two versions of it released! The common version is the one I used to accompany these words, but if you click here you can see both versions. Now that I know there's a second cover, I want to know more, and I certainly want to find one of my own!