Saturday, January 06, 2007

Least Favourite Comic Covers Part 1


Many of the "least favourites" I post here will be a type of comic cover that's not popular with me, rather than a specific cover that tops some Hate List of mine.

And Ultimate Spider-Man # 8 is just that: an example in a least loved category of cover. Marvel likes to refer to this sort of thing as an iconic image. To me, it's just cover artwork that tells me absolutely nothing about the story between the covers that the logo at the top doesn't already convey. Yeah, I know this comic is called Ultimate Spider-Man, and everybody knows Spider-Man swings around on a web, so... what happens in this issue? Does he fight Doc Ock? Is Aunt May at the mercy of the Green Goblin? Maybe Peter goes to the dentist's? Or is it all about him doing his laundry and turning all his white shirts pink by washing them with his red Spidey suit? Who'd ever know, from looking at this cover? Many of the covers in this particular series look just like this one, which makes them all equally uninteresting to me.

They say first impressions are important. A comic's cover is the first thing you see about it, and often plays a part in whether you want to pick it up and look through it, or even potentially buy it. Nothing about this cover intrigued me, and so it's not surprising I don't actually own this comic! (Incidentally, this is the first cover I've highlighted that I don't have a copy of.)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't mind Spidey-swinging covers once in a while (Amazing has done a couple, I think) but the basic look of the Ultimate series has always turned me off. That one is particularly ugly though. I don't mind manga in general, but can't see any redeeming qualities about this stylized take on our favourite wall-crawler. And what's he got in his hands, magic smoke vines?

Tammy said...

Plus it's a total crotch shot

Jimmy said...

It looks like spidey is actually one of the teenage mutant ninja turtles in that pose. What's with the big head, and small rounded shoulders?

Kimota94 aka Matt aka AgileMan said...

Yeah, I didn't even get in to the aesthetics of the picture, which are of a style (manga-ish) that I really have no love for. But that's another rant!

Anonymous said...

I agree...I hate the style...goofy, uninteresting...an abomination of our web-slinging hero.

If they want that kind of picture, then have the damned sense of decency to rename the series "Ultimate Spider-freak" (in no way a connection to the beloved Amazing Spider-man)