The Real Top 70 Marvel Covers: #20-11

We're almost at the end of our countdown of the top 70 covers in Marvel's long history. Today we hit #20-11, the last stop before the fabled top ten. Will your favorite covers make it to the pinnacle? Check in and find out. And, as always, click on the images to enlarge for a better look at these timeless classics.

Plus, as a shortcut, here's the Real Top 70 Marvel Cover Master List.


20) Amazing Spider-man #39

Two days ago we saw the second half of this classic storyline; today, the first chapter takes its rightful place on the list. One of the most famous covers in Spider-man history is also the first cover of the series done by Jazzy John Romita. Talk about making a good first impression. The beautiful graded blue sky behind the characters is the perfect backdrop for the jaw dropping image of Spider-man captured and unmasked by his arch-enemy. For once, the cover blurb from Stan trumpeting a comic book first wasn't hyperbole but a mere statement of fact.









19) X-Men #101

Dave Cockrum provides this great cover, heralding the beginning of the Phoenix storyline and the transformation of boring old Marvel Girl into a force of nature that would help propel X-Men from a struggling, already-canceled-once series into a multi-media powerhouse. To stretch the metaphor, it's almost as though the series itself is rising from the ashes with this cover (which, incidentally, comes on the heels of another great cover for #100 that just missed making the list).










18) Hulk Special #1

Oh, Jim Steranko. There's a reason he's one of the most acclaimed artists in comic history, and this cover is just another bit of proof that factors into that verdict. It's also another example of how Steranko draws Hulk better than any man alive or dead, so it's a shame he didn't have more chances to do it (his Captain America #110 cover showed up on the list yesterday and his awesome Hulk cover for Foom #2 just missed the list; plus, that's technically not a comic book anyway). This cover was recently homaged on the first issue of Incredible Hercules by Art Adams to excellent effect.








17) Captain America #25

The most recent cover on our list comes from the Death of Captain America. Like New Avengers #1 and Spider-man #1, this is one of the few great covers that had to compete against variants for attention, just one of the many, many reasons I dislike variants. It's also another example of how creative design work that incorporates the logo can be a beautiful thing (and one of three such examples from today's section of top covers). But mainly, it's just a powerful, iconic image -- you don't even need to see anything but Cap's open, chained hand to know what happened. It's a bold choice, to focus so intently on such a small aspect of the overall scene, and it paid off beautifully here.







16) Incredible Hulk #340

Todd McFarlane appears again, this time with the cover that made him famous. Now, I'm not much of a Wolverine fan, but this cover pretty much defines the time period it came from. Just as Wolverine was really becoming a corporate juggernaut and Marvel was starting to seriously pimp him out in crossovers and guest appearances, Todd McFarlane was also on the cusp, getting some buzz for his earlier work but not yet becoming a superstar. This cover was the perfect marriage of the two elements, and helped push both the character and the creator -- Wolverine and McFarlane -- into the stratosphere. Incredible Hulk #340 was voted the #1 cover of all time by the dudes who put together the official top cover list, and while I think their rankings were out of whack, I can't deny the legacy of this cover.






15) Amazing Spider-man #50

The second John Romita entry today is the startling and evocative cover for issue #50. From a storytelling perspective, this issue signaled an important change in perspective for the series as a whole. It introduced the Kingpin as a major villain and while Peter eventually decided to return to his role as Spider-man, the soul-searching in this issue marked a more mature take on the character; he was no longer the geeky high school student that he had been under Ditko, instead he was a college-bound young adult. This cover from Romita perfectly illustrates this new maturity and has become one of the best known and most homaged covers in Marvel history as a result.







14) Secret Wars #10

We've been getting a double-barrel dose of Mike Zeck all week, but this time he's hitting us with a full scale thermonuclear assault. This cover, showing Dr. Doom's battle against the Beyonder, just about knocked me out cold when I first saw it as a kid and for a whole generation of comic fans it remains the definitive image of Dr. Doom. It's also one of the coolest covers ever, a fitting way to wind up Secret Wars considering how many memorable and classic covers Zeck produced for that series alone. It might not be the #1 cover of all time, but it's probably the #1 most kickass cover of all time.








13) X-Men #141

Just as Secret Wars #10 was the pinnacle of a great run of covers from Zeck, X-Men #141 is the cap stone for an epic series of covers from John Byrne. Starting with the "Phoenix grabbing the logo" cover for #135, Byrne turned out one masterpiece after another; even the covers with a less dramatic image, like #139, are famous for the text instead. But as cool as covers like "Exit Cyclops" on #138 and the covers that have already appeared on this list are, none of them can match #141 for importance, popularity or flat out visual sweetness. Arguably the most famous X-Men cover of all time, which is saying something.








12) Avengers #4

As I've mentioned before, Captain America's flag costume lends itself to the creation of iconic covers. It's no surprise, then, that the return of Cap to the pages of Marvel after almost a decade of dormancy was heralded with a great cover from Jack Kirby. Strangely, it's not really his cleanest work; it almost seems a bit rushed and rough around the edges in some ways. Yet, this just adds to the feeling of frenetic energy the viewer gets from the image of Cap leaping straight at you, ready to kick your ass if it needs kicking (and from what I hear, it does). Even the elements that maybe shouldn't work, like the inset of Namor, work anyway, and the Frankenstein shout of "Captain America Lives Again!" just adds to the primal call. In other words: hell yeah!






11) Marvel Spotlight #5

This is one of my favorite covers for several reasons, but let's start right at the most basic part: Mike Ploog's art and the great character design for Ghost Rider. Then, we can look at the cover design. This cover is one of the best examples of why I love the frame period in Marvel covers. By all rights, there is way too much text going on here; yet, thanks to the frame, the words and blurbs don't detract from the image, as they are kept separate. In addition, the frame allows Ploog to have Ghost Rider himself break the frame to bleed out and up into the logo. The effect of this is that Ghost Rider almost appears to be coming right off the page; it's a like a 3-D effect without the need for glasses. One of the most striking covers of the day and another bit of anecdotal evidence to suggest that having a great cover for a character's first appearance goes a long way to making that character a success.





Tomorrow: This is it, folks -- the top ten Marvel covers of all time! Will your favorites be there? Will ALF #1 end up taking the top prize? Tune in tomorrow to find out!

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The Real Top 70 Marvel Covers: #30-21

Previously on the real top 70 Marvel cover countdown: we looked at a slew of awesome comic book covers from Marvel's 70 year history. Today: we do more of that, only now we're up into the top 30. Today's buzzword: Jim Steranko. Technically that's two words, but whatever. On with the show! And, as always, you can click on most of these covers to make them bigger and more majestic. It's like internet viagra.

And for a shortcut, here's the Real Top 70 Marvel Cover Master List.


30) Secret Wars #1

Mike Zeck brings us another classic from the Secret Wars mini-series. Of all the work Zeck has done, nothing illustrates the disparity between his cover work and his interior work like Secret Wars. I've mentioned it before, but it's really striking in this series. That's not to say that his interiors are bad; they just don't (or maybe can't) live up to the sweet covers he was dropping during this classic run.











29) Captain America #110

This was the first of Steranko's three issues of Captain America, and the second of those three covers to appear on our list. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm not a big Hulk fan, but for my money nobody ever drew Hulk as well as Jim Steranko. Even I would buy a Steranko Hulk comic. This is even better, though: it's got Hulk in it, but it mostly has Captain America, so that's a win-win for everyone. This is how Hulk should be used, after all: as a scary bad guy busting stuff up in other people's comics.










28) Amazing Spider-man #129

And now, here's Gil Kane. Considering Kane is one of the great cover artists of all time, it's surprising how few Kane covers have made the list. This is perhaps his most recognizable. It's not notable just for the first appearance of Punisher -- who, say what you will, has a striking costume design -- but also for being one of the best uses ever of the "hero in the gun crosshairs" motif we discussed a couple days ago. Plus, the cover is yellow, which is the best color for covers in my opinion. Nothing gets my blood flowing like a nice yellow cover. Mmmmm.









27) Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #6

You pretty much can't go wrong with any of Steranko's classic SHIELD covers, but while this isn't the most famous of the batch, it is certainly my favorite. For my money this is one of the coolest comic book covers of all time. That giant moon and the exploding Earth in the background... just beautiful.














26) Uncanny X-Men #137

Here's a classic case of what might have been. This cover is among the most famous in the long and storied history of X-Men, partially because of the story inside but mainly because of how well this cover dramatizes that story. As I've mentioned previously, Byrne was in the midst of a nearly unparalleled run of great covers (perhaps matched only by Steranko on SHIELD and Captain America or Kirby on Fantastic Four), turning in one classic after another. X-Men #137 should have been his crowning achievement. However... then they put that godawful banner on the top. It's a testament to the power of Byrne's image that it isn't completely ruined by the banner, but this is a cover that could have been one of the top ten great covers in Marvel history if marketing and terrible design hadn't conspired to crap all over it.





25) Fantastic Four #48

Yesterday we saw Jack Kirby knocking it out of the park on the dynamic, action filled cover of Fantastic Four #49. Today we step back one month to the set-up, and once again Kirby is knocking socks off. This time, though, it's the pervasive mood of foreboding on this cover that really hits home. You just want to tear open the comic and find out what terror is so frightening that even the Fantastic Four and the damned Watcher are recoiling in fright. And the masses of people gather on the rooftops in the background just add another layer. Whatever is going on, you know it's epic. A great effort from Kirby.








24) Spider-man #1

Todd McFarlane makes his first appearance on the list with perhaps the most ubiquitous image of the 90's: the cover of his massive mega-hit Spider-man #1. of course, that series left a somewhat bitter legacy, as it began the artist-first era, including the creation of Image and the explosion of the collector's market, all of which eventually led to the near-collapse of Marvel and the entire comic industry as they all chased a cheap buck. So that part is a bit of a negative. But the cover itself still stands up. The existence of multiple variants dilutes it only slightly, but since they are all essentially the same image, we're going to count them as one cover. I prefer this classic version to the black costume, so here it is.






23) Marvel Comics #1

It's only fitting that the comic that launched the entire company should be represented, so it's fortunate that the cover of Marvel Comics #1 is actually pretty cool in its own right. The pulp influence is obvious; indeed, if it didn't have the word "comics" in the logo, you'd be hard pressed to tell from the cover that this isn't a pulp magazine rather than a comic book, which makes sense as it was painted by pulp artist Frank R. Paul. But as out there as some of the sci-fi pulps were getting at the time, the image of the Human Torch burning through his containment shield and melting the bullets as they hit him is still fantastic in a way unique to comics. A great way to kick off the company.








22) Fantastic Four #51

Another month, another all-time classic cover from the pen of Jack Kirby. "This Man, This Monster" has long been hailed as one of the greatest stories in Marvel history, and this evocative cover of an emotionally defeated Ben Grimm is the perfect gateway to that tale. The only tiny quibble I might have with this is the use of the grey-tone machinery in the background, which is a pet peeve due to total overuse during the time period (check out Avengers #36 for a particularly egregious example). But in this case, it actually works, as does the pleading figure of Sue. After the literally Earth-shattering stories and covers of the Galactus trilogy, this sudden shift to the drama of the human heart is like a punch to the gut.







21) Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #4

Jim Steranko lands his third cover of the day with this classic cover. This is essentially the apex of Steranko's mod design work, and the psychedelic, black and white background forms a perfect contrast to the somewhat stiff, conventional color figure of Nick Fury. It's justly famous as one of the most innovative and striking covers of the time period, and has been homaged and referenced untold times since.











Tomorrow: The top 20! More Zeck! More Steranko! More Byrne! What the hell, didn't anyone else ever draw and good covers for God's sake? Time is running out for your favorite covers. Will they be in the top twenty? Tune in tomorrow to find out!

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The Real Top 70 Marvel Covers: #60-51

We're counting down the real top 70 Marvel covers of all time as scientifically determined by yours truly. Of course, it's Marvel science, not real science, so there may be some unstable molecules involved in my thought process. Yesterday we counted down #70-61 and saw some great covers by legendary artists such as Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko and John Byrne. If that doesn't whet your appetite for today's smorgasbord of visual delights, I don't know what will; and don't forget, most of these you can click on to enlarge in order to drink in the goodness. And for a shortcut, here's the Real Top 70 Marvel Cover Master List.

On with the show!


60) Thor #126

Yesterday we brought you the cover of Thor #127; today it's #126 making an appearance on the chart. This mega throwdown between Thor and Hercules, but Jack "King" Kirby himself, was a great way to kick off Thor's new title -- this was the first issue after they dropped the Journey Into Mystery name and dedicated the book permanently to Thor. That helped clean up the design by removing the unnecessary textual clutter at the top; Kirby dynamism did the rest. This was part of a classic run on Thor that went on for several issues as Thor met and fought the Olympian pantheon and it brought out some of Kirby's best work. For another great cover that just barely missed our list, I recommend checking out the grandeur that is Thor #130.






59) Conan #24

This was the final issue of Barry Windsor-Smith's classic run on Conan, and what a way to go out. Voted by readers at the time as one of the top five covers of the year, this beautiful cover has only gotten better with age (and if you're wondering what cover beat it out in the vote, don't worry; that cover is on the list as well). Smith's excellent line work and tremendous attention to detail is balanced by the striking use of color here, making this one of the most visually appealing of his many great Conan covers.










58) Fantastic Four #112

Well, it's the Thing vs. the Hulk and as the cover says, that's about "'NUFF SAID". I will add, however, that the all-black background really makes this cover, but it doesn't necessarily make this cover unique; Thing had previously shown up on an almost identical cover a couple years earlier over on Sub-mariner #8. To be honest, I think the Sub-mariner cover is slightly more dynamic, as I like the angle and poses better. However, this cover has Hulk instead of Namor and that pretty much makes the difference for most fans. a striking and well remembered cover to be sure, rendered nicely by John Buscema. Interestingly, Buscema also did the cover for Sub-mariner #8 and would revisit this basic design idea -- heroes fighting each other on a black background -- several other times to even better effect, as we will see later in this countdown.





57) Iron Man #76

Ari Granov brings us this iconic image from 2004. Of all the covers on this list, Iron Man #76 is probably the least well known among comic fans in terms of the actual cover. It's particularly interesting, then, to note that this image is probably also the most well known and famous of all the images on this list among non-comics fans. That, of course, is due to the fact that the ubiquitous poster for the blockbuster hit film Iron Man was a exact recreation of this cover, only photographed. As it happens, though, the original cover is pretty awesome in its own right.









56) Alpha Flight #12

John Byrne shows up for what is certainly not his first or last cover on our list. It is, however, the only one that features Alpha Flight. Here, Byrne uses the classic comic motif of a character appearing inside a gun sight and stretches it as far as it can go. Add to that the blinding neon background and you have a cover that is both memorable and instantly recognizable for a legion of comics fans -- and that's without even mentioning the famous story inside the comic. Yes, believe it or not, Alpha Flight was once actually cool.










55) X-Men #136

Speaking of John Byrne and recurring cover motifs, here's another pieta image, this time featuring Cyclops and Dark Phoenix. This storyline is so well known that it can be a bit difficult to separate the importance of the story from the importance of the image. Several other covers from this era came close to making the list as well (and some will in fact show up later). I don't want this to be the Top 70 John Byrne X-Men covers, but you do really have to hand it to Byrne and inker Terry Austin, because they were on a serious roll.









54) Marvels #3

Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek blew the doors off Marvel with this series and of all the images and covers they produced, this is by far my personal favorite. As it happens, that sentiment is shared by... well, just about everyone. Not only is this a great image that sums up the entire X-Men milieu, it may be the coolest appearance of Angel ever. Just a great, great cover. I also want to add that the design of this comic -- with the acetate overlay so you can see the image with and without the logo -- is fantastic. I prefer it with the logo, but having the option is nice and looks slick to boot.









53) Avengers #223

Remember that one time when I said that everyone seemed to love Marvels #3? Well, truth be told, some people do like other covers on Marvels better. However, this issue of Avengers is a case where there really is a vast and silent majority of people who just love the cover. Done up but good by Ed Hannigan and Kalus Janson, this image may be the best known cover for either Hawkeye or Ant-Man, which is pretty good considering it fronts what is essentially a fill-in issue (but a really, really cool one). Of all the covers in Marvel history that did not make it onto their official list, though, there were probably more comments across the internet asking about the absence of Avengers #223 than any other cover, which I think came as a surprise to everyone. This is one of those covers where you love it, but you assume it's just you so you never really talk about it. Well, it's not just you -- this cover really is an all-time classic.



52) Marvel Mystery Comics #44

Arguably the most legendary cover artist of the Golden Age, Alex Schomburg was particularly known for his intensely busy and detailed war covers, featuring the Human Torch and the other Marvel characters going into battle against legions of enemies. While any of these might be worthy for inclusion on a top cover list, it's the cover of #44 that really stands out and is possibly his best known image. This is thanks to one thing: the Super Plane. It's just the kind of awesome idea a kid reading comics would go ape over, and evidence tells us that this was one of the most memorable images of the series for readers at the time. Not only is the Super Plane cool, though, it also gives Schomburg a single, central design feature to focus on, which is what really makes this cover stand out from his other great (but busy) works.




51) Captain America Annual #8

Mike Zeck strike again with this great shot of Wolverine fighting Captain America. These guys look like they mean business, and the stream of sparks trailing from Wolverine's claws is just a great detail. I'm not sure Zeck could draw a bad Captain America cover and this is no different; these guys really look like they mean business. Just a cool cover.












Tomorrow: Numbers #50-41 hit like an eyeball hammer! Alex Ross! Walt Simonson! Frank Miller! See you then.

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The Real Top 70 Marvel Covers: #70-61

All week long we're counting down the Real top 70 covers in Marvel history as determined by a panel of experts: me, myself and I. So let's get right to it; there's a lot of classic art to see. P.S. -- Click on the images for larger versions.

And for a shortcut, here's the Real Top 70 Marvel Cover Master List.


70) X-Men #50

It's only fitting that we kick off our countdown with this classic from Jim Steranko, because we're going to be seeing an awful lot of him over the next week. Not only is this a very striking cover thanks both to Steranko's pencils and the mono-green color scheme; it's also the debut of the classic X-Men logo which has adorned the title ever since. The designer of that logo? Jim Steranko, of course.











69) Web of Spider-man #32

The Death of Kraven the Hunter is one of the most acclaimed stories in Spider-man history, and one of the most memorable aspects are the great covers from Mike Zeck, who, like Steranko, will be popping up several more times on this list. Zeck is interesting because I think his cover work is better than his interior work; his strong sense of design can be overwhelmed by his stylization when smaller panels are involved. This, though, is a classic image and a bit of a personal favorite.










68) X-Men #114

John Byrne makes the third artist in three entries who has multiple covers represented on our list. It will be no surprise to anyone, of course, that many of these covers are from his legendary stint drawing X-Men. This cover is a bit unusual for superhero comics, as it emphasizes mood and emotion over action and dynamism. It's also got Beast, who was on the Avengers at the time and was apparently slumming for an issue with the X-people.











67) Captain America Comics #57

It's unfortunate that Golden Age comics are so hard to afford, because many younger readers have never even seen these covers much less read the stories inside. Captain America Comics #57 features one of the best known Golden Age covers from Timely, a great symbolic cover from Vince Alascia, just one of the hundreds of great Golden Age creators who have been all but forgotten.












66) Moon Knight #23

Bill Sienkiewicz brought a new artistic sensibility and sophistication to Marvel that was both ahead of its time and perfectly suited for moody, dark books like Moon Knight. As a kid I wasn't much of a fan of his work, because it was too arty to really allow me to get into the stories. As an adult I can appreciate his work a lot more. But both kid and adult versions of me love his covers, especially this great image from Moon Knight #32, one in a run of great covers he turned in on the title.










65) Thor #127

The pieta style cover has been around in comics basically as long as there have been knowledgeable artists working in the field. One of the earlier and best known examples is this Jack Kirby cover from Thor #127, which also benefits from being the front piece for a well known storyline. While the impact of the cover may have been dulled slightly by more recent takes on this classic pose (one of which appears later on our list), it's still an iconic image from the Silver Age of Marvel.










64) New Mutants #39

Art Adams occupies an interesting spot on Marvel art history. In many ways he can be seen as a vital link between earlier artists like Mike Ploog and Michael Golden --who fused a loose, cartoony sense of design with tight, highly rendered line work -- and later megastars like Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee, who took those developments and ran with them all the way to the bank. For my money, Art Adams was a perfect hybrid of these styles and for a time was the single coolest artist in the business. He later began doing more cartoony stuff that I didn't like quite as much, but one of the pieces he put out during his heyday was this cover to New Mutants #39, which remains one of the most memorable covers in comics to a whole generation of young boys who had the image seared into their brains on first sight.





63) X-Men #1

Speaking of Jim Lee, here he is with his giant gatefold cover to X-Men #1. The very existence of this comic is a tribute to the star power of Lee's art, as he proved so popular they needed to market him in two different X-Men comics at once. This remains perhaps the best selling comic book in the history of the world, even if two-thirds of the copies sold are sitting in forgotten piles in the basements of angry speculators. Everybody who read comics in the 1990's was familiar with this image.



62) Daredevil #1

You have to give it up for this cover: it really is pretty awesome. It's also of special importance to the development of Marvel and the comic book industry as a whole. Drawn by Joe Quesada, the success of this title and the other Marvel Knights books turned over to Quesada and partner Jimmy Palmiotti paved the way for Quesada to eventually become the editor in chief of Marvel, a position which he still holds today. And it was this cover to Daredevil #1 that kicked it all off.










61) Secret Wars #8

Of all the covers on this list -- and maybe in Marvel history -- Secret Wars #8 might have the stupidest cover text. Mike Zeck is back for his second go-round on the list, with the issue that introduced the world to Spider-man's black costume. The costume and the cover are undoubted fan favorites, though I prefer the Web cover that I listed at #69 to this somewhat less exciting pose.












Tomorrow: We count down #60-51. More Jack Kirby! More Golden Age Timely! More pieta covers! And an image that's probably better known among non-comic fans than anything else on the list appears on a cover you may never have seen!

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