The Top 150 DC Covers of All Time: #80-71

Welcome back to the Top 150 DC Covers of All Time countdown. If you have any questions about what criteria was used to select the covers, you can read the ground rules here in the countdown Prologue. For a complete listing of selections, check out the Top 150 DC Covers Master List. And as always, I strongly recommend clicking on the covers to see larger, better and more detailed versions of these classic covers.

Take a look at today's picks:

80) Lois Lane #80
January, 1968 -- Curt Swan and Neal Adams

Well, here's a coincidence -- two covers in a row that have characters ripping through the cover to show the interior of the comic. I particularly like this effort from the unusual team of Curt Swan and Neal Adams, as Lois tears the "Superman's Girlfriend" part of her logo off to show she's a modern woman. In fact, this isuse (and to a lesser extent the one that preceded it) is kind of the first time Lois appears modern rather than a throwback to the early 50's. In fact, let's face it, she looks really hot here, to the point where her new look has the unintended effect of making Swan's Superman look old fashioned. A clever, fun cover that also is visual evidence of DC finally reacting to changing times.





79) House of Secrets #88
November, 1970 -- Neal Adams

Another Gothic classic from Neal Adams, who seems to have enjoyed painting these covers almost as much as I enjoy looking at them. This one is pretty much a prototype for a Gothic romance/horror cover, what with the frightened and mysterious girl in white fleeing from the moon-shrouded, shadowy mansion. This cover sets and captures the mood perfectly.











78) Superman #24
October, 1943 -- Jack Burnley

One of the great early Superman covers, this patriotic effort from Superman came, as you might expect, during World War II. The black is nice, as is the fact that the entire cover isn't black; I like the (presumed) sunrise on the horizon backlighting both Superman and the modern and literally shining American city. A legitimate classic of the medium.










77) Sea Devils #2
December, 1961 -- Russ Heath and Jack Adler

Speaking of classic, Sea Devils has long been renowned among collectors almost entirely due to the series of beautifully rendered covers from Russ Heath and Jack Adler. Honestly, from my limited reading experience with Sea Devils, I have to think that these covers pretty much kept the series afloat as the stories were nothing to get excited about. But this, the best of the Sea Devils covers, is something to get excited about, as Adler uses all of his inking and coloring skills to turn Heath's always-detailed and precise pencils into something approaching photographic quality.








76) Detective Comics #476
April, 1978 -- Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin

I know what you've been thinking: where are all the Joker covers?! Well, they're finally here, starting with a cover that proves the Joker is so awesome he doesn't even need to be on the cover to make it great. The first of many Joker covers to come, this cover also has one of the best known and most effective uses of cover text on a superhero cover. Just seeing the name "Joker" written large against the backdrop of those grinning corpses is enough to give readers a shiver.









75) Mystery in Space #75
May, 1962 -- Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson

Here's yet another classic Mystery in Space cover from the team of Infantino and Anderson, this time from the famous crossover between Adam Strange and the Justice League of America. By now you've probably all realized that I like covers with strong geometric design elements, especially ones that also utilize color to emphasize that design, so naturally I had to select this cool image for the countdown. I'm not sure why Roy Orbison is trying to conquer Rann, but I love the effect of the sonic waves radiating from his gong. Cool stuff.








74) All-American Comics #16
July, 1940 -- Sheldon Moldoff

Sheldon Moldoff lands his second cover in as many days, this time for the first appearance of the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott. It's a testament to Shelly that he was chosen for such high profile assignments (you may recall from a few days ago that he also did the cover for Flash Comics #1, with the first appearances of both Flash and Hawkman on it). Though this isn't the only or the best golden age Green Lantern cover on our list (spoilers!) it's an iconic image that is also a very strong cover in its own right.








73) Batman #244
September, 1972 -- Neal Adams

Three words: Shirtless. Desert. Duel.


















72) Detective Comics #457
March, 1976 -- Dick Giordano

This is truly one of the greatest images of Batman ever drawn. Giordano brilliantly places the flashback to batman's origin and the murder of his parents symbolically inside Batman's head as a perfect way of setting the stage for the classic retelling of that timeless story. Really, a cover that deserves to be top twenty. Except, everything about the cover other than the drawing itself is an utter disaster. The little line across the top probably seemed like a good idea when they designed it, but they basically jammed it with superfluous and useless text and junk. Then there's the horrible decision to shrink the Detective logo and jam a Batman logo in next to it, which is not only visually disastrous but also completely unnecessary; every cover of Detective has a giant drawing of Batman on it so it's obvious that this is "Batman's" comic. I mean, if you don't recognize Batman on the cover, then the Batman logo will be meaningless to you anyway, right? They could not have bollixed the design of this cover worse if they wanted to. No justice for brilliant art.


71) The Brave and the Bold #71
May, 1965 -- Gil Kane

What was that I was saying about designs emphasizing geometric shapes and color usage? Oh yeah. Well, here's another cover from Gil Kane, who is usually better known for his dynamic figure work. This time, though, he designs the living hell out of this cover, turning what could have been a pretty boring concept into something really sweet through the use of color and shape. Top notch. I also approve of the decision to let Green Lantern's logo go across the whole cover, as usually they bunch the logos up next to each other and it looks crowded and subpar. This style works a lot better for me, at least in this instance.





Tomorrow: #70-61 brings you excitement like you've never known. Batman! Superman! And believe it or not, a cover from the last ten years! Get psyched, you comics-loving fools!

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The Top 150 DC Covers of All Time: #100-91

Welcome back to the Top 150 DC Covers of All Time countdown. If you have any questions about what criteria was used to select the covers, you can read the ground rules here in the countdown Prologue. For a complete listing of selections, check out the Top 150 DC Covers Master List. And as always, I strongly recommend clicking on the covers to see larger, better and more detailed versions of these classic covers.

Let's kick off the top 100 in style with...



100) Limited Collectors' Edition C-51
August, 1977 -- Neal Adams

Considering this title was basically a bunch of glorified reprints, the series had a surprisingly high concentration of classic original Batman covers; besides this cover and yesterday's example (also from neal Adams), this one from Jim Aparo nearly made the list as well. In the end, though, this famous version of the battle with Ra's al Ghul ended up at the top of the Batman Limited Collectors' Edition heap. I couldn't justify placing it any higher overall, though, despite the image's popularity with those limited collectors. That's because it is a reprint -- of a comic with an even more famous cover. When the cover isn't even the most iconic version of a specific story, it's really lucky to even make a list like this in the first place.




99) House of Secrets #105
February, 1973 -- Jack Sparling

I pretty much love everything about this cover. The composition, with the tranquil scene of kids fishing in the background contrasted with the skull in the foreground, is great and is perfectly served by the muted coloring. That, in turn, contrasts with the bold red banner at the top, which is punctuated by the "double bullet" design style during the very brief time when it wasn't being screwed up by extra blurbs all over the masthead and the issue number jammed into the price point circle. Just an excellent cover all around.








98) The Flash #203
February, 1971 -- Neal Adams

This is one of the more atypical Neal Adams covers on the list, which is part of why it works so well. Usually I have a pretty strong dislike for photo covers, but the concept behind this one works great, partially because on the Flash's world Adams draws with his usual photo-realistic style (deftly colored by Jack Adler to add to the effect) and partially because the alien world is one of the few instances where Adams isn't obviously being Adams. Instead he seems to be purposely channeling Steve Ditko, whose style is about as different from Adams as possible. It adds up to a clever concept expertly executed.







97) The Spectre #9
April, 1969 -- Nick Cardy

Ah, Nick Cardy is just so damn awesome, isn't he? Here's The Spectre, making one of several appearances on this list. The Spectre is interesting because, like The Joker, his snow-white skin not only gives him an inherently dramatic appearance but also leads to a lot of black covers to better contrast with him. Plus, they both get a lot of symbolic covers as well -- except, with the Spectre, being gigantic isn't necessarily symbolic because he actually does that sometimes. This cover is a beautiful example of Cardy and Spectre at their best; I love the book of judgment with all the presumed sinners swarming over it to escape Spectre's giant hand. And I also love the fact that they contoured the logo to fit like a puzzle piece with the artwork. Classic.





96) Justice League of America #10
March, 1962 -- Murphy Anderson

We kicked off our countdown with one of the many classic Justice League gimmick covers from the first few years of that book's existence. This, though, has to be tops on the chart -- the infamous Fingers of Felix Faust cover from Murphy Anderson. Beyond the flat-out bizarre nature of this striking image, it also happens to be a yellow cover, which as you all know is my favorite, so this is a winner all around.










95) Superboy #160
October, 1969 -- Neal Adams

You're probably pretty tired of me talking about Neal Adams by now, so I'll just say that I really like both the dejected and morose pose for Superboy in the foreground and, especially, the giant Earth hovering in the background. It really drives home the isolation Superboy is expressing and also reminds us just how alien he is. Cool idea.











94) Mystery in Space #82
March, 1963 -- Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson

Here's another classic from the team of Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson, who combined on a number of epic Adam Strange covers over the years. Of all the cool work they did on Mystery in Space (more of which is still to come), this one probably best illustrates the central dilemma of Strange, the man of two worlds, as he has to decide between his home planet and his adopted planet, each of which is given a different dramatic death as well as its own color scheme. Throw in a giant magnifying glass burning Rann's citizens like so many ants and you have a Silver Age classic.







93) Justice League of America #75
November, 1969 -- Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson

Six years later, Infantino and Anderson were still churning out hits as evidenced by this great Justice League cover. The black background helps, but what really sets this apart is the unique composition, where we just get a good long look at Black Canary's signature fishnet stockings as she looms right off the top of the cover over her defeated Justice League teammates. Now that's the way to make an entrance.










92) Detective Comics #590
September, 1988 -- Norm Breyfogle

When new Batman flans flocked to comic stores in the summer of 1989 they were in luck, because it just so happened that Norm Breyfogle was in the middle of a great run as artist on Detective Comics. And the best of the bunch, from a year earlier, is this awesome image of Batman summoning his flock of bats in a decidedly unusual location -- London, rather than Gotham. A terrific mood piece.










91) All-New Collectors' Edition C-62
1978 -- Neal Adams

Holy jeez, guys, four Neal Adams covers in one day. But before you demand that I remove my lips from Neal's ass, I suggest you blame DC for assigning him this project. You see, this was originally done by Joe Kubert, but someone decided it looked a little too lean and somber, which is kind of like saying you don't like Picasso's stuff because it's too cubist. So they took his layout and had Adams redraw it, adding in a number of famous celebrities from the time period. The result is a cultural touchstone that is even more impressive if you look at the entire gatefold cover rather than just the front, which is all that is usually reproduced.



Tomorrow:It's #90-81 with Jimmy Olsen! Tarzan! Deadman! And the shocker of the century: the senator's been shot!!!

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