They greet you when you pick up a new comic and they promise plenty of excitement inside. A comic book just wouldn’t be the same without its cover!
Covers are a very important part of comics — they’re meant to entice readers with art that hypes the story. Some have become so famous and so recognizable that they’ve been parodied and re-rendered as homages. Some of them featured the first appearance of a superhero, and other glorified timeless and action-packed moments. Either way, the following comic book covers are nothing less than iconic!
Iron Man #128
The Demon in a Bottle story arc is by far the most famous Iron Man story. It tackles Tony Stark’s drinking problem and its on full display with this cover. Seeing Stark look at his drunken reflection is just plain haunting! This cover really embodies just how bad addiction can be and what it can turn even the best of us into. Since then, the cover has become Iron Man’s most recognizable cover and has revieved plenty of homages through the tears. Needless to say, it’s a good long look in the mirror we don’t want to look away from!
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Regarded as one of Batman’s greatest stories, The Dark Knight Returns has a few iconic covers of its own! Probably the most recognizable one, however, has to be the first issue! It’s a simple cover with Batman’s silhouette leaping into action against a lightning strike. It excels at reflecting the gritty mood of the story and stands among some of Frank Miller’s finest work.
Giant Size X-Men #1
As far as X-Men comics go, this one here is a classic! It features the first appearances of some of your favorite X-Men running right at the reader. This was a whole new start for the X-Men, which was illustrated with how the new team is bursting through an apparent comic cover featuring the old team. With that in mind, it has that “out with the old, in with the new” feeling to it! It’s colorful, adventurous, exciting, and quite possibly the most famous X-Men comic cover!
Amazing Spider-Man #50
Spider-Man’s first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 is a pretty iconic comic book cover. This was the cover to a single-issue story where Peter Parker gives up on being Spider-Man. The art depicts just that with Peter walking away as Spider-Man is in the distance looking back at him. It generates this feeling of uncertainty and I can imagine someone thinking Spider-Man was legitimately finished. Thankfully, a book can’t always be judged by its cover, and obviously, Spidey carried on!
This cover has become very famous since then and many have provided their own take on it. Even the Spider-Man series would use a variation of this cover later with the roles reversed — with Spider-Man walking away from Peter Parker!
Action Comics #1
The one that started it all for the “Man of Steel!”
Action Comics #1 has to be the most famous comic cover of all time! It’s as classic as it is simple with Superman smashing a car while some bad guys flee the scene! That simplicity went a long way with its tons of homages and parodies rendered on a regular basis. What else is there to say? Every comic fan in the world knows how iconic this cover is!
Was there one I missed? Which iconic comic book covers do you like the best? Let me know in the comments below!
Well, since you asked…
The Uncanny X-Men #142 (“This Issue: Everybody Dies!”)
Batman #9 (The Dynamic Duo caught in the spotlight has been parodied and pastiched by everyone, even “Rick and Morty.”)
Wolverine #1 (The lurid orange backdrop, three claws pointing at the sky, a beckoning crooked finger on the other hand, and an evil grin that says, “C’mon. Give it your best shot, bub.”)
The Spirit (Warren Publishing) Issue #1 (A cop crumples, a smoking gun fired by a grimacing hood & a satchel of dough. A dishy femme fatale-type at his side, with some poor, dumb shnook kid caught up in it all. And over it all, Justice waiting to answer in the looming figure of The Spirit!)
Batman: The Killing Joke (Have I put Batman on my list twice? Am I cheating, nominating a graphic novel? Yes, and, Who are you, the list police? Really,truly terrifying portrait of Joker so scary, even your friends who don’t know comics know this cover.)
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