Tagged: best comic book covers of the 1980’s
Comic Cover of the Week: Ron Wilson’s Version of The THING is still one of the BEST!
The Thing’s solo series in the early 80’s remains one of my favorites. It was a HUGE deal for me as a kid, seeing one of my favorite characters ever in his very own monthly series. Written by John Byrne and illustrated by Ron Wilson we got Ben Grimm finally in some pretty thrilling solo adventures. Originally even as a kid, I was a big fan of John Byrne’s artwork and I remember seeing that he wasn’t doing the art work, I was at first worried, but soon it was clear Wilson was one of the best at portraying The Thing. That’s something that’s even more apparent today with simplistic style, he add just the right amount of charm to Ben. This cover from 1983 from his 8th issue also features Joe Sinnot putting the finishes on Wilson’s work- it’s a real gem and really represents everything I miss about comic books today…..
Comic Cover of the Week: Zeck’s Iconic Kraven The Hunter!!!
Mike Zeck in my opinion is easily one of the BEST comic book cover artists of all time! Now with the news of Spider-man’s arch nemesis Kraven the Hunter being cast with Aaron Taylor Johnson in the role, I thought it’d be the perfect time to revisit one of the classic covers of the 1980’s limited series. Check out The Amazing Spider-man #293 from 1987’s brilliant cover by Zeck. Hopefully the cinematic version of Kraven will honor not only this iconic look but also pay homage to the classic storyline. This cover truly shows just how great Zeck is with this brilliant work of art!
Comic Cover of Week: Charles Vess’ Web of Spider-Man!!
I never could get enough of the classic black Spider-man suit! Back in the 1980’s it was quite a controversy to give Peter Parker some new duds especially something as bold as the black costume! I loved it and it’s no wonder it was brought back several times through the years despite it becoming one of his most famous villians, Venom! Anyway here’s a favorite cover of mine from Web of Spider-man Annual #2 way back in 1986!! Charles Vess has done some truly stunning work and anytime he tackled Spider-man you knew you were in for a treat! Check it out!
Comic Cover of the Week: When SHE-HULK Replaced The THING!
John Byrne’s run on the Fantastic Four in the 80’s is arguably the best the title has ever seen. One of the biggest changes the legendary team encountered during his run was when The Thing left the team & She-Hulk replaced him. It was a risky move at the time, but Jennifer Walters rounded out the female ratio quite nicely with her brute strength, beauty and charming sense of humor. We all know that Byrne was a huge fan of She-Hulk and Fantastic Four #275 features the character in one of my favorite covers. She-Hulk, especially in the 80’s had to deal with a LOT of sleazy men gawking over her, this cover features a prime example of exactly that. I’m also looking at this cover and thinking this depiction of the character would be a great one to base look of the upcoming MCU tv series character on. There’s so much you could do with She-Hulk in a live action series and I’m hoping it adds the comedic elements of Byrne’s classic version of the character. I’ve always loved John Byrne and to this day his iconic 70’s and 80’s comic book art, in my opinion, is easily some of the best of the era. This cover is truly classic SHE-HULK!
Comic Cover of the Week: Elvira’s House of Mystery!
Here’s a totally excellent comic book cover way back from 1986 done by the always awesome Brian Bolland, who in my opinion is easily one of the best cover artist of all time. This one’s a great portrayal of the legendary Elvira in House of Mystery #1!
With the Halloween season coming in mere days this one’s worth a second look and re-read. Cassandra Peterson still wows fans to this day with her iconic persona, she still looks as great as she ever did, perhaps she really is UNDEAD?!!
Comic Book Cover of the Week: Matt Murdock’s Crappy Christmas!!
I love digging up cool comic books that took place around Christmas time and Daredevil #229 fits that bill quite perfectly! This is an especially rad cover of a time when Matt Murdock went homeless on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen due to the Kingpin ruining his entire life. This has got to be one of the lowest points in the characters history as Murdock is down on his luck in this grim story arc written by Frank Miller before he turned into a crazy douche bag. This issue also has one of the most brutal fights between Murdock and the Kingpin as they go head to head in Fisk’s office. It’s bloody and Matt gets his ass kicked big time…damn I’m feeling as I type this the urge to read these issues again immediately! The cover is brilliantly drawn back in 1986 by one of my fav artists David Mazzucchelli and clearly shows how crappy Christmas was that particular year for Daredevil….
Comic Book Cover of the Week! The New Defenders by Bill Sienkiewicz!
This particular cover way back from 1983 was one of my favorites as a kid and today it stands as a truly stellar piece of work even by today’s standards. The New Defenders were pretty awesome and you had three of the original X-men all together in the same book! It’s clear when you had Bill Sienkiewicz on a cover back in the 80’s you were gonna get something leaps and bounds ahead of the curve. I consider him along with Mike Zeck one of the best comic book cover artists of all time bar none. His cool jagged style added that extra edge to your favorite book, suddenly making them cooler than ever before. Check this one out! They just don’t make em’ like this anymore…
Comic Book Cover of the Week: Vintage Snake Eyes!
Here’s a great blast from the past, GI Joe #53, by none other than Mike Zeck! Duh! You know I am starting to think that he might be the best cover artist of the 1980’s as I’ve seen a trend of consistently posting covers by him during that era. He did a ton of super awesome GI Joe Covers back in the day. You know all of us kids back then were obsessed with Snake Eyes! This was a simple, basic but totally bad ass cover that showcased how cool the character was-proving you just can’t ever go wrong with a god damn ninja!!
What’s even more bad ass is the full picture Zeck originally drew-Check it!!
Let’s Appreciate Bill Sienkiewicz on his Birthday!
Today is Bill Sienkiewicz’s Birthday and it’s as good a reason as any to celebrate the man’s existence as one of the best comic book artists of all time! To say his artwork is unique would probably be the biggest understatement you could come up with in the comic book universe. His jagged, frantic and often abstract work is unmistakable. Whenever you’d get a comic book cover or let alone an entire issue filled with his artwork you always knew you were in for a treat.
His work became a staple in the early 80’s where he drew black and white back up stories of Moon Knight in The Incredible Hulk magazine size comic books. He continued on with some of his most famous work for titles like The New Mutants and the legendary Elektra: Assassin miniseries amongst many others. So happy birthday Bill! Thanks for the incredibly original art all these years-Here’s hoping for much more of it in 2014! Here are a few of my personal favorite pieces of his comic book art!
Comic Book Cover of the Week: Jarvis Leads The Avengers?!
Avengers #201 from 1980 has a truly memorable cover by George Perez & Terry Austin! It’s not often you see Jarvis showcased as the lead in any comic book much less and Avengers issue. This however features the legendary butler ready to action telling the Avengers to “stand back”! So just what is it that Jarvis feels is a job only he can handle? Well it turns out that he takes on an adult bully named “Bruiser” while he visits his mother! Bruiser is terrorizing her neighborhood when Jarvis decides to take matters into his own hands. Yep Jarvis finally gets his own arch nemesis which he makes short work of! I always liked the Jarvis character and it’s too bad they decided to make him an “operating system” to Tony Stark in the movies. Perhaps they were afraid he’d just come off as a cheap version of Batman’s Alfred? Also, Captain America kinda pisses me off as on the cover of issue #201 he’s clearly laughing at Jarvis-what a dick!! Show some respect Rogers!
Universal Dork 