Comic Book Resources

That last cover is actually by Patrick Olliffe. Thanks, T! - BC

My favourite Leonardi cover is probably that Spider-Man/Thanos one you posted. Pretty good issue, too, as I recall.

Leonardi’s always been a talented and over-looked artist. I think his Cloak and Dagger cover is my favorite.

Speaking of good Cloak and Dagger (and New Mutants) artists, how about a Bret Blevins cover retrospective?

Hmm, it’s either the Thanos/Spidey one or the Hulk. That’s a great looking Hulk.

You should check out Leonardi’s other covers for that series, Matthew! Some really nice stuff.

Here they are!

X-Men 212 is actually a Bary Smith cover and I think that Hulk cover might be Quesada. Thanks, Mike! Stupid mislabeled covers! - BC

There’s a fantastic X-Men cover featuring Colossus. I can’t remember the number of the issue, but it was during the X-Men’s time in th outback of Australia, in the early 1990’s. It’s almost archetypal. Features Colossus fighting Sym and a bunch of demons.

Leonardi draws the definitive Colossus in my book.

Whatever happened to this guy, anyway? Has he done anything comics-wise in the last 10 years or so?

I remember he was one of those hot young up-and-comers that everybody’s heard of in the 80’s…then, it seemed like he vanished in a swamp of wretched hyper-exaggerated physique on a thousand anonymous Marvel comics of late in that decade and the early-mid 90’s.

Maybe there’s a cautionary tale in there somewhere. Or maybe he’s got a better gig, I hope.

Didn’t Leonardi just do a 3 or 4 issue run on Superman with Busiek?

He is still working - he just never seemed to get the high-profile gig everyone figured he would (well, I guess Spider-Man 2099 counts).

He JUST finished an arc of JLA Classified AND Superman - but yeah, those were the most work I’ve seen from him in awhile (he did have a run as regular artist for Devin Grayson’s Nightwing).

Leonardi is an artist that I didn’t like at first but have since grown to appreciate. I don’t think anyone draws Colossus as well as he does, with the possible exception of Silvestri.

He JUST finished an arc of JLA Classified

Yeah, Sean Phillips inked him on that, and, damn, did those pages look good.

Speaking of whom, could we get a Phillips Cool Comic Cover Gallery? He’s got plenty of cool covers from which to choose.

Man, I dread when I come to guys like Adams, Phillips, etc.

So hard to pick just ten!

That cover Mike mentioned is one of my favourites, too:
http://milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=fullsize&issue=97792366288%20231

I have to say, I’m not really seeing it. His art looks very stiff and mediocre to me. A couple of the covers have some good design, but nothing mind-blowing.

This is one of my favorite Leonardi covers
http://comicbookdb.com/graphics/comic_graphics/1/101/54804_20060730122856_large.jpg

I must admit I was surprised that you picked Leonardi for this profile. Never one of my favourite artists.

New Mutants #78 is pretty awesome. But I have a soft spot for that book.

A suggestion I should have made before is Art Adams. Gotta love the Art art.

I tried making this suggestion after the first Cool Comic Cover Gallery, but some problems I have posting from work may have blocked it: You can’t cover classic comic covers without Mr. Gil Kane, who was Marvel’s chief cover artist - or certainly seemed to be - in most of the 1970s, when I started collecting. Good luck choosing just ten, though. (A personal favorite of mine is Master of Kung Fu #19. How can you argue with Shang-Chi vs. Man-Thing, with Tom Palmer inks and some of the most vivid colors I’d seen on a comic cover up to that point?) Kane’s covers exhibit a narrative dynamism seen far too little in today’s dominant, pin-up-oriented style.

On the other hand, Mike Mignola’s covers aren’t terribly dynamic, but are often masterly examples of design and mood, and worthy of being featured here.

Steve Rude has done many stellar painted covers for Nexus.

Also, some kid named Kirby did a few good covers a while back.

How about a Joe Quesada list? Some of his old covers (like Ghost Rider 21) were great.

That Thanos/Spidey cover is a fistful of awesome.

I thoroughly enjoyed Leonardi’s 2099 stuff. I should go dig those out.

I think it’s a neat idea to go with cover galleries by some of the lesser-known artists. Sure, you could do Art Adams, or, my favourite cover artist, Brian Bolland, but everyone knows they’re awesome.

How about Mike Allred? Or Jock - I’m not sure people are aware of just how awesome his covers are.

I loved his run on Spidey 2099, and picked up the recent JLA Classified arc just for his art, which is still great. That Hulk cover is probably my favorite of the ones you selected, but he had a lot of great 2099 covers.

You know what? Leonardi is easily one of my top 5 favourite interior artists but his covers never really sang to me - well, except to say, “Cool! You’re gonna get to see some awesome Leonardi interiors in this here book!”

Still, that Storm vs. Cyclops cover was pretty cool.

I had somewhere close to 20 copies of that Vision and Scarlet Witch comic. It was always the middle insert in one of those 3 for a dollar packs that used to be in dime stores when I was younger.

I go back and forth on Leonardi, sometimes I like his stuff, lots of times I don’t.