Comic Book Resources

While I’m not a fan of this era or of the artist, I think Jim Lee’s cover to X-Men #1 was a modern classic (I refuse to use the word “iconic” in a comics discussion since DC has utterly RUINED that word for me in the past 5 years through constant overuse).

New X-Men 114.

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/morrison3.jpg

Captain America Vol 3 #25 might fit the bill.

One could make a case for Alex Ross’s covers from either Marvels or Kingdom Come. They are all quite iconic, and really stood out at the time.

Apart from that, I’ll admit I’m a little stumped. I’m not sure about it, but I’d offer up “The Ultimates vol 1#1″ for consideration.

I’d imagine the cover of All-Star Superman #1 will remain a classic for a long time. Also Kingdom Come #4.

Can’t think of many others right now, though. Most “iconic” covers feature the debut of a new character or a major storyline. What major new characters (and I’m talking Batman-Superman-Spider-Man-Captain America-Wolverine major) have been introduced in the last 20 years?

“Captain America Vol 3 #25 might fit the bill.”

Of course I meant Vol 5 #25.

I second All-Star Superman #1.

Ultimate Spider-Man #1, Ultimate X-Men #1

I think both are two of the most recognizable covers of the last decade, although I don’t quite feel they rank as “iconic covers”.

All Star Superman #1 too, of course! I didn’t read McK and mark posts before posting

52 #52 maybe? Issue 45 also has the fairly iconic Black Adam cover.

What about the first issue of Busiek and Perez’s run?

Hitch’s Ultimates #1 was also a modern classic.

One way to measure an “iconic” cover the number of times that later comics have done homage covers based on it.

By that measure, the most recent one I can think of is All-Star Superman #1, which has had at least two homages.

Spider-Man #1 and Spawn #1, both by McFarlane, have each had several.

Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 (death of Supergirl) has had several, but that may predate the Mazzuchelli Batman.

I second 52 #52, All-Star Superman #1 and New X-men #114. I’d add Promethea #1 and though really recent I’m going out on a limb and saying that Final Crisis #4 is gonna be remembered for a long time. Oh, and Amazing Spider-Man #298, that’s a pretty iconic cover. And Excalibur #1…

Okay, I’m stopping now…

JSA Classified #1…

Fables #20
Hellblazer #50 (actually a huge number of Glenn Fabry Hellblazer covers)
I’d go with Ultimates v.1 #1 also..
Planetary #24 & #26

Oh, I’ve just remembered Superman #654

My first thought was New X-Men 114 as well.

Green Lantern #49
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=54524&zoom=2

That’s the first that come to my mind.

I’m not commenting on either the quality of the cover itself, or the comic inside, but as soon as I read the question, the following issues came to mind (which admittedly might make them memorable rather than iconic):
Sandman #16
Captain America Vol 5 #25
Hulk Vol 3 # 34 (bit of a cheat!)
Art Adams’ Classic X-men #1 (may have been a couple of months before Year One)
Superman #677 (Ross cover)
And Daredevil’s #28 and 50.
Although, I suspect if I sat down and thought about it, I might come up with an entirely different list! Certainly, I wouldn’t suggest anything I’ve listed is as iconic as Batman #404.

Uuuuuchhhh, can we please bury the word “iconic”? 90% of the time when comics fans use this term, they use it wrong.

First issue of Marvel Knights Daredevil by Quesada should get a nod.

Oh, Brian Bolland’s Killing Joke

Superman #75
Batman #497
Batman #608

I’d say they’re few and far between. All-Star Superman is the only one that I can think of in recent memory that’s reached that status. As someone said above, other covers homaging it is pretty (although in ASS #1’s case, it’s really been one homage and one photoshopping of a Santa hat onto Superman’s head). Marvel’s been acting like New Avengers #1 is one, but it’s really not. (A historically important issue for the period, but not that classic a cover, since most of it’s deliberately obscured for marketing purposes).

Really, it seems to me the criterion should be, not just a really good cover or one a lot of people really liked, but a cover that’s become a defining image of the character or series of which it’s a part. There’s not too many of those.

Another vote for Captain America #25. It is hampered by the fact that it was a 50/50 split with a terrible Ed McGuiness variant that should’ve never been used for the issue, but it’s going to be a classic for as long as Steve Rogers stays dead (whether you believe in Bru or not).

The Marvel Apes homage (issue #4) sold me on the idea of the Marvel Apes series.

“The Killing Joke” cover is ostensibly a classic–Even casual comic fans know it by now, I’d think.

New X-Men #114
The Invisibles v.2 #1
Sin City: A Dame To Kill For #1
Captain America v.3 #25 (the death of Captain America)
Kingdom Come #1
Death: The Time of Your Life #1
Elektra-Assassin #1

Man of Steel #1

I immediately thought of Cap #25. What about Watchmen #1 or Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1. Too obvious?

You know, I think the poster above who pointed out that the impact of Captain America vol. 3 25 was diluted by cover variants may explain why there are so few memorable pieces of modern cover art. The massive predominance of variant covers as a sales-goosing tactic encourages people not to pay attention to a cover image as an enticement to buy the book, but to think of it more as a commodity.

If there is a rarer cover that is worth more than even a very artistically strong “standard” cover, there’s going to be a tendency among collectors (and some fans, I think) to regard the rarer cover as being somehow “better”. It seems like that would undercut the impact of all but the most well-composed cover images.

A few pop to mind:

Marvels no. 1
JLA no. 1
Preacher no. 1, 3
Astonishing X-men no. 6
Identity Crisis no. 4
Villains United no. 1 (both versions)

Animal Man no. 5 (Brian Bolland is so great, he probably deserves a whole bunch more, inc. previously mentioned Killing Joke).

I want to throw in some Mike Zeck covers but I’m pretty sure all the ones I’m thinking of (Cap, Secret Wars, Punisher) pre-date Batman 404

and what the heck? Walking Dead no. 9. That’s a great image.

Superman #75 v2
Kingdom Come #1
Dark Knight Returns #1

I think New Avengers #1 would count. It has been homaged quite a bit, and is representative of the Bendis/Quesada era, whether you love it or hate it. Also, it is a pretty simple design that it easy to adapt with a neat twist with the odd lighting.

Also, I think McNiven’s cover to the first Brand New Day Amazing Spider-Man counts. It is a great shot of Spider-Man, but also lets you know about the direction of the series, with Spidey pulling his mask back on.

In some ways I think that in the current generation more than specific covers becoming iconic in nature, cover STYLES have become iconic. For example, put out a cover with blue bars on the left and right and a comic fan will instantly think of it as an Ultimate Marvel book. Or a cover whose lower 2/3rds is black with white text and it will be seen as referencing Civil War.

The Watchmen trade collection’s cover is about the only thing I can think of that has made it to mass culture.

Other comics? Hmm…

Sandman #1 and 8. Preacher #1. Invisibles v1 #1 and v2 #1. JLA #1. Actually, pretty much any major work by Morrison, Gaiman, Ennis, and Ellis had pretty strong covers on at least 1 issue.

As little as I like the cover, I’d say the Michael Turner variant for Civil War #1 is probably going to be one of the standouts of this era.

Far less recent, but I’d say Glenn Fabry’s cover for Preacher #3 is probably one of the most iconic covers to ever come out of Vertigo.

I think “iconic” covers should have some some defined attributes, one of which should be if another artist does an homage to the image with a different character in place of the original characters, the reader thinks of the original cover. For example, put any character in the pose of Hal Jordan greedily holding up a munch of rings and people will instantly know what the image is an homage to. Same thing with McFarlane’s Spider-Man #1. New X-Men #114 doesn’t really carry that to me. Although I suppose we’d also have to define whether a milestone event or direction change or even just a good piece of art counts.

I’m surprised it took so long to mention New Avengers #1. That thing has already been homaged to death.

Cap #25 is a great cover, but I don’t think it qualifies in Brian’s criteria in taking on a life of its own as an iconic image outside of the original cover. Its impact is more about the painted style and extreme close up, and you can’t really replicate those outside the original.

I’d agree Frank Quitely’s cover for ALL STAR SUPERMAN #1 is about as close as it gets for recent times. Just something about the personality he puts into the image and the way it represents the series as a whole. And yeah, you see a lot of homages to Mike Turner’s CIVIL WAR #1 cover.

It’s funny, just the other day I was thinking bout how in the current trade-led industry, most covers are designed to NOT stand out on the shelves…

I agree with the people who mentioned the first issues of the first two volumes of Invisibles.

…after thinking on this for a while, I don’t know if the sheer number of homages can qualify a book as “classic”. After all, in many situations (All-Star Superman, and countless Marvels), a company or artist is homaging their own previous work. Does that qualify as an homage, or just someone believing their own hype? The most notable example I can think of is Frank Quitely’s All-Star Superman homages.

I guess it could be someone asking Quitely to homage himself, but it could also be Quitely choosing to do so. Depends on the situation. Will we ever know? Probably not.

How about Daredevil v2 #32

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5125/daredevil32ft5.jpg

That new Barry Kitson Legion of Superheroes cover – #1

Maybe Immortal Iron Fist #1, even with the weird torso.

“Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 (death of Supergirl) has had several”

CoIE 7 (and Uncanny X-Men 136) are homages to earlier comic book covers/other iconic images (the Pieta, for example) themselves, though.

Also: all of the Final Crisis covers so far have done a good deal to express the epic scope of the series, but the best so far is the Darkseid cover from the last issue. I mean, you can look at that one image and know what Final Crisis is about: an evil space god just wrecking shit up.

You should start a second list of covers that you think should be widely remembered, but aren’t. I’d start my list with Alex Toth’s Batman Black and White #4.

“CoIE 7 (and Uncanny X-Men 136) are homages to earlier comic book covers/other iconic images (the Pieta, for example) themselves, though”

Mmm, I disagree. You’re right that there are dozens of comics covers both before and after COIE #7 showing a hero standing, holding a body of a fallen friend or girlfriend, and looking up in anguish. I wouldn’ t consider COIE an homage to any of those. Instead, I would argue that it shares that motif.

But there have been numerous covers since COIE #7 that specifically duplicate the characters’ poses, the rows of onlookers, and other features of COIE #7, and you have to consider them homages to Perez’s cover, in addition to sharing the motif with the many previous examples.

Okay?

I think there’s a difference between an homage and a deliberate evocation by the same editorial regime. Furthermore, that one Mazzucchelli cover image has worked its way into the visual vocabulary of Batman such that you always see that shot of young Bruce Wayne kneeling over his parents, in two page origins. It’s so integrated that average readers recognize it without realizing where it comes from.

The most recent one that pops to mind is Iron Man #421, which instantiated the Iron Man “ground pound,” and which received significant exposure by virtue of the pose being reproduced in the Iron Man movie’s promotional campaign.

In considering the criteria for these things, I think the keywords are “signature shot” and “mainstream saturation.”

Re: CoIE #7

I may be completely wrong, but I can vaguely remember reading somewhere that Perez actually intended CoIE #7 to be an homage to Thor #127 (even though they don’t look all that similar!)

“You should start a second list of covers that you think should be widely remembered, but aren’t. I’d start my list with Alex Toth’s Batman Black and White #4.”

Or the very similar cover from Rucka’s ‘Tec run.

- Seconded the big two DC events from 1993 – Death of Superman and the Knightfall issue where Bane wins.

Geez, this is harder than I’d thought.

JLI #1 is the first one that popped into my head when I read the headline.

Another vote for All-Star Superman #1. Absolutely the most ‘iconic’ cover of the modern era, though the covers for all the other issues are great, too. #3 could also end up being a classic.

I’ll throw another vote in for Superman #75 and The Killing Joke, as well.

Captain America #25 for sure.

How about House of M #1?

Hulk #340

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/hulk/340-3.jpg

I think too many on this list are covers people like, not covers that that jump out as classic/iconic.

The Hal with rings covers is a perfect example of an iconic cover (I’m not a big fan of it, but it’s a big image!)

The Maquire JL* cover(s)

As much as evryone loves to hate Greg Land, when was the last time you saw a comic cover as so ubiquitous (sp?) a poster as Phoenix Endsong #1? It’s on my wall and every comic fans room I see online.

The Dark Knight Returns #1 IS the most iconic cover of the modern era. The book practically ushered in the modern era. It’s been homaged bunches of times (Mighty Mouse and The Tick included) is visually striking and memorable.

On a side note the most iconic PANEL of recent years must be that walking toward the camera in our new costumes deal from Astonishing X-Men #1. I’ve seen it everywhere (sometimes with Collosus photoshoppped in); LOTS of toy packaging, magazine covers (virtually any article from that year that mentioned The X-Men) and even a T-shirt.

I have to say I’m a HUGE fan of the posters who included links. I wouldn’t have had the faintest idea what Green Lantern cover was being talked up – but seeing via that link, that is a wild one. Have there been any Iron Man covers featuring Mandarin like that?

52 # 1
All-Star Superman # 1
Green Lantern (vol 2) # 47
Final Crisis # 4

and it looks like the next Batman cover will be one also

Sorry, not GL 47, 49!

For me a good test is if I can recall the covers mentioned above without looking them up. Captain America #25 is up there. Kevin Maguire’s Justice League #1. All-Star Superman #1. The Green Lantern cover with Hal Jordan wearing all the rings (can’t recall the #, but it was homaged during the Sinestro War). Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man #1 cover (not because it was particularly good, but more because it was so ubiquitous). This predates the Mazzuchelli cover, but I think Paul Smith’s cover for Doctor Strange #56 deserves mention.

Oooh… just thought of a new one! The Ghost Rider glow in the dark cover. Loved that one, and I’ve never bought Ghost Rider.

I’ll second Hulk 340. I saw it as a poster before I saw the comic, and I loved it. I know it’s been riffed on a few times.

Crisis On Infinite Earths #7
Dark Knight Returns #1
Rai #0
Batman: The Killing Joke
Thor #337
Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spiderman #101
Punisher #1 (of 12) (Tim Bradstreet)

I’m suprised nobody else has mentioned Runaways #18.

http://apps.facebook.com/comicbooks/editions/runaways-v2-2005-18-parental-guidance-conclusion/cover

I don’t think I’ve even read it but it’s always stuck in my head.

Or the very similar cover from Rucka’s ‘Tec run.

But that’s a homage to the Toth cover isn’t it?

“I’m suprised nobody else has mentioned Runaways #18.

http://apps.facebook.com/comicbooks/editions/runaways-v2-2005-18-parental-guidance-conclusion/cover

I don’t think I’ve even read it but it’s always stuck in my head.”

Honestly, my favorite cover of all time, but I don’t think that it’s iconic. It’s never been homaged, it’s never been worked into an interior, and to the best of my knowledge, it’s never been used on merch. I just don’t think that unfortunately, the Runaways are big enough to produce something on the level of a Year One Batman cover.

To me, to be classified as a classic cover it needs to be repeatedly homaged. I’d say New Avengers #1 would be the latest one, but Captain America #25 is destined to be one. So far it has only one homage, but it’s certain to get a lot more.

Also, on the subject of covers that homage other covers or works of art and whether later covers can be homages, I think that the nature of the homage is in what the artist intends to homage when he draws the cover image. If an artist was thinking of the issue of X-Men with Cyclops holding Xavier then that’s the cover being homaged. If he was thinking of CoIE #7 then that is the homage. There is no transitive property of homage that makes any use of that pose an homage to the Pieta.

I think Identity Crisis gets a ton of these: #1, #2, #4, #5, and #7. My favorite of the bunch is probably #2, but #1 and #4 stand out so much I think they’ll be the ones remembered in ten years’ time.

Also, Runaways #26.

When I think “iconic cover” I think
Uncanny X-Men #141

And I agree with Andrew above who said that New X-Men #114 doens’t strike me as iconic because, as nice an image as it is, if you swapped in other characters for the X-Men, only hardcore Morrison or X-Men fans would realize it was an homage and not just an attempt to simulate the “characters walking toward the camera in slow motion” shot you see in so many action movies.

As for the most recent one … I can agree with All Star Superman #1 (I don’t actually like that cover – it looks too much like Superman’s going to the bathroom in a cloud to me – but I can easily see it being homaged years from now).

Think this’ll work….since there seems to be some 80s nostalgia, I’ll include one of my all-time faves, Captain America Annual #8

http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=40893&zoom=4

How about Uncanny X-men #207? That has to be one of the most iconic Wolverine covers and one of the first to really capture the character as he was exploding into mega-popularity.

It certainly popped out of the 711 magazine rack to my 11 year old eyes.

You should start a second list of covers that you think should be widely remembered, but aren’t. I’d start my list with Alex Toth’s Batman Black and White #4.

TBH, that seems to be what most of the answers people are giving are.

I can’t answer so much for the Marvel ones (really the only Marvel cover that is iconic to me personally is that one with Peter Parker dumping his costume in a bin and walking away), but the only two I can honestly agree with are Superman #75 and All Star Superman #1.

That Alex Toth cover is fantastic though!

“All-Star Superman #1″

A bit too early for this. And yeah, I thought he was taking a crap as well.

Something that’s obvious…and weird…

The cover to the original JLA/Avengers….obvious cuz it’s George #$#$#$ Perez. Weird, cuz the book was never published.

http://vu.morrissey-solo.com/moz/perez/cv/ci6.jpg

(I can’t find a copy of the actual cover)

Sandman #1
Aquaman (1989 ltd series) #1
http://comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=46303&zoom=4
Hellblazer #61
Hellblazer #83

I’m glad someone mentioned, X-MEN 141 &142 I always thought that Byrne’ s Wolverine #17 was quite iconic.
Just a plan favorite.. crap I forgot the issue it’s a Generation X issue with the Gen X team and Wolverine by one of those Kubert brothers, look for it. Later!

It’s funny, but I thought of one that I was sure merited a place on the list… and then remembered that it technically wasn’t a cover. The “Batman holds a near-death Jason Todd” image has been homaged tons of times (and I suppose is a bloodier version of the Crisis / Supergirl cover), but it never was on the cover of any issue of Death in the Family.

As a followup: yes, I know it was the cover of the TPB.

Agree with the many suggestions for Crisis #7, Dark Knight Returns #1, Hulk #340, Superman #75.

Would also add Wolverine #1, Kingdom Come #2 and New Mutants #87. Is going back 20 years too far?

I take “iconic cover” to mean one of several things: the consumate image of a super-hero or of a particularly popular/important storyline, an image many people recognize even outside of comics, or a cover that has been duplicated multiple times. Most of thse have been mentioned I think and I’m going to focus on books that came out after Batman #404:

Superman #75
All-Star Superman #1
Batman #497 (whichever one where Bane broke his back)
Green Lantern #49
Justice League #1 (might not make the date cut, I’m not sure and I’m too lazy to look it up)
Captain America #25
Kingdom Come #4

I can’t think of the issue # but there was an Amazing Spider-man cover from JMS’ run that was burned into my head.

[...] the finger. Sine Hebdo claims better sales than Charlie Hebdo and rolls out a funeral wreath. * this discussion of “iconic” superhero comics covers is fun if you’re a fan of those books. * the newspaper [...]

Brian, this question would have been far more interesting if you had limited it to the current decade. Seriously people, is there any doubt that Justice League #1, DKR #1, or Crisis #7 are classic covers?

In the current decade though, it’s much harder to pick standouts, as too many titles are saddled with Marvel’s non-descript “iconic”(really, generic) covers or Alex fucking Ross.

Anyway, my picks for the current decade:

ASS #1 is only not the greatest comics cover ever because its value comes as a response to Action #1 and the next 75-odd years worth of Superman covers. If it’s you’re first glimpse of Superman, you won’t get it, but it is perfect and beautiful in every other way.

New X-Men #114 is homaged (badly) in New Avengers #1, I can’t believe no one else has mentioned that. Yes it goes for action movie cool, but it pulls it off.

American Virigin #1 no more Quitely, I promise, but this one is real standout on a medicore title.

Infinite Crisis #6A I generally loathe Jim Lee, but the imagine of Superboy in the Anti-Monitor was a WTF? like no other when it was released and made unable to wait to find out what was going on.

Batman #608 Lee again, though reluctantly. The first issue of his Batman run is well-remembered and changed how artists have to draw boots.

Planetary’s Rubber Soul cover (#8?) All of Planetary’s covers are homages of a sort, but this one transcended that and no other cover as much says Planetary to me as this one, as the odd, distroted angle is just perfect for the series.

Final Crisis #2A the oppresive Chip Kidd cover design works perfectly well with the shocking image of a crucified Batman.

The limit was since Mazzucchelli’s cover, which would eliminate Crisis, Dark Knight Returns and others.

Yup.

And the only reason I didn’t include Justice League #1 is that it was already mentioned in the initial post.

Other than ASS #1 and Superman #75 I can pretty much rule all of the others out (in my mind) because I don’t actually know what they look like.

Bone #1 – great cover that introduces the leads and the cartooning itself defines them as characters