Here's the next four covers! And click here for the master list of all the covers posted so far!

15 Comments

• At November 21, 2009, Adam Kirby wrote:

  I either give the occasional good suggestion or this is oddly coincidental timing. Either way, that Swamp Thing cover... Man. ...

• At November 21, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I either give the occasional good suggestion or this is oddly coincidental timing.

  Not that your suggestion was not good, ...

• At November 21, 2009, Phil Sandifer wrote:

  Well, I shall have no impact saying it then, but as the Green Lantern cover I tagged got picked, I'll ...

• At November 21, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  It's a rare day that I actually say this, 3 out of 4 isn't too bad.

  All covers but the Jimmy ...

• At November 21, 2009, doctor bob wrote:

  Shock horror - it's the Adams one for me again!!!

• At November 21, 2009, Namor wrote:

  I like 3. I love 4.

  But number 2 is just...superb.

• At November 21, 2009, Alonso wrote:

  Number one might be the only one on here that doesn't jump out at me. Any reason why this particular ...

• At November 21, 2009, daniel wrote:

  at this point i fear that robin 1 (first mini series, brian bolland cover) won't make it. which is a ...

• At November 21, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  One is good, hardly iconic, four is awesome ,hardly iconic. Three is awesome, iconic and done by Curt Swan ...

• At November 21, 2009, chad wrote:

  love the starman and bat man cover with the joker showing he is back in town but got to go ...

• At November 21, 2009, bloo wrote:

  as much as I love that Adams cover, those things holding Batman's arms on the the giant card just ruin ...

• At November 21, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  A seminal issue for Swamp Thing for sure, but for me the standout cover was always the JLA one, where ...

• At November 21, 2009, Craig B. wrote:

  #1 - iconic? Not hardly. I loved the series and I'm sure I loved the story, but to ...

• At November 21, 2009, Dan Fleming wrote:

  Not a single one.

• At November 22, 2009, Hangman Jury wrote:

  I love #1 and I think that it does fall into the top 75 most iconic, but I doubt that ...

The creative team behind Hitman, Garth Ennis and John McCrea, returned to the character for a JLA/Hitman mini-series - this is how it ended (NOTE: Major spoilers for the Hitman series lie beneath the fold!)...

As noted in a previous Cool Comic Book Moment, Superman and Tommy Monaghan (Hitman) had had a chance meeting awhile back on a rooftop in Gotham City, where the two really bonded.

Well, in this two-issue special, Tommy is called in to help the Justice League when they discover more of the evil aliens from the Bloodlines crossover of 1993 (where Tommy gained his powers by being attacked by one of the aliens).

The aliens find a way to neutalize the powers of the JLA, so in this scenario, Tommy is one of the most capable people there, especially as the other members find themselves succumbing to the alien parasites (that takes out Batman and Wonder Woman and basically Superman, who manages to free himself with help from Tommy, but the escape leaves him mentally and physically drained - and also a bit disappointed, as he now learns that the man he thought was a good guy is, well, a hitman).

So it is basically down to Tommy and a non-powered Flash and Green Lantern, and a bunch of nuclear warheads are being shot at the JLA's base (as the White House believes that the JLA has been compromised).

So Tommy saves the day the only way that he knows how (note that the story is told by Clark Kent to a writer who is researching the life of Tommy Monaghan)...

That last page is quite excellent (the whole sequence is great, but that last page especially)...

15 Comments

• At November 21, 2009, Bryan wrote:

  Hitman was too good for this world.

• At November 21, 2009, Lt. Clutch wrote:

  That he was. Such a moving and poignant ending.

  Besutiful stuff.

• At November 21, 2009, Lt. Clutch wrote:

  Er...I meant, beautiful.

  Those were TEARS on that keyboard, I tell you.

• At November 21, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  Probably my favourite series ever and this two part coda is just the icing on top of the cake.

  I've said ...

• At November 21, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  You should review Hitman # 34 as a follow-up to today's review.

  There were some really poignant moments worth mentioning in ...

• At November 21, 2009, Patrick Joseph wrote:

  When people erroneously claim that the 1990's were a barren wasteland for interesting comics, this series belongs at the top ...

• At November 21, 2009, Jeremy wrote:

  Looks like I have a new series to start reading.

• At November 21, 2009, Paul1963 wrote:

  This is the kind of thing you need to show to people who think Garth Ennis' work is all about ...

• At November 21, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  You should review Hitman # 34 as a follow-up to today's review.

  I did a bit on Hitman #34 already.

  Day ...

• At November 21, 2009, chad wrote:

  so heart breaking to not only have super man want absolution from a priest for tommy and knows as supes ...

• At November 21, 2009, Rob wrote:

  Hitman, to this day, remains the best series I have ever read.

• At November 21, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  i love to make a comment that just explains what happened in the scene with an occasional shred of an ...

• At November 21, 2009, Omni-man wrote:

  I've never read hitman cause I don't like the Irish. so I'm not sure whats going on in this story, ...

• At November 21, 2009, Dan Mcc wrote:

  I think Hitman should be revived as a Black lantern....

• At November 21, 2009, Said wrote:

  [quote]Hitman, to this day, remains the best series I have ever read.[/quote]

  Couldn't say it better myself. I can't remember the ...

Welcome to the two-hundred and thirty-third in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of the previous two hundred and thirty-two.

Comic Book Legends Revealed is now part of the larger Legends Revealed series, where I look into legends about the worlds of entertainment and sports, which you can check out here, at legendsrevealed.com. I'd especially recommend you check out this installment of Peotry Legends Revealed to learn what poet was asked to come up with a name for a line of Ford cars (her suggestions alone are worth the read!).

Let's begin!

COMIC LEGEND: By reprinting an issue of X-Men in their Essentials format, Marvel inadvertently showed nudity where none was intended.

STATUS: True

An interesting thing can happen when something meant to be produced in one particular format gets changed to another one. This was made perfectly evident when an old issue of X-Men was re-done in the Essentials format by Marvel.

X-Men #123 came out in 1979. It was penciled by John Byrne and inked by Terry Austin. It was colored by Glynis Wein.

At one point in the issue, the following scene occurs...

Now, if you happened to be reading the issue, it's likely you wouldn't have even given a second thought to the page.

Check Storm coming out of the shower...

Again, nothing really to see there, which is just how the issue was intended to be read.

However, years later, this issue of X-Men was reprinted in Essential X-Men Vol. 2...

There, however, that same Storm panel shows up in an entirely different light...

It seems pretty clear that, as a guide to himself in drawing Storm's body in the towel coming out of the shower, either penciler Byrne or inker Terry Austin slightly drew in Storm's naked breast, with the idea (which clearly was correct) that the colorist would then cover it up when the panel was colored (note that Austin, if he did not draw it himself, inked the piece so that it is barely visible anyways).

And that DID happen.

However, two decades later, Marvel reprinted the scene...sans the color!!

So you get a funny example of a reprint causing nudity that was never intended to be seen!

Thanks to reader Andy S. for the head's up (and the scan)!

COMIC LEGEND: Judge Anderson of the Psi Division was modeled after Debby Harry.

STATUS: True Enough for a True

Judge Cassandra Anderson was one of the few notable female Judge characters in the popular 2000 A.D. Judge Dredd series. She was introduced pretty early on, in 2000 A.D. #150, by writer John Wagner and artist Brian Bolland.

She soon became popular enough to maintain her own series in 2000 A.D. (here is the trade paperback collecting many of her solo adventures), written by Alan Grant mostly (if not solely), highlighting her psychic powers.

For years, folks had wondered if Anderson had been modeled after singer Debbie Harry of the band Blondie.

David Bishop got to the heart of the matter in his extensive history of 2000 A.D., Thrill-Power Overload...

when he interviewed Brian Bolland...

Bishop: According to legend Debbie Harry was the model for Anderson – true?

Bolland: She pretty much was… The thing I always found about drawing for 2000 AD was we never got to draw women. There just weren’t any. I don’t know why. I think it came out of the tradition that boys comics and girls’ comics were separate. There were artists in America whose work I admired who did gorgeous women and I wanted to have a go at it. I thought this was a great opportunity to draw a sexy looking girl. See if I could draw that.

She was based on Debbie Harry. I think I did a Forbidden Planet advert and I draw a lot of famous people into that, such as Debbie Harry and David Bowie. I think I must have just drawn her. I’m not sure she’s particularly Debbie Harry…

Here is that Forbidden Planet ad...

And here is a cover of Judge Dredd by Bolland featuring Anderson...

Thanks again to Mark S. (who wrote in for last week's installment on Rocky Balboa, as well) for the head's up (and the scan of the Forbidden Planet ad)! Thanks to David Bishop for the interview and thanks, of course, to Brian Bolland for the information!

COMIC LEGEND: Zodac in the Masters of the Universe was meant to be connected to Metron of the Fourth World.

STATUS: Basically False, With Some Truthiness to it

Reader Squashua has been wondering for a long time about a possible link between Zodac of the Masters of the Universe and Metron of the New Gods.

Here is Zodac on the cover of DC's Masters of the Universe mini-series (written by Paul Kupperberg and drawn by the late, great George Tuska). He is the fellow behind Skeletor's sword...

And here, of course, is Metron (from his first appearance in New Gods #1)...

Squashua asked awhile back...

Did the DC Comics writers intend there to be a connection between New God character "Metron" and Master of the Universe character "Zodac, the Cosmic Enforcer"?

The classic Zodac toy was a dude with red space armor and a laser pistol. Originally billed as an Evil warrior, the accompanying EARLY literature had him as more of a neutral keeper of balance, which was what followed ever since.

When he was presented in both the toy-included comic books (apparently all written by DC before Mattel took over) and the short-lived DC Comic series/insert (prior to Marvel's Epic-line MotU series), if I recall correctly, Zodac flew around in a chair (much like Metron) and did cosmic "stuff". The Zodac toy did not come with this chair, but if you look at the chair in the manner in which it was drawn, it is identical to the throne that comes with the original Castle Greyskull playset. There was no reason for him to use the chair, but when you go think about it, Zodac of the DC Comics issue(s) is pretty much intended to be Metron.

Here they are in their respective chairs (thanks to Squashua for the pic)...

Well, just the other week, Sean T. Collins at CBR's own Robot 6 blog was discussing Masters of the Universe, and Squashua showed up in the comments and so did Paul Kupperberg!

Squashua presented the question and Paul answered it as follows:

DC signed the rights to MOTU before the toys were released. They had virtually no back story set up besides a very basic good guys vs. bad guys idea. A rep from Mattel came to DC and editor Dave Manak and I spent an afternoon on the floor of DC's conference room playing with the prototypes of the figures and accessories and making shit up as we went along. I took a few notes, talked out a few very basic ideas with Dave and the rep and then went home and started writing. Zodac and the flying chair were part of the presentation, so I went with that--don't recall for certain if the Metron parallel was brought up at the time, but with fan-boy-me in the room, I'd find it tough to believe I wouldn't have at least mentioned it. They might have gotten rid of the flying chair (or switched it to a spot in the Castle) because of the similarity by the time the toys came out but after I'd written the comic.

A big fan of the Fourth World material, but I don't think I ever wrote any of it, certainly not around that time...unless I've got a major brain fart going. My first connection with any of the Kirbyverse was when I tied TAKION into The Force, but that wasn't until 1996.

I'm told -- and I don't know because I never watched the cartoon (being, y'know, in my 20s when it came out) -- that a lot of the back story was based on the DC comic, so I guess I'm to blame, but I doubt I would've had Zodac in a flying chair if it hadn't been part of that original presentation.

So it sounds like basically a no on the connection.

Thanks to Paul Kupperberg for the information, thanks to Sean for the blog entry that got this one resolved and thanks to Squashua for the stick-to-it-ness to finally get a reply to the query!! Good job!

Okay, that's it for this week!

Thanks to the Grand Comic Book Database for this week's covers! And thanks to Brandon Hanvey for the Comic Book Legends Revealed logo!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is cronb01@aol.com.

As you likely know by now, at the end of April, my book finally came out!

Here is the cover by artist Mickey Duzyj. I think he did a very nice job (click to enlarge)...

If you'd like to order it, you can use the following code if you'd like to send me a bit of a referral fee...

Was Superman a Spy?: And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed

See you next week!

45 Comments

• At November 20, 2009, Charlie wrote:

  On that He-Man cover, that actually looks more like Mer-Man on an Attack Sled or whatever they were called. ...

• At November 20, 2009, Splint Chesthair wrote:

  Minor correction to the MOTU bit: Zodac is standing behind Skeletor on that cover. The guy in the flying thing ...

• At November 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Noted! Thanks, fellas. I'll admit that I stopped looking as soon as I saw the red helmet! :)

• At November 20, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Ha! I've read through that Essential X-Men volume a few times now and never noticed the clandestine nipple there. I ...

• At November 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Do note that Marvel may have corrected it in later printing of the Essential trade (they've gone through a few ...

• At November 20, 2009, Splint Chesthair wrote:

  My favorite part of that X-Men scene is Spidey in a phone booth trying to warn the X-Men about Arcade, ...

• At November 20, 2009, Squashua wrote:

  Thanks, Brian. From the link provided, here's a link to a better pic that shows both Metron and Zodac ...

• At November 20, 2009, Jace Mace wrote:

  Am I completely blind? I can't see the nudity in that Storm pic. Is there a nip?

• At November 20, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  "Devils take the man..."

  "Sleepy-Bye, Honey-Chile."

• At November 20, 2009, The Amazing Spider-Ads wrote:

  Yep, I don't see the nipple there much at all either. I think blown up so big the grain obscures ...

• At November 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Fair enough, I shrunk the image for ya.

• At November 20, 2009, Jace Mace wrote:

  Thanks for the shrink. I totally see it now. John Byrne, you ol' rogue!

• At November 20, 2009, Philip Ayres wrote:

  The thing Mer Man is in is a Wind Raider

• At November 20, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  Funny that the Storm story was brought up, literally at the same time I was debating which Claremont/Byrne storylines should ...

• At November 20, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Storm used to be naked a lot in the old days (although aside from this time, there was always ...

• At November 20, 2009, Hisham wrote:

  I don't know if you've covered it before, but your discussion of MOTU and New Gods reminds about something I ...

• At November 20, 2009, Mxy wrote:

  Here's one: I know Kevin Maguire is a big Bond fan. I was wondering if he came up with the ...

• At November 20, 2009, Kamino Neko wrote:

  Hisham - yep, he covered it.

• At November 20, 2009, Teebore wrote:

  Invest in an X-Signal, guys!

  Yeah, you'd think Cerebro could at least take messages or something. :)

• At November 20, 2009, Bill wrote:

  Huh! I never would have guessed when I got up this morning that I would see Storms nipple today. Funny ...

• At November 20, 2009, Henry wrote:

  Speaking of Byrne and nipples, didn't he also do that for She-Hulk as well after her clothes were torn up, ...

• At November 20, 2009, Squashua wrote:

  @Hisham, in my original request for research from Brian, I mentioned that my MotU/New Gods request is a different one ...

• At November 20, 2009, Squashua wrote:

  Also, if you look CLOSE ENOUGH at the colored version, you can also see Storm's nipple, albeit 98% blacked out.

• At November 20, 2009, wwk5d wrote:

  Uh, forget the X-signal, how about beefing up their security? lol

  Ah, those early He-man comics...interesting how unplanned things were. Teela ...

• At November 20, 2009, hifidigitalboy wrote:

  I've always loved what came after the Spider-Man/Arcade phone conversation. Namely, Spidey destroying the phone booth because he was so ...

• At November 20, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  A little nipple never hurt anyone. ;-)

• At November 20, 2009, Squashua wrote:

  [url=http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/showpost.php?p=2208948&postcount=40]Post on He-Man.org[/url] with some pics of a custom Zodac chair, plus a pic of Metron and a pic of ...

• At November 20, 2009, Squashua wrote:

  (Brian, you can kill the prior post and this sentence; I always forget there is no UBB code here).

  Link: http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/showpost.php?p=2208948&postcount=40

  Goes ...

• At November 20, 2009, Squashua wrote:

  Also, here is a pic of the interior of Castle Greyskull, which shows the throne I mention:

  http://www.toyarchive.com/STAForSale/NEW2001+/MOTU/Toys/Loose/PlaysetGreyskull3a.jpg

• At November 20, 2009, John Trumbull wrote:

  Actually, I'll bet that Terry Austin was the one who added that nipple to Storm in that panel. I ...

• At November 20, 2009, Tony wrote:

  Speaking of comic book characters based on Debbie Harry's look, Walt Simonson has stated in a number of interviews that ...

• At November 20, 2009, opeu38 wrote:

  I think John Byrne said that the 87 He-Man movie was merely a ripoff of New Gods. I thought I ...

• At November 20, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  "Truthiness"? Heh. :P

  Storm's nipple doesn't bother me, I'd heard that some artists often draw their figures nude before "dressing" them ...

• At November 20, 2009, Ipm wrote:

  "Do note that Marvel may have corrected it in later printing of the Essential trade (they've gone through a few ...

• At November 20, 2009, The Mutt wrote:

  You really can't introduce a character more thoroughly than Kirby did Metron in that one page from New Gods #1.

  "You ...

• At November 20, 2009, Reno wrote:

  Was He-man a part of the Epic line from Marvel? It was the Star line for kids, right?

• At November 20, 2009, Squashua wrote:

  @opeu38

  As mentioned earlier, the first MotU movie being associated with New Gods via a comment by John Byrne was ...

• At November 21, 2009, Locusmortiis wrote:

  I've wondered for a while if the look of Metron and his throne by Kirby was influenced by Phillipe Druillets ...

• At November 21, 2009, Chris Stansfield wrote:

  Yep, it was Star Comics, and, generally, it was really terrible. Like stealing forty cakes terrible. However, the last two ...

• At November 21, 2009, Daniel wrote:

  Kupperberg is talking about the DC comics series, which as he says was conceived very early and on the fly ...

• At November 21, 2009, sgt rawk wrote:

  Man, John Byrne could draw hot women.

• At November 21, 2009, excelsior wrote:

  OOOOOO MUST TRACK DOWN ESSENTIAL X-MEN VOLUME 2

• At November 21, 2009, Drew wrote:

  I can't check my copy because it's in the half of my collection that's on the other side of the ...

• At November 21, 2009, Véte wrote:

  I fail to see the nudity in the Storm panel. There's no nudity there. Just an awfull unnatural shading ...

• At November 21, 2009, Omni-man wrote:

  I've been taught not to feel attracted to women of other races but I get excited by this comic. Does ...

Here's the next four covers! And click here for the master list of all the covers posted so far!

35 Comments

• At November 20, 2009, Groomete wrote:

  I think the mistery (in space) is to know who this "Dale" is... :)

• At November 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Ha!

  Sadly enough, I actually looked around and that was the best copy of that cover that I could find!

  If someone ...

• At November 20, 2009, m!ke wrote:

  definitely the gl cover.

• At November 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Aha!

  Good ol' Scott Shaw! had a clean copy on his Oddball Comics site!

  Check out Scott's take on the issue here. ...

• At November 20, 2009, Earth2Lives wrote:

  I've been really liking your series so far, but with just four days left and some of the more recent ...

• At November 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  It's a fine cover, Earth2Lives.

  I wouldn't normally put it in my Top 90, but it was a cover I considered!

  Tell ...

• At November 20, 2009, Fabricio Neves wrote:

  Well, now I wanna see the "Dale" version !

• At November 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  It looks the same, Fabricio, except someone lightly wrote their name (Dale) across the bottom of the planet.

• At November 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Okay, now I've come up with an even BETTER idea!

  You'll see what it is on Monday!

• At November 20, 2009, Dan Fleming wrote:

  Green Lantern.

• At November 20, 2009, Jim McClain wrote:

  Show both sides of the Adams Batman treasury cover. It's a wraparound image!

• At November 20, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  "Okay, now I've come up with an even BETTER idea!

  You'll see what it is on Monday!"

  Uh oh! Better skip ...

• At November 20, 2009, Ninjazilla wrote:

  All about the GL one this time.

• At November 20, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  YES! NEAL ADAMS BEST COVER! YES!

• At November 20, 2009, chad wrote:

  got to go with the green lantern cover for it showed the begining of the end of the silver age ...

• At November 20, 2009, Josh wrote:

  1: Yes. 3: Yes. 2: I can believe it. 4: ????

• At November 20, 2009, Sean Coffee wrote:

  To a comic book reader of a certain age, those Collectors Edition covers (especially the Adams above) are all incredibly ...

• At November 20, 2009, T. wrote:

  Is that All-Star Squadron #1 the first time a superteam was depicted as being formed by 3 members going through ...

• At November 20, 2009, Bryan wrote:

  The GL one is one of the first comics I purchased, so I have to show it some love. Also ...

• At November 20, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  I've seen the GL cover a few times of course, but I've never noticed how goofy Hal looks. He's clearly ...

• At November 20, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  Sean Coffee: Great site, thanks.

• At November 20, 2009, MrMGU wrote:

  Neal Adams' Batman cover, which is also featured on the new (timed to the release of "Batman Begins", I think) ...

• At November 20, 2009, MrMGU wrote:

  Neal Adams' Batman cover, which is also featured on the new (timed to the release of "Batman Begins", I think) ...

• At November 20, 2009, JKC wrote:

  I personally have been waiting for All-Star Superman #1 so I could vote it into my top 10.

• At November 20, 2009, Matt D wrote:

  If nothing else, these are exposing the blind spots I have to some eras/runs when it comes to DC. I ...

• At November 20, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  I'd say the GL is the most iconic to me, but then again, it's the only one on that list ...

• At November 20, 2009, doctor bob wrote:

  The Adams Batman cover that has stayed with with since I was a child - definitely!

• At November 20, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  Have to say I friggin hated the cover for All-Star Superman #1, not disagreeing that it should be on the ...

• At November 20, 2009, wwk5d wrote:

  For me, it's a toss up between the GL and Batman covers.

  But....the Jimmy Olsen cover? Seriously?

• At November 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Seriously?

  Yes.

• At November 20, 2009, Jacob T. Levy wrote:

  The GL cover is an absurd image for an absurd story. Memorable, but not in a good way...

• At November 20, 2009, Adam Kirby wrote:

  Is this the end of the list, is the master list wrong, or are you planning on posting just one ...

• At November 20, 2009, Adam Kirby wrote:

  Wait, I'm an idiot and forgot that you were going up to 90 nominations first.

  I'm still pulling for Swamp Thing ...

• At November 21, 2009, XBen wrote:

  Another vote Yes for All-Star Squadron #1

• At November 21, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  Nothing here will get my vote

Today, believe it or not, we're going to look at ANOTHER epilogue to X-Cutioner's Song! This time, courtesy of Peter David and Joe Quesasa, as David explains to us just why Quicksilver is so ornery...

That's some strong character work right there.

Good stuff (the conceit of the issue, by the way, was that all members of X-Factor had to get counseling after the events of the X-Cutioner's Song crossover).

32 Comments

• At November 20, 2009, Philip wrote:

  Yeah that might be my favorite scene in all of comics. Perfect way to keep Quicksilver an ass, while also ...

• At November 20, 2009, The Crazed Spruce wrote:

  Say what you will about Peter David, but it only took him three pages to completely change the way everyone ...

• At November 20, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Good moment, but when I saw "Quicksilver" and "Peter David," I assumed that this would be the Lockjaw story.

• At November 20, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  Just a real comic / science geek question comment here... Isn't the length of time of putting together a puzzle ...

• At November 20, 2009, Craig wrote:

  Truly a classic. So much so, in fact, that the current X-Factor series had a full-issue homage (#13, from early ...

• At November 20, 2009, Matt Ampersand wrote:

  Ethan: At the speed they move, they can just try all the pieces in all positions before you know it.

• At November 20, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, think about it - one of the biggest tasks behind jigsaw puzzles is the sorting of the pieces (finding ...

• At November 20, 2009, E. Wilson wrote:

  Meh, Quicksilver's still a jerk. If you've been living this way your entire life, it's not unreasonable to ask that ...

• At November 20, 2009, Brian Mac wrote:

  Strangely, I quit reading comics just after the X-Cutioner's Song...because of the lousy writing. I was on the verge ...

• At November 20, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  SOOOOOOO, that's what PMS stands for!

  I've been wondering that for decades! ;-)

• At November 20, 2009, James wrote:

  Off all the runs and creative teams of X-Factor, that was the single best one issue. Also, one of my ...

• At November 20, 2009, Michael wrote:

  I like the idea that these big event crossovers are just as traumatic for the characters as they are for ...

• At November 20, 2009, chad wrote:

  loved that issue . for found it interesting to see a shrink try to get into the head of the ...

• At November 20, 2009, Mea wrote:

  At the time I wasn't reading any of the X-Books and picked this one up off the rack for some ...

• At November 20, 2009, Michael wrote:

  E. Wilson, keep in mind that PAD himself was well aware that this doesn't explain some of the crap Pietro ...

• At November 20, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  That outfit with the baggy suit and the basketball shoes tied like a teenagers' doesn't really seem right on Quicksilver.

• At November 20, 2009, Jeff Ryan wrote:

  Another great Peter David Quicksilver line:

  Upon hearing a news report that Jamie Madrox had been murdered: "Hmm. Slow news day."

• At November 20, 2009, Gary wrote:

  Peter David and Joe Quesada knocked it out of the park on this one. Quicksilver's session was the best of ...

• At November 20, 2009, jazzbo wrote:

  Isn't it usually explained with any of the speedsters that their brains move proportionally faster than a regular person as ...

• At November 20, 2009, cmh wrote:

  Apodaca: Sorry, I've gotta ask. Were you referring to the suit or the shoes?

  The cash machine bit does bring ...

• At November 20, 2009, Kelly Thompson wrote:

  This issue kind of blew my mind as a kid and I never forgot it. It was great to ...

• At November 20, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Which issue was this? I don't know precisely when the X-cutioner's Song happened, but I know it was probably ...

• At November 20, 2009, Teebore wrote:

  Mary, this was issue #87.

  I've always loved this entire issue, but this moment is ALWAYS the one that comes ...

• At November 20, 2009, James wrote:

  you'd think a speedster would know to tie his shoes.

• At November 20, 2009, Josh wrote:

  One of my favorite piece of PAD's work. (Nice art by JoeyQ, too) It's a terrific character piece ...

• At November 20, 2009, Mario wrote:

  To Ethan:

  i've thought of that myself. The best i can come up with is that part of Quicksilver's mutation is ...

• At November 20, 2009, Gary wrote:

  RE: Super speedsters thinking fast

  They certainly do. When Jay Garrick had his leg broken by Professor Zoom in "The Return ...

• At November 20, 2009, noodles wrote:

  @Gary - FYI, Johns established in HIS Titans run that Bart (uniquely) can retain stuff he reads super fast.

• At November 20, 2009, Jacob T. Levy wrote:

  Like everyone said-- a classic issue all around. I love how *wrong* Val is about everything.

  At the end of ...

• At November 20, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  This is good character work.

  Boy, do I find Quesada's art incredibly ugly!

• At November 20, 2009, Rob Ocelot wrote:

  Quesada's art from this era both intrigues and repulses me.

  Of course, this was a time when every 'hot' ...

• At November 21, 2009, JKC wrote:

  Imagine the concentration it would take for Quicksilver to talk at a speed that Doc Samson can understand him, and ...

11 Comments

• At November 19, 2009, Thok wrote:

  Feh, he's no Flash or Despero.

• At November 19, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Forget about playing chess against Superman... imagine a Superman piece IN the game. It would just clean up; you would ...

• At November 19, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  That Super-bully should go and pick on someone his OWN size!!!!

• At November 19, 2009, Chad wrote:

  I dunno. How can he kick anything without legs?

  Also, using brawn to win chess is so middle school.

• At November 19, 2009, Mark McD wrote:

  "Also, using brawn to win chess is so middle school."

  There's not a single situation in a chess match that you ...

• At November 19, 2009, Mea wrote:

  So is this the origins of Chess Boxing?

• At November 19, 2009, Sean Whitmore wrote:

  Of course he'd win, he cheats. He's a rook, but he's clearly moving diagonally.

  Also he's punching a guy.

• At November 19, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  @Sean Whitmore: he's a Knight

• At November 19, 2009, Sean Whitmore wrote:

  He should've been a bishop; I know for a fact he owns the hat.

• At November 19, 2009, Jack Norris wrote:

  Chad: not to mention the other guy having no ass.

• At November 19, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Ah, Golden Age Superman - cut in two, stuck onto a chess piece, about to fall on his face and ...

Neal Adams' cover for DC 100-Page Super Spectaculer #6 would seem to certainly be on the list of options for the Top 75 Most Iconic DC Covers. It was so famous that DC reprinted the comic in 2004, and it was ALREADY a reprint collection! That's how notable Adams' cover was.

However, Adams' cover is an homage to the cover of All-Star Comics #16 by Frank Harry.

So which one should make the list?

The original cover or the more famous homage?

16 Comments

• At November 19, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Adams'. Again, if it's about which is the more iconic (influential) and not favorite or better looking, it was that ...

• At November 19, 2009, Julian wrote:

  All Star Comics #16 established the iconography.

• At November 19, 2009, Lt. Clutch wrote:

  This is the first time I've ever seen the Frank Harry cover.

  I've been waiting for a poster of the ...

• At November 19, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  I've never seen either of these, ever... But here's a good question. What are the odds this cover influenced Justice ...

• At November 19, 2009, Jace Mace wrote:

  I can't vote for either. I don't really think that a gallery of superheroes standing shoulder-to-shoulder makes for a good ...

• At November 19, 2009, Wesley Smith wrote:

  If I had to choose between the cover to Justice League #1 and either of these, I'd choose JL without ...

• At November 19, 2009, Mark Cook wrote:

  Why not both? Although I guess you'd probably be sitting at 76 covers then...

• At November 19, 2009, chad wrote:

  have to go with the original version since it was the first that did it that without it adams proably ...

• At November 19, 2009, Wayne wrote:

  Adams, if for no other reason than THAT is the comic that really made me a comics fan for life.

• At November 19, 2009, Matt K wrote:

  Not knowing these covers, I prefer the All Star one. In the 100 Page cover the spotlight seems kind ...

• At November 19, 2009, LouReedRichards wrote:

  Yeah, I like the "common folk" aspect of the Golden Age one. Plus, I like that Dr. midnight has that ...

• At November 19, 2009, danjack wrote:

  I

  LOVE

  BOTH

  THESE

  COVERS!

  They both rock so hard it ain't funny!

  DFTBA

• At November 19, 2009, Scott Harris wrote:

  I have to say I think the original is fantastic and I like it a lot more than the homage. ...

• At November 19, 2009, Eric wrote:

  I vote for this one:

  http://coveredblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/anthony-vukojevich-covers-dc-100-page.html

• At November 20, 2009, wwk5d wrote:

  This is a tough one...not sure which I would vote for.

• At November 20, 2009, Chris Stansfield wrote:

  Honestly, neither. I've never thought this was a great representation of Adams's work. The figures are sloppily drawn, and the ...

Here's the next four covers! And click here for the master list of all the covers posted so far!

35 Comments

• At November 19, 2009, Hangman Jury wrote:

  I have never seen that second one. Ever.

• At November 19, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  The homage cover by Neal Adams is more famous, but since folks thought All-Star #4 was the more iconic cover ...

• At November 19, 2009, Julian wrote:

  If you haven't seen that cover or variations on the theme, you haven't seen many comics.

• At November 19, 2009, dhole wrote:

  I haven't seen that second one either, and I've seen many, many comics!

  But not a lot of DC golden/silver age ...

• At November 19, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  That Mazzucchelli cover will be getting my vote. None of the others will

• At November 19, 2009, Matt D wrote:

  I've seen a lot of comics but I've never seen that Aquaman cover. I have seen #2 though.

• At November 19, 2009, chad wrote:

  as much as i went for the all star orignal cover which that was fast. got to go with the ...

• At November 19, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  The Batman cover gets my vote.

  The Brainac guy should be ashamed of himself for wearing that costume.

• At November 19, 2009, Scott MacIver wrote:

  The lettering on those 60-70's Aquaman comics were always so fly.

  That's right, fly.

• At November 19, 2009, Hangman Jury wrote:

  "If you haven't seen that cover or variations on the theme, you haven't seen many comics."

  I have not only seen ...

• At November 19, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I think everyone should now be forced to open their comments with "I have seen a lot of comic book ...

• At November 19, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Oooh, better yet!

  Before commenting, everyone should have to state how many comic book covers they have seen. And no estimations, ...

• At November 19, 2009, Richard J. Marcej wrote:

  "I see dead comic book covers."

• At November 19, 2009, Andy wrote:

  I have seen precisely 11,226 comic book covers in all my years on this Earth, also 468 graphic novel covers ...

• At November 19, 2009, Thok wrote:

  I think it's fair to say that while all of these are iconic, Batman 404 is the only one that ...

• At November 19, 2009, fourthworlder wrote:

  I'm counting, dammit, I'm counting.

  And I HAVE seen that Aquaman cover before. It's a beauty.

• At November 19, 2009, Jonathan Ehrich wrote:

  I have seen ALL comic book covers before, and I have never seen #2.

  (Except in the poll above this post ...

• At November 19, 2009, DanLarkin wrote:

  Love the Cardy Aquaman cover.

• At November 19, 2009, Dan Fleming wrote:

  Batman Year One.

  The aquaman cover is not iconic, but damn if it isn't amazing.

• At November 19, 2009, Craig B. wrote:

  I know I should know this, but what's the significance of #1 - first appearance of Braniac? It just ...

• At November 19, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, first Brainiac.

  Within a year, Action Comics introduced Brainiac, Supergirl and the adult Bizarro (plus Metallo).

  Not bad for a year's ...

• At November 19, 2009, Phil Sandifer wrote:

  Since my pick of the Batman: Year One cover is now listed, I'll add one to yesterday's list of most ...

• At November 19, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  You'll have better luck with your other picks, Phil. ;)

• At November 19, 2009, Mike Blake wrote:

  DC considered the Brainiac cover iconic enough to use on the cover of the SHOWCASE PRESENTS volume that included it:

  http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/File:Showcase_Presents_Superman_Volume_1.jpg

• At November 19, 2009, Roman wrote:

  Is that Aquaman cover by Nick Cardy?

• At November 19, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yep.

• At November 19, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  If anyone has a cleaner copy of the front cover of the DC 100-Page Super Spectacular, please drop me a ...

• At November 19, 2009, DanLarkin wrote:

  J'onn's head looks really weird on the 100 page SS.

• At November 19, 2009, Wade AuCoin wrote:

  I'd like to add Wonder Woman #72 from the 1987 series, Batman #11 from the original series and of course ...

• At November 19, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  First, they are all incredible; second, the #2 cover ,give Dick Giordano as much credit as Mr. Adams on that ...

• At November 19, 2009, Torsten Adair wrote:

  The iconic cover of Batman: Year One is the extreme spotlit close-up of Batman on the cover of the collection. ...

• At November 19, 2009, Phil wrote:

  Yeah, I kinda figured Zero Hour #4 wasn't going anywhere, but man, that clutched empty Flash mask? That was one ...

• At November 19, 2009, Paulv wrote:

  The 100 Page SS seems as special now as it did when I first picked it up off the rack ...

• At November 19, 2009, fourthworlder wrote:

  I remember being about ten and loving the novelty of the 100 pg Super Spec, and trying to understand who ...

• At November 20, 2009, wwk5d wrote:

  The Braniac cover isn't all that impressive. But the other 3 are really great looking covers...I'd have to go with ...

Today we finish a two-part look at the Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth one-shot, by writer Warren Ellis and artist John Cassaday.

Okay, so when last we left our heroes, the good folks of Planetary (Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner and The Drummer) were tangling with Batman over this powerful fellow who keeps re-writing history (as a result of freaking out over some past trauma).

As Batman battles the Planetary team, the guy keeps re-writing history and Batman shifts between different versions of himself (Dark Knight Returns Batman, Batman TV show Batman, O'Neil/Adams Batman) until suddenly, he lands on old school Batman, which does not bode well for our reality shaping suspect...

As Batman leaves, there's some cute flirting between Batman and Jakita. I'd love to include it, but there just isn't enough room, and I had to get all the above pages.

26 Comments

• At November 19, 2009, Dunc wrote:

  I've only read the first Planetary trade but I'm skipping to this one and heading to the shop now.

  My God ...

• At November 19, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  This is great stuff and really touching, especially coming from Ellis.

  It's one of the few times that I remember seeing ...

• At November 19, 2009, Furious George wrote:

  Somebody get John Cassaday on a Batman book right now.

• At November 19, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  I meant cynicism, obviously :-)

• At November 19, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  I really want "Crossing Worlds" to go Absolute now...

  Like an appendix piece, in the same vein as Absolute Death...

  Please, ...

• At November 19, 2009, Joe Mama wrote:

  "You can give them safety. You can show them they're not alone. That's how you make the world make sense. ...

• At November 19, 2009, Ed wrote:

  I just have to gush a little bit - this "Year of Cool Comic Book Moments" is the single greatest ...

• At November 19, 2009, chad wrote:

  loved the speech batman gives to john revealing how he manages to keep going after losing like john his parents. ...

• At November 19, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Glad that you're enjoying the feature, Ed. Sadly, only a little more than a month to go!

  The Batman with a ...

• At November 19, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Mr. B.C. You really should make MORE room for whatever you need to post, and the consequences BE damned!!!! ...

• At November 19, 2009, Scott MacIver wrote:

  It was such a good way to tie together the mythos of Batman, and make him work again as a ...

• At November 19, 2009, Andy wrote:

  @Ed-

  The Batman talking at the end was, I believe, supposed to be an amalgam, idealized Batman that took the best ...

• At November 19, 2009, Neil Cameron wrote:

  Warren Ellis really summed up in this one shot everything about Batman you ever needed.

  Why DC has not collected the ...

• At November 19, 2009, Josh wrote:

  Brian: what about the last Batman, then, from the third page on? I think that's what Ed's talking about.

• At November 19, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Ah, gotcha.

  Yeah, that's Cassaday's take on an integrated Batman.

• At November 19, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  It's Jakita and Elijah's reactions at the top of the 4th page that always set this scene apart for me, ...

• At November 19, 2009, joshschr wrote:

  A cool moment from a cool series. Dick Grayson and the Joker's cameo at the start of the story ...

• At November 19, 2009, Chad wrote:

  I love it when Ellis drops his "I'm so cyncial and I drink a lot and I like to flirt ...

• At November 19, 2009, Michael wrote:

  Joshschr, I'm pretty sure Batman didn't exist at all in the main Planetary reality.

  Another Planetary/DC crossover moment I'd ...

• At November 19, 2009, jocutus wrote:

  Yeah, that last Batman is pretty awesome. After cycling through all the various well known versions (including the original ...

• At November 20, 2009, Ed wrote:

  I think the lesson here is, if everybody else would handle Batman as well as he is handled here, wouldn't ...

• At November 20, 2009, Roman wrote:

  Somebody at DC, get Cassaday onto Morrison's 6th arc of Batman and Robin! Also, bribe Darwyn Cooke, Farel Dalrymple, ...

• At November 20, 2009, Dean wrote:

  I love Ellis and Cassaday as a team. It is a shame Cassaday has squandered so much of limited ...

• At November 20, 2009, Joe Que? wrote:

  Planetary is overrated.

  As always, Warren Ellis' characters has zero depth.

  Except for this one moment.

• At November 21, 2009, Patient Boy wrote:

  Isn't the last iteration of Batman an Alex Ross design? I never really liked it all that much.

• At November 21, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  Nah - he's too thin to be an Alex Ross design. I'm not mad on that version either. ...

2 Comments

• At November 18, 2009, Gavin wrote:

  I posted in that thread way back right after it was started and it still says that my comment is ...

• At November 18, 2009, Jeremy wrote:

  ^That means only you and Brian can see it. It still got counted.

Here's the next four covers! And click here for the master list of all the covers posted so far!

37 Comments

• At November 18, 2009, XBen wrote:

  Is that the first time we have Supes and Bats on the same cover?

• At November 18, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  The fourth, actually, but the first where the two are notably interacting.

  EDITED TO ADD: I thought you were asking about ...

• At November 18, 2009, VeganWithaYoYo wrote:

  If I remember correctly, it's the first issue where two heroes from different books met each other... and thus the ...

• At November 18, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  It's not THAT significant, Michael, as heroes had met each other before, but it's the first time Superman and Batman ...

• At November 18, 2009, marcrod wrote:

  I have never seen that wonderwoman cover before but damn that looks awesome. if anyone has any background on this ...

• At November 18, 2009, jocutus wrote:

  The Wonder Woman cover is from WW #1, Vol. 2 by George Perez, the reboot after Crisis on Infinite Earths ...

• At November 18, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Is this the first wrap-around on the list?

  Second. The Superman/Ali cover was the first one.

• At November 18, 2009, Adam wrote:

  So what was the first time two characters had a "team up"? I don't have my All-Star Archives anymore, ...

• At November 18, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Good question, Adam.

  MLJ's Wizard and Shield crossed over with each other very early in the Golden Age. That was a ...

• At November 18, 2009, Matthew Johnson wrote:

  Re Adam's question -- I recall a note in the Greatest Team-Up Stories TPB that mentioned a very early meeting ...

• At November 18, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Stripesy was not introduced until a year after the Wizard/Shield meet-up.

• At November 18, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  I'm torn between that Batman and Wonder Woman cover.

  Really torn.

• At November 18, 2009, chad wrote:

  not really caring for any of the covers but i pick the wonder woman cover for it was the ...

• At November 18, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  This is more like it: #4 is as classic as it is awesome, #1 is as iconic as you can ...

• At November 18, 2009, Sam wrote:

  I recognize the Neal Adams image, but was that cover the first time it appeared? Wasn't it originally an ...

• At November 18, 2009, Phil Sandifer wrote:

  My top 5 that haven't been featured yet:

  Action #1

  All-Star Superman #1 (One of a handful of modern covers to deserve ...

• At November 18, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  There's one theme day that I'm waiting on that will have a few covers that people are waiting for.

  It just ...

• At November 18, 2009, Michael wrote:

  Is Batman trying to save Lois, or feel her up?

• At November 18, 2009, kalebhammer wrote:

  @Sam. I think it's from Batman #251 - The Joker's Five-Way Revenge toward the end when Batman is chasing ...

• At November 18, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  "All-Star Superman #1 (One of a handful of modern covers to deserve to be on this list)"

  Agreed.

  Also, about Wonder ...

• At November 18, 2009, Neal K wrote:

  I have to say that Wonder Woman cover is probably the most iconic of the four presented today. That's ...

• At November 18, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  D'oh! Here's that Animal Link, so you can click on it:

  http://www.comics.org/issue/45566/cover/4/?style=default

  (And, just in case anyone's curious, here's the full wrap-around ...

• At November 18, 2009, Adam wrote:

  I like that the WW cover is the first wrap-around on the list, although I doubt it's here for that ...

• At November 18, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  It is not the first wrap-around cover on the list.

• At November 18, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  kalebhammer is correct Sam. Thank goodness there are some who read comics from before 1986. Have to say I friggin ...

• At November 18, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  http://www.fivestarcomics.com/knightwolf/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/shazam.jpg

  http://www.comics.org/issue/68962/cover/4/?style=default

  two covers I'm rooting for

• At November 18, 2009, Phil Sandifer wrote:

  Though #5 is certainly one of the best Animal Man covers, if you want raw iconicness (and I do think ...

• At November 18, 2009, Jim McClain wrote:

  Another treasury wraparound cover that I dearly love was from All-New Collectors' Edition C55 --Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. ...

• At November 18, 2009, John Trumbull wrote:

  I don't know if the Batman cover should really be on the list. It's just homaging a splash panel ...

• At November 18, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  I was convinced it was actually the panel, but I've just compared it and you're right it's a rip-off - ...

• At November 18, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  Hey Brian, I forgot to ask: All-Star #4 obviously won in yesterday's polling. What were the numbers?

• At November 18, 2009, Harold wrote:

  How come someone can "hate" the All-Star Superman #1 cover? Not liking it it´s ok, but hate??

• At November 18, 2009, ChrisDonaghy wrote:

  Heck, the iconic cover of the two IS the one from "Five-Way Revenge!" That story re-launched the Joker as ...

• At November 19, 2009, Eric wrote:

  Happy to see more Wonder Woman. This is probably her most iconic cover (I'm pretty sure it's been turned into ...

• At November 19, 2009, Eric wrote:

  Also, I prefer this JSA cover to the other one in the poll so I'm happy it won. But I'm ...

• At November 19, 2009, nikki wrote:

  I don't get what is so special about the superman and batman ones

• At November 19, 2009, Torsten Adair wrote:

  I'm following this series... quite excellent!

  However... I'm reading this on my Treo cellphone, and, at best, only two covers load.

  Could ...

Today we begin a two-part look at the Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth one-shot, by writer Warren Ellis and artist John Cassaday.

The gist of the story is that a superpowered fellow is pretty messed up (drugs and some childhood trauma), so when his universe re-writing powers kick in, well, it does not go well, and people are starting to die if they're too close to him.

So Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner and The Drummer go to Gotham City to investigate (All the history re-writing energy is seriously messing up the Drummer's head).

Batman shows up, naturally, and he wants control over the suspect. He and Jakita fight, but soon, some history re-writing kicks in...

Awesomely handled all around.

I think "the" moment is probably the Female-Villain-Repellent Spray.

30 Comments

• At November 18, 2009, Michael wrote:

  The best Batman story this decade, in any medium.

• At November 18, 2009, Michael wrote:

  Brilliant moment! Will this be in the Absolute edition?

• At November 18, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  I just love how, even when he's the ridiculous television show Batman, he still can't be stopped!!!!!! He's the ...

• At November 18, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Neat. I take the "tank" moment to mean he's been turned into the DKR version. Did any other ...

• At November 18, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  A couple more, Adam.

• At November 18, 2009, Ed wrote:

  I love, love, love, love Planetary. I've read all the TBP's out there (3 to date I think) as ...

• At November 18, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Oh, I missed at the beginnign that this is a two-part "Cool Moment." More bat-goodness tomorrow!

• At November 18, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  Two cool moments here...

  One: "Bat-Apologies"

  Two: "From this position there are nine ways to take you down. ... Six of them ...

• At November 18, 2009, chad wrote:

  i would also go whtere Elijah is facing down the dark knight returns bats and then the batmobile runs over ...

• At November 18, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  "Bat-apologies?!?" tsk tsk, The Goddamn Batman would NEVER apologize!!

  I've seen the DC listings for the Absolute Planetary vol. one ...

• At November 18, 2009, Gary wrote:

  That's cute.

• At November 18, 2009, Furious George wrote:

  The Drummer always gets the best lines.

• At November 18, 2009, E. Wilson wrote:

  "Bat-Female-Villain-Repellent?" It's just Axe.

• At November 18, 2009, Jeff Ryan wrote:

  I'd say there were two more great moments from before this:

  1) the picture of three people melded together, with the ...

• At November 18, 2009, fanboy d wrote:

  Ellis is so good at aping other interpretations of The Goddamn Batman that it makes me VERY curious as to ...

• At November 18, 2009, Nick Evans wrote:

  @ed: Planetary did deal with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in the Planetary/JLA one-shot. That's collected together with this ...

• At November 18, 2009, cmh wrote:

  Zero hour.

  I recall that one of the issues in that crossover showed earlier incantations of Batman. That included Miller's ...

• At November 18, 2009, Billy Batson wrote:

  It would have been even better if DC editorial hadn't forced Cassaday to slightly alter the Adam West Batman who ...

• At November 18, 2009, Iron Maiden wrote:

  He still did a good job of evoking Adam West's lack of six pack abs. I got ...

• At November 18, 2009, Chris McAree wrote:

  Two words....I WANT!

• At November 18, 2009, Andre wrote:

  cool.

• At November 18, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  It would have been even better if DC editorial hadn't forced Cassaday to slightly alter the Adam West Batman who ...

• At November 18, 2009, Dean wrote:

  You missed 'Tell me you're single'. It was the best line in the issue!

• At November 18, 2009, Zor-El of Argo wrote:

  The moment for me is when Snow turned around and found himself face to face with the Dark Knight.

• At November 18, 2009, davek wrote:

  "Tell me you're single." was flat out brilliant.

• At November 18, 2009, dreamweaver13 wrote:

  When Adam West turns into DKR is the moment for me. that "oops" is priceless.

  I agree with Greg, absolutely ...

• At November 18, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  The problem with the "single" line is that to get it in, I'd really have to do three days of ...

• At November 18, 2009, Andy wrote:

  Well, I don't know what tomorrow's moment is, but "tell me you're single" has a pretty amusing callback at the ...

• At November 19, 2009, Shane wrote:

  The whole thing is one big moment. Bugga one or two more days how about a page a day for ...

• At November 20, 2009, wwk5d wrote:

  John Cassaday should get a lot of credit for such great versions of Batman.

  Brian, was the first version of ...

Here's the next four covers! And click here for the master list of all the covers posted so far!

48 Comments

• At November 17, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  wow, whatta sorry lot.

• At November 17, 2009, T. wrote:

  wow, whatta sorry lot.

  wow, are you serious? these are all pretty well known!

• At November 17, 2009, Robert Niederklopfer wrote:

  By who? retards? I'll quit visiting this site if any of these make the top 75.

• At November 17, 2009, Joe wrote:

  I think the first two are probably locks to make the cut.

• At November 17, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  By who? retards? I'll quit visiting this site if any of these make the top 75.

  I guess we'll miss your ...

• At November 17, 2009, Tom WB wrote:

  This is the worst thing ever! Boo to you, Brian Cronin! If any of these entrants win, I'm going to ...

• At November 17, 2009, Eills Wyatt wrote:

  That Flash puppet cover is the single weirdest one I've seen on this countdown yet. I didn't think anything would ...

• At November 17, 2009, Derick wrote:

  Man, people are crazy.

  They keep complaining that some covers are not iconic. But those 2 GL covers are repeatedly homaged ...

• At November 17, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  These 4 are iconic?

  I don't think so.

  They all can't be iconic.

  Maybe tomorrow.

• At November 17, 2009, Dan wrote:

  "I've got the strangest feeling I'm being turned into a puppet!" What does that feel like and how does ...

• At November 17, 2009, chad wrote:

  all hard to pick though got to go with the first one for think that is the issue where zoom ...

• At November 17, 2009, marcrod wrote:

  if you didn't know that 2 & 4 are iconic, you dont know your comic covers.

• At November 17, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  yeah, the 2nd and the 4th covers are the only ones I'm familiar with, and still I woudn't call them ...

• At November 17, 2009, Tekende wrote:

  The first one is definitely iconic.

• At November 17, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Not feeling that Flash puppet cover. It's kooky and fun looking, but I can't think of any homages to it ...

• At November 17, 2009, DanLarkin wrote:

  These are all pretty famous covers. And I'm now tempted to vote them in my top ten just to make ...

• At November 17, 2009, fourthworlder wrote:

  "I've got the strangest feeling I'm being turned into a puppet!"

  I'll have to remember to use that one with my ...

• At November 17, 2009, CW wrote:

  Maybe I'm just not a GL fanboy, but I don't recognize any of these covers. And isn't the flash one ...

• At November 17, 2009, JoeMac wrote:

  Seriously, that first Flash cover is super famous, and was homaged during the Wally West years in the middle of ...

• At November 17, 2009, Mr. M wrote:

  The "Battleground: Oa" cover has been one of my all-time favorites since I picked up that issue at a 7-Eleven ...

• At November 17, 2009, dhole wrote:

  I'm not a Flash or GL fan so I admit I'm not familiar with these (I may have seen the ...

• At November 17, 2009, Nathan Irwin wrote:

  Remind me again why Hal is wearing two power rings on cover # 4?

• At November 17, 2009, Mr. M wrote:

  If memory serves, he was avenging a fallen comrade. I don't think the rings had that automatic "seek a new ...

• At November 17, 2009, Luis wrote:

  The 2 Green Lantern covers are very similar and variations of that theme have been done many, many times. The ...

• At November 17, 2009, Sam wrote:

  Obviously no one could think up a better caption to put on a picture of the Flash being turned into ...

• At November 17, 2009, Dan K wrote:

  1 is the only one out of this lot I had seen before. 3 looks like something out of Grant ...

• At November 17, 2009, doctor bob wrote:

  There are so many iconic Flash covers - the GL ones are from my early days again so have a ...

• At November 17, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  Sure, the Flash cover is dumb, but that's kind of the point of it being here, isn't it? An example ...

• At November 17, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  Dang... didn't mean to hit enter. I was going to add that I would argue that there are probably some ...

• At November 17, 2009, bongoes wrote:

  I've never seen #3 but 1,2 and 4 are very iconic. Especially 2.

• At November 17, 2009, "O" the Humanatee! wrote:

  I'm older than most of the readers here, and perhaps because of that, I share Ethan Shuster's opinion: To me, ...

• At November 17, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  I am curious about some of the GLs seen in these covers. Aside from Hal, Katma Tui and Tomar Re, ...

• At November 17, 2009, Scott MacIver wrote:

  Maybe #1. Maybe.

  The rest? Meh. They don't do it for me. They look...played out and poor.

• At November 17, 2009, DanLarkin wrote:

  @Rebis- that's Larvox : http://www.dcuguide.com/profile.php?name=larvox

• At November 17, 2009, nikki wrote:

  none of these would be on my list.

• At November 17, 2009, Monica Dickey wrote:

  #1 is definitely an eye-catcher. And I'm a sucker for the Lantern Corps, with its funnier shaped members. I love ...

• At November 17, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  The 2 Green Lantern covers are very similar and variations of that theme have been done many, many times.

  Both covers ...

• At November 17, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  wow, whatta sorry lot.

• At November 17, 2009, Daniel wrote:

  The Flash "I'm being turned into a puppet" may be THE most memorable cover OF ALL TIME. You children should ...

• At November 17, 2009, Ninjazilla wrote:

  the too GLS are defintely Iconic.

  Flash puppet one id never seen before but its awesome.

  the other flash one seems kinda ...

• At November 17, 2009, Mark Hutton wrote:

  Brian I truly enjoy all your columns legends and countdown.

  Could you give us your definition of iconic? I ...

• At November 17, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Could you give us your definition of iconic?

  Sure.

  Iconic being determined partially subjectively by what covers are called to mind when ...

• At November 17, 2009, Mark Hutton wrote:

  Yep, that oughta put it to rest thanks! ;-)

• At November 17, 2009, CriticalFel wrote:

  1 and 3 definitely deserve a high to mid place in the final list. The other two I haven't seen ...

• At November 17, 2009, Eric wrote:

  There has been a lot of love for GL and Flash. Which I get, especially as they were instrumental in ...

• At November 17, 2009, Julian wrote:

  Reading these comments I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Daniel was right, you children ought to be ashamed.

• At November 18, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  I don't particularly recognise any of these except maybe that first Flash cover.

  I have to say though, I love that ...

• At November 18, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  "That's Larvox" — thanks Dan!

Let's take a look at another neat moment from Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man!

In Animal Man #16, we see an interesting contrast between Buddy (Animal Man) and his fellow teammates in Justice League Europe.

In this issue (drawn by Chas Truog), the Time Commander shows up, but he clearly is not your typical super-villain - Buddy can see that, but can his teammates?

Strong work by Morrison (and one of Truog's better issues, too, art-wise).

"The" moment, I presume, would be the last page, with Metamorpho's confusion mixed with the old woman's horror.

31 Comments

• At November 17, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  Ouch...

  Forgot this issue...

  There was an awful lot of depressing stuff in Morrison's Animal Man, wasn't there?

  Good, but depressing...

• At November 17, 2009, T. wrote:

  When I first read Morrison's Animal Man as a teen I thought it was so brilliant. Now whenever I ...

• At November 17, 2009, Eills Wyatt wrote:

  "Metamorpho, don't hit him!"

  "Screw that! You're not the one who got trapped in a giant hour glass!"

• At November 17, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Truog.

  Whatever happened to him?

  I miss his stuff.

• At November 17, 2009, Ricardo wrote:

  Brian:

  It's CHAS Truog, not Chris, as far as I remember, isn't it?

• At November 17, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  No, you're right. I'll fix it!

• At November 17, 2009, Joe Rice wrote:

  I loved Animal Man growing up, really opened me up to actually good comics instead of just buying whatever shit ...

• At November 17, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, and this was one of his better issues.

• At November 17, 2009, chad wrote:

  i would also go with animal mans speech to the time commander that he is not really bad but ...

• At November 17, 2009, Scott Story wrote:

  I loved these Animal Man stories, liked them even more than I did Morrison's Doom Patrol, which I liked a ...

• At November 17, 2009, Lt. Clutch wrote:

  Morrison's Animal Man: Where bad guys had the right idea and the heroes turned out like jerks. All those poor ...

• At November 17, 2009, T. wrote:

  loved Animal Man growing up, really opened me up to actually good comics instead of just buying whatever shit ...

• At November 17, 2009, T. wrote:

  Ah wait, I just realized....does Morrison work full script? If so I guess I can't give Truog the credit ...

• At November 17, 2009, Paul1963 wrote:

  The thing is, those people are all actually worse off than they were before the Time Commander's actions. When ...

• At November 17, 2009, fourthworlder wrote:

  And, of course, the concept of bringing the dead back leads to the final Morrison issue when...

  NO NO NO spoilers!

  (But ...

• At November 17, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  I don't see what's remarkable about Truog's storytelling. In this scene, for example, the only layout that isn't totally perfunctory ...

• At November 17, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  I suppose the concept is all right, but I do agree it's heavy handed. I know that Morrison's AM was ...

• At November 17, 2009, karl wrote:

  man, i love truog's art here.... ive been reading comics almost 20 years now (and im only 26... jesus im ...

• At November 17, 2009, DanLarkin wrote:

  I thought Truog was Morrison using a psuedonym. Did I imagine that?

• At November 17, 2009, secret i.d. wrote:

  "I thought Truog was Morrison using a pseudonym."

  People used to say the same thing about Frank Quitely. Is ...

• At November 17, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  "I suppose the concept is all right, but I do agree it's heavy handed. I know that Morrison's AM was ...

• At November 17, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  "man, i love truog's art here.... ive been reading comics almost 20 years now (and im only 26... jesus im ...

• At November 17, 2009, T. wrote:

  I suppose the concept is all right, but I do agree it's heavy handed. I know that Morrison's AM was ...

• At November 17, 2009, T. wrote:

  I enjoy Truog's art similar to how I enjoy Kirby's. With both artists I don't like how the people ...

• At November 17, 2009, Dalarsco wrote:

  @ secret i.d.: I'm not sure about Truog, but it happens with Quitely and Morrison because Quitely (IIRC) is ...

• At November 18, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  Someone mentioned the Coyote issue, and someone mentioned heavy-handed and self-indulgent. 2+2=4 in this case for me.

• At November 18, 2009, fourthworlder wrote:

  Coyote Gospel? heavy-handed and self-indulgent?

  Um, well, now that you mention it, I guess I'd agree.

  But I'd quickly point out how ...

• At November 18, 2009, Bryan wrote:

  @ Dalarsco: You must be thinking of Quitely's Authority run with Millar (as like you, I can't think of anything ...

• At November 18, 2009, Paul1963 wrote:

  Frank Quitely = "Quite frankly."

  Jesus Christ, how thick am I? I honestly never thought of that until Dalarsco ...

• At November 18, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  I'm torn about the art. On one hand it's really not very good at all, but on the other hand ...

• At November 20, 2009, wwk5d wrote:

  I agree with Ethan Shuster's POV.

All-Star Comics #4 vs. All-Star Comics #36

It's certainly an iconic image, but which one is THE iconic cover?

The first cover originated the concept while the second cover refined the concept.

Which one is THE choice?

22 Comments

• At November 16, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  I'm really not all that familiar with either cover, so maybe I can't speak to how iconic they are. BUT, ...

• At November 16, 2009, beta ray steve wrote:

  I voted for #36. The massive yellow text box and the Capitol are in the foreground and distract. In terms ...

• At November 16, 2009, Wesley Smith wrote:

  I'm going with #4 because A) It actually featured the original JSA, and B) The JSA banner in the second ...

• At November 16, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  First isn't always best. The design is cleaner and the cast more iconic in the later choice. (Too bad that ...

• At November 16, 2009, Patrick Joseph wrote:

  Trick question? As #36 is derivative of #4, I went with the earliest.

• At November 16, 2009, Chris McAree wrote:

  I'm not familiar enough with either to vote, but I have to say that despite growing up on Marvel, and ...

• At November 16, 2009, Ninjazilla wrote:

  4 is earlier and looks nicer.

• At November 16, 2009, Keith wrote:

  I couldn't vote for a cover that featured the Spectre running.

• At November 16, 2009, Gavin wrote:

  No contest...All Star Comics #4...the later version has some seriously stiff looking characters. No motion at all...bad cover.

• At November 16, 2009, Gabriel Mckee wrote:

  I'm not familiar with either, but I'd call 36 an homage to 4-- so I vote for 4.

• At November 16, 2009, T. wrote:

  I don't think the second cover "refined" the concept of the original at all. I think it simply repeated ...

• At November 16, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  Easy, #4

• At November 16, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  Completely disagree. The backgrounds are supposed to be simpler in the the second cover — it helps the heroes pop, ...

• At November 16, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Since we're talking "iconic" not best or favorite, i went with #36, because I've actually seen it referenced before, while ...

• At November 16, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  I must admit it always feels really weird to me to see Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as contemporaries with ...

• At November 16, 2009, jhota wrote:

  voted for #4, since #36 is pretty much a reference/copy/homage/whatever of #4.

• At November 16, 2009, Daniel O' Dreams wrote:

  I believe this was the first cover appearance of Superman and Batman in All Star Comics. Had Superman Batman and ...

• At November 16, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  Superman and Batman appeared together on every cover of World's Finest Comics, even before they started co-starring inside the book.

• At November 16, 2009, Eric wrote:

  The first cover has a lot going for it:

  1)It's first.

  2)It's better art-wise.

  3)It had characters who are more iconic in the ...

• At November 17, 2009, Hangman Jury wrote:

  The first one, definitely. I've seen it reprinted in a bunch of books about comics.

  I have never even seen ...

• At November 17, 2009, Steven verbridge wrote:

  #4 definitely!

• At November 17, 2009, nikki wrote:

  number 4 because it shows the regular team rather than showcasing the guest stars

Here's the next four covers! And click here for the master list of all the covers posted so far!

25 Comments

• At November 16, 2009, Matt D wrote:

  They're really doing a terrible job cutting up the US there. No one gets Northern California.

• At November 16, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Even the Injustice Society can't get anything done in Sacramento.

• At November 16, 2009, Thok wrote:

  Ignoring that it's a really badly drawn map of the US (Earth-2 has different geography?) , Sacramento would actually seem ...

• At November 16, 2009, Craig wrote:

  Glad to see Adventure #300; how many times has that been emulated elsewhere?

  Also, has Animal Man #17 already been featured?

• At November 16, 2009, Matthew Johnson wrote:

  Poor Brain Wave. I hope he likes the cold.

• At November 16, 2009, MLViola wrote:

  why does Vandal Savage look like Dr. Psycho?

  Is Brainwave wearing his Dr. Sivana costume again?

• At November 16, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  I have never seen that Hawkman cover before but it's awesome! Meanwhile, I've been waiting for this exact Green Lantern ...

• At November 16, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  I had never seen that All-Star cover before, but it's WAY cool!

  Of course I'm sure the story inside isn't nearly ...

• At November 16, 2009, Rob Schmidt wrote:

  The Gambler has the Southwest and the Thinker has the East Coast already, but they're dividing their own territories. ...

• At November 16, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I'd figure the first LSH appearance cover would be ahead of this one.

• At November 16, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  That Hawkman cover is F**KING CLASSIC!

• At November 16, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  It's also funny that the villains crossed out "America" to proclaim themselves of "the world!", yet they're carving up a ...

• At November 16, 2009, Mason King wrote:

  Enough with the gorillas.

• At November 16, 2009, FuryOfFirestorm wrote:

  The cover for Infinity Inc #10 is a homage to the All-Star #37 cover.

• At November 16, 2009, Dan K wrote:

  I think the GL cover has it.

  I'd never seen that Hawkman cover before but it has singlehandedly increased my ...

• At November 16, 2009, doctor bob wrote:

  Surprised to say I have never seen the GL cover before!

• At November 16, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  Mmmm - Probably the only contender for me is the LoSH cover

• At November 16, 2009, Casey wrote:

  lol at Superboy's receding hairline.

• At November 16, 2009, Lupin Yonsei wrote:

  MORE gorillas!

• At November 16, 2009, Michael wrote:

  Don't listen to Mason King. He is clearly mad.

• At November 16, 2009, Dan Fleming wrote:

  Green Lantern only.

• At November 16, 2009, P. Boz wrote:

  It's become increasingly clear that I haven't a clue about DC covers from years past. These have all been ...

• At November 16, 2009, Mason King wrote:

  You're right. Don't listen to me. I've always been weirded out by gorillas in comics. I could take the guys ...

• At November 16, 2009, Eric wrote:

  Wow, how could the Justice Society ever fight a bunch of bald scientists with members as powerless as Green Lantern, ...

• At November 17, 2009, nikki wrote:

  I've seen adventure 300 redone twice. Once with chameleon boy in Superboy's place and one with Andromeda in Superboy's place. ...

Let's take a look at a cool moment from Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man!

Animal Man #15, written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood, features Animal Man along with old friend Dane Dorrance (of the Sea Devils) trying to stop some folks who are killing dolphins.

Morrison throws in a twist by having the dolphins who are being victimized have a voice...

Strong stuff.

31 Comments

• At November 16, 2009, Lt. Clutch wrote:

  One of my favorite series runs ever and one more reason to love dolphins.

  What a great ending.

• At November 16, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  Um, I know people aren't nice to animals sometimes, but is there some reason the crowd angrily wants to kill ...

• At November 16, 2009, M,Spoerer wrote:

  Ethan, the villagers do an annual slaughter of dolphins as a fishing tradition...the set up was inspired by a real ...

• At November 16, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Um, I know people aren't nice to animals sometimes, but is there some reason the crowd angrily wants to kill ...

• At November 16, 2009, Callen wrote:

  This seemed more like an episode of Captain Planet.

• At November 16, 2009, Ellis Wyatt wrote:

  And two decades later, South Park would do the same thing.

• At November 16, 2009, chad wrote:

  have to go with the whale helping omega back to shore proving that one should not judge the whole human ...

• At November 16, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Brings a tear to ones eye(s).

  Another favorite moment in this series is where a character turns his head around and ...

• At November 16, 2009, Aaron Thall wrote:

  Stuff like this is why Morrison's Animal Man is one of the rare DC titles to make it into my ...

• At November 16, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Dolphins are cute and loveable. Did Animal Man ever get involved if someone shot an opossum, stepped on a ...

• At November 16, 2009, Richard J. Marcej wrote:

  Have the Animal Man series been collected in TPB's?

• At November 16, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  @ Richard J. Marcej:

  Yep. 3 tpbs collecting all Morrison's Animal Man stuff.

  Go forth and buy! ;-)

• At November 16, 2009, Name wrote:

  The punchline is that dolphins are jerks and one the few species that will thrill kill and rape each other.

• At November 16, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  For me this is one of the weaker issues in one of the all time best runs in comics. ...

• At November 16, 2009, Cass wrote:

  Animal Man might be my favorite comic book run of all time, but whenever it tried to branch out into ...

• At November 16, 2009, Matt Ampersand wrote:

  Yeah, the funny thing is that recent research shows that dolphins behavior includes foreplay, sex for fun rather than reproduction, ...

• At November 16, 2009, P. Boz wrote:

  Yeah, this comic really sums up my girlfriend's feelings about dolphins:

  http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20070130

  Personally, I'm not sure why we should judge other cultures ...

• At November 16, 2009, Dean wrote:

  And now for the dissenting opinion:

  http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=70&issue=14

• At November 16, 2009, David wrote:

  Yeah I was a rabid fan of Morrison's back in the day, but this issue really pissed me off. "Our ...

• At November 17, 2009, Luke J. wrote:

  DanCJ: I just read Coyote Gospel earlier tonight (picked up the first Animal Man trade a few days ago.) ...

• At November 17, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  David, you're missing the point when you assert, "Animal Man's kill is just fine with Morrison because he had a ...

• At November 17, 2009, David wrote:

  Gawd I hate it when people say "You're missing the point", as though dissgreeing with them automatically equaled lack of ...

• At November 17, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  Wow, that's hilarious. We know, David, because it's a STORY and the storytellers tell us why the dolphin does what ...

• At November 17, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  Oh please don't try that one.

  I am criticizing what I did not like about the story, period. I can ...

• At November 17, 2009, David wrote:

  No idea why that says "anonymous" above.

• At November 17, 2009, Jim wrote:

  Yeah, he's right, you're missing the point in a way. You're right in saying the power of the story is ...

• At November 18, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  P. Boz:

  "Personally, I'm not sure why we should judge other cultures based on what they do. As long as they're ...

• At November 18, 2009, Nick Evans wrote:

  @Matt Ampersand. How many animals other than humans know that sex results in reproduction? Surely those that don't ...

• At November 18, 2009, JasonF wrote:

  They may even engage in homosexual foreplay...sinners!

• At November 18, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  Surely those that don't (which would seem to include all those where the male doesn't hang around afterwards, for a ...

• At November 20, 2009, wwk5d wrote:

  Brought to you by PETA.

Here's the next four covers! And click here for the master list of all the covers posted so far!

18 Comments

• At November 15, 2009, Cpl Otter wrote:

  How can the Wonder Woman cover be considered "iconic" if it takes away the most iconic thing about her- namely, ...

• At November 15, 2009, azjohnson5 wrote:

  Wow. Great ones today, all are CLASSICS! Love, love , love #4, #1 shepherds an entire new era for DC, ...

• At November 15, 2009, Thok wrote:

  Heh, cover 4 is a clever pick. Basically, anything in DC that has to do with gorillas is influenced ...

• At November 15, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Can't beat Jack Kirby cover.

  However, that Wonder chick's soooooo 60's and grroooooovy. ;-)

• At November 15, 2009, sgt rawk wrote:

  Monkeys! More monkeys! Super Heroes Battle Super Gorillas! Titano! That strange issue of Wonder Woman! Grodd! More monkeys! RRRAAAARRGH1

  Monkeys.

• At November 15, 2009, Mason King wrote:

  Wow, I've been collecting since the early 1980s and I wasn't aware of the Strange Adventures cover. Does anyone have ...

• At November 15, 2009, Thok wrote:

  Mason King, this page should give you a good explanation.

• At November 15, 2009, Dean wrote:

  I love the "Strange Adventures" cover. It is something that has really gotten lost in comics over the years.

  The ...

• At November 15, 2009, Dan Fleming wrote:

  New Gods and Batman

• At November 15, 2009, Dave wrote:

  Batman, followed by Wonder Woman, then quickly by New Gods. The Strange Adventures was a significant one, but the cover ...

• At November 15, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Love all of these.

• At November 15, 2009, Dan K wrote:

  #1 Not a great cover for Kirby but has been invested with iconic status based on the significance of the ...

• At November 15, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  I think the WW cover is "iconic" as well as memorable and one of her most famous. Not sure about ...

• At November 15, 2009, chad wrote:

  have to go with the new gods cover for it was the king doing one of his greatest works. that ...

• At November 15, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  Hmmm

  Yes, No, Yes, No - in that order

• At November 15, 2009, Mike Blake wrote:

  Have to go with the Batman cover. I think the stories in NEW GODS #1 and WW #178 are more ...

• At November 16, 2009, JoeMac wrote:

  That fourth cover made me cry as I've often been accused of being a gorilla with a human brain. It ...

• At November 17, 2009, Spiffy wrote:

  Cpl Otter, the WW cover is iconic for that very reason.

  You don't have to like the change in a character ...

Enjoy!

Let us know what you think, either here or at the ComicCritics blog!

19 Comments

• At November 15, 2009, Ninjazilla wrote:

  ...Ive been there.

• At November 15, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  The girl that's still nice to you after a tirade like that? That from all appearances somehow continues to like ...

• At November 15, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  Ohhhh, totally. My girlfriend is pretty geeky herself, but just yesterday she asked, idly, "Are there any Canadian X-Men?"

  I believe ...

• At November 15, 2009, Bry wrote:

  Ha! The last line sold this for me. At least he's more self-aware than a lot of comic fans. ;)

  Though ...

• At November 15, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Yep, he lost her at "Green Lantern." I wonder why my wife sticks with me when I have conversations ...

• At November 15, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  @Jeff Holland: You should've said "Alpha Flight" and maybe got some. ;-)

• At November 15, 2009, Stephane Savoie wrote:

  Funny story: I was trying to keep my comic-nerddom from a girl I was seeing, and was talking about music, ...

• At November 15, 2009, Taylor Porter wrote:

  For me, the best line was "The guy in the wheelchair?"

• At November 15, 2009, P. Boz wrote:

  See, this is why I don't discuss superheroes with people unless they already know what's going on. The ravings ...

• At November 15, 2009, Daniel O' Dreams wrote:

  I would have stopped after "Green Lantern" maybe before, played it off with something like "silly comic book thing, ...

• At November 15, 2009, chad wrote:

  josh bombed out the moment he started talking about heat and then the death of super man . for its ...

• At November 15, 2009, Joe wrote:

  P. Boz.:

  Oh yeah, lunatics are totally more understandable. I had a chat with some lady the other day that claimed ...

• At November 16, 2009, ZZZ wrote:

  Every comic book fan's been in the position of accidentally trying to explain some comics-related point and realizing that the ...

• At November 16, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  @Tom Fitzpatrick:

  When it comes to lessons on Canadian mutants, she's patient - but she's not a saint!

• At November 16, 2009, Marc wrote:

  I was just starting to date this woman, and I took her to see Star Trek: Insurrection. I tried ...

• At November 16, 2009, Xander wrote:

  I just picked up Emerald Twilight/New Dawn at the library and tried explaining to my wife why it made me ...

• At November 16, 2009, DanCJ wrote:

  I was just starting to date this woman, and I took her to see Star Trek: Insurrection. I tried to ...

• At November 16, 2009, P. Boz wrote:

  @Joe

  Hey, at least that lady told a good story. She should sell it to DC.

• At November 18, 2009, fanboy d wrote:

  @Jeff Holland

  Funnier than the strip :P

Let's take a look at a cool moment from the conclusion to Batman R.I.P. in Batman #681 (if you haven't read it yet, well, spoilers ahead!)!

Okay, at the end of Batman #680, Batman has seemingly succumbed to the poisons of the servants of the evil Black Glove. Things look bleak.

Until you open up the pages of Batman #681...

We see that Batman has been preparing for the Black Glove for months, all the way back to when Batman's life was threatened by the Black Glove's agents...

"The" moment, though, is still that opening line..."the thing about Batman" indeed!

16 Comments

• At November 15, 2009, Fayzan wrote:

  This was one of my most anticipated comics ever. Right up there. And it didn't disappoint. A lot of people ...

• At November 15, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Y'know, I only read the "helicopter" issue. Did a lot of people compare this scene to Spidey in "Kraven's ...

• At November 15, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  I've yet to read the BLACK GLOVE tpb.

  Nice to know, it's something to look forward to.

• At November 15, 2009, Paul1963 wrote:

  One thing that really struck me about "Batman R.I.P." is that, when it's over, there are an awful lot of ...

• At November 15, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  Paul, have you read "Heart of Hush"? Dini sets up the "Tommy looks like Bruce" element, and it works ...

• At November 15, 2009, Ellis Wyatt wrote:

  I think the big problem I had with RiP is that, while I can totally buy that Batman can force ...

• At November 15, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Agreed, Ellis.

  He SHOULD have, but if there's a double super-duper JLA emergency, it's not really in his nature to ...

• At November 15, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  That last page is the best thing Tony Daniel has ever drawn.

• At November 15, 2009, MarieDeGournay wrote:

  Great moment and a great run. My favorite part of Morrison's run was how he was able to take all ...

• At November 15, 2009, chad wrote:

  i would also go with batman climbing out of the grave though thought the black glove story line was ...

• At November 15, 2009, dr matt wrote:

  I've been thinking for a while (particularly since I'm enjoying "Batman and Robin" so much, that I need to get ...

• At November 15, 2009, Matt wrote:

  @dr matt: you really should. It's one long story, and it will only serve to make B&R better.

• At November 15, 2009, Lt. Clutch wrote:

  I love the last page, that is the definite moment for me. Dick Grayson as Batman is great, he reminds ...

• At November 15, 2009, Michael wrote:

  Brian, any plans to do moments from the Club of Heroes arc? I can think of a ton of ...

• At November 17, 2009, wwk5d wrote:

  I wonder if Morrison's run, and this story in particular, would have been received more positively had there been a ...

• At November 18, 2009, fanboy d wrote:

  Man, I hated that story with such a fiery passion that I refuse to accept any moment from it as ...