The day job has my hands full, but I thought I'd share a cover that's always been a favorite — Amazing Spider-Man #135.
Click for bigger view!One of the things that's great about this dynamic cover by John Romita, Sr., is that it not only promises a ton of story — it even says, "This issue's got everything!" — but it actually delivers. Every single thing on this cover happens at some point in the story, and it's as awesome as it looks.
This comic also has the distinction of being my introduction to The Punisher. I don't remember seeing the character before, but I certainly remember reading about him in this one. And what the hell kind of rifle is Frank packing there, anyway?
You could argue that this cover is too busy, but I think it succeeds in spite of its crowded design. In my opinion, something like this works better than a static "portrait" cover. What do you think?
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8 comments:
Psst...that's a John Romita cover.
Understandable, though- Andru was doing the interiors on those books at that time, I believe!
It's still a cool cover...
they put this on a t-shirt at the time, i believe...they knew a boffo cover when they saw it!
Johnny B: Yup, it was Andru on the interiors for this one. I keep forgetting that they didn't always give the cover artist credit in those days!
Rob!: I would KILL to have this on a T-shirt.
I don't think it looks cluttered at all, but then again one of my very first comics was Fantastic Four #246 showing four different action scenes. The FF has done four-panel covers a lot over the years, your example just looks like a Spidey version of the same.
Chris: Covers like this and that issue of Fantastic Four are probably what drew me into comics in the first place. You can do a lot with good design.
You fools!
Any child knows the only appropriate Marvel cover MUST be of a static portrait that could easily be interchanged with any issue in the series.
Or of action and characters that do not actually appear in the issue.
Barring that, you can simply make everyone skrulls on the cover.
Or zombies. For no reason.
To follow any other path would lead to certain... DOOM!
T: You forgot an important element - all the characters must be heavily photo-referenced! Preferably while making an O-face!
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