Skeleton Hero Covers Pt. 2

Here are a few more.

Detective Comics #620 (Late August, 1990) was released right in the middle of a terrific era for the title. I was a huge fan of Breyfogle's artwork and it was one of my 'go to' titles during the last years of high school. Breyfogle was also a very inventive cover artists, playing around with layouts and design. This isn't his best work, but it is certainly far from bad. I do like the way his signature appeals to be nothing more than another crease in the cowl.

The second iteration of What If? never quite lived up to the quality of its predecessor. That said, I think the cover to What If #50 (June, 1993) is an appropriate cover design for the story, focusing on the inherent creepiness of an admantium skeletal structure. I don't know much about Armando Gil, but he seems to be very capable of delivering the kind of covers Marvel was known for in the early 90s. That's called damning with faint praise, kids.

Let's finish up with a cool one. The cover to Legion of Super-Heroes #47 (September, 1993) is pencilled by the great Stuart Immonen. His Skelegionnaires have been given a real zombie vibe. I love their posture. I also love the fact that the Invisible Kid's headband stayed on. Is that big skeleton Blok? Didn't he have a costume during this era?

Skeleton Hero Covers Pt. 1

You might be surprised to find out just how often this cover gag has been used, although it seems to have been more popular at DC.

Let's start with my favourite. The cover to Wonder Woman #298 (December, 1982) is quite stunning. It brings a House of Mystery/Secrets vibe to a superhero title. Frank Miller was a terrific cover artist, and did created some truly remarkable images for both Marvel and DC. I think Dick Giordano was a good inker for him and I wish they had worked together more often.

Flash #186 (March, 1968) is another great one. This is the kind of Silver Age cover that would have intrigued any 10 year old on the planet. Ross Andru pencilled a ton of great Flash covers over the years. His sense of design is terrific. For another, rather gruesome Flash skeleton cover check out Rich Buckler's cover to #258.

The wonderful Jonah Hex Spectacular told us how our favourite bounty hunter would spend his post-living years. In fact the GCD Indexer stated "Lots of loose plot ends left hanging, including the fact that Jonah's death has been written already." All of that said, I still really dig the cover to Jonah Hex #92 (August, 1985). I am not always a huge fan of Denys Cowan, but his stuff looks really good inked by Klaus Janson. This is a fitting image for the final issue of a series that saw a ton of Four Colour death.

Alas, poor Clone, I knew him well. Or at least I though I did. The never followed the whole revisit to the Clone Saga in the mid-90s, so I don't have a clue how things turned out. In any event, the cover to Sensational Spider-Man #2 (March, 1996) by Jurgens/Janson team is pretty terrific, especially when compared to the dreck Marvel was putting on shelves during that era. It is a single image. There are no ridiculous captions. There are no mutants. There are not pneumatic babes. How did this get back the editors?

I'll be sharing some more next week.