A Cover A Day: Nominations, Themes and Statistics

[Peter Wrexham]

This thread is a companion to the "A Cover A Day" discussion.  Click here to visit that discussion.  It is intended for the discussion of potential new themes and topics for "A Cover A Day", voting on these themes, and the gathering and reporting of statistics.

The following index lists all the themes that have been chosen to date.  The clickable link takes you to the first reply of the given theme, so that you can browse through the posted covers for that month.  "Page/Reply" gives the page number in the thread where the topic starts, and reply number (1 to 10) within the page.  The index also gives the total number of "Pages" and "Replies" occupied by each theme, as a rough indication of their relative popularity.

Ning 3.0 website update

As a result of the move to the new version of the website:

• It seems to be impossible to create a fixed link that always takes you to the last reply of a thread
• Links to a specific reply generated on the old version of the website are no longer valid
• There are now 10 replies to a page, rather than 12.

Since the old links that used to take you to the first post of a theme no longer work, they have been removed, and replaced with new links that take you to a newly-added reply at the start of the month in question.  The "Page/Reply" and "Pages" columns have been updated because of the change from 12 to 10 replies per page.  The numbers in the "Replies" column was still accurate, apart from needing to be updated to include the newly-added "start-of-month" replies.

The "Page/Reply" column gives an alternative way to locate the beginning of any theme, by going to the appropriate page, then counting through the replies.  This is, however, a significantly more inconvenient process than using the clickable link.

Date	Page/Reply	Theme (and clickable link)	Pages	Replies
Oct 2016	1/1	Letter A	23	228
Dec 2016	23/9	Letter B	21	208
Jan 2017	44/7	Letter C	22	215
Feb 2017	66/2	Letter D	21	209
Mar 2017	87/1	Letter E	18	179
Apr 2017	104/10	Letter F	19	185
May 2017	123/5	Letter G	16	158
Jun 2017	139/3	Letter H	20	196
Jul 2017	158/9	Letter I	13	134
Aug 2017	172/3	Letter J	20	195
Sep 2017	191/8	Letter K	24	238
Oct 2017	215/6	Letter L	29	286
Nov 2017	244/2	Letter M	28	281
Dec 2017	272/3	Letter N	24	237
Jan 2018	295/10	Letter O	25	246
Feb 2018	321/1	Letter P	30	296
Mar 2018	350/7	Letters Q & R	24	244
Apr 2018	375/1	Letter S	27	271
May 2018	402/2	Superman’s 80th anniversary	25	251
Jun 2018	427/3	Letter T	25	251
Jul 2018	452/4	Letter U	21	208
Aug 2018	473/2	Letter V	23	229
Sep 2018	496/1	Letter W	23	234
Oct 2018	519/5	Letter X	18	181
Nov 2018	537/6	Letter Y	16	157
Dec 2018	553/3	Letter Z	16	157
Jan 2019	568/10	Person being carried	19	191
Feb 2019	588/1	Real people	21	214
Mar 2019	609/5	Homages/parodies	23	225
Apr 2019	631/10	Green-skinned people	21	208
May 2019	652/8	Wanted posters	20	202
Jun 2019	672/10	Boxing rings	18	181
Jul 2019	691/1	Empty uniforms	18	179
Aug 2019	708/9	Beaches	30	298
Sep 2019	738/7	Apes	34	341
Oct 2019	772/8	Haunted houses/graves	25	251
Nov 2019	797/9	Motor bikes	26	255
Dec 2019	823/4	Foreign language covers	21	210
Jan 2020	844/4	Playing cards/tabletop games	28	276
Feb 2020	871/10	Valentines and Cupids	26	260
Mar 2020	897/10	Statues	26	257
Apr 2020	923/7	Elephants	26	264
May 2020	950/1	Heroes & villains cooperating	20	199
Jun 2020	969/10	The Moon	32	323
Jul 2020	1002/3	Flags & patriotic symbols	22	216
Aug 2020	1023/9	Foreign locations (non-US)	23	234
Sep 2020	1047/3	MST3K (with commentary)	29	293
Oct 2020	1076/6	Vampires and Werewolves	25	246
Nov 2020	1101/2	Giants	29	287
Dec 2020	1129/9	Snow & winter scenes	29	290
Jan 2021	1158/9	Doppelgängers	38	378
Feb 2021	1196/7	Movies	28	276
Mar 2021	1224/3	Cats/cat-themed adventurers	26	264
Apr 2021	1250/7	Dogs/dog-themed adventurers	31	306
May 2021	1281/3	Big guns/Heavy weaponry	30	303
Jun 2021	1311/6	Dinosaurs/Time Travel	34	339
Jul 2021	1345/5	Big Questions/Question Marks	33	331
Aug 2021	1378/6	Highways, Travel etc	23	233
Sep 2021	1401/9	Favourite Covers/Comics	33	331
Oct 2021	1434/10	Lineups	26	263
Nov 2021	1461/3	JSA 80th Anniversary	27	270
Dec 2021	1488/3	Logos in the action	32	317
Jan 2022	1519/10	Dynamic Duos	35	348
Feb 2022	1554/8	Romantic Scenes	31	314
Mar 2022	1586/2	Bridges	34	340
Apr 2022	1620/2	Unexpected Green	29	287
May 2022	1648/9	Neal Adams	31	311
Jun 2022	1679/10	George Perez	23	228
Jul 2022	1702/8	Parents	36	357
Aug 2022	1738/5	Fairgrounds and Carnivals	29	286
Sep 2022	1767/1	Joe Kubert	24	239
Oct 2022	1790/10	First and last issues	32	324
Nov 2022	1823/4	Classrooms and Education	27	266
Dec 2022	1849/7	Robots and Cyborgs	39	393
Jan 2023	1889/3	Trials and Courtrooms	33	331
Feb 2023	1922/4	Doctors, Nurses and Hospitals	29	293
Mar 2023	1951/7	Detectives & Murder Mysteries	41	412
Apr 2023	1992/9	Birds and Winged Creatures	42	420
May 2023	2034/9	Strength in Numbers	57	571
Jun 2023	2091/10	Horses, Centaurs & Equines	38	382
Jul 2023	2130/2	John Romita, Sr.	30	301
Aug 2023	2160/3	Railways	30	303
Sep 2023	2190/6	Title Character Not Featured	30	301
Oct 2023	2220/7	Halloween Characters	31	306
Nov 2023	2251/3	Pyramids and Mummies	30	304
Dec 2023	2281/7	Santa Claus	27	274
Jan 2024	2309/1	No. 1/States of the Union	31	309
Feb 2024	2339/10	No. 2/Leaps and Jumps	28	278
Mar 2024	2367/8	No. 3/Anniversaries	32	318
Apr 2024	2399/6	No. 4/Versus Mother Nature	24	241
May 2024	2423/7	No. 5/José Luis García-López	-	-
Jun 2024	-	No. 6/Stars	-	-
Jul 2024	-	No. 7/In the Water	-	-

Themes with the greatest number of replies:

• 571 replies - May 2023 - Strength in Numbers
• 420 replies - Apr 2023 - Birds and Winged Creatures
• 412 replies - Mar 2023 - Detectives & Murder Mysteries
• 393 replies - Dec 2022 - Robots and Cyborgs
• 382 replies - Jun 2023 - Horses, Centaurs & Equines
• 378 replies - Jan 2021 - Doppelgängers

Suggestions for possible future themes

• Sports & Games.
• Deaths & Resurrections.
• Short-lived Series.  Series of 12 or fewer issues, no Specials or Annuals.
• Character anniversary celebration.  Like "Superman's 80th Anniversary" from May 2018.  We should pick which character (or characters) to honour BEFORE voting starts.
• Artist Homage.  We've already done Neal Adams, George Perez, Joe Kubert, John Romita Sr & José Luis García-López.  As with the "Character Anniversary", we should pick who to honour BEFORE voting.
• Gimmick Covers.
• Painted Covers.
• Cancelled... But Continued.  Series cancelled midstream but continued elsewhere.
• TV Shows/Movies.
• Cartoons/Animated Series.
• Family Reunions.
• Construction Sites.
• Pride covers (intended or accidental).  Possibly for next June?
• Ancient Weapons In Modern Times.  Swords, maces, spears, bows, shields, boomerangs etc.  Not characters who regularly use these weapons, like Green Arrow or Hawkeye (bows), Captain America (shields) etc.
• Supporting Characters As Focal Point.
• Guest-starring Superman or Spider-Man.  Them guest-starring on the cover of someone else's book.
• Crosstime meetings.  Batman & the Three Musketeers, Dr Strange & Ben Franklin etc.
• Sleeping/unconscious characters.
• Super-heroes vs super-heroes.
• Snowmen and Snow-people. *
• Renewals.  Titles starting in new directions because of new creative teams or major story changings without the benefit of a new issue 1.
• Christmas presents/Giant boxes. *
• Winter sports. *
• Nazis and/or Commies.
• Covers without supervillains.  On a superhero comic, not horror, western, romance etc.  (Also non-superhero comics with supervillains, though that would be much harder!)

Suggestions marked * were originally put forward as being particularly suitable for December/Christmas, but they could still be considered for other months.

Voting is normally using up to three ranked votes, with three points for your first choice, 2 for second place, 1 for third.

[Lee Houston, Junior]

I personally vote for Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, followed by Short Lived Series. By the way, I'm assuming June will be the dual themes of 6 and Pride Month?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

And I'm assuming we'll vote, as usual.

[Richard Willis]

My votes:

“Artist Homage" (José Luis García López) – 3 points
"Superhero comics without supervillains" (also "Non-superhero comics with supervillains") – 2 points
"Sports and Games” – 1 point

[Peter Wrexham]

I somehow failed to notice how close June is getting, or I'd probably have suggested including "Pride covers" on the ballot.  Oh well, I'll add it as a write-in on my vote, which is:

1. Stars (3 pts)
2. In the Water (2 pts)
3. Pride (1 pt)

We've had votes from Jeff, Eric, Lee, Richard and me.  Regulars who have not yet voted include Steve, Philip, Dave, JD, The Baron: get your ballot papers in if you want to take part!

Also, Clark nominated García-López for the artist homage, and voted in the artist ballot.  If you'd like to contribute to this stage of the decision-making too, please do so!

[Peter Wrexham]

Steve, Philip, Dave, JD, The Baron, Clark

Last call for votes!  I'll total the ballots and declare the result in the next day or two.

[Dave Palmer]

Quite busy on this end.  Whatever folks decide will be fine.  And fun.

[ClarkKent_DC]

My votes are:

1. "Artist Homage" (José Luis García López)
2. ""In the Water"/"Enchantment Under the Sea" (fish, sea creatures, ships, scuba diving, etc.)
3. "Superhero comics without supervillains" (also "Non-superhero comics with supervillains")

[Peter Wrexham]

Time to declare a result.  By my calculations, the totals are:

11 points - José Luis García-López (artist homage) - 3 pts each from Richard, Lee & Clark, 2 from Eric;
7 points - Stars - 3 pts each from Eric & Peter, 1 from Richard
7 points - In the Water - 3 pts from Jeff, 2 each from Peter & Clark
6 points - Superhero comics without supervillains (etc) - 2 pts each from Richard & Jeff, 1 each from Clark and Eric

All other suggestions got 2 points or fewer.

So, it looks like May's dual themes will be "Number 5" and "José Luis García-López".  I trust that's okay with everyone.  Can we also agree that the two themes tied for second place will be used in June and July?  That would save us from having to vote again in a mere two or three weeks' time!

As I said a few days ago, I'd probably have nominated "Pride" for inclusion in the ballot if I'd remembered how close June was getting.  I regret the oversight, but perhaps we'll get it on the ballot for June next year.  Alternatively, we could run the theme in some other month - after all, June isn't Pride Month everywhere in the world.  For example, in the UK, Brighton Pride is my local celebration, and takes takes place in August

[Peter Wrexham]

Oops!  When I said

7 points - Stars - 3 pts each from Eric & Peter, 1 from Richard

I meant to say

7 points - Stars - 3 pts each from Eric & Peter, 1 from Jeff

Fortunately, I think the total's right, even though I misattributed the votes.  Sorry!

[Eric L. Sofer]

June and July sound set to me! Good call there.