Covers that MADE you buy the comic

Faced with the challenge to lead a little discussion, I'll start with something that's been on my mind for a bit, something I hope other people might be willing to chime in with their own examples, too: Covers that were so compelling, you just HAD to buy the comic.

I have a few examples, so I thought I'd share them.

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Permalink Reply by ClarkKent_DC on May 25, 2011 at 1:11pm

Daredevil #163, March 1980:

When you see this image, you can only think: How dead and mangled is Daredevil going to be when this match is over?

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Permalink Reply by Doctor Hmmm? on May 25, 2011 at 1:12pm

Doc Beechler (mod-MD) said:

http://www.dcindexes.com/newsstand/index.php

Here's a great site for covers from multiple companies by month and year. It may help jog some memories.

Oh. My. Gosh. It's like the Promised Land in there.

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Permalink Reply by George on May 27, 2011 at 2:12am

www.comics.org/issue/21668/cover/4/

What kid could resist this? I couldn't.

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Permalink Reply by Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) on May 28, 2011 at 9:04am

Pretty much every DC Comic war comic I've bought because of Joe Kubert. Like:

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Permalink Reply by Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) on May 28, 2011 at 1:43pm

Joe Kubert's covers are amazing -- there's so much drama in every image. And that Rock cover is so confrontational -- I love it!

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Permalink Reply by Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man on May 30, 2011 at 11:04pm

I'm not sure why, but I loved this cover, and immediately just grabbed it when I saw it on the spinner rack of a local bookstore when I was a kid.

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Permalink Reply by George on May 31, 2011 at 12:32am

www.comics.org/issue/22601/cover/4/

I've never forgotten this one. It brings back the weird dichotomy of being a kid during the Vietnam era (when this was published). In our notebooks, we would draw peace symbols next to scenes of warfare and carnage. We were bombarded with both sorts of images, whenever we turned on the TV.

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Permalink Reply by Randy Jackson on May 31, 2011 at 7:51am

Superman #279

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Permalink Reply by Jeff of Earth-J on November 10, 2011 at 4:06pm

This one’s got spaceships, giant robots, an exploding atomic bomb, and the “Black Canary” standing in a dinosaur’s mouth swinging a shark by the tail at a gorilla in a space suit. C’mon! How could you not buy it?

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Permalink Reply by Doctor Hmmm? on November 10, 2011 at 4:43pm

That's ... that's just awesome.

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Permalink Reply by Henry R. Kujawa on November 16, 2011 at 6:00pm

A great example of Mort Weisinger's "SCREW EVERYBODY!" attitude...

http://www.comics.org/issue/17483/cover/4/

This one's so ridiculous, I'm reminded of the phrase "We make C*** for idiots!"

http://www.comics.org/issue/17737/cover/4/

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Permalink Reply by Figserello on November 16, 2011 at 6:57pm

Henry R. Kujawa said:

A great example of Mort Weisinger's "SCREW EVERYBODY!" attitude...
http://www.comics.org/issue/17483/cover/4/

This one's so ridiculous, I'm reminded of the phrase "We make C*** for idiots!"

http://www.comics.org/issue/17737/cover/4/

I don't see any problem with those. (Did Weisinger really say that?) I can see why you posted them in the 'covers that made you buy the comics' thread, which is the main thing. The Superman mythos tales happened in a weird fever-dream world where people only pretended to be grown-ups, and people's fears and anxieties came to life and were played out in broad daylight.

We are finding out now, that when you remove the weirdness and laughably illogical from these comics, you get dour grit-toothed 'tough-guys in tights' nonsense that never seems to just fly the way these old comics did.