Polite Dissent

Over at the Howling Curmudgeons, there is an interesting discussion going on regarding Atlas Comic’s list of the 25 All-Time Greatest Covers of American Comic Books. I agree with the many of the comments that the list shows a decidedly Golden Age bias. (I for one am upset that Uncanny X-Men #141 has been overlooked. That is a great cover.)

There is a better way to define the greatest comic book covers, and that is: Which covers have been imitated and copied the most?
Those are the greatest covers because they are the ones that readers are expected to recognize offhand.

Here’s a few off the top of my head, but I’m sure there are many more:

• Fantastic Four #1 (Craig Shutt lists 9 imitators in his book Baby Boomer Comics)
  
• Crisis on Alternate Earth #7
  
• Dark Knight Returns #1
  
• Amazing Fantasy #15
  

NOTE: I’m not counting covers within the same titles or a family of titles that are imitations of each other, such as Tom Strong #1 and #20, or the various covers of the Justice League America/Europe/International that show the group staring out at the reader.

Sources: several of these cover scans were obtained from the Grand Comic Book Database.