Best Iron Man Covers

They say never judge a book by its cover; though with comics it is a little different. The same rule applies, you can’t tell if the issue will be good solely based on the outside. But unlike a novel you can get a feel for what the story is going to be like from a cover. In fact, sometimes a cover will tell a whole story in itself.

There are many things that make a cover good, be it the story it plans to tell, the art or colors. As always when dealing with art it is subjective to the person, but I give you what I think are the five best Iron Man covers (in no particular order).

Volume 1 #216

This cover instantly caught my eye when I first bought the issue. Ho wouldn’t be intrigued by the Silver Centurion hauling the Classic armor ablaze back into the atmosphere? The details are good, as is the fire surrounding the two, but the most eye catching part of this picture is the black smoke billowing from the eye slits, signifying the true desperation of the situation. You truly wonder if Rhodey is going to make it just from this picture.

Volume 1 #128

The infamous “Demon in a Bottle” cover, and probably the most famous Iron Man cover. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and it holds true to this. The show of pure desperation, pain, loss and just about every other negative emotion is shown as a reflection of Stark in the mirror. Stark appears to have finally realized how low he has truly fallen and is screaming “I need help” to himself. A classic cover that is just as intense as the story behind it.

Volume 2 #1

Unlike most the others on this list, this cover doesn’t tell a story. However the art is simply fantastic. Drawn by Whilce Portacio for the first issue to re-launch Iron Man in the pocket universe, the art is detail heavy but completely concise. All those wires normally make a picture looked a jumbled mess, but they are done perfectly, the chords not blurring together and the result is a feel of a true technological marvel that has been created with a suit. Fantastic pencils, inking and colors really brought this together.

Volume 1 #230

With Armor Wars coming to an end, it needed to do so in spectacular fashion. Neither the cover nor issue let down that saw the death of the Silver Centurion armor. We see the once mighty armor being taken apart, seemingly helpless against this new titanic foe that is lurking in the shadows. The part of Firepower not being fully revealed immediately intrigues a reader, wondering who this new, monstrous adversary is and how truly powerful he must be to be so easily destroying the Iron Man armor. The cover told the same story as the issue, with Firepower tearing Stark a new one.

Volume 1 #237
Though probably not one of the more well known covers or issues, if you look at the cover it says a lot. Most predominant are Stark’s eyes shown through the armor slits. While a small portion of the cover, it shows the sheer terror he is feeling by being crabbed by the claws and ripped through a wall. In a way it’s like a classic horror movie poster that shows the victims crippled in fear, trying to get away. Only seeing the monster’s hands makes you wonder what the rest looks like; another common trait in horror and scifi movies. I’d guess this to be the most questionable on my list, but if you really look at it, I think you will see where I’m coming from.

Dark Reign? More like Dark Lame

Pardon the bad pun, but I thought it got the point across.

I'm sick of Dark Reign already. Just like the aftermath of Civil War it has become horribly repetitive on how it affects the Marvel universe. Civil War it was all about heroes being on the run. Sounds kind of familiar doesnt it? How many heroes are on the run again, this time from Norman Osborn instead of the pro-registration heroes? How many are now faced with the consequences of a madman being in charge?

And that is probably the worst thing about Dark Reign; Norman Osborn is in charge. He's a psychopath and everyone, and I dont mean the readers, the actual Marvel universe, know he is insane and a killer. Yet he's there. Worse, Marvel feels the need to tell us he's insane every time his name is mentioned. Every. Single Time. We got it, we arent as stupid as Joe Q writing Spiderman here.

So if it's so obvious what Osborn is, why doesnt Marvel do something to actually address how he maintains public or political trust? Scratch that, dumb question. Doing that would pose a challenge and they need the quick and easy out of just ignoring to give us more "on the run" stories.

I honestly expected this to be a long diatribe about what was wrong with Dark Reign, but let's be honest, the same problems with this event are the same as the last one. Receptiveness, shallow stories and most of all, weak concept. For the bad guys supposed to be in charge, we've seen little more than "Osborn is insane" "Yeah but he's in charge" coming from writers.

Here's some advice Marvel: if you want people to buy into the story, put some effort into it. It goes a long way.

Also, I do apologize for the extended period between my last post. A lot has happened in my personal life the past month that has slowed things up.