Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities The Great Eights Debates!

We've examined Elevens and Twelves...now for a little backtracking!

Choose one per matchup -- on your opinion of the cover merits alone. Click images to see larger versions



1. TEEN TITANS vs. NEW TEEN TITANS




2. NICKEL COMICS vs. MASTER COMICS




3. BRIDE'S SECRETS vs. THE BOYS




4. ARCHIE ANNUAL vs. ARCHIE'S PALS 'N' GALS

1. TEEN TITANS is so WTF-ey, I kinda have to give it to them!

2. NICKEL COMICS, partly because I never knew anything less than 10 cent comics eve existed!

3. I love that these two totes dissimilar comics are matched up! Winner is BRIDE'S SECRETS for sure!

4. PALS N GALS for sure, devilishly cute!

1. TEEN TITANS. As attractive a package as NTT is...hello, Honey Bun! Perspective! Purple!

2. NICKEL COMICS. More interesting statue. Could use a little more contrast colorwise.

3. BRIDE'S SECRETS. But girl, take a gander at the adjoining comic. Go kick those gossips in the 'nads.

4. PALS 'N' GALS. DEVIL/DEVIL!!

1. Teen Titans: Just. Titans has a nice perspective, managing to show everyone in action. Move to the side Wally! It has a kooky villain and go-go checks! But Robin is the only pic. New Teen Titans does better with the little star pictures, where everyone gets shown, even if Robby is in the middle. New Teens was also a well designed cover, but the biggest threat would turn out to be Terry Long's beard. It's a statement of confidence to show Wally's disgust at his mom putting creases in his flash outfit. New Teen Titans, story wise would be the one to really cement the series.

2. Nickel Comics: Both covers show bullet man using his helmet not for aerodynamic effect but in an attempt to break his own neck. Barr would be in a wheelchair in his late 30s due to various spine and neck injuries. His second career as Bullet Chair was cut short when Niles Caulder sued in the early '60s. Typing of chiefs, both get points for daring neckerchief placement. But Nickel wins out for making use of cover props with the use of the statue's shield. Clever.

3. Bride's Secrets: The Boys cover is a homage to a Scottish comic character called Oor Wullie. In post War Britain, even comics special effects were on a budget, and the bucket was considered quite a coup. Here, the main character is moaning about why all comics can't be as violent as British comics. In a connection with 2. it was thought for a time that Wullie's bucket was in fact Bulletman's helmet, picked up for pennies following DC lawsuit against Fawcett. Inside, the main character spent the entire run moaning about something or other. But we're just dealing with covers and nothing can match The Bride of Roxxas!

4. Archie's Pals 'n Gals: I like to put myself in the cover character's shoes before reaching a decision on which one to pick. Here, I have two girls in kinky devils outfits writhing on me and whispering suggestive thoughts in my ears. Yup, research is tough, and in this case could take a veeeery long time...

1. Teen Titans: Great cover over all, but I love the knocking over a fire hydrant to make Aqualad appear useful!

2. Nickel Comics: The bit with borrowing the statue's shield wins it for me easily!

3. Bride's Secrets: You can two-time with me any time you like, baby!

4. PALS & GALS: I really feel Archie's dilemma here! I couldn't choose either!

1. TEEN TITANS. The New Teen Titans cover is well done, full of detail, and an appropriate amount of white space to breathe. It's neat, it's organized ... but it doesn't make me want to buy the issue as much as a simple and dynamic killer robot against a bunch of lads and a lass.

2. NICKEL COMICS, as it speaks better to the Adventure Comics aesthetic that I love. Those weapons especially.

3. BRIDE'S SECRETS, which is a shame because that The Boys cover is so well done. There's just something undeniably intriguing though about what's going on with all the faces on Bride's, as well as the story ...IS SHE is a two-timer?!

4. ARCHIE'S PALS N GALS, I find far more interesting. I think it gets straight to the point of the Betty vs Veronica conflict from the worries of a teen boy who is unable to choose.

1. NEW TEEN TITANS. Floating heads!!! Hello!?!

2. NICKEL COMICS. For the statue. P.S. For a bullet, Bulletman sure seems to have a hard time flying in a straight line.

3. BRIDE'S SECRETS. I find the imagery on the other one distasteful.

4. ARCHIE'S PALS & GALS. I love tiny people juxtaposed against giant people.

1. NEW TEEN TITANS - floaty heads and a lot going on!

2. MASTER COMICS - better angle

3. BRIDE'S SECRETS - if only because I dislike the random violence on the other one

4. ARCHIE'S PALS 'N' GALS - angel and devil never gets old

1. New Teen Titans! Starfire vs. a trampling horse! Beast Boy laying the rhino-of-the-law! Wally stuffing his face, like, pretty much always... Raven floating through a Ditko-esque magical psych-scape! He-who-shall-not-be-named, rubbing his stanky man-taint all up against Donna. Ugh. I need to go wash my hands for just typing about him.

2. Nickel comics! That statue is way cooler than the lightning tower in the other cover.

3. Bride's Secrets. I like the dramatic shot of the bride losing her mind, or whatever, compared to some schlub just sitting there moping on the Boy's cover.

4. Gals n Pals, for sure. Betty and Veronica as devil temptresses? Woo!

1. Teen Titans- I liked the use of perspective in this piece. In particular, I like the contrast between Aqua Lad leaping towards the robot. while Kid Flash is struggling to run away from the robot.

2. Nickel Comics- It looks more polished than the second cover. Why do most spies in Golden Age comic books look like Leon Trotsky?

3. Bride's Secrets- The other comic book cover looks too generic to me, as if you could replace the main character with Spider-Man or any student of the Jean Grey Institute and still have the same story.

4. Archie's Pals N Gals- It says so much by saying so little. You get the main conflict in Archie's heart- and the fact that they are both devils means there is no "good choice", someone is going to get hurt no matter what.

Communist comic character cloning.

5. SUPERMAN ANNUAL vs. SHAZAM!




6. WEB OF SPIDER-MAN vs. GI JOE ORIGINS




7. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT vs. LOVE EXPERIENCES




8. LITTLE MAX vs. HENRY

5. 100 Pagers trump! SHAZAM

6. W/O SPIDER MAN, I like the background much better

7. Both are kinda dull, but I'm dying to learn about her daring pretense, so LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.

8. Why that LITTLE MAX is cuter than a sackful of kitens! And the border gag made me LOL. Henry can go drown his sorrows in pie until he's as fat as he is bald! BAH!!! He ensickulates me!!!! (GLARE)

1A, 2B, 3A, 4A
5B, 6B, 7A, 8A

5. Superman. Rocking Chair? That's Niles Caulder in a battle chair!; Super Costume origin? K-Mart, natch!; Kryptonite origin? Food colouring!; First Superman? Chuck Taine!; Rainbow Kent? Russian polonium poisoning leaving the origin of 5th dimensional Olsen. Elsewhere, if you're Captain Marvel why isn't the book called Captain...oh yeah, that's right. Duh!

6. Spider-Man. A costume improvement and nice city background. Elsewhere, I hope someone is going to clear up all those shell casings.

7. Sove at First Sight. Awkward kissing for beginners from two titles that have to tell us who they are twice. Mind you, I want to know what Sove is. I want you to show me. Ironically for something at first sight it has better art than the one bleating on about how experienced it is. There are names for titles like that. Second for example.

8. Little Max. We get a whole mini comic in this one (Doggy wins tee hee). Unless you count Henry's t-shirt collection as a story.

5. Oh, Rainbow Clark Kent vs. the First Tawky Tawny story? Why must you toy with my affections so! I can't choose!

6. I love that Spider-Man costume, but the GI Joe cover is more dynamic, I think. GI Joe.

7. Love Experiences has the two figures in a more equal composition. Plus 'Experiences' vs. 'At First Sight' just sounds more, uh, experienced and less flighty. Also 'Second Best Love' as a backup story sounds all sorts of hilarious, like 'The Guy I Settled For' or 'Backup Boyfriend I Call When the Guy I'd Rather be With Blows Me Off.'

8. Little Max and the dog are cute. That light-bulb-headed mutant pie-stealing freak on the other cover just creeps me out.

5. SHAZAM! Supes has the green, but not enough of it. That rich blue sets the Shazam Fam (and yellow 100 PAGE banner) off nicely. Plus Mary kicks some guy in the face.

6. WEB OF SPIDER-MAN. Yeah, for the dangling guys, I'll take the friendly neighborhood one, thanks.

7. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. Ah, a little anticipation! Also, the lines of the characters, background, and logo flow.

8. LITTLE MAX. But I will admit that I didn't notice the sequence at first and thought: where's the gag?

This ain't the Kobayashi Maru. Pick one.

5. Giant Superman Annual- Both covers make it clear which stories occur, but the Superman cover makes more sense. It makes sense that it would be a collections of past stories for an annual, lots of TV series also do "clip episodes" in long-running franchises. Since DC was trying to revive Shazam, the cover should have been more new-reader friendly and not assume that readers know who the characters are.

6. GI Joe- While I presume it is a homage of the Spider-Man comic, I prefer it. The attention is focused on the character and the reader is not distracted by the background and logos, which is where my eye wanders when I look at the Spider-Man cover.

7. Love at First Sight- The titles mentioned sound more exciting than the ones in the second comic book. "Second-Best Love" does not sound like a story I want to read, so I wouldn't buy the comic. In my opinion, the goal of a good cover is to persuade someone to buy the book.

8. Little Max- Poor Henry looks like something went wrong since the 1930s. If you look up the Betty Boop cartoon he co-starred in, he looks for normal looking.

5. SUPERMAN: Untold Stories and Secret Origins? Got to go with that, even though Tawky Tawny is almost enough for me to vote for Shazam!

6. GI JOE ORIGINS: This one causes less havoc with my acrophobia!

7. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT: Love the way it looks like she's about to grab his hair and pull him into the kiss! Supersexy!

8. LITTLE MAX: Though I have to admit I actually really like the pie gag better. Still, this cover wins all around.

9. CURLY KAYOE vs. JOE PALOOKA




10. LSH 31ST CENTURY vs. TEEN TITANS GO!




11. THE SHADOW vs. SUICIDE SQUAD




12. 'MAZING MAN vs. SIMPSONS

9. My other boyfriuend Curly Kayoe for the win. Plus it has Teeds' floating head on the cover too! I don't like how it looks like Cupid is making Joe fall for that chick. CHicks, man, am I rite?

10. LSH31C no doubt! Extra super charming and sweet

11. Never cared for that SS cover. THE SHADOW wins

12. MAZING MAN!!! Dev sen me a full run of that, I *MUST* read it soon!

9. JOE PALOOKA -- Love Boxing Cupid!
10. LSHit31c -- Love the Mad Mod, but Love has got to win!
11. THE SHADOW -- So much orange! But the Shadow makes it moody and stylish!
12. 'MAZING MAN -- It would win even without the Zoot Sputnik blurb, but that pushes it *way* over the top!

9. CURLY KAYOE - like the close-up

10. LSH 31ST CENTURY - i'm biased. But I do like how happy Chuck and Lu look here

11. THE SHADOW - liking the Eiffel Tower as backdrop, and the colors are better IMO

12. 'MAZING MAN - cute, menacing kitty!

1. Teen Titans
2. Master Comics
3. The Boys
4. Archie's Pals N' Gals
5. Superman Annual
6. Web of Spider-man
7. Love at First Sight
8. Little Max
9. Curly Kayoe
10. LSH 31st Century
11. The Shadow
12. 'Mazing Man