Click the cover below to load a crazy high-resolution 1336×2048 version:
Number 77:
Defenders #60 (Marvel – 1978)
Cover art by Ed Hannigan
Inked by Alan Weiss (I’m 90% sure of this credit -if you think it’s inaccurate please let me know!)
When putting this countdown list together I tried very hard to ONLY base the covers selection/ranking on the merits of the cover image as ART. I tried not to base it on my own LOVE of the issue/storyline it represented. I tried not to allow nostalgia or love for a series/character to color my ranking. Sadly I’m sure I have failed in a few instances and this is probably one of them. I do really love this cover though it’s dynamic and wildly horrific. I always loved the short-lived but more colorful costume Val is wearing here. Dr. Strange’s disciple/GF Cleo made it for here and she wore it for a few issues and then eventually reverted back to her old Asgardian blue/black thingie. I always liked this one more even if it did have less skin! Anyway it’s a great cover but for me it brings back even greater memories of one of the earliest comics story-lines I read when I was 10-11 years old. In writer David Anthony Kraft’s “Xenogenisis” arc (issues 58-60) the Defenders battled Vera Gemini and her demon hordes who wanted to replace all of humanity on earth with nasty demons! At one point even Dr. Strange gets possessed/absorbed by the demons! I remember staring at this cover a LONG time sketching my own versions of the monsters.
Check back in tomorrow night for more in the count-down of my Top 100 favorite comic book covers.
Larry's Library 