The Best Comic Book Covers of All Time

In comics, Batman and the Joker tend to actualize primarily in two distinct styles: classically campy or ultra dark modern. This cover from 2011 lets you know you're about to step into the latter.

Artist Jock's illustration is unsettling upon first glance. With a head constructed of bats, it's a testament to twisted obsession.

I love this cover for how subversive it is. Typically, you see a cover that aims to showcase a hero's strength, but this one zeroes in on one of his greatest weaknesses.

With Wolverine's adamantium skeleton at the mercy of Magneto's metal manipulation, the tableau gives an immediate sense of deep peril, vulnerability, and helplessness.

This rare variant exudes power. Breaking the fourth wall by making eye contact head-on with the reader, this evocative cover pulls you right into this dangerous story.

If you're hoping to add this beauty to your collection, beware: it's rarity makes it cost a pretty penny on resale sites.

The bright, eye-catching colors are a staple of the series as a whole, but the composition of this cover is a perfect illustration of the Hades and Persephone myth.

Separated by the earth, their yearning is palpable.

I love the soft, water color-esque aesthetic of this cover. As villains at worst and anti-heroes at best, we normally only see the brutality of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. 

But this cover not only highlights their complexity, but the strength of their bond.

This cover features one of my favorite visual tropes: the forced public casualness with violent tension hidden beneath the table.

Considering the Punisher and Elektra are so well known for their lethal physicality, it adds an extra layer of hilarity to see them playing nice like this.

It highlights the romantic history between these characters, while also promising tension thick enough to suffocate.

This cover is so simple yet so illustrative. Carnage, with his claw in the foreground, immediately gets me on edge.

The flag draped across his shoulders gives a preview of the scope of the danger: Carnage threatens the whole nation in this gripping arc.

Obviously Archie comics have maintained their retro aesthetic, even as they published new stories into the modern age. But I love this ode to retro horror.

A little sexy and a little goofy, it still captures the terror present in the story. This classic art style is so well done, it's one cover I would happily hang on my wall.

The Civil War arc is one of my favorite comic book arcs of all time. This cover perfectly captures the emotional strife and taut tension of the story.

This cover foretells some darkness coming out in beloved heroes we've loved for decades, and expertly shows the lines drawn: Team Iron Man, present in the powerfully portrayed Iron Spider suit, and Team Captain America, with the odds against them.

Admittedly, Silk has some of the most beautiful comic book covers I've ever seen, so picking just one from her lineup was a difficult task.

Still, I settled on the Inhyuk Lee variant of Silk #1 because the physicality of Silk captivates me. Lean and powerful, Silk's strength is still graceful.