In Retroactive I’ll take you on a visual comic cover tour of the past covering all the covers for a particular series. Each entry will cover an entire year and I’ll always have one comic from DC and one comic from Marvel. At the end of each edition of Retroactive I’ll select my overall favourite cover for that year for each series. Last time on Retroactive we covered The Flash 1970 and Uncanny X-Men 1978. If you need a refresher, just click HERE. Below you’ll find the two series that I’m currently covering. Click on that specific logo to be instantly taken directly to that series. The last section is reserved for my Top Picks from each year. Click the logo or travel to the third page to view them.
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The Flash 1971
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Uncanny X-Men 1979
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The Speech Bubble 
I agree with you that UXM # 125 is a very eye – catching cover… but I pick UXM # 123.
This image is full of bright colours and it shows a pinball machine, so, when you see it, you instantly think you have bumped into a comic book having a light hearted atmosphere.
But then you give the cover a second look, and you notice that things aren’t what they seem: the X – Men are trapped and in serious danger, a villain is sneering upon them, and the tagline next to him contains an ominous word: MURDER.
The cover artist took a lot of typical elements of dark comics (a sneering villain, an ominous tagline, a deadly trap and so on) and decided to put them in a totally different context: by making this risky choice, he ended up creating a wonderful cover.
There are a lot of other details that won me over: the detailed background, the presence of Spider – Man, the pop – art – like colouring… yes, this cover definitely deserves the gold medal.
As for the Flash, you know that I love covers which give us a lot of clues about the content of the issue without spoiling too much, so I pick issue # 205.
Silver medal for issue # 203, because even in this case there is a pop art vibe I absolutely adore.
Bronze medal for issue # 204, because of its unusual perspective.
“There are a lot of other details that won me over: the detailed background, the presence of Spider – Man, the pop – art – like colouring… yes, this cover definitely deserves the gold medal.”
This was my runner-up selection. I also love how the game over has an ominous skull on the board and how Colossus appears to be banging on the cover itself, breaking the confines of the printed page.
“As for the Flash, you know that I love covers which give us a lot of clues about the content of the issue without spoiling too much, so I pick issue # 205.”
My 2nd place cover is the same as yours (#203) mainly because of the use of the differing art styles. My 3rd place cover (#210) has a truly bizarre premise. Abraham Lincoln assassinated in the year 2971? What?!
Thanks, as always, for sharing your selections!
Thank you as well for your reply! : )
I nearly went with your choice for The Flash, as it was such a great cover, but instead I chose Flash #205. This giant seized spectacular features so many classic Flash scenes, I like how its also split into panels, just like a comic book, great fun. The great era of the X-Men continues, I choose UNCANNY X-Men #124 where is seems Colossus has turned evil and is killing Cyclops and Storm while they are trapped in Arcadias Murderworld. That was a great story, and a Peter is usually such a quiet character, its shocking to see him acting so violently towards his friends.
“This giant seized spectacular features so many classic Flash scenes, I like how its also split into panels, just like a comic book, great fun.”
You and wwayne are on the same page here.
“That was a great story, and a Peter is usually such a quiet character, its shocking to see him acting so violently towards his friends.”
It really captures your attention. What would cause Colossus to cross the line into villainy? How will the X-Men snap him out of it? And what is he wearing? Questions, questions, questions!
Thanks for sharing your choices! 🙂
If I remember right Peter had been brainwashed and turned into the Proletarian, a Russian loyalist, and was then placed in Arcadia’s Murderworld where he turned against the X-Men. The scene on the cover happens in the issue as well, but Storm manages talk to Peter and get through to him an break the brainwashing. With Peter back to normal they all escape from Murderworld.
Very cool. Thanks for explaining! 🙂
You’re welcome, its my fave era of X-Men, seeing all these covers reminds me of the great stories. Makes we want to read them again!
And that is one of the main reasons of Retroactive: getting people excited to revisit or discover these issues from the past. That and looking at some really great art. 🙂