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 Detective Comics 2011 and Daredevil 1986. 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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Detective Comics 2012
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Daredevil 1987
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The Speech Bubble 
I really like Daredevil # 238.
As you know, I love when a supporting character of a series appears into another comic book, so seeing a traditional X – villain like Sabretooth on a Daredevil cover was a really pleasant surprise for me. By the way, I love the character: his fights with Wolverine usually are very enthralling, because they’re so different and so similar at the same time.
The contrast between Sabretooth’s dynamic pose and the immobility of the other characters is another detail that immediately caught my attention and pleased my eye.
And then I looked at the background, and I noticed that the fight is set in a murky blind alley: as you know, I love this location, so this is the third reason why I decided to give this cover the gold medal.
The Daredevil cover you chose comes pretty close in my personal ranking. Not only because of all the marvellous details you pointed out, but also because, as I told you in a very old comment (https://thegothamrogue.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/coming-attractions-121912/comment-page-1/), the story arc developed in Daredevil # 239 – 240 is one of the best storylines ever written.
Bronze medal for Daredevil # 242, because even in this case the cover foreshadows the presence of a serial killer.
Even if it didn’t get any medal, I’m very fond of the image for Daredevil # 241, because one of the first Daredevil comics I’ve ever read was a trade having that image on the cover.
As for Bruce, my favorite Bat – cover is Detective Comics # 5. As you know, I love when superheroes fight against mobsters, so a cover showing this situation has a big chance to get the gold medal in my personal ranking.
I also love how the tagline describes this upcoming fight: “Batman… Penguin… only one controls Gotham!” Very enticing indeed.
The cover artist drew the background, Batman’s cowl and the Penguin’s glove in a very meticulous way, and this the third reason why I decided to give this cover the gold medal. The fourth one is the artistic choice of splitting the cover in two parts, which is very creative and eye – catching.
“By the way, I love the character: his fights with Wolverine usually are very enthralling, because they’re so different and so similar at the same time.”
Coincidentally, my runner-up award goes to #249 featuring Daredevil squaring off against Wolverine. As for your selection it would win my third place prize for all the reasons you provided along with the use of the spotlight to draw us into our hero and the woman whose life he is trying to save. Who is this woman though? A random passerby? Or someone whom Sabretooth is tracking down? Very interesting…
“Even if it didn’t get any medal, I’m very fond of the image for Daredevil # 241, because one of the first Daredevil comics I’ve ever read was a trade having that image on the cover.”
Ah, Retroactive – bringing back fond memories once again. 🙂
“As for Bruce, my favorite Bat – cover is Detective Comics # 5.”
This was the other Penguin-themed cover I mentioned that I had narrowed down into my Top 2. I love the split image and how the artist mirrored the two different character’s poses. Simply brilliant.
Thanks, as always, for sharing your choices!
Thank you as well for your replies! : )
I agree with your choice of Detective Comics, with a furious Batman targeted by the Penguin, the neon sign is an excellent addition to this cover and I like how the color is used as well. Daredevil #249 also really jumped out at me, with DD and Wolverine clashing, wow, what a brilliant action packed cover!
“Daredevil #249 also really jumped out at me, with DD and Wolverine clashing, wow, what a brilliant action packed cover!”
Quite an awesome cover indeed and one that I award my runner-up prize to.
Thanks for providing your selections. 🙂