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 Legends of the Dark Knight 1989 and Daredevil 1988. 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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Legends of the Dark Knight 1990
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Daredevil 1989
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The Speech Bubble 
I pick Daredevil # 273, for 3 reasons:
1) The villain has giant guns, giant bullets, cartridge – belts all over his chest, shoulder pads and leather shoes: no matter if they’re good or bad, all the characters of action packed comics wear EXACTLY this outfit, so this villain instantly pleased my eye.
2) I love how black and red are combined on Daredevil’s costume, because the black shadows partially covering Matt’s body perfectly define his musculature;
3) I don’t like the yellow background very much, but John Romita clearly spent a lot of time drawing it: as you know, I love meticulously drawn backgrounds, so I do appreciate his efforts.
As for Bruce, my favorite Bat – cover is Legends of the Dark Knight # 7. The cover artist combined light and shadow in a very skilful way, and he also gave Batman a very menacing look: to me it’s more than enough to win the gold medal.
“The villain has giant guns, giant bullets, cartridge – belts all over his chest, shoulder pads and leather shoes: no matter if they’re good or bad, all the characters of action packed comics wear EXACTLY this outfit, so this villain instantly pleased my eye.”
I guess they all go to the same tailor… 🙂
“I don’t like the yellow background very much, but John Romita clearly spent a lot of time drawing it: as you know, I love meticulously drawn backgrounds, so I do appreciate his efforts.”
And he used that same technique to a lesser extent on #271 as well. For me, my runner-up would have to be awarded to #272. A kinetic cover featuring Daredevil as he tries to withstand a hailstorm of bullets.
“As for Bruce, my favorite Bat – cover is Legends of the Dark Knight # 7.”
Nice selection. I wanted to make special note of the entire run of covers #1-#5. They add up to a stellar idea reminiscent of one of those Russian stacking dolls. We start with the mask, reveal Batman underneath, reveal Bruce underneath that, reveal a skull beyond that, until finally cracking the skull open and revealing back to the Dark Knight. Terrific!
Thanks, as always, for providing your selections!
“They add up to a stellar idea reminiscent of one of those Russian stacking dolls.” Great catch GothamRogue! Of course I had understood that they were connected, but I hadn’t understood that the cover artist drew inspiration from the Russian stacking dolls (here in Italy we call them with their Russian name, “matrioska”). Brilliant!
“Thanks, as always, for providing your selections!” Thank you as well for your replies! : )
Wow, brilliant retroactive. I really like LOTDK #11as well. The deep. blood red cover is so striking, with Batman in a classic pose with his cape in the red mist. Stunning. Daredevil #263 is another fave cover of mine, with DD wounded and struggling in the fiery grasp of Mephesto. Wow, this cover really is awesome, so dark and powerful, one of my fave from the whole tie-in with the Inferno story iin the X-Men books.
Speaking of the X – Men comic books: you talked about the 80s stories of the X – Men in such a passionate way that you made me want to read them. A long time ago I had bought some of them at a convention, so I took those 30 years old issues from my shelves and read some of them. The UXM issues I own are:
170 – 175
180 – 198
214 – 243
So far I read only UXM # 170 – 175: I wholeheartedly thank you, because these 6 issues are incredibly good, and they brilliantly stood the test of time.
These X-Men comics are some of the very bests, I really enjoyed these storylines as well. So glad you have rediscovered these issues and enjoyed them as much as I have. You have some more great issues to read as well, have fun 😀
I hope you’ll enjoy your comic books too! : )
Thank you 😀
“Wow, this cover really is awesome, so dark and powerful, one of my fave from the whole tie-in with the Inferno story in the X-Men books.”
It definitely transports our hero into a world that is both unfamiliar and terrifyingly bizarre.
Thanks for sharing your choices! 🙂
I really like this version of Mephisto as well, its so creepy and demonic. I think DD actually has a bit of an edge when dealing with something like this, as he can’t actually see the demon, so he is able to face up to the monstrosity in a way that few mortals could.
That’s a really good point. Never occurred to me before.
Cheers, this was a great issue as well, love these classic covers!