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 Green Arrow 1997 and The Punisher 1996. 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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Green Arrow 1998
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The Punisher 1997
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The Speech Bubble 
I agree with you that Green Arrow # 137 is the best cover of the year.
Special mention for issue # 131. Connor is about to kiss a girl, but the romantic atmosphere is ruined by the gun that girl is holding behind Connor’s back: does he know that she has that weapon? Or is she a femme fatale who seduces men and then kills them off all of a sudden?
This image didn’t win the gold medal for 2 reasons:
1) The anatomy is too clumsy;
2) There isn’t a real background.
Now that I think about it, Green Arrow # 131 reminds me of a much more recent and beautiful cover: http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Titans_Vol_2_27.
The other gold medal goes to Punisher # 15. As you can see, Frank and two allies are about to be involved in a gunfight. The woman behind him has a very uptight facial expression; Frank, on the contrary, has a large smile on his face. By drawing that smile, the cover artist managed to catch the essence of the character, who is so brave and passionate about his mission that he faces even the most risky situations without feeling nervous at all.
I also like the various tones of blue and black used for Frank’s costume, the title partially covered by Frank’s hand, the simple but striking tagline “Into the blaze”… yes, this cover definitely deserves the gold medal.
P.S.: This week I watched 3 movies:
… And Justice for All
Parker
Brick Mansions
I highly recommend you all of them. The first one is a very captivating legal thriller (I liked it so much that I wrote a post about it); Parker and Brick Mansions, on the contrary, are two action packed movies.
“Special mention for issue # 131.”
Not only are we in agreement about our #1 pick but our runner-up as well.
“Does he know that she has that weapon?”
I believe so as you notice his gaze is directed in the direction of the gun as his free hand makes its way to his quiver full of arrows.
“Now that I think about it, Green Arrow # 131 reminds me of a much more recent and beautiful cover: http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Titans_Vol_2_27.”
Comparing the two, Titans #27 takes the crown for sure.
“The other gold medal goes to Punisher # 15.”
A solid pick but despite there only being four covers to choose from, my runner-up would have to go to another cover: The Punisher #18. Yes it may be a cliché (superhero giving up his costumed identity) but I simply adore the entire scene from the costume lying about to the use of shadows to Frank’s posture.
“I highly recommend you all of them. The first one is a very captivating legal thriller (I liked it so much that I wrote a post about it)”
I haven’t heard of any of those movies but I sure did enjoy your review.
Thanks, as always, for sharing your choices! 🙂
Thank you as well for your compliments and for your reply! : )
I really like Green Arrow VOl 2 #130 with GA battling a shark on the cover! The blurb also mentions Green Lantern & The Flash as well, would’ve been fun to see them all on the cover. Guess I picked this because I watched Jaws the other night, love that film, so this cover jumped out at me straight away 😀
I agree with you on Punisher Vol 2 #17 what a great cover, like you it reminded me of when Superman was killed by Doomsday, and this cover is very similar to that.
Great instalment of Retroactive!
“The blurb also mentions Green Lantern & The Flash as well, would’ve been fun to see them all on the cover.”
And to imagine that next year we could potentially see a Flash/Arrow crossover on television. Would they do it in the show’s first year? Wait until (hopefully) a second season? Regardless of when they do it, it has to happen. It’s going to be a good time to be a comic fan in the Fall: Gotham, Constantine, Arrow, Flash, iZombie, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Agent Carter? Wow! Not to mention the Netflix shows coming in 2015!
Thanks for providing your selections!
It would be great to see these TV shows crossing over, although I hope they let The Flash become more established with its first season before they do. The potential here is limitless and I think its bound to happen. I think it would be fun to see Hal Jordan show up on Arrow or Flash as well, maybe a story where he gets the power of Green Lantern maybe, think that would be awesome! So many great TV shows to look forward to featuring DC and Marvel characters, going to be brilliant!
I could see Oliver doing a cameo in the first episode and then a full-fledged team-up in Season 2. Hal Jordan would be an awesome addition as well though the FX budget would be blown on the GL effects. 🙂
Yes, I agree, that could work really well. Think it would be fun to see Hall and Oliver meeting for the first time before Hall becomes GL. They would certainly have to splash the cash for the GL special effects though 😀