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 1997 and Uncanny X-Men 2004. 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 1998
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Uncanny X-Men 2005
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The Speech Bubble 
I really like UXM # 453.
First of all, this image reminds me of road movies: I like them, so this cover instantly caught my attention.
Secondly, I love the fact that Logan’s furious eyes are looking directly at us: thanks to this artistic choice, the cover artist managed to convey Wolvie’s rage to us in a very direct and effective way.
Thirdly, this cover raises a lot of questions. Where is Wolvie going? Who is he trying to save and/or to capture? Why is he so furious?
The icing on the cake is the gorgeous bright sky behind him. The contrast between the peace conveyed by that sky and the uneasiness conveyed by Logan’s eyes is a huge plus of this cover.
Special mention for UXM # 454, because of its beautiful and very sumptuous background.
The other gold medal goes to Flash # 134: the leading character hiding himself in a blind alley, his face partially swathed in shadows, his eyes and his closed fist conveying his rage to us in a very eye – catching way… yes, this cover definitely deserves the gold medal.
Silver medal for the Annual, because of its post – apocalyptic atmosphere.
Bronze medal for Flash # 135: a cover foreshadowing Green Arrow’s presence will always get a medal in my personal ranking.
P.S.: These are my favorite road movies:
1) Everybody’s Fine
2) Trouble with the Curve
3) Brannigan
4) Road To Perdition
5) Dumb and Dumber
6) Little Miss Sunshine
7) No Country for Old Men
8) Rain Man
9) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
10) Due Date
“I really like UXM # 453.”
On top of the great points you mentioned, another element that really grabs me is the depiction of the motorcycle itself. The colouring, detail, and reflection is spot on and makes it really come to life.
“Special mention for UXM # 454, because of its beautiful and very sumptuous background.”
And this here is my personal runner-up with #464 being my third place winner due to me being a big fan of the artist and his style alongside that terrific purple glow from Psylocke’s weapon.
“The other gold medal goes to Flash # 134: the leading character hiding himself in a blind alley, his face partially swathed in shadows, his eyes and his closed fist conveying his rage to us in a very eye – catching way… yes, this cover definitely deserves the gold medal.”
There were numerous covers that I really liked for my runner-up with #134 being one of them. Other contenders were #133’s Through The Looking Glass cover, #138’s moody and shadow-filled cover, #142’s wedding celebration, and the Annual’s horror inspired image. In the end, my rankings would be Second (#133), Third (#134), Fourth (#142) and Fifth (The Annual).
Thanks for sharing your selections, providing your analysis, and listing your Top 10 Road movies. I’ve personally only seen Dumb and Dumber so I’ve got a lot of quality flicks to choose from. 🙂
I’m sure you would love Brannigan and No Country for Old Men. Both of them are action packed movies that make you jump on your seat countless times. Thank you as well for your reply! : )
Love the cover of The Flash Vol 2 #141 with the shadowy Black Flash creeping up on The Flash as he’s running uphill, what a spooky and unsettling cover this is. The purple background looks great as well, a very dark and atmospheric cover.
Uncanny X-Men #462 gets my vote, had to really as it features Captain Britain!!!!! Great to see the good Captain on this cover, I still like this version of his costume best.
A great edition of retroactive 😀
“Love the cover of The Flash Vol 2 #141”
Unsettling is the perfect description. Seeing a skeletal Black Flash reaching out his clawed hands to grab our hero all the while a grey moon/sun resides in the background is truly bone chilling.
“Uncanny X-Men #462 gets my vote, had to really as it features Captain Britain!!!!!”
Who would have ever thought we’d see the day when Captain Britain was the star on an UXM cover?
Thanks for providing your choices. It is much appreciated.
Yeah, that Flash cover was really haunting. Great to see Captain Britain on that UXM cover 😀