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 Nightwing 2000 and Daredevil 2013. 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 fourth page to view them.
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The Speech Bubble 
There were two Nigthwing covers that caught my attention:
– the cover you chose, because I love Nightwing issues that focus on the troubled relationship between Dick and Babs. I also love the perspective and the wonderful colouring.
– Nightwing # 52, because it shows a delightful twist: instead of having Catwoman teaming up with Batman, here we have Selina teaming up with former Batman’s sidekick.
I love this cover also because it’s a very rich image, with all those objects that are normally associated with gambling.
I also appreciate the marvellous artistic choice of making the background look out of focus, because it reproduces the sight of the human eye: in fact, when you look at someone, the background behind him/her is out of focus for you.
Also, what is that man doing with that oxyhydrogen flame in the background?
Unfortunately I can’t give the gold medal to either of the two, because both of them show a cliché I can’t stand (fake death). Bronze medal for the cover you chose, silver medal for Nightwing # 52, gold medal for Nightwing # 56. Even in this case we have a twist: when you see a brawl on a comic book cover, the characters usually fight with their bare hands; in this case they don’t, because Nightwing’s enemies are fighting with cold steel. That makes the brawl much more difficult for Dick, and much more enticing for us readers.
As for the Fantastic Four, I completely agree with the cover you chose. This image contains a lot of wwayne – favourite details: superhero vs a raging crowd? Check. Slice – of – life situation? Check. Flaming sky? Check. Detailed background? Check. How could I have chosen another cover? : )
Special mention for Fantastic Four # 2, because it shows a heated fight scene. I also love the fact that, while the Thing fights by using all his brute force, Susan, on the contrary, comes up to the Skrulls tiptoe, and clearly projects to knock one of them out by simply breaking a vase on his head. The contrast between these two completely different fighting methods is a huge plus of this cover.
“Unfortunately I can’t give the gold medal to either of the two, because both of them show a cliché I can’t stand (fake death). Bronze medal for the cover you chose, silver medal for Nightwing # 52, gold medal for Nightwing # 56.”
Talk about a fake out. You lead me to think is it going to be #52 or #53 and then POW you pull the rug out from under me and choose #56. My runner-up would go to Paul Bowler’s #1 pick (Nightwing #54). I love that shot of him in the snow. 3rd goes to #57’s upside-down spectacle complete with the shadow of the mystery villain.
“Special mention for Fantastic Four # 2, because it shows a heated fight scene.”
I had a really good feeling we’d be on the same page with this debut edition of Fantastic Four. Meanwhile, your special mention grabs the bronze medal as I cannot give any other cover the distinction of runner-up than the cover that started it all. 🙂
Thanks, as always, for sharing your selections and providing your analysis.
“3rd goes to #57’s upside-down spectacle complete with the shadow of the mystery villain.” I hadn’t noticed the shadow! Great catch! Thanks to your observation, this cover gets the 5th place in my personal ranking.
4th goes to Nightwing # 62. This cover got very close to the bronze medal: at the end I decided to exclude it because I don’t like jail as a setting for a comic book story, but I admit that the narrative choice of making the Joker take control of a prison is a bright idea.
The second reason why I love this cover is the undeniable fact that Ed McGuinness is one of the most skilled pencillers ever at drawing muscles, and this cover proves it in a very effective way.
Add a masterful lighting, and here you get a real gem that would have won a medal with ease in any other Retroactive edition.
“Thanks, as always, for sharing your selections and providing your analysis.” Thank you as well for your reply! : )
“But I admit that the narrative choice of making the Joker take control of a prison is a bright idea.”
I know what you mean. Imagine being a criminal inside Joker’s asylum. I would fear for my safety constantly. 🙂
Really like the snowbound cover of Nightwing Vol 2 #54, a great cover, nice and simple, yet very effective. Great to see The Fantastic Four debut on Retroactive, so I had to go for issue #1 as my fave cover here. An classic cover if ever there was one, love it!
Nightwing #54 earns my silver medal. It came so close to first but just got edged out in the end. As for the FF, I really thought going in that Issue #1 was going to be my selection but the more I saw #9 the more I could not deny its brilliance.
Thanks for sharing!
Great start to the Fantastic Four in this Retroactive feature. So many classic covers to look forward to with the Fantastic Four