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 Teen Titans 1980/1981 and Ultimate Spider-Man 2008. 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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Teen Titans 1982
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Ultimate Spider-Man 2009
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The Speech Bubble 
I really like USM # 132.
First of all, there’s something very unusual here: the leading character isn’t even shown, and all the attention is focused on two supporting characters, who are brutally fighting against each other.
Secondly, the background is hugely eye – pleasing for me. Flames, an explosion from the inside of a skyscraper, a dense smoke all around the fighters, an abyss right under them… all these details help building a post – apocalyptic atmosphere, and I couldn’t ask nothing better.
Thirdly, the colouring is exceptional. The background has been coloured by using ochre, sepia and brick red: these tones are rather infrequent for a comic book cover, and they’re combined in a masterful way.
The other gold medal goes to Teen Titans # 26.
First of all, the scene is set under a pouring rain: as you know, I love this artistic choice.
Secondly, the cover artist drew the background in an extremely meticulous way: the efforts he clearly made would deserve the gold medal alone.
Thirdly, I love the fact that the Teen Titans are in the background itself, instead of being in the foreground.
Fourthly, this cover raises a lot of questions. Why are those children closely followed by all those police cars, as if they were dangerous criminals? How are the Teen Titans involved in this situation? And most of all, how could they fix it? You must open the book to find it out… and when a cover compels you to do that, you know you’ve got to give it the gold medal.
Great cover for New Teen Titans #22 featuring Brother Blood, with all the Titans sent flying in every direction. Ultimate Spider-Man #130 is very unsettling, with Spidey sinking and drowning, this cover really plays on our fears. A great retroactive!