Items17The creator’s order
  1. 1Action Comics (1938)Action Comics (1938)Published Jan 1, 1938Action Comics #1 (June 1938), cover by Joe Shuster The template for superhero strength. Superman holds a green car over his head and drives it into a rock while the men around him scatter in panic, so the whole image reads as one diagonal burst of force. Because the car is the real star, homage…0
  2. 2Detective Comics (1937)Detective Comics (1937)Published Jan 1, 1937Detective Comics #27 (May 1939), cover by Bob Kane Batman's debut cover is a rooftop snatch: the caped figure swings across the sky on a rope with a crook clamped under his arm while two men in the foreground look up, one of them holding a gun. The viewer stands with the criminals, which makes the…0
  3. 3Captain America Comics (1941)Captain America Comics (1941)Published Jan 1, 1941Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), cover by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby One punch, aimed straight at a real dictator, and the hero was defined before readers opened the book. Captain America drives his fist into Hitler's jaw while bullets ping off his shield, and the room is crammed with…0
  4. 4The Flash (1959)The Flash (1959)Published Jan 1, 1959The Flash #123 (September 1961), "Flash of Two Worlds!", cover by Carmine Infantino with inks by Murphy Anderson Two Flashes sprint in from opposite sides toward a man pinned under a falling chimney, each shouting the same line, and the symmetry tells the story before a word is read. That mirrored…0
  5. 5Fantastic Four (1961)Fantastic Four (1961)Published Jan 1, 1961Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961), cover by Jack Kirby with inks by George Klein A giant monster bursts up from below a city street while four new heroes take it on, and Marvel's whole house style starts here. The word balloons were lettered straight onto the board before inking, so the characters…0
  6. 6The Incredible Hulk (1962)The Incredible Hulk (1962)Published Jan 1, 1962The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962), cover by Jack Kirby The whole premise fits in one stacked composition: a looming gray Hulk fills the cover, and a small Bruce Banner stands in front of him, a man literally overshadowed by the monster inside him. It is a design about scale and identity rather…0
  7. 7Amazing Fantasy (1962)Amazing Fantasy (1962)Published Jan 1, 1962Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962), cover by Jack Kirby with inks by Steve Ditko Spider-Man swings across the page above a stylized city with a crook tucked under one arm, and the whole cover tilts with him. Ditko created the costume and drew the story, but Stan Lee rejected his cover and gave the…0
  8. 8The Avengers (1963)The Avengers (1963)Published Jan 1, 1963The Avengers #4 (March 1964), cover by Jack Kirby with inks by George Roussos Captain America comes back from the 1940s leading the charge: shield low on one arm, the other thrown up and back as Giant-Man, Iron Man, Thor and the Wasp surge in behind him. Kirby turned a returning hero into a…0
  9. 9The Amazing Spider-Man (1963)The Amazing Spider-Man (1963)Published Jan 1, 1963The Amazing Spider-Man #50 (July 1967, the date printed on the cover), cover by John Romita Sr. "Spider-Man No More!" Peter Parker trudges toward the reader with his head down while a giant, ghostly Spider-Man looms behind him against a blaze of red, so the man and the mask he is walking away from…0
  10. 10Batman (1940)Batman (1940)Published Jan 1, 1940Batman #227 (December 1970, the date printed on the cover), cover by Neal Adams; pictured is his uncolored original art A homage that became a landmark in its own right. Adams's editor asked him to rework the giant-Batman-over-a-castle cover of Detective Comics #31 from 1939, and Adams answered…0