By Neal Adams, Chip Kidd, Rian Hughes and more, with art by Bob Kane, Sheldon Moldoff, Jerry Robinson, George Roussos, Charles Paris, Stan Kaye, Fred Ray, Jack Burnley, Dick Sprang, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Win Mortimer, Jim Mooney, Curt Swan, Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, Murphy Anderson, Nick Cardy, Joe Kubert, Gil Kane, Ross Andru, Mike Esposito, Irv Novick, Jack Abel, Bernie Wrightson, Alex Toth, Ernie Chan, Dick Giordano, Marshall Rogers, Terry Austin, Walter Simonson, Michael Golden, José Luis García-López, Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli, Brian Bolland, Alan Davis, Paul Neary, Eduardo Barreto, George Pérez, Bill Sienkiewicz, Edward Hannigan, Paul Gulacy, Gene Colan, Graham Nolan, Brian Stelfreeze, Kelley Jones, Dexter Vines, Drew Geraci, Bruce Timm, Bret Blevins, Kevin Nowlan, Lee Weeks, Adam Hughes, Jon Bogdanove, Denis Janke, John Beatty, Michael T. Gilbert, Mike Mignola, P. Craig Russell, Mike Zeck, Norm Breyfogle, James Hodgkins, Matt Wagner, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Tony Salmons, Damion Scott, Tom Palmer, Ty Templeton, Terry Beatty, Carl Critchlow, Jason Pearson, Daniel Brereton, John Van Fleet, John Wells, Karl Story, Hugh Fleming, Kelsey Shannon, Paul Pope, Jae Lee, Cully Hamner, John McCrea, Robert Smith, Scott McDaniel, Howard Porter, Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti, Alex Maleev, Sean Phillips, Doug Mahnke, Phil Winslade, Quique Alcatena, Tom Nguyen, Scott Hampton, Ed McGuiness, Michael Lark, Paul Johnson, Tim Sale, Darwyn Cooke, Lee Bermejo, Dave Johnson, J. G. Jones, Robert John Cassaday, Campanella, The Iguana & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0659-8 (HB)
This year marks Batman’s 85th Anniversary and we’ll be covering many old and new books about the Dark Knight over the year. Let’s start gently with a pictorial treat long overdue for revision and rerelease but also one readily available through the usual digital vendors…
Although not strictly a graphic novel, Batman: Cover to Cover is a giant collection of the best comic covers featuring the Caped Crusader since his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). This is a nostalgic delight for old timers, newcomers and casually passersby alike, concocted and compiled by many of the countless people who worked on Batman over the past decades.
Each was were polled on their own favourite cover and what seems like an impossible task at first glance was smartly subdivided into easy to digest, themed subject-headings including Fearsome Foes, Welcome to Fun City, The Dynamic Duo, Batman by Design, Death Traps, Guilty!, The Batman Family, Bizarre Batman, Secrets of the Batcave, Covers from Around the World, A Death in the Family, Milestones and World’s Finest (pairing the Gotham Guardian with other heroes from the DCU).
Additional features include a thorough examination and critique of the globally recognised logo by designer extraordinaire Rian Hughes; discussions on cover construction by Jerry Robinson, Neal Adams and Bob Schreck and a poll on the greatest cover ever with contributions from the likes of Alex Ross, Chip Kidd, Neil Gaiman, Brad Meltzer, Mark Waid, Jeph Loeb, Brian Bolland, Paul Levitz and movie mavens like Christopher Nolan and Mark Hamill.
This coffee table book is exciting, emphatically lovely to look at and will provide hours of debate as we all dip in, reminisce and ultimately disagree on what should and shouldn’t be included. Enjoy, Art-lovers and Bat-Fans!
© 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.