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One of the beautiful things about the comic book medium is that it is one of the few art forms that allows readers to both literally and figuratively judge books by their covers. The work of a cover artist is not always to encapsulate the plot of the issue; in fact, most times the cover is completely unrelated to the content inside. The primary job of the artist is to make the book stand out - to grab readers by the throat and force them to take a look at the issue, even as it's speckled in with dozens of other books on the shelf, Wednesday after Wednesday.
It is entirely possible to purchase a book based on its cover and find the content inside to be complete drivel, or worse yet, with art that pales in comparison to the work of the cover artist. Alternatively, a poor cover could potentially lead readers away from books that are otherwise goldmines. There's a lot riding on that cover, so CraveOnline is taking it upon ourselves to take a look at the covers and artists that made us stop dead in our tracks for the month of July 2009.
5. Amazing Spider-Man #599 (70s Decade Variant)
Cover by Phil Jimenez
I'm sick to death of Presidents showing up in comics. Well alright, just Obama. It was cool at first, Obama popping up in random places in the comic world. Now we've got Ash and Obama team ups, Obama the Barbarian, and more. Phil Jimenez's Obama cover for Amazing Spider-Man #583 was a runaway success that led the issue to numerous reprintings, and now, he's spoofed his own work.
Featured as a "70's Variant", the cover has the same composition of the Obama cover, but with obvious replacements. Instead of Obama we get a happy-go-lucky Richard Nixon, giving his infamous peace sign hand gesture instead of a thumbs up. And of course, we have Spider-Man grabbing the photo-op in the background with a 70's camera, bell-bottoms, an afro, and plenty of chest hair.
The tie-dyed background caps things off, and in the end we're left with a seemingly random, but intriguing, cover to Spider-Man.
