Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities The Fifteens Feud!

COME ON DOWN and fight, fight, fight about Fifteens covers. Why? To celebrate Legion World's 15th anniversary on July 4 or 6, take your pick.

Previous editions, for perusal and/or catch-up: Elevens, Twelves, Eights, Tens, Twenty-Nines, Eighteens

Choose one per matchup -- no ties -- on your opinion of the cover merits alone. Click images to see larger versions



1. TEEN TITANS vs. NEW TEEN TITANS




2. STAR WARS vs. THE HUMAN FLY




3. WONDER WOMAN vs. ALLEY OOP




4. DNAGENTS vs. TALES OF THE BEANWORLD

1. New Teen Titans - suggests a more interesting story, with a lot going on

2. Human Fly - More limited visuals and contrasting light give this a bit of noir look

3. Alley Oop - more dynamic, Wonder Woman just seems to be standing there, bored

4. DNAgents - more of a not-Beanworld-abstract-flat image vote. Both covers' colours are unappealing.

1. TEEN TITANS -- More energetic, with a more dynamic layout

2. THE HUMAN FLY -- This was a really close one, because I love them both. But there's something I find very appealing about the less-is-more approach to this one, plus the Human Fly's pose is more original than Han Solo's.

3. ALLEY OOP -- As with the Titans covers comparison, this one is by far the more dynamic of the two -- Alley almost looks like he's gonna throw the lion clear through the 4th Wall and into the readers' dimension.

4. TALES OF THE BEANWORLD -- The DNAgents one is completely and utterly "meh." This one is at least cuter and more imaginative.

1. TEEN TITANS -- A bit too many characters on NTT. The action is front and center here, as Captain Rumble makes the scene!

2. THE HUMAN FLY - A slight edge here, just because the repeated "At last!"'s on the Star Wars cover bugs me.

3. WONDER WOMAN - That's a lion with the head of a monkey! I want to read it to know what's up with that!

4. TALES OF THE BEANWORLD - It definitely says "peculiar experience".

1. Teen Titans: The Perez cover is great. villains taking up exactly half of the vertical; menace in the dialogue; the titans in peril and their would be executers shown too along with trademark Perez rubble and goo. Everyone has a place in this composition. But it doesn't have the sheer innovation of showing the titans' faces in the shards that the Teen Titans cover has.

2. Human Fly: Close one, but the Star Wars logo gets in the way, while the Fly logo blends in with the lift shaft.

3. Wonder Woman: I want to know more about the Tigeapes and Neptunia. I want the big cat to devour the cruel alley oop on the other one.

4. Beanworld: DNAgents loses most of its points (and threat) by having an ACME Dracula stand in in the background with a kryptonite rock and laser hands. A win for the abstract.

1. TEEN TITANS. For me, NTT belongs to that group of covers that look well-done and about which I have no criticisms...yet do nothing for me. That's something I'm interested in exploring further: is the 'meh' due to personal taste, oversaturation, other factors? But not now, as Captain Rumble has to make the scene and win. This is NOT a default win. I've seen the glass shard thing before, but this is well done. Mostly-black background sets it off well. Of note: NTT draws you to the center, but TT is coming at you from the center.

2. STAR WARS. A pretty smart callback to the opening of the movie (this is from 1978, there was only one) where the ship appeared and was so big it took awhile to show it all

3. ALLEY OOP. I had to check to make sure I had the original WW cover and not a reprint where for some reason the company slaps an inside panel on the cover. WW looks like an inside panel, not a cover.

4. DNAGENTS. I do respond to the lemon/lime color scheme and smart neutral color choices for title and indicia. Am somewhat intrigued by Beanworld, but more by the framing and not the central image.

5. BARBIE vs. WORLD OF ARCHIE




6. AIRBOY vs. ZOT!




7. STAR TREK vs. LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES




8. A+X vs. SINGLE SERIES/HOW IT BEGAN -----------> note: this is a revised matchup. See note below.

5. Archie. Nothing at all wrong with the Barbie cover, but Archie shows us that love problems are timeless. I like the "Grr" hieroglyphic too.

6. Zot. Watching the forerunners to Imperial stormtroopers all fail to hit Airboy is annoying. When this scene was in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (original) the character got shot. Is Zot turning a corner in a corridor? It gets a few points as the logo is also slightly cut off.

7. Star Trek. I get more feeling of helplessness, despair and waste from that one (yay comics!) than the Giffen one, where he goes to great lengths not to show us faces. Not even the Legion logo in the sky could stop the Khundian warfleet. Brainy has been working out, and I suppose there's a message that even mighty intelligences can do nothing when war arrives. (As an aside the cover also shows the Legion running away, which they did a lot of in the TMK era. Sorry Brainy, tactically regrouping.)

8. How it Began. The Spirit has the better concept and execution. But no points for ethnic stereotypes. How it Began: At Singularity, energy is released between the meeting hands of the Anti-Monitor and Jim Corrigan in a battle beyond time and space, creating the universe. Now you know that and about clowns! EDIT: Still better than AvX

Note on #8: it is my usual practice to leave out images that portray ethnic stereotypes. The Spirit has been replaced by A+X.

5. Archie - better use of the Egyptian theme to illustrate classic Archie theme.

6. Airboy - it's a classic style of cover but I like how everything converges on the central image. Also, I wonder how one of those bullets went through the tree trunk to hit the water.

7. Star Trek - the colours, dejected people, the smoldering city, desolation all combine in a striking image - although I like the action of the Legion cover. One's quiet, one's noisy but the colour scheme wins it for Star Trek.

8. The Spirit - more amusing than red-nosed peasant performing for decrepit hereditary autocrat.

5. WORLD OF ARCHIE. Barbie is too Lisa Frank for my taste. While WOA's general concept is a very tired one, the execution is rather beautiful.It occurs to me now -- yes, late in the game again -- that these covers could be considered cultural appropriation. Let's talk about it.

6. ZOT! I want to know what's up with that weird partition.

7. LSH is during. ST is after. STAR TREK wins through trickery -- I could tell that the red lines near center/bottom was writing but it took me a bit to figure out how to read it. Now that I've figured it out, I want to know what it means. Oh wait, I just figured THAT out.

8. How It Began has a great color scheme, and I like the title's lettering. But is it "a cover"? I'm going with A+X.

5. Archie -- Definitely better use of the cliched theme.

6. Airboy - Not much of a fan of either one, but I prefer the more detailed cover.

7. Star Trek - Again, not a huge fan of either, but I'll go with the sense of loss over the sense of losing.

8. A + X - More a vote against the splash-page as cover on How it Began than for the merely serviceable science/magic teamup of A + X. I'd have gone for the Spirit cover, ethnic caricature and all, over either of these.

9. UNCANNY X-MEN vs. SECRET ORIGINS




10. ALL-STAR SQUADRON vs. CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW!




11. TINY TITANS vs. DEATH RATTLE




12. NEW MUTANTS vs. NEW HUMANS

9. Uncanny X-Men - quiet, threatening, muted colours all work for me. Something else else about green and yellow doesn't, although the Spectre's face imposed on Deadman is eye-catching.

10. Captain Carrot - while All Star Squadron is more dynamic, the kooky animal characters hold the eye longer.

11. Death Rattle - Nice contrast of light and dark and how often do you get to see cows beamed up to a space ship? Then they mutilate them, of course, which is sad.

11. The New Humans - I like the devil red simplicity and creepiness of the character. The eyes really stand out.

9. Secret Origins. The Spectre's cloak forming Deadman gets an easy win on innovation. Having both deceased characters over a graveyard gets extra thematic points. If I want foes reflected in sword blades, I'll read Conan.

10. All- Star Squadron. Mainly for the drama of orbital conflict. Kubert art. Poor Robotman. Doomed to forever be on the receiving end of anything that will turn most of him into scrap. I think I'd enjoy reading the Captain Carrot story more now. Green Lambkin. Tee hee.

11. Death Rattle. The Titans nearly gets it for bunnies. But rattle is creepier. If you look towards the bottom centre of the cover, you'll also notice the first appearance of Space Mouse. Abducted by aliens and cybernetically enhanced, he fights against the Galactic Bovine Empire. The aliens thought they were picking up friends here.

12. New Humans. Nice colouring and the guy looks quite evil. On New Mutants, I'm tired of reading about kids who can't hold their ectoplasm.

9. UNCANNY X-MEN. The Spectre/Deadman blend doesn't work for me.

10. CAPTAIN CARROT. I'm not all that fussed with either, but CC wins on default because that Superman (front one) looks slightly irregular/off-brand. Oh, I suppose CC also has the funny animal names going for it, too.

11. TINY TITANS. Well they're just cute. Zat Lad also conjures up that nice "rays of sunshine" effect to round out the image. Also, I'm a purist; I like things to be weird OR bizarre, not both. Death Rattle may be a lil try-hard.

12. If your cover image is a moody black and red, a yellow-and-sky-blue logo is going to stand out. Is that good, bad? What were they going for there? NEW MUTANTS wins, I guess. I wonder what Bill Sienkiewicz would have done here.

13. GLOOMCOOKIE vs. SCARLET WITCH



14. BLACK WIDOW vs. ARCHIE




15. BATWOMAN vs. ARAK




16. THE SPIDER vs. ZORRO

13. Gloom Cookie - It's making me think about the figure and what's happened to it. Scarlet Witch is a very well done, relaxed pose with a little bit of Evil Queen in it. But the whole cover is ruined by having James Robinson's name on it.

14. Archie - Just for following the tones down the cover. I've no idea why Widow has rounds on her wrists. Is it a Psycho Claws thing?

15. Arak - Not really keen on either. Certainly no points for cover blurb. Batwoman is being possessed by bats? exorcising bats? a victim of Dracula as a lot of bats? When it's done she'll regret that very uncomfortable pose. The faces on Arak sort of blend in with the flames.

16. Zorro - Nice perspective on The Spider but I want to know about what's going on in the Zorro book.

13. SCARLET WITCH. Sharp! Also, I don't like the tomato-y red over on Gloomcookie and the art style probably isn't my cup of tea, either.

14. BLACK WIDOW! Cheryl over on Archie is fine competition -- and there's a red I like -- but BW has the face/map & hair/blood that keeps me looking.

15. BATWOMAN. I don't love either, though.

16. THE SPIDER gives me more. And yeah, Zorro was originally matched up against The New Humans, but I can't resist a cheesy title-vs-title matchup.

9. Uncanny X-Men -- Secret Origins is a nice concept, but doesn't quite work for me.
10. All-Star Squadron -- My nostalgia for this crossover, including these covers, makes this automatically the winner!
11. Tiny Titans -- Bunnies!
12. The New Humans -- Creepy stuff coming out of the eyes is a major turnoff for me

13. Scarlet Witch -- Gloom Cookie has more of a story, but I like the white background more.
14. Archie -- Cheryl!!!!!
15. Arak -- Not a lot going for this one, but I really don't like the other one.
16. The Spider -- Grinning skulls are a dime a dozen, but The Spider just looks cool.

17. INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK vs. NINJAK




18. DOCTOR STRANGE vs. L.E.G.I.O.N. '90




19. HOWDY DOODY vs. HENRY ALDRICH




20. KID ETERNITY vs. MYSTERIOUS ADVENTURES

17. Ninjak, nice central image, with scary monsters in the background. That Hulk face is too in-your-face leering creepy.

18. Doctor Strange. A translucent, melting eyeball? Icky, but not overly much. I like the grey and black colour scheme. The eye on L.E.G.I.O.N. looks hairy and the image is flat.

19. Henry Aldrich, just because Howdy Doody looks worse.

20. Mysterious Adventures - Bowling with skulls, of loved ones! Outrageous. Standing with skulls, boring.

17. Ninjak: mythical sky battle while banner sells tie-in watches.

18. Dr Strange. The Legion one works more when you've been following Bek and know of the eye. Strange wins for the icky puddle.

19. Henry. Howdy has more cumuppance value but lacks the comedy of three teens stupidly plunging to their deaths.

20. Kid Eternity. It's just not that easy to bowl with a skull. You'd be chucking it. I'm not bothered about why it's the pay off to the story either. I'd like to find out more about how Kid defeats Masterman, even if it's a dull cover.

17. Ninjak: Looks like an epic battle here, versus the Hulk trying out a much less catchy version of Ben Grimm's catchphrase.
18. Dr. Strange: Being inside the Eye is just cool.
19. Henry: "Hen-reeeee! Henry Aldrich!" "Gosh, mother. It wasn't my fault..."
20. Kid Eternity: More grinning skulls? Anyway, I feel like Mysterious Adventures seriously needs a bowling pun. Like, "Good thing you've got a boyfriend to spare..." or something. I'm not sure what exactly Kid Eternity and Masterman are doing on the other cover, though. Weird.

17. NINJAK. Nice green tone-on-tone and circle focus, then bonus of background characters. I looked up the Hulk issues and SMASH TIME is apparently a multi-pun, but you can't tell by the cover alone.

18. DOCTOR STRANGE. Do figure, Strange gets it for the literal. (Well, maybe. It is Strange, after all.)

19. HENRY ALDRICH, although both have sorry premises. Howdy is laughing at his own mildly jerky behavior, and Clarabelle is pissed...funnee...? Over on Henry, a group of kids is about to meet with calamity. Where's the humor? Artwork is fine on both.

20. KID ETERNITY. I should enjoy the campiness of the MA cover, but naw. The ball return looks like Bill's hat, which is a WTF too far.