Got all that? Good. Batman covers — and comic book covers generally — have evolved since the early days. They started out very simple and to the point: a colorful image of Batman and Robin swinging into action, charging towards the reader or attacking a bad guy. The ’50s and ’60s saw a preference for zany, seemingly inexplicable imagery, while the 2000s tended toward dark imagery with little to no text. Now we are melding the two: the images are still often dark, but dialogue and text generally seem to be making a comeback. As such, it was hard to judge all of these covers by the same standards and come up with a definitive “best of” list; while the goal of Batman covers has always been to attract readers, their ways of doing so have changed radically over Batman’s 80-plus years. Artistic styles, reader tastes, and certainly Batman are all fluid. And there’s a matter of personal taste as well: images that appeal to me may not appeal to you, and vice versa. So if I left your favorite off the list, just remember that I did it on purpose. That said, it’s important to point out that DC in general and Batman in particular have historically been dominated by white male artists. That trend continues to this day. While I did find a decent number of fantastic Batman covers by women and people of color, the long history of white-only, male-only cover artists meant that they still got outnumbered. So before we get to the main list, I’d like to balance things out by going through some honorable mentions. These are Bat-related covers by female artists and artists of color that really show off how much diverse creators can bring to the Batman family when given the chance.
Honorable Mentions
Best Batman Covers
Got a Batman cover you love? Share it with me on Twitter! This is, tragically, not the main cover for this issue but rather a variant, i.e. an alternate cover meant to entice readers to either buy more than one copy of the same issue or to attract a wider audience. The main cover for this issue is just okay, but this variant by Doug Braithwaite and Diego Rodriguez is stellar. I included this Jim Lee cover on my list of best comic book covers of all time, and I still think it holds up. My only complaint is that I wish there was less dramatic cape and more Gotham skyline. He’s supposed to be looking out over the city he protects, isn’t he? So let us see the city! Other than that, it’s clean, it’s simple, it’s powerful, and it works. Honorable mention goes to Batman #666, which absolutely understood the assignment by featuring Batman surrounded by flames. (Also, I’m sure Booster had it coming. I love you, buddy, but really.) Adams and Gaspar Saladino created this cover in the late ’60s, when Batman was finally ready to turn away from the camp and become a solitary Figure Of The Night once again. After sidekick Robin went to college, Batman had his own version of a midlife crisis, shut down the cave (though not “forever” as he claims here), and moved into Gotham City proper. This cover is a dramatic way of ushering in the new era.
