The Forbidden Planet International Blog

Oh yes. It’s me AGAIN. The whole point of these best cover ever features is that I’m well aware that there’s no definitive answer, so we all get to put forth our faves…

This time I’m going for the best cover design I have ever seen….

The Invisibles Volume 1 Issue 1 – 1994, DC Comics, art by Rian Hughes

I adored this.

I still do.

But back then I was 23, just out of Uni, working in Nostalgia & Comics part time, having a great time, no responsibilities, loving life, loving comics, loving Grant Morrison.

And then he brought out The Invisibles and that was it. From the moment I saw that cover and heard the buzz about the comic I knew this was going to be the greatest thing I’d ever read.

And it was.

Except it wasn’t.

The ideas behind it, the way it made me feel, the buzz I got from it, that was the very very best, the absolute pinnacle of my comics enjoyment I reckon. At least in one way, the way of a young thing, so enamoured with the concept that he can’t see the problems.

I know it’s not perfect, just like I know the girl I was with when I was 18 wasn’t perfect either, wasn’t the love of my life. But time plays tricks, the piss and vinegar of youth creates an illusion of perfection where it wasn’t completely there. Thus it is with Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles. It’s not perfect, not by any means. And there’s been far better since then. Of course there has. But there’s still that excitement in my head and in my heart when I think of the thrill of this series, and I know that will never leave me.

But whether or not the series lives up to my idealised view of it doesn’t matter here. One thing is absolutely certain to me. That is quite simply THE best example of a brilliant cover concept executed with style, panache and bloody brilliance by Rian Hughes.

The idea bomb, the greneade with the pin still in, the potential energy still in place. That was perfect. Still is.

At the time of the comic’s release, DC sent out press packs and somehow Nostalgia & Comics got hold of a lot of them; posters, bumper stickers, badges, the works. I still remember to this very day the brilliant window display I made using the envelopes the damn press packs came in – perfect in the window of N&C. Oh, if only I had pictures. You’d be amazed. You really would.

So, what do you reckon is YOUR best cover EVER? We’d love to know.