The TOP 13 COVERS of APRIL 1975 — RANKED

Posted By Dan Greenfield on Apr 13, 2025 |

BRONZE AGE BONANZA: An all-time classic! PLUS: Aparo! Adams! Byrne! MORE!

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Welcome to BRONZE AGE BONANZA — our monthly series that looks at the greatest covers of the Bronze Age — exactly 50 years later. For more info on this feature, click here.

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One of the most important comics of all time makes this the list this month, plus terrific work by Gray Morrow, Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, John Byrne — and more!

Dig the TOP 13 COVERS OF APRIL 1975 — RANKED:

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13. 1st Issue Special #4, DC. Look, it’s not really a great cover and it probably doesn’t really belong on this list, but when you have a chance to highlight Lady Cop and that unintentionally silly logo, you take it.

Dick Giordano

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12. Josie and the Pussycats #82, Archie. I was originally going to include Betty and Veronica #234 because the cover has what sounds like an exceptionally dirty euphemism, but I chose this cover because I actually remember it from back then — and remember needing to have the joke explained to me. Oh, and Melody, pink napkins would not go with red china.

Stan Goldberg pencils, unknown inks

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11. Tiger-Man #2, Atlas/Seaboard. The cover’s a jumbled mess but how can you not love Tiger-Man’s outlandish design, with his very ’70s ‘do?

Frank Thorne

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10. Crypt of Shadows #18, Marvel. Honestly, what the fuck?

Possible Ron Wilson pencils, Vince Colletta inks

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9. The Hands of the Dragon #1, Atlas/Seaboard. This cover’s been getting a lot of attention again because it’s included in Mego’s recent line of Atlas figures. (Too bad the distribution was such a train wreck.) Oh, well. Anyway, it’s a pretty standard ’70s martial-arts layout with a big ol’ foot, but I dig the outfit, the red header and the exceptionally colorful tattoos on the guy getting kicked in the face.

Jim Craig

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8. World’s Finest Comics #231, DC. The physics are all wrong — Green Arrow being carried through the air in a running pose; Batman Jr. able to keep up with the Flash just by holding his hand; Superman and Batman held back by really thin and gappy barbed wire — but the colors! The colors! Wish I knew who did ’em.

Ernie Chan pencils, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopex inks

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7. Shazam! #19, DC. The little guy on the right is named Zazzo. The opposite-number Captain Marvel he turns into is named Zazzo-Plus. What they lack in nomenclature, they more than make up for in villainous fashion sense. Eobard Thawne’s tailor really came through for these guys and I wish we saw them all the time. Who needs Black Adam when you have Yellow Zazzo-Plus?

Bob Oksner

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6. Superman #289, DC. Some don’t like covers that use photo backgrounds. Me? I get a kick out of them. They’re fun. And adding the negative-space horseman to the mix makes this an indelibly ’70s cover. That, and the outfits worn by DC folks Bob Rozakis, Cary Bates, Jack C. Harris, Carl Gafford and E. Nelson Bridwell.

Curt Swan pencils, Bob Oksner inks, Jack Adler photo

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5. Adventure Comics #440, DC. Shows you what kind of difference lettering can make. Jim Aparo’s Spectre covers for Adventure Comics were all good to great but only for this final issue of his classic run with writer Michael Fleisher did DC decide to splash the ghostly antihero’s logo across the top, while minimizing the series’ name. No knock on the Adventure wordmark, once a reliable classic, but using “The Spectre” so emphatically takes an already terrific cover to another level.

Jim Aparo

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4. Doomsday + 1 #1, Charlton. This one I have to grade on a scale. From a purely artistic layout and execution standpoint, I think it’s the best cover this month, even down to the post-apocalyptic orange sky. It’s a deeply striking image by John Byrne, with its outstanding use of textural heavy blacks. But, you know where I’m going here: It’s intensively derivative — and not just of Planet of the Apes, but, even more so, Jack Kirby’s Kamandi #1 (which it actually improves upon). Perhaps Byrne should have gone with Kirby’s approach on Kamandi from last month.

John Byrne

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3. Star*Reach #2, Star*Reach Productions. Further proof — as if any were needed — that Neal Adams could draw anything.

Neal Adams

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2. Marvel Preview #2, Marvel. As far as the 1970s go, Gray Morrow’s painted Punisher cover is probably second only to Frank Castle’s first appearance on The Amazing Spider-Man #129 in October 1973. I think I’d prefer a tighter shot, but Morrow otherwise utilizes the freedom of the magazine cover format, with a pulpy, ultraviolent scenario that makes clear the Punisher does not mess around. I even dig the decadent pad, with its red shag carpeting, gold drapery, and go-go-booted damsel in distress. Badass.

Gray Morrow

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1. Giant-Size X-Men #1, Marvel. When it comes to landmark issues, I often question whether the cover is great on its own merits or whether it gets a boost simply because the issue itself is such a big deal. (See The Incredible Hulk #181.) This one by Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum — for one of the most important comic books in history — earns it. A definite contender for 1975 Cover of the Year.

Dave Cockrum pencils on background figures, Gil Kane pencils on the foreground figures, Cockrum inks.

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MORE

— The TOP 13 COVERS of MARCH 1975 — RANKED. Click here.

— BRONZE AGE BONANZA: The 1975 INDEX. Click here.

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Comics sources: Mike’s Amazing World of Comics and the Grand Comics Database.