What makes the best comic book covers? It’s a great topic for debate. For us as individuals there is no wrong answer, of course. It’s purely subjective. But with a little thought it is frequently possible to explain what it is about a particular image that grabs you. The best ones are the ones that make you stop and check out something you weren’t previously going to purchase – and in some cases, you even end up picking up a title you’ve never even heard of before.

Last week Scoop took a few minutes to look at a couple of dinosaur covers found on the second issue of American Mythology’s new version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Land That Time Forgot. The title has inspired us to take up a new search.

With cover work by artists Mike Wolfer and Chris Scarf (painted variants), the title regularly features some terrifically frightening and realistic dinosaurs on the cover as well as inside the book. While the connection to Burroughs’ may signal an automatic connection to dinosaurs due to their prominence in the author’s original work, the beauty of Wolfer and Scarf’s respective covers caused us to look backwards in comic book cover history to find a few other great dinosaur covers.

Ultimately, after much deliberation, which included fierce arguments in favor of Captain Marvel Adventures #123 (August 1951) and its Dinosaur Dilemma by C.C. Beck, we went a few years further back to find Flash Comics #86 (August 1947).

Now, before we say anything else, when it comes to a great dinosaur cover on a comic book, there absolutely has to be a mention of a few obvious titles. First of which is DC’s Star Spangled War Stories.

These classic works by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito started in 1960 and end with issue 137 (February-March 1968) with the arrival of Enemy Ace. It is such an embarrassment of dino-packed riches that it may take a month to cover the highlights. Next week we will be looking at that title as well as its Kanigher-edited cousins in the near future!

When it comes to classic dino-centric runs on a title, Scoop also needs to mention Dell/Gold Key books such as Tarzan and Turok, Son of Stone. These titles are often taken for granted due to the spotlight generated by a DC or Marvel cover. You can expect Scoop to double back on some of these greats as well.

Also in the running for featured cover this week were two issues of Detective Comics. Both of which featured a pairing of Batman with a dinosaur. On issue 252 (February 1958), cover artist Sheldon Moldoff showcases a sea monster appearing from nowhere to attack the Dynamic Duo.

A couple of issues later, on the cover for Detective Comics #255 (May 1958), Moldoff ups his game a bit. This time he opens up the space to a dinosaur and a long-snouted reptile with wings rising from water. While there is a sense of danger, the overall feel of the cover is closer to the cartoony fun found on Captain Marvel Adventure #123.

On the cover to Flash Comics #86, the pencil work of Lee Elias and the inks of Joe Kubert practically shock the reader out of their seat. Now this is a cover with menace, terror and palpable, hard-breathing action. That big green monster busting through the wall is taking up at least a quarter of all the space on the cover as a total! The size of his head alone dwarfs the Flash. Almost lost in it all is the small figure of Joan Williams, so perfect in white and jodhpurs. The thick black line around the top of the dinosaur really helps him jump out on top of the action. It gives him strong definition as well as adding to his physical weight against the bright halo of yellow of outside light peaking in.

Seen racing in from the left, white speed lines trail the entire length of the Flash’s body, as if they are giving him lift. His left arm is just in front of the snout of the Rex which pushes him right into the very front of the cover. His right arm appears to be just about ready to swing around in order to land a full-speed blow on the side of the beast’s head.

The bars on the window/door to the left only add to the feeling of deep claustrophobia created by the immensity of the monstrosity’s head. Plus, they angle down slightly as well which creates a darkened space directly behind the Flash. This allows him to pop even more out of the cover.

Unlike a shark cover, which are relatively rare enough in the world of comic books to create their own small circle of collectors, a good dino cover isn’t that hard to find. Especially as the ’50s start. There are reasons for this which we will touch on when we look at Star Spangled War Stories next week!

-Mark Squirek