Awesome Byrne Cover

For today's entry into the Awesome Cover Gallery, I decided to add a coda to the weeklong celebration of The Man Of Steel that ended yesterday.

All of the covers for that mini-series followed the same basic theme, with the character who was the main focus standing on the right hand side of the cover, while a key scene from the issue played out behind them. It was a nice touch that tied the series together, and given that it came out on a bi-weekly basis and was ordered in huge numbers, I can imagine it looked nice on the racks in the LCS as the weeks piled up.

But in what has to be one of the first instances that I can remember, the first issue also shipped with a variant cover. I can't remember at the time if it was a 50/50 split or some type of retailer incentive variant, but the other cover for the first issue was a close-up of Clark's chest as he rips open his shirt to reveal the S-Shield underneath.

I suppose instead of describing it, I could just show it, eh? That is the point of today's post anyway...


Now the eagle-eyed readers among you might notice that this particular issue was signed by John Byrne himself! I'd like to tell you the story about how a wide-eyed sixteen year-old comic book fan waited in line all day to get this particular issue signed. I'd also like to tell you how John Byrne gently took the book from my trembling hands and with a wink and a nod, he signed my copy while thanking me for being a fan at the same time.

I'd like to tell you that story...but the truth of the matter is I just picked this particular issue up at my LCS yesterday for two bucks.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The fact that it's signed by such a key creator in the history of the Superman books, and not even that could get this issue marked up even a token fifty cents more than the unsigned copies.

R.I.P. John Byrne-era Superman...you had a good, long run.

Pencils by John Byrne
Inks by Dick Giordano

The Man Of Steel #1
July 1986
Copyright (c) DC Comics