Worst Cover Ever: An American Recession, or "When Cap Was Crap"

With the quality of Marvel's Captain America title better than ever, it's easy to forget things haven't always been that great for Cap. Arguably the worst period for Captain America (and many other heroes) was the dreary 1990's, when quantity trumped quality and no idea or page of artwork was too lousy to see print.

Like Rob Liefeld's craptacular cover to Captain America (vol. 2) #2, the following two Cap covers perfectly embody everything wrong about 90's comics.

First up is Captain America #422 (1993), the poster child for all the sloppy drawing, warped perspective, and D-list villains that characterized so many comics of this period.

"Blistick"?  Really?  Isn't that a lip balm? Note the knee pads, belt pouches, and arm bands that all the cool kids were wearing in the early 90's (thanks to the boy geniuses at Image Comics).

Is that an energy burst coming out of Blistik's lance, or is he applying soothing lip balm to the two enormous lips adorning (what I assume to be) Cap's shield?

I understand the liberties comic book artists routinely take with human anatomy, but when Cap's calf muscle exceeds the size of his peanut-sized skull, you've lost me.

A few months later on the cover of Captain America #424, the anatomy skills don't seem to be getting any better...

I can't decide which is worse: Cap's "Multiple G-Force Face", his diaper-like trunks, his 9-inch long knee cap, or his boot fabric drooping past his ankle.

Of course, these days Cap himself is still officially dead as a doornail, but really....looking back at those covers...it seems as if the early 90's came the closest to killing off Cap for good.

Comments

[suedenim]

Yikes. I'm as about as big a Cap fan as they come, and even I had long since stopped reading his book by this period.

The cover blurbs are an additional problem. On the Blistik cover, on second glance, it seems like the blurbs might be describing a "joke" villain of some sort, or maybe a Deadpool type. More "crazy/wacky adversary" than true threat. If that was the intent, the cover art certainly displays none of that.

And on the second cover... "Sneak Attack by the Sidewinder?" Looks more like the Sidewinder is sneakily sneaking off with a bag of cash, while his minions are, despite the grimace, posing what looks like a minor nuisance to Cap at best. I suppose it might have been a sneak attack, but when you're lifting one of your assailants over your head one-handed, I doubt you have much to worry about....

[Ralph C.]

I didn't like Rob Liefeld's work, at all. Never did, never will. He was popular once so ... oh well, we all like what we like.

That Cap cover of his is one of the Worst Things I have ever seen. How could they let that get published in any form? That goes far beyond exaggeration, maybe into the realm of exasperation or.... that art is definitely Brand Eech!