COVER STORY: Manhunter Special Edition #1

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

Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson’s Manhunter, which took a classic Joe Simon and Jack Kirby creation and turned it on its ear, was published as a back-up feature in DC Comics’ long-running Detective Comics from July 1973 to August 1974. Manhunter won countless accolades and six awards from the Academy of Comic Book Arts in the ‘70s – including Best Writer (Goodwin) and Best New Talent (Simonson). What’s hard to believe, though, is that Goodwin and Simonson’s strip only lasted seven episodes – all of which can be found in the hard to find Manhunter Special Edition #1 from 1984.   

Brandishing explosive cover art that conveys an all-out action movie poster feel, this must-have book found the acclaimed creative team working “Marvel” style so that Goodwin came up with a plot, for which Simonson drew story pages, and Goodwin finally scripting the story from the finished art.

Both new readers and longtime fans of this important work will learn that this collectible, which sported the more expensive and nicer looking Baxter Paper format, embodies the most elusive hunt in the four-color medium – comic book immortality. And succeeds!

–Scott Braden