Have the variant covers to Action #1000 been shown yet?

[Frontier]

the Superman and Lois and the Jason Fabok covers are great! the others, not so much.

i love the imagery of the Fabok cover. it's like hope, peace, and justice breaking through the darkness and gloom. now he's an artist at the top of my Superman wish list. would love it if he did at least one story arc. just let him have some fun with Supes' rogues gallery.

The trunks on Superman look kind of weird in Fabok's style though .

[tib2d2]

Fabok's is the best for me hands down. Its timeless and awesome. I also dig the 60s variant from Allred. I want it to stand out, like you see it and immediately go "oh that's issue 1000"

[Sacred Knight]

Man, they should have gotten Fabok to do Action instead of Gleason. Although, I'm not a fan of his belt and buckle. Its too standard fare and puny here. Reis's work thus far boasts a bit of a wider belt and a larger buckle. It really helps.

[Flash Gordon]

The Steve Rude cover and Mike Allred cover are both rad.

[Atlas]

It's amazing to me that Jim Lee is allowed to have his ego sated with something as important as the cover of the first superhero comic book to reach 1000 issues. He's a fine artist, but he's better on darker characters like Batman. Fabok's cover would have been perfect for the standard cover and Lee's could have been one of the variants. It's not like the main variants truly reflect the eras they're supposed to reflect outside of Allred. Lee's cover is extremely dull and he can't even manage to draw Superman with a convincing smile. Garcia-Lopez, Jurgens, Ordway, Quitely, Frank, any of these guys should have had a shot at the standard cover instead of Lee. Hell, Jurgens has more than owned the right to do that cover as he is THE senior Superman creator still living and working at DC.

[marhawkman]

Jim Lee has done so much stuff over the years that I wouldn't even know where to begun.

[Atlas]

Jim Lee has done so much stuff over the years that I wouldn't even know where to begun.

Not on Superman, though. Jurgens has been working almost non-stop on the character for almost 30 years. Lee's work on Superman doesn't come near that and his work on other characters doesn't qualify him to do the cover to AC1K. The most deserving living creator is probably Garcia-Lopez with Jurgens a close second.

[adrikito]

I like this variant:

https://www.newsarama.com/38909-jock...riants.html#s5

action comics 1000 cover.jpg

[Kuwagaton]

It's amazing to me that Jim Lee is allowed to have his ego sated with something as important as the cover of the first superhero comic book to reach 1000 issues. He's a fine artist, but he's better on darker characters like Batman. Fabok's cover would have been perfect for the standard cover and Lee's could have been one of the variants. It's not like the main variants truly reflect the eras they're supposed to reflect outside of Allred. Lee's cover is extremely dull and he can't even manage to draw Superman with a convincing smile. Garcia-Lopez, Jurgens, Ordway, Quitely, Frank, any of these guys should have had a shot at the standard cover instead of Lee. Hell, Jurgens has more than owned the right to do that cover as he is THE senior Superman creator still living and working at DC.

It's funny how casually the word "ego" gets thrown around. Like, how dare someone who works at a company do something in that company? I don't like Lee's cover, but he is the highest level of success as an artist and has a high position within the company. He's gotten there. "Ego" would be closer to sitting around saying who should or shouldn't with no personal qualification to elect someone to a given task. It's also funny mentioning Quitely over Lee given the latter's history with the All-Star project.

Jurgens, Steranko, Allred, etc. have all done great covers that people will be willing to set out and buy. In that case, DC wins by selling more variants and the fans win by getting other covers they like.

[Atlas]

That's a beautiful cover. I still don't understand why Alex Ross isn't doing a variant. He'd have been a great fit for a 1938 cover and Rude would have been better on a Silver or Bronze Age cover.

[Atlas]

It's funny how casually the word "ego" gets thrown around. Like, how dare someone who works at a company do something in that company? I don't like Lee's cover, but he is the highest level of success as an artist and has a high position within the company. He's gotten there. "Ego" would be sitting around saying who should or shouldn't based on no personal qualifications to elect someone to the task.

Jurgens, Steranko, Allred, etc. have all done great covers that people will be willing to set out and buy. In that case, DC wins by selling more variants and the fans win by getting other covers they like.

Can you honestly say that whomever made the decision to have Lee draw the cover to this milestone issue made the best choice? That it had nothing to do with the fact that he's an exec? That his style is best suited for Superman when Jurgens has been there for almost 30 years and is the closest to Curt Swan still working at DC? That Garcia-Lopez, who's worked on Superman even longer and whose art is well-known by even non-comic book readers through merchandising, shouldn't have drawn this cover? Lee's style is not what it was even a decade ago (likely because he doesn't draw as much as he used to, a fact he admits) but is still stellar on characters like Batman. I'd have problem with Lee doing the cover to TEC 1000, but he was the wrong guy stylistically and historically for the standard cover.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

Lee's name doesn't sell like he did in the past, but I can't think of any other comic artist working today in American comics that can sell any better than Lee.

Him being an exec would have played a part, but so would him being their biggest artist.

[Kuwagaton]

Can you honestly say that whomever made the decision to have Lee draw the cover to this milestone issue made the best choice? That it had nothing to do with the fact that he's an exec? That his style is best suited for Superman when Jurgens has been there for almost 30 years and is the closest to Curt Swan still working at DC? That Garcia-Lopez, who's worked on Superman even longer and whose art is well-known by even non-comic book readers through merchandising, shouldn't have drawn this cover? Lee's style is not what it was even a decade ago (likely because he doesn't draw as much as he used to, a fact he admits) but is still stellar on characters like Batman. I'd have problem with Lee doing the cover to TEC 1000, but he was the wrong guy stylistically and historically for the standard cover.

It's art, it's subjective. There is no best. If you like his art better at an earlier point in history instead, that's how it goes, apparently. Many artists are around in their mid 20s and end up drawing into the 50s, 60s, or even 70s like Neal Adams. Frank Miller doesn't draw at all like he did on Daredevil. Evidently Lee's in the running for still being close to peak if Suicide Squad and Unchained sold like that under him.

If those would be qualifications to you, "Closest to Swan" is a very vague qualification especially since Ordway is around and actually a guy who inked Swan. Garcia-Lopez hasn't really worked on Superman himself for longer unless you're talking covers, because Jim Lee has pencilled more issues of Superman titles, and almost none of their work is well known in the sense that a high number of the people who see random licensed material (assuming that's your reference) couldn't possibly tell you which artist drew it.

Ultimately though again, it's all just preference. Whatever we like better, it's hard to say someone doesn't deserve the work they're given based on our personal bias.

[SanityOrMadness]

Can you honestly say that whomever made the decision to have Lee draw the cover to this milestone issue made the best choice?

Well, as you acknowledge later in your post, it's not "THE" cover. Jurgens has an "open to order" cover for the issue - meaning that a shop could order 100 copies of that and 0 copies of the Lee cover, or indeed any other cover (all the "decade" variants are "open to order", meaning they're not tied to ordering any other cover)

[DetectiveStrange]

The 1980's cover has been revealed! I didn't think anything would top Allred's cover for me. But this - this is now my favorite Superman #1000 cover.

Ladies and gentlemen, Joshua Middleton's AC1000 cover: