Crisis #7: Death of Supergirl Cover Homages

The cover for CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #7 shown above became something of an instant classic and has been copied or referenced time and time again by both DC comics and other companies. As powerful as it is, though, it’s not completely original as there are a few that are close enough to it in terms of composition – the grieving hero holding the fallen hero in their arms – that actually pre-date it.

Here are the ones I either own copies of or have found on the net in various places.

The Original Re-Used or Re-Done

WHO’S WHO ran ads on the back pages highlighting where characters in one issue could be found; #8 had the above black and white cover of COIE #7
DC RELEASES from 1985.
A 2007 poll voted COIE #7 as the “Best DC Cover of All Time”
SUPERMAN #272 (Spanish language version) from Nov 1997.
Cover of the Box Set from 2019.
The tie-in comic with the CW’s television adaptation.

Pre-Crisis Covers

As mentioned above, as iconic as CRISIS #7’s cover is, there were others that predated it which followed the same basic premise.

BATMAN #156 from 1963.
OUR ARMY AT WAR #167 from 1966.
ADVENTURE COMICS #342 from Mar 1966.
AVENGERS #49 from Feb 1968.
CAPTAIN ACTION #3 from 1969.
TOMAHAWK #121 from 1969.
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #84 from 1969.
SUPERMAN’S GIRLFRIEND LOIS LANE #102 from 1970, the earliest occurrence of Superman holding the victim.
GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW #86 from 1971.
SUPERMAN’S GIRLFRIEND LOIS LANE #128 from 1972, just two years after the last time she died.
MARVEL PREMIERE #9 from 1973.
SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY #53 from 1974.
FREEDOM FIGHTERS #5 from 1976.
STAR WARS #18 from 1978.
JOHN CARTER WARLORD OF MARS #16 from Sep 1978.
THE HUMAN FLY #18 from Feb 1979.
DAREDEVIL #164 from 1980.
X-MEN #136 from 1980.
TALES TO ASTONISH #13 from 1980
The ENEMIES supplement for the CHAMPIONS role playing game from 1981.
THE FLASH #305 from 1982 with two heroes and victims for the price of one.
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #296 from 1983
DC COMICS PRESENTS #56 from 1983.
OBNOXIO THE CLOWN #1 from 1983.
THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #20 from 1984.
TALES OF THE TEEN TITANS #45 from 1984 with art by Perez a year before the CRISIS #7 cover.
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #76 from 1983
UNCANNY X-MEN #167 from Mar 1983.
CAMELOT 3000 #6 from 1983
MARS #1 from 1984
ARAK SON OF THUNDER #30 from 1984

Post-Crisis Covers

Whatever it was about the cover to CRISIS #7 that made it work so well sparked a long tradition of homages, particularly from DC.​​

INFINITY INC #20 from 1985, notable as it’s actually a CRISIS crossover issue.
DETECTIVE COMICS #574 from 1987.
An ad for THE NEW TITANS from 1988 with art by Perez.
THE NEW TITANS #50 from 1988, the cover of the ad seen in the previous image.
BADGER #41 from 1988
MIGHTY MOUSE #4 from 1991, the earliest true homage that I’ve found.
SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #10 from 1992, the earliest true homage from DC that I’ve found.
VALOR #18 from 1994.
X-FORCE #39 from 1994.
STONE PROTECTORS #2 from 1994.
RADIOACTIVE MAN #4 from 1994
THUNDERSTRIKE #24 from 1995
MAJOR BUMMER #12 from 1998.
GENERATION X ANNUAL from 1998.
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #567 from 1999 with Lois Lane once again the victim.
SUPERMAN & BATMAN: GENERATIONS #3 from 1999.
NINJA HIGH SCHOOL #11 from 2000.
TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #4 from 2000
CATWOMAN #7 from 2002.
LAB RATS #5 from 2002.
CAPTAIN MARVEL #34 from 2002.
FANTASTIC FURRY STORIES #3 from 2002.
LUCIFER #25 from Jun 2002.
SUPERGIRL #79 from 2003.
TOM STRONG #22 from 2003.
SUPERBABE #2 from 2003
SEAGUY #3 from 2004
YOUNG JUSTICE from May 2003.
COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS #1 from 2005
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS: THE COLLECTED EDITION from 2005.
FIRESTORM #21 from 2006, an INFINITE CRISIS crossover issue.
52 #23 from 2006.
FALLEN ANGEL #16 from 2007 whose main character was later confirmed to be Peter David’s version of Supergirl.
UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #8 from 2008 with the stars and stripes substituting for the fallen hero.
WITCHBLADE #128 from 2009.
THE LAST DAYS OF ANIMAL MAN #4 from 2009.
ADVENTURE COMICS #5 from 2010, a BLACKEST NIGHT crossover issue.
DEADPOOL/CABLE #25 from 2010 which looks to be the earliest Marvel homage.
COMIC BOOK GUY #1 from 2010.
TINY TITANS #29 from 2010.
TALES FROM THE FRINGE #4 from 2010.
SHADOWHAWK #5 from 2010.
GI JOE #6 from 2011.
Variant cover for JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #21 from 2011.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 9 #10 from 2012.
FANBOYS VS ZOMBIES #1 from 2012.
THE SIXTH GUN Book 5 2013.
ALTER-EGO #117 from 2013.
SCRIBBLENAUTS variant cover from 2013
BATMAN #29 from 2014, a Robot Chicken variant cover.
PAX AMERICANA #1 from 2015.
PAX AMERICANA #1 incentive cover from 2015.
ACTION COMICS #959 from 2016.
PATHFINDER: WORLDSCAPE #1 variant cover from 2016.
ACTION COMICS #49 from 2016
SUPERMAN #14 from 2017.
ACTION COMICS #973 from 2017.
CHAMPIONS #1 from 2017.
RICK & MORTY #44 from 2018, a convention exclusive.
CRISIS ON INFINITE CEREBI from October 2018.
The Essential Edition of FINAL CRISIS from 2019
CIMMERIAN #2 from 2019.
VAMPBLADE SEASON THREE #12 from 2019

Interior Art

It wasn’t just on the covers of comics that CRISIS #7 was referenced.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN ANNUAL #3 from 1991, an ARMAGEDDON 2001 story where Lois Lane dies.
ZERO HOUR #4 from 1994.
WORLD’S FUNNEST from 2000.
YOUNG JUSTICE #35 from 2001.
JLA: OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1 from 2001.
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #649 from 2006, an INFINITE CRISIS crossover.
INFINITE CRISIS #5 from 2006 with Lois Lane dying once again.
52 #5 from 2006, part of the History of the DCU back-up story that recounted the original Crisis.
COUNTDOWN #44 from 2007 featuring the History of the Multiverse.
JSA #9 from 2007.
FINAL CRISIS #6 from 2009.
FLASHPOINT: PROJECT SUPERMAN #3 from 2011 with Lois Lane dying yet again.
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #7 from 2012.
WORLDS’ FINEST ANNUAL #1 from 2014.
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #3 from 2014.
DOOM PATROL #3 from 2017.
DEATHSTROKE ANNUAL #1 from 2018.

Other Art

An entry from the Line it is Drawn at CBR, the topic here was mashing up Shakespeare and comic heroes. Art by Steve Howard.
Another Line it is Drawn entry, with art by Rachel Ordway.
Art commissioned by Kevin Smith after he directed a Supergirl TV episode.
George Perez, artist of the original, cosplays perhaps his most famous cover.
Found on covermashups.tumblr.com
Found on Comics Alliance.
A commissioned piece found on the net.

TV and Film

A direct homage in the style of the DC Animated Universe.
Screen shot from Series 2, Episode 10 of Justice League United.
Batman: Brave and The Bold Series 2, Episode 21 with Batman holding GI Robot.
Batman: Brave and The Bold Series 3, Episode 4.
The 2016 Supergirl TV show released this promo image.
And here’s a screen grab of the actual scene in the Supergirl series.

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