The 10 Most Iconic Comic Panels Ever!

one of the most iconic comic panels and pages of all time it's funny you asked because that's what we're going to cover today [Music] what's up my comment comrades today we're taking on yet another massive task by narrowing down our picks for the 10 most iconic panels or Splash pages in comic book history now lists like these are always subjective but some of these are so iconic that almost no one could argue their influence on the medium or how they have stood the test of time as fan favorites with that said let's get this rolling with pick number 10. kicking off our list is the first four panels on the first page of All-Star Superman issue one so rarely as a single page consisting of four brilliantly yet simplistic panels capture the essence and origin of a character so well these four panels on the single page recap arguably the greatest superhero of all time's origin perfectly setting the stage for what would become one of the best Superman stories of all time even the captions on each panel are just two words each the first panel reads doomed Planet as we see Krypton erupt the second panel says desperate scientists as we see kalel's parents mourning and hoping their son will get to safety as they wait to die the third panel says Last Hope as we see their Sun rocketing towards Earth and the last panel says kindly couple as we see the Kents find baby kalal on Earth again it is so simple yet it tells you everything you need to know about Superman's origin it also did such a good job of reminding us what Kalel went through to come to Earth and become its Beacon of Hope before giving us a story where we learned Superman is dying Frank quietly The Mastermind behind the art for this series knocked it out of the park giving us one of the best summaries of an origin and panel layouts we've ever seen pulling this into the story right from the beginning at number nine we have the Scarlet Witch uttering the words no more mutants in House of M issue seven this simple panel that's just a close-up on Wanda's mouth as she says the words no more mutants with tears coming down her eyes has become not just one of the most iconic panels in all of comic books but one of the most iconic events and things to happen in comics period when this book came out and we learned that Wanda got rid of like 90 of all mutants just by saying three simple words most of us were like what the hell just happened and we were all shocked for a number of reasons one the fact that she was powerful enough to get rid of almost an entire race of characters but also the fact that Marvel was getting rid of the majority of their mutants and the X-Men and the mutants are some of the most popular characters Marvel has so it was a very daring move no matter how you slice it this moment made the House of M storyline a staple for Marvel and the X-Men comic books in general to this day us fans recall the time Wanda was like no more mutants and got rid of them even Wanda herself is still dealing with the ramifications of it even trying to make up for it by gifting the mutants eternal life with the creation of their Resurrection protocol next up we have a personal favorite of mine and that is the iconic Spider-Man no more panel slash page from Amazing Spider-Man issue 50. this is hands down one of the most iconic images in all of comic books where Peter Parker after years of being Spider-Man is finally fed up with all the hardships being the wall crawler has brought him Jay Jonah Jameson constantly calling him a menace to the public never being able to hang out with his friends or girls he's just come to the point where Spider-Man is just making his life way harder than it needs to be so while walking in an alley in the rain he says to himself there's only one thing left to do I was just a young unthinking teenager when I first became Spider-Man but the years have a way of slipping by of changing the world about us and every boy sooner or later must put away his toys and become a man as we see him leave a Spider-Man costume in a trash can in an alley as he turns his back and walks away from his alter ego this was a huge moment you're talking about Peter Parker hanging up being Spider-Man one of the three most popular superheroes in all of comic books and the imagery has become seared into every comic band since so much so it was even homage fantastically in Spider-Man 2 which made most of us fans go all in all this was a hands down no-brainer for this list next up we have the panel and imagery from crisis on infinite Earth's issue 8 where Barry Allen flash sacrificed himself to save the universe in the story the anti-monitor plans to destroy Earth with his antimatter Cannon and the Flash was the only character that was fast enough to stop this as he created a Vortex to suck in all the anti-matter energy away from the cannon but it killed him in the process giving us this now famous imagery of very slowly shriveling away before he dies but saving the world in the process Barry's sacrifice would last for 20 plus years before he was eventually brought back it was a death that many of us thought was permanent as again it lasted for two decades crisis on infinite Earth is an iconic story all on its own as it's responsible for resetting continuity for DC Comics but without Barry's sacrifice the heroes probably wouldn't have survived for the reset to happen in the first place when you think of crisis on infinite Earth this is most likely the image that comes to your head as it's one of the most important sacrifices a hero has made in the medium and helped Define The Flash as one of the best Comics has to offer next we have the iconic cover page for civil war issue seven where Captain America is holding off Iron Man's Repulsor blast with his shield this is easily one of the most well-known images in comic books and the funny thing is it's not even an image from the interior pages of the book it's used for the cover and cover page of Issue 7 of Civil War so while not technically a panel or page from the actual story Pages itself it's iconic enough to be on the list the image became even more popular when it was homage in Captain America Civil War when Steve and Tony were fighting towards the end of the film and man was it perfect it was so cool to see this amazing imagery translated into live action and so well at that it's a fantastic piece of art from one of the best Marvel stories of all time which would later become one of the best Marvel movies of all time no matter how you slice it this image is perfection demonstrating how far two friends will go to fight for their own beliefs now we have an image that has been burned into my mind ever since I was a child and that is Bane breaking Batman's back over his knee in Batman issue 497 from the Batman Nightfall storyline this storyline proved that Bane is easily one of Batman's most terrifying and threatening villains as in the story we see Bane systematically tear Batman's life apart before ultimately sneaking into the bat cave at which point he manhandles The Dark Knight backhanding him and beating him senseless before picking up Batman's broken helpless body over his head while he tells Batman I am Bane and I could kill you but death would only end your Agony and silence your shame instead I will simply and then on the next page he finishes the sentence giving us the iconic panel saying break you as we see Bane bring Batman's back down over his knee quite literally raking the bat and putting him out of commission for quite some time you'd be hard-pressed to find a comic page or panel that is widely agreed to be as impactful and iconic as this this like every other page in panel on this list is something us comic book fans will reminisce and talk about forever here we have the return of Captain America an Avengers Issue four this is the iconic issue where Captain America is found by The Avengers after being frozen on ice all these years he's brought on board and then put in a bed giving us the famous image of cap lying there with the shield on his chest as Thor says look beneath his tattered clothes lies a colorful costume wasp then says wait don't you recognize it it's the famous red white and blue Garb of Captain America with Iron Man saying the WASP is Right Thor then grabs his shield saying can this really be the famous Shield of the once Mighty crime fighter as they realize they found Captain America the First Avenger as the issue goes on Captain America wakes up and the Avengers explain everything to him with him ultimately joining The Avengers because let's face it he's the First Avenger in any case the panel where he's just lying there and the Avengers realized they just found the mighty Captain America is easily one of the greatest moments and panels in all of comic books making it into the top three is yet another image that has been burned into every comic book Fan's mind and that is the last page of Superman 75 AKA The Death of Superman this is one of those images that transcends even the fandom as the imagery and event made mainstream news everyone in the country was talking about Superman's death it was just crazy that DC decided to kill their Flagship Hero at the time Combo deaths were not that common so this was a very big deal and this double page spread on the last page shows us the Man of Steel lying there unalive as him and doomsday just beat each other to death with Lois Lane crying hopelessly over his body as Jimmy Olsen captures the horrific moment behind her we also get the symbolism of Superman's tattered Cape waving in the back like a flag letting us know he won but not without a cost as he lays in the rubble created by the battle between him and doomsday this is such an iconic moment for comic books I wouldn't argue Someone putting this as their number one as it was a massive moment for the genre runner up on this list is the Joker's origin page from The Killing Joke specifically the iconic panel of Joker coming out of the vat of acid with his hand on his head as acid and blood drips down his eyes and mouth this panel and imagery is easily one of the most used images for the Joker ever it was drawn masterfully by Brian Bolin and the hahas in the background just to pick the Joker perfectly going mad for the very first time in a lot of ways besides the panel just being downright amazing it shows us The Joker emerging as the Joker for the first time grabbing his head laughing hysterically again giving us the birth of the clown Prince of Crime I think this image single-handedly represents what and who the Joker is more than any other panel or image of him which I'm sure is a big reason why it's become so famous coming in at number one is the final page of Amazing Spider-Man 121 aka the death of Gwen Stacy the death of Gwen Stacy was one of the biggest moments to ever happen in all of comics it was such a big thing that it helped initiate the Bronze Age of comic books a darker and grittier age of Storytelling in the last page of ASM 121 it really drove home that Marvel just killed Spider-Man's girlfriend Gwen Stacy we all know the infamous moment Green Goblin threw off the Brooklyn Bridge and Spider-Man tried to save her with his web line but the sudden stop in momentum breaks her neck and on the last page we see Spidey holding his dead girlfriend's body on top of the Brooklyn Bridge as he yells to the Green Goblin saying I'm going to get you I'm going to destroy you slowly and when you start begging for me to end it I'm going to remind you of one thing you killed the woman I love and for that you're going to die this image and moment just hit so hard for so many reasons and because of that it is burned into mine and I'm sure many of your heads this is a death to this day which is yet to be retconned which only adds to the importance of this panel and moment and again it helped bring in a whole new era of comic books the Bronze Age but there you have it guys our picks for the greatest combo panels of all time now it is your turn what do you think are the 10 most iconic comic panels let us know in the comments below and we'll see you next time when we talk about all things comics [Music] thank you

Channel: Variant Comics

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Keywords: Variant Comics, Iconic Comic Panels, Comic Book Art, Marvel, DC Comics, Top 10 Comics, Comic Book Moments, Best of Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book History, Superhero Moments, Comic Legends, Memorable Panels, Comic Artistry, Epic Comic Moments, Influential Comics, Marvel vs DC, Iconic Superheroes, Comics Countdown, Comic Book Review, Timeless Comic Scenes

Id: Ld7us832MIE

Length: 10min 40sec (640 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 26 2023