25 Gimmicks That Defined the Wildest, Weirdest Decade in Comic Book History: The 1990’s
To celebrate the launch of Comic Book Boom! on Kickstarter September 17, we’re counting down the Top 25 Wildest Gimmicks of the 1990’s.
In the early ‘90s, a bubble began to grow in the comics market as collectors and speculators snapped up the key issues of the Silver and Bronze Ages. Realizing the growing market for these sought-after collectibles, publishers began to cash in, trying to create new “collectibles” to feed into the frenzy.
The resulting collector’s boom of the 1990’s became the most extravagant decade in comic book history.
But what were the wildest stunts that publishers pulled during the ‘90s?
#25 — VARIANT COVER
DC first experimented with variant covers on 1986's Superman: The Man of Steel #1, but it wasn’t until November 1989 that variants truly took off. Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1, released during the height of Batman's popularity following his first film, featured a special “protective” outer cover. Hoping to avoid backlash from retailers over unsold copies, DC split the print run into four color variants, unaware that this decision would spur collectors to snap up all four of the variants. The first print quickly sold out, revealing the massive demand for collectible variants and officially kicking off the 1990s comic boom.
Since then, variant covers have become a staple in the comic industry. Publishers regularly release multiple variants for each issue, often centered around theme months, as the collector-driven market continues to thrive.
#24 — POLY-BAG
While not the flashiest gimmick to make our list, the poly-bag was the workhorse of the ‘90s collector’s market. After the magazine market pioneered sealing issues in thin plastic bags in the late ‘80s, comic books with explicit content began to follow suit.
It was Marvel’s Spider-Man #1 that broke poly-bags into the mainstream in a big way. The hottest character with the hottest artist in a new #1 issue didn’t need a sales boost, but the cheap plastic bag opened publishers’ eyes to whole new selling opportunities. Collectors would buy the bagged issue, keep it sealed, and buy ANOTHER copy to read.
The poly-bag would become a mainstay for the rest of the early ‘90s boom, often getting mixed with other gimmicks but always providing that extra collector sales kick.
#23 — FOIL COVER
Truly, the bread and butter comic book gimmick of the era. While you would occasionally see a foil logo as far back as 1987’s Rio, it was Silver Surfer #50 in June of 1991 with its foil embossed title character and logo that hit it big with collectors.
Publishers took note, and foil became the go-to gimmick. As the competition to be the shiniest book on the shelf heated up, publishers expanded into different types of foil. Image debuted Wild C.A.T.S. #2 with the first prismatic foil cover in September of 1992. Valiant pioneered the fully-metallic printed “chromium” cover with Bloodshot #2 later that year.
In 1993 alone, over 100 individual issues would be published with foil covers. While foiling is still popular in the comics biz today, it’s nowhere near as prominent as it once was and is often limited to high-dollar collectors’ variants.
#22 — EMBOSSED COVER
The second lumpiest gimmick on our list (don’t worry — we’ll get there!), embossing brought comic book heroes into the third dimension.
Right out of the gate, embossing and foiling were paired together in 1991’s Silver Surfer #50. The foil-embossed combo quickly became the most popular gimmick of the 1990s — but that doesn’t mean embossing didn’t have its own moments to shine. Perhaps most striking was the monochromatic embossed cover on 1992’s Fantastic Four #371, featuring a white-out Human Torch distinguished only by the pressed lines of the embossing.
Rarely standing alone, embossing saw occasional use throughout the 90s, but it would famously make any other gimmick it was paired with pop.
#21 — TRADING CARD
The poly-bag’s favorite sidekick, the trading card, catapulted regular comic books into gotta-get-em-all collector’s items. Comic trading card sets were already picking up steam by the early ‘90s, so including them with the comics themselves became an irresistible cross-promotional opportunity.
With X-Force #1 in 1991, Marvel perfected the formula: Poly-bagging the comic with one of five different trading cards. Collectors went wild, and publishers were happy to indulge. In 1993, every Marvel annual featured a new character — along with a trading card — while DC would release a trading card set dedicated to its big summer crossover the same year. Valiant notably experimented with trading cards stapled into the binding in 1992, but they failed to gain traction against their poly-bagged cousins.
The collectible card became such a force in the early ‘90s comics biz that card company Topps would attempt to break into the industry as a comic publisher — with every issue of every title naturally coming with a trading card.
#20 — METALLIC INK
With foil covers being so incredibly popular in the 90s, it was only natural that foil’s lower-cost cousin, metallic ink, would try to get in on the action!
Metallic ink was incredibly popular for use on reprints: Marvel took to making second printings of comics “gold” editions, adding gold metallic ink to their covers, while releasing the popular Marvel Milestones editions of key Silver Age issues with silver metallic ink borders. The famously variant-heavy Spider-Man #1 also came in editions with silver metallic ink and gold metallic ink webbing.
Not to be left out, in October of 1994, DC launched their “Zero Month,” where they published #0 issues line-wide — and used silver metallic ink for every issue’s logo.
#19 — POSTER
Comic artists were hot, hot, hot in the 90s, leading to the comic book poster becoming an equally hot commodity.
Pin-up pages had long been a feature in books as a way to fill space, but the burgeoning collectors market had no interest in tearing their books apart to hang pages on their walls. While publishers dipped their toes in with smaller 10x13” posters that were stapled into the book’s binding, the proliferation of poly-bagged books led to larger multi-fold posters becoming popular pack-ins.
#18 — GATEFOLD COVER
The perfect marriage between the variant cover and an origami project, the gatefold cover gave collectors what they wanted: More, more, more!
Comics like 1991’s X-Men #1 perfected the art of the gatefold cover, with a wraparound, fold-out that combined all four of the book’s variants into one striking panorama. Building on that success, industry price guide Wizard Magazine would regularly hire up-and-coming artists to produce extended, folding cover art for their popular periodical.
#17 — MONOCHROME
Sometimes the way to stand out is to go simple, and monochromatic books went simple in the biggest way possible. While titles like Fantastic Four #371 did solid color covers with the help of embossing technology, other monochrome books like Deathblow #1 would add in spot UV finish to give their books a subtle sheen.
Marvel would push the monochromatic cover trend further with its 1993 “Siege of Darkness” event that ran through its Midnight Sons titles. Each issue in the crossover featured a solid black cover with only the faintest hints of character art.
It was Gen-13 #1’s “Draw Your Own” variant cover released in 1994 that would ironically become the most enduring form of the monochrome cover. The blank, white variants that many titles now release have since become a favorite for fans to take to conventions for signings and artist commissions.
#16 — DIE-CUT COVER
The die-cut came to the comics world with The Tick #2 in 1988, but it was 1991’s one-two punch of Fantastic Four #358 (with its circular logo cutout) and Wolverine #50 (with its claw slash cutouts) that catapulted this gimmick to stardom.
Die-cutting would continue to be used throughout the ‘90s boom, slicing insignias and bullet holes into covers, but you’d occasionally see secondary covers in foil or deluxe paper carved into shapes. Batman #500 famously showed the lead character’s transformation into his 90s-overload costume with a special die-cut cover panel.
Of course, it wouldn’t be the ‘90s without taking this gimmick to the extreme: When Malibu released The Ferret #1 in 1993, they cut the entire comic into the shape of the lead character’s head!
#15 — HOLOGRAM
The holographic cover was the truest pearl of the ‘90s comics store shelf.
The first silvery rainbow hologram cover would first appear on Boffo Laffs #1 in 1986, but after DC struck gold with hologram covers on 1991’s Robin II mini-series, the industry was sold on the gimmick.
Marvel would go on to publish a famous hologram series as part of the Spider-Man line’s 30th anniversary celebration covers in 1992, then push technology forward with the 1993 X-Men crossover, Fatal Attractions. These highly-detailed holograms proved infamously hard to photograph, appearing a muddied black-green in most scans.
Not to be outdone, upstart publisher Malibu released “holographic limited editions” of each of their new Ultraverse #1’s in 1993, with full-cover holograms. This would ultimately prove to be the expensive-to-produce gimmick’s peak, as the market came crashing down in 1994. While holograms remain in sparing use today on special variants, the holographic heyday of 1992–1993 has never been repeated.
#14 — GLOW-IN-THE-DARK
The gimmick that hides in plain sight, you’d never know that a book’s cover glowed in the dark until you got it home.
Glow-in-the-dark covers made their debut on 1991’s The Sandman Special from DC/Vertigo — released neck-and-neck with Marvel’s glowing Ghost Rider #15. It was Ghost Rider that would go on to be the most famous example of the gimmick, with its full-cover flaming skull glowing an eerie green whenever the lights went down.
Glow-in-the-dark would come to be associated with major ‘90s transformations of characters with Green Lantern #50 and Daredevil #321, each featuring the lead character taking on a new shoulder-pad-heavy, armored look and a grim-and-gritty new attitude.
#13 — ACETATE COVER
1993’s The Birth of the Defiant Universe #1 was the first comic to feature the transparent gimmick. Limited to just 1,000 copies, the book was meant to launch a new publishing company in May of 1993. Unfortunately for the short-lived Defiant, the comic book boom of the early 90s was about to come crashing down around them…
Acetate covers did still grab collectors’ attention, though: 1994’s prestige series MARVELS turned heads with its acetate logo outer covers wrapping Alex Ross’s fully-painted work. The series became a high-water mark for Marvel in the period and launched Ross’s career with a bang. Acetate would continue to appear sparingly on comics for a premium effect.
Bonus: The most infamous use of the acetate cover occurred far after the ‘90s boom, with 2021’s Conceptual Funnies #1’s “Invisible Edition” — a book made entirely out of clear sheets without any print on them.
#12 — LENTICULAR COVER
After DC struck gold with the hologram variant cover bonanza that was the second Robin mini-series, they reached deep into their bag of gimmicks for 1992’s Robin III: Cry of the Huntress. Each issue had a direct market edition with a “special moving cover.” Pull a small tab on the cover — and voila! — Robin’s cape would appear to flutter up and down.
But the pull-tab approach wouldn’t last long: Arcomics Premiere #1 arrived in 1993 with full lenticular motion. You simply had to change your angle of view, and the characters would leap into action thanks to the plastic-ridged goodness decorating the cover.
One of the more costly gimmicks on the list, lenticular covers remained a rarity throughout the rest of the ‘90s boom. In recent years, however, the lenticular cover has come roaring back in popularity, with Marvel’s special “Legacy” lenticular cover variants and DC’s “Future’s End” and “Villain’s Month” full-line lenticular variants.
#11 — POP-OUT COVER
The industry’s first major flirtation with the pop-out came with 1992’s Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1. The gimmick-heavy issue was poly-bagged with a pop-up Arkham Asylum card. Mercifully, the cover itself was a standard sheet of paper.
The Mighty Magnor #1 (1993) would be the first to bring the pop-out to the book itself, with drawbridge-style cover that dropped to reveal a pop-up junkyard battle scene.
While Mighty Magnor largely flew under the radar, it was 1994’s Forceworks #1 would prove to be the 1990’s most notorious pop-out cover. Featuring a diamond pocket inset in the cover that could be unfolded into a pop-up of the hero Wonder Man surrounded by enemies, curious fans quickly found that their books were nigh impossible to fold back into shape once unfolded.
#10 — DECODER
By 1995, the comic boom had gone bust, leading publishers to make increasingly desperate attempts to recapture their lost market. Perhaps the most desperate strand of spaghetti thrown at the wall was Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. #4 with its decoder card.
The final issue of a four-issue mini-series, Fury #4 was poly-bagged with a small plastic card that would allow you to read messages scattered throughout the previous three issues. Decoding all of the messages would allow these most dutiful readers to enter a sweepstakes.
The gimmick-weary fans of 1995 didn’t need an encryptor card to see through this cynical sales ploy, and the decoder gimmick wouldn’t be repeated.
#9 — VHS TAPE
What do you do when poly-bagging your comic book with a trading card just isn’t enough to stand out? FILM A LIVE ACTION SHORT AND POLY-BAG YOUR COMIC WITH A FREAKING VHS TAPE!
While comic book films were hot in the early ‘90s, it’s quite a leap to preemptively make a movie out of your comic before you’ve released a single issue — but that’s just what Malibu Comics did with 1994’s Firearm #0. The special edition of the new comic came in plastic clamshell packaging with a VHS copy of the movie Firearm. What’s more, the #0 issue was a SEQUEL to the 35-minute short film!
Firearm would go on to run for another 18 issues. As far as we’re aware, there would not be another Firearm film made, nor another attempt at a VHS pack-in for a comic book.
#8 — THERMOCHROME
In the era of hyper color T-shirts, it was only a matter of time before thermal-reactive inks found their way into the comic book boom.
With the release of 1993’s Bloodstrike #1, Image Comics asked readers to “RUB THE BLOOD.” Your reward? Red splotches would emerge wherever your fingers had sufficiently warmed up the cover. Unsurprisingly, heat-activated “blood” covers didn’t take the market by storm, and the industry quickly turned its attention back to trading cards and foil covers.
#7 — 22-KARAT GOLD
We’ve seen gold foil. We’ve seen gold metallic ink. We’ve even seen “gold edition” metallic embossed covers. It was only a matter of time until the ‘90s brought us comics with real, genuine gold on the covers.
In 1996, still trying to recapture the glory of the early ‘90s collector frenzy, Marvel launched their next big crossover with a bang — releasing a special edition of X-Men: Onslaught #1 with 22-karat gold cover. Limited to just 2,000 copies, the variant came sealed with a certificate of authenticity. A serial number matching the certificate was stamped into the gold-coated cover. The companion book, Marvel Universe: Onslaught #1, would receive the same treatment.
Marvel would follow these up with 24-karat gold signature editions of their Heroes Reborn #1 issues, which marked the triumphant return of superstar artists Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld to the publisher. While gold plated ingot cover replicas still pop up periodically, this mid-90s marketing stunt wouldn’t be attempted again.
#6 — STEREOGRAM
Stereograms ruled the early ‘90s, thanks to the popularity of the Magic Eye books and comic strips. Walk through any mall, and you were sure to see a store proudly displaying a framed stereogram poster outside its door, hoping to lure in curious shoppers. As we know by now, ‘90s publishers never met a gimmick that they didn’t like.
Continuity’s Ms. Mystic #1 would be the first comic cover to get the stereogram treatment in 1993. Poly-bagged with a squint-or-you’ll miss it cover, the comic had fans crossing and un-crossing their eyes trying to see the 3D body of the titular character. Topp’s Duckman #1 would repeat the stunt in 1994 with a revealing shower curtain gag on its cover, but the stereogram remained one of the 90s rarest and most elusive gimmicks.
(Never done a stereogram? Unfocus your eyes and then try to focus on a different point with each eye, until you see a 3D shape emerge.)
#5 — PUNCH-OUT MASK
When every comic book cover has a gimmick, publishers will try almost anything to stand out — even if that means asking collectors to destroy the very comic book that they hold in their hands!
In 1992, Marvel did just that with Sleepwalker #19. The issue came with a mask of the title character. The twist? The perforated card stock cover had to be punched out to get the mask, mangling the comic book in the process. Sadly, we’ve been unable to find any evidence of readers actually punching out the cover and putting on the mask, so it seems fans’ desire to have an intact comic cover outweighed their desire to look like Sleepwalker.
#4 — PLASTIC JEWEL
What’s more notorious than a gimmick that destroys the comic? A gimmick that destroys your OTHER comics!
DC’s big 1992 summer crossover, Eclipso: The Darkness Within, was anchored by a mini-series of the same name. The #1 issue of that series featured the title character, Eclipso, holding his signature black diamond up to his eye. Perhaps inspired by the bejeweled bellies of the mega-popular Troll dolls, the publisher saw a brilliant opportunity for a gimmick: Gluing a semi-transparent, 3D plastic jewel to the comic’s cover.
When laid flat, the plastic jewel would indent any comics that were unfortunate enough to have been placed on top of it. Though DC may have intended for Eclipso: The Darkness Within to make a big impression, literally imprinting their other books likely wasn’t what they had in mind, and the gimmick was never repeated.
#3 — BULLET HOLE
While many readers may fondly remember die-cut covers (#16 on our list), only a few have seen this gimmick taken to its most extreme.
In late 1992, the indie publisher Adhesive released Jab #3 — and, over the course of 3 days, shot 3000 copies of the book through the center with a bullet. The hole bored through the book was woven into each of the anthology comic’s collected stories.
Of course, this being the 90s, Adhesive also offered several variant covers. While the “normal edition” were shot in stacks of 10 with a .22 caliber bullet, the “Special Collector’s Edition with powder burns on its cover” was the last book in the stack, and the “Ultimate Collector’s Edition” books were each individually shot by either a 9mm, a .45 cal, a 357 Magnum, or — for the discerning collector — an almost fully-destroyed comic with a hole made by a shotgun.
Bonus: Not only was the bullet hole one of the most extreme gimmicks of the ‘90s, it also became a tale of corporate subterfuge! The indie creators at Adhesive discussed their idea for Jab with a Malibu Comics writer at the Dallas Fantasy Fair trade show, several months before the issue would be released. The Adhesive team was shocked when Malibu published The Protectors #5, die-cutting a circular “bullet hole” through the entire book and releasing the comic the very same month as Jab. The Jab creators may have gotten the last laugh, though: Malibu’s last-minute stunt enraged advertisers who were caught unaware that there would be a hole bored through their ads.
#2 — INDESTRUCTIBLE COVER
Ah, the ‘90s. The decade that gave us the foil cover, the hologram cover, and the… synthetic flashspun high-density polyethylene fiber cover?!
In 1993, upstart indie publisher Continuity rolled out its most ambitious marketing stunt yet as part of its Deathwatch 2000 crossover: Indestructible comic book covers. The #3 issues of its books Hybrids, Armor, Earth 4, Megalith, and Ms. Mystic came with wraparound covers made of the synthetic construction material better known by the brand name Tyvek. While the covers were waterproof and extremely difficult to tear or crease, the pages within were every bit as vulnerable as your average comic.
Despite a sticker on each cover proudly proclaiming “TYVEK INDESTRUCTIBLE COVER,” fans greeted the gimmick with a shrug. Luckily for Continuity, they also poly-bagged the issues with trading cards.
#1 — MOURNING ARMBAND
In 1992, Superman writers were planning a blockbuster event: the wedding of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. However, a new TV series featuring the couple led Warner Brothers to cancel the comic book wedding in the name of brand synergy. Stuck without a major plotline, writer Jerry Ordway quipped, “Let’s just kill him.”
And so, Superman’s fate was sealed. Superman #75 would feature the death of the most famous comic book character in history.
The news was massive, coming at the height of the collector craze. On November 18, 1992, fans lined up around the block to purchase the collector’s edition of Superman #75: The Death of Superman.
DC knew the impact the issue would have and went all out: A black poly-bag with a bloody red S insignia, a variant tombstone cover, a poster, a trading card, commemorative stamps, and even a "newspaper clipping" of Superman’s obituary.
But the most remarkable of all was the black mourning armband with the red Superman insignia. You weren’t just reading about Superman’s death — you were invited to his funeral. For months, DC heroes were shown wearing the black armband on comic covers.
Superman #75 went on to sell 6 million copies, the second-best-selling comic of all time (X-Men #1’s variant cover blitz is first, at 8 million copies).
The true legacy of Superman’s death was the wave of character "deaths" it inspired: Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow — the biggest names in comics were sacrificed and replaced by more extreme versions fitting ‘90s sensibilities. While others had split covers, prismatic foil, and glow-in-the-dark treatments, only Superman’s death made a larger cultural impact.
Replay the Comic Book Boom
The new board game Comic Book Boom! revisits the wildest decade in comic book history.
Play as publishers trying to make a fortune in the boom market, releasing the comics with hottest ‘90s trends and using outrageous stunts and gimmicky covers to score big.
The game is on Kickstarter now — don’t miss out!
