10 Comic Book Covers That Totally Lied To You
6. Supergirl #19
One of the most iconic Superman comic book covers features a grieving Man of Steel holding his dead cousin in his arms. Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 showed just how powerful a single image could be, and George Pérez's cover art is iconic. Supergirl #19 flips things a bit and outright lies to you.
After Crisis subsided, and the Kryptonian version of Supergirl made her way to Earth, she discovered some unexpected and shocking developments in her background. It turned out, she wasn't sent to Earth to care for her younger cousin, and instead, she was sent to kill him!
Or, perhaps not. The series suffered from having too many writers coming and going, so when one thing was added, another was retconned. By the time the 19th issue was published, Supergirl was more or less a hero despite past revelations, and she wasn't really on Earth to kill her cousin.
If that's the case, then why is she standing over his bloody corpse on the cover of this issue? As it happens, the cover art is misleading! Inside, the two Kryptonians don't beat one another until Superman dies, and they don't even fight. Instead, they meet one another, hug, and fly off together.