Neal Adams. He is a comics god to many, including me. As appealing as he makes realism feel, I don’t draw that way. Where Adams took over my brain is in layout and storytelling. His layouts, compared to his peers at the time of him starting in comics, is so bold and risky.
They instituted the pointing finger extension in the gutters so you knew what panel to go to next. His complicated layouts became normal enough to eventually lose the hand. So many were learning from him or aping him.
Adams made hundreds of covers that pretty much all had good layouts. You can learn from the breadth of them what works and doesn’t work in that confined space. He hit his stride with green lantern and green arrow. Everyone knows the drug storyline with some powerful covers but the cult like Jesus story is left behind. It’s a good story, go read it.
This cover is so in your face with Christian symbolism that no one can misinterpret it. It’s ham fisted, straight forward, nothing alluded to there. It fits the contents well. They layout is stunning, throbbing with power. The figures are pushing together, forcing the eye to the crucifix. The mid level is balanced with the word balloons. It works well.
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I absolutely love some classic Neal Adams cover work. I would also highly recommend checking out some of his paperback cover work as well. He did several Tarzan book covers in the 60s or 70s that are absolutely fantastic.
I own a portfolio of magazine and book art Adams produced. It is from the 70s. I have another on his Tarzan work. Also, there used to be a neal adams magazine I have a handful of issues of. (too many ofs). I also have a Continuity Comicsbinder with guidelines for the freelancers.