Graphic next to comments link

I want to place a graphic to the left of my comments link so that it stands out more and fits with my other links (already have printer friendly and read full post), the problem is I don’t have a clue where to start.

Can someone provide a code snippit that demonstrates how to use a graphic with this particular link?

<?php comments_popup_link(__(‘Make A Comment’), __(‘1 Comment’), __(‘% Comments’)); ?>

If there was an Href in there I could figure it out, but this one has me stumped, and I can’t find an answer in the codex.