Doug: Here's something you don't see every day. In fact, on this blog you've not seen it at all! Today Karen and I are going to step back as moderators for all of the fabulous discussions that usually take place in the Open Forum and let you, our faithful readers, pick the direction of the conversation. Yep, you read it right the first time! Here's how it will work, and it's pretty simple: Whoever is the first to comment can post a query, posit, or general gibberish in the hopes of starting a conversation.
Everyone who piles on later -- that's what we're talking about today! So, if you are reading this and no one else has commented, then it's all you! If you're coming along later and the comments are rolling in, please don't hijack the thread.If this works out, we may do it again from time to time. Let it never be said that this isn't the Age of Experimentation on the Bronze Age Babies! Have fun!
EDIT (2:20 pm, 2/20/11): Looks like we have a winner! Terence Stewart, our buddy from across the Atlantic, and moderator of his own Mighty World of Bronze Age Marvel blog, offers this topic:
I'll posit a question - what is your all-time favourite Bronze Age Marvel cover?
So think it over, and be sure to offer a suggestion or two in the comments section!
22 comments:
Great idea Doug!
I'll posit a question - what is your all-time favourite Bronze Age Marvel cover?
I love, absolutely love, the covers Gil Kane did for DC in the early-mid 80s. Favorites would include the ones for Superman Special #1 (1983), Sword of the Atom #1, and Green Lantern #184. His style had evolved in really dramatic ways and looked like nothing else on the spinner racks.
At Marvel, it is hard to beat that first Walt Simonson cover for Thor #337, with Beta Ray Bill smashing the old logo.
Hard to select just one, but I've always loved Frank Brunner's cover to Dr. Strange #1 (1974). It was also one of the first comics I bought as a collector.
Spiderman 122.., perhaps Avengers 141..? Excellent question, I'd love to say Steranko's Shield covers, but that's still Silver.
Thanks to those who've participated so far, and to Terence especially for today's topic. I know we have a whole bunch of covers fans that stop by this blog!
I am stuck on a favorite. So I, as others have done, will offer up a few:
Amazing Spider-Man #122 (The Goblin's Last Stand! I love the perspective)
Avengers #161 (Ant-Man!)
Marvel Treasury Edition #21 (reprints FF 120-123; great Galactus image)
Giant-Size X-Men #1 (it's of course "Senses Shattering", and is a nice homage cover to such burst through covers as Detective Comics #38 and Tales of Suspense #59)
But maybe the best Bronze Age cover is the Thing/Hulk beauty from John Buscema on FF #112.
Great topic!
Doug
Tomb of Dracula 1 is pretty good; Marvel Presents 3 featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy is another personal favourite as is Iron Man 80 with its Kirby Kozmic. Conan 17 was the first sword-and-sorcery comic I ever read and I became a RFO from then on.
Great covers mentioned above. I can picture 95% of them from memory. I'll throw in Batman # 251. Made my 7 year old self scared of the (previously) harmless Joker.
Good question, Terence, and a rather hard one, of course. There's so many outstanding covers I remember from the Bronze Age and it's too hard to choose an actual favorite. Instead, I'll just say that one of my favorites is one I always think of when anybody mentions Bronze Age comics or Spider-man in the Bronze Age: Marvel Team-up #38. It was the very first issue of MTU I ever had, and one of the very first comics I ever had. Whenever I see that issue, the cover in particular, I just get this misty, sentimental feeling...
I guess I better chime in with my pick. As others have mentioned, it's pretty hard to narrow it down to just one, but I'm going to give it the old college try.
There are probably better covers artistically, but I am going to have to go with the one with the most sentimental value, and the one that for me sums up Bronze Age Marvel - The Avengers #114.
The Swordsman and Mantis looming over The Avengers - were they friends of foe? - shone out like a beacon from the spinner rack in my local newsagent and became my first American comic purchase. I'm from the UK, so my first exposure to comics were the weekly Marvel reprints, but this one issue cemented my love affair with the Avengers. It didn't hurt that Steve Englehart was just coming into his stride either, which I was able to enjoy for a few months before the The Avengers became non-distributed in the UK.
That one cover is what always comes to mind when I think of The Avengers.
Avengers #200
starfoxxx
Excellent topic! For me there are so many, but for nostalgia's sake I'll go with Avengers 94.
Karen
I don't have a particular favorite Bronze Age cover -- just too many great ones to say I like one over every other. One fave, tho', is Frank Brunner's cover to Giant-Size Man-Thing #5. Not a comic I ever actually had, but I'd first seen it in the covers gallery of the Howard the Duck treasury, which reprinted HTD's back-up story from GSMT 5, and I finally got the main story in Man-Thing Essentials #2. Brunner also did several wonderful covers for his Dr. Strange stories, not just the previously mentioned Dr. Strange #1, but also for Marvel Premier #10, his final confrontation with Shuma Gorath, the first Dr. Strange tale I ever read.
Also loved several Jim Starlin covers -- skipping over some of the "poster" images, such as Captain Marvel #29, which are great but don't really tell much about the contents within, I'll go with his eerily striking cover for Warlock #11, "The Strange Death of Adam Warlock".
Doug and Terence: Nice nominees for best cover.., I loved Avengers 114.
I believe the Avengers/Defenders clash covers like Avengers 116&117, Defenders 9&10 stand out the best.., I'll add FF 137 as well. Any good FF with the Torch firing away at some huge monster makes for a cool cover.
Other GREAT nominees are FF 112 Marvel Double Feature 1&2 (great Silver Age Ironman and Cap poses) and Marvel Feature 11, arguably the BEST Thing/Hulk slugfest ever..
Too..many...images. Brain overloading. Danger, Will Robinson.
Karen – did you really mean Avengers # 94 ? That’s the Mandroids cover, right? I’d take #92, #93 or #96 ahead of that, esp #96 ( Vision beating the crap out of a skrull).
OK, since Gil Kane clearly owns this one, here are my favourite Gil Kane covers:
Captain Marvel....any of the Kane ones from 17-24 , but #17 was a corker ( first new). I’d also put in a good word for #34 (Nitro) and #37 (flying round the moon, inked by Janson), and #53 (Black Bolt).
Favourite Kane ‘burst- through’ would be Avengers # 122.
Amazing Adventures #15 – the Beast / Iron Man cover ( reprinted and recoloured as Avengers #136)
Cap #172 ( Banshee) or #215 (montage).
DD 80 – 82 ...wonderful, classic long-body Gil Kane perspectives each time.
Iron Man : #45 - IM striking a pose while students throw rotten fruit at him. # 49 that girl is sooooo Gil Kane. # 54 vs Subby. # 63 Doc Spectrum.
Thor # 205, #207 ( that’s the Hallowe’en one)
X men 74 – 80 – some great covers in there.
Defenders #3, #21, # 24 , # 32 (best ever pic of Nighthawk), # 52 (Hulk v Subby) #55 (the Presence).
Tomb of Drac #17, #23, #26 (again, the girl is pure Kane) #32
And so many great covers on on Shang Chi, I can’t choose, but check out #38 for a Kane perspective like no other.
Richard
Geez... yes Richard, I meant Avengers 96. Lately I seem to be having a lot of brain farts when it comes to my comics memories. I'm sorry about the error, in this post and also a few I've made recently with our year-by-year posts. Obviously I can't rely on my memory any more!
Karen
Hi Karen,
But isn't it nice that your fans know you so well? I was sure you meant #96. Action packed, but still detailed & sharply delineated....dare I say....Starlinesque ?
Richard
And just to prove that when it comes to looking beyond Kane.... I’m able:
Redartz - Totally agree about Brunner’s Doc Strange covers, but I prefer #4 ( the skull one).
Starfoxxx - Avengers #200....over #100? Talk us through that, please.
I never liked Trimpe on Hulk except with Severin’s inks, so .... # 109 ( the Kazar one where Zabu dominates the cover) and whichever ones were the Doc Doom ones. There were 2 great covers there I think. Hulk #223 is also a great cover- no idea who the artists is, but the inker is clearly Ernie Chua.
Astonishing Tales #34 – Karen, I’m sure you have a favourite Deathlok cover, this is mine.
Tomb of Dracula #9 - with the cross of light shining down on him. Probably Kane again. TOD #38 is superb – Colan finally allowed to draw a cover!
Defenders – there is an almost perfectly inverse cover to interior art relationship in the last 50 or so Defenders, but there are some beautiful covers. # 89 Death in the Family – looks almost like Miller. # 94 and #96 by Mike Golden. #123 Bill Sienkiewicz – Vision lying on the ground, #127 Angel in a big metal fist, #128, #133, #134, #137 #139 paintings by Kevin Nowlan...totally fantastic....Doug – the exact opposite of the hackery you were talking about the other day. #130 Val flying. Probably Nowlan again.
Xmen
# 50. Steranko’s Lorna (too early, right?). Do the Adams ones count as Bronze Age? If so, I’ll have #57 (Sentinels), # 58 (Havok) and #62 Kazar).
#100 – Old vs new. #101 – Phoenix rising #105 Firelord, #111 Byrne’s Carnival poster, #114 the day the Xmen died, with their ghosts in the background, #141 – Days of FP, # 198 Smith, Lifedeath 2, #205 Smith, Wolverine.....and, of course, # 136....anyone can’t see it in their mind’s eye, right now ?
Iron Man #47 – Barry Smith. #100 – breaking an I beam, Starlin.
Avengers# 51 – return of Goliath’s powers. # 57. Some new character. # 64 Colan’s big hands in space. #89 Captain Marvel in the electric chair. # 172 return of Hawkeye. # 181 – Gyrich sacks everyone (Byrne). Probably loads I’ve forgotten, sorry Doug.
Daredevil # 38 – where he’s reflected in Doc Doom’s mask. #200 ( Byrne & Austin, DD stomping Bullseye....but why can’t I think of a classic Miller cover for DD ??? Weird !)
Cap #239 (Byrne) or the Byrne Baron Blood one a bit later. There’s a Cap cover where he’s being eaten by rats that was quite amazing, but post-bronze, I think. Also Steranko’s Caps esp, the Hulk one. No.. wait..... the gravestone one.
Spider Man – too many to even think about, so I’ll go with the Widow’s shadow on the wall.
Thor #124 (1st Hercules), #138 (the one with Don Blake being pulled out of Thor’s body) #169 (Galactus silhouette)
And nobody said Iron Man #128. Too obvious?
Richard
" # 181 – Gyrich sacks everyone (Byrne)."
Hi Richard, sorry to correct you, but that was Perez. As I recently discovered on the Byrne Robotics Message Board, Perez was told to draw that cover based on Byrne's inside cover splash page - and Perez added in one more character, while also changing the composition a little. Still a fantastic cover, though!
Ahhh. You're right. Now I summon it to mind, it has those little sparles on Iron Man that only Perez put there. Mind you, show me Terry Austin inks on anything and I'll think it's Byrne.
I love Marvel more too, but Neal Adams' covers for Batman 237 (awesome Grim Reaper) and 244 (exotic Middle Eastern setting) are just awesome!
House of Secrets 92 with the awesome Bernie Wrightson pointillism-ish painted cover...so great!
i'd have to say FF #147 since it is the first issue of my favorite bronze age book that I remember buying @ the 7/11 down the street :)
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