While Karen and Doug are on vacation in January, our readers have been entrusted with carrying on the daily conversations. Today's Discuss is a do-it-yourselfer. As we've done in the past, the first commenter gets to pick today's topic of conversation.
Generally speaking, the Discuss category is for narrow topics. For example, in the past we've started conversations on topics such as the Sub-Mariner, Animal House, and the Captain America television movies.
Thanks for holding it down for us!
31 comments:
Ok, let's have some 'awesome'...:
List for us your all-time favorite Bronze Age Comic cover by your Favorite Artist.., and tell us WHY..!!
Hey, come on! You first, David...
Well, alright, but I do GIVE FULL PERMISSION for all posters to change their minds on the magnificent posting of another.
(and.. alright, late Silver Age is fine as well....)
Since I haven't had coffee yet, I'll name a chosen few..:
Avengers 114: Love Swordsman and Mantis, but the deep colors here and dynamics were incredible and cool.
Avengers 161: Perez makes Antman look pretty awesome, and Wanda...
Green Lantern 63: Love Adams on here.. Great dynamic color contrast.
Superboy 160: Another Adams winner.
Tales of Suspense 79: Just picked in VF+ (Diamond Collection).., Colan at his peak.
This is sort of off the top of my head, but I'll go with JLA #200 by George Perez. Do I really need to explain why? It's got 14 Justice Leaguers fighting each other, drawing by Georege Perez, at the height of his powers. I also like the way the background was done, with the various locales, each inked in a different color. It adds a slightly psychedelic look to the cover.
I actually also like Perez' Avengers #200 cover, though the contents inside suck, and he's also got some great Nnew Teen Titans covers, but I'll stick with JLA #200.
Ok, finally had my two cups.. I meant to mention above that 'all posters can change their minds BASED on another's awe-inspiring post' if the desire arises.
Yes, it's a Classic Cover 'Lovefest' today, BABsters, but tell us why..? Favorite Artist, it made you buy it for the cover alone, raw energy bleeding off the cover, fondest memories, what..?
I meant to add Steranko's classic SHIELD 6 and 7, but I've already chosen too many.
As for Superboy 160, just LOOK at the beautiful color and shadowing Adams does to this. It's one of those great covers that, since 'young Supes' wasn't a major seller by that point, you find these gorgeous covers today for nicely reduced prices (for instance, just got it VF+ for under $15..)..:
http://dccomics40.blogspot.com/2009/08/superboy-160.html
Enjoy!
We're supposed to be picking our favorite cover by our favorite artist, meaning, if George Perez is my favorite artist, I have to pick a Perez cover, correct?
Speaking of, Avengers #161 is a great choice, and not just becuase it was the first Avengers comic I ever bought!
Since you mention Steranko Nick Fury cover, I think Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #1 is pretty darn cool too. Appropriately psychedelic.
Neal Adams does have a ton of great covers too (Batman #244, X-Men #58).
Ahem, my list:
Joe Kubert, House of Mystery #282 -- Kubert was the type whose talents were better suited to non-superhero comics and this "who is menacing who?" cover really creeped me out as a kid.
Gil Kane, Sword of the Atom #1 -- Hard to pick a single favorite by Kane but I've always loved how well he did the Atom. He was one of the few who could make the odd perspectives that that character required work and this Ray Palmer-goes-Conan cover is just terrific.
Jack Kirby, Avengers #156 -- I plugged this one last week, I think, but I'll do it again. Kirby's final Marvel tenure had him cranking out a lot great covers and this Avengers vs. Dr. Doom image is classic.
Walt Simonson, Thor #337 -- Simonson literally has Beta Ray Bill smash the old Thor cover logo, signaling the start of a whole new era.
Rich Buckler, DC Comics Presents #49 -- A great image of Superman and Captain Marvel taking on Black Adam. I'm pretty sure this is the story that rescued Black Adam from obscurity too.
Jim Aparo, Adventure Comics #433 & Phantom Stranger #33 -- Not a huge fan of his Batman work, but the man was awesomely good at supernatural stories in the 70s.
First I want to start with giving everyone some very useful information. In case you've never heard of it there is a website called Cover Browser at the following link.
http://www.coverbrowser.com/
I find it an invaluable resource for finding a particular issue I'm looking for, or for locating a cool cover that I can't quite remember the issue number of. They have almost (almost) every cover of every comic title ever. Be careful though, because you can spend hours "browsing" the thousands and thousands of comic covers on this easy to use website. (BTW I'm not affiliated with the site in any way, I just think it's awesome and want to share the love with my fellow BABer's)
Now on the topic at hand. The first cover that comes to mind, when thinking of the most memorable, is X-Men #135 by John Byrne. It's the one that shows the X-Men lying defeated on the ground at the feet of Dark Phoenix, as she crushes the X-Men logo. A person couldn't help but want to pick up that book and look inside, even if they weren't a regular X-Men reader. Go and check it out on Cover Browser and you'll see what I mean.
William, thanks much for the great plug for coverbrowser.com.
(Personally, it's where I actually do all my 'next-magnificent-vintage-cover-to-buy' shopping..)
I'll go with an obvious one...
John Byrne is my favorite artist. To me, it doesn't get any better than Uncanny X-Men #141 - the iconic "Days of Future Past" cover.
I also love John Romita's cover for Amazing Spider-Man #135. This is the often-imitated cover of a spider in the middle of the image, with the issue's various subplots pictured between the spider's legs.
My favorite artist: John Byrne; my favorite Bronze Age cover by Byrne? Well, here's the runners up: X-men #s 135 (good call, William!), 137 and 141, Super-villain Team-up #14 (nobody draws Doom like Byrne), Marvel Team-up #79, and Fantastic Four #s 220 and 240. But my favorite? Avengers #186. It's got it all: great design and drama, with the demon-possessed Wanda in the foreground and the levitating Avengers behind her. It's attractive and can serve as a pin-up, but it also does what a good cover is supposed to do, i.e., give readers an idea of what to expect inside. Even if I hadn't already been following Avengers at that point, I would have pulled that one off the spinner rack and bought it.
Inkstained Wretch, great call on Thor #337 (Walt Simonson). Love that one, and I'd say it is one of the most famous covers of the Bronze Age.
Ron Frenz did a wonderful homage of this cover on Thor #451, with Blood Axe taking Beta Ray Bill's spot on the cover.
OK, as we’re sliding back into Silver Age, I’ll go with this list. I recently had a bunch of comics turned into posters by an art worker friend. Here’s the list:
Drac #26 Classic Kane/Janson.
Astonishing Tales #34 Rich Buckler is not my favourite artist, but this cover is one of my all time favourites.
Avengers #57 Behold a great cover.
Avengers #181 Perez, Gyrich
Silver Surfer #4 Bus Bros, Thor
X men #214 Smith, Dazzler
GS Xmen #2 Kane on the original Xmen. If only....
Xmen #50 Steranko’s Lorna.
Xmen #114 Byrne – ghosts of the ‘dead’ Xmen behind Charlie, Hank & Jean.
Xmen #141 ...
Doc Strange 4 – Brunner’s deathshead.
So many others, so little wall space......
Subby #1
Avengers #100
Thor #169 – Galactus silhouette.
One day, I’ll buy a bigger house.
Richard
Hi Bruce - I was smiling at your ‘oft-imitated’ cover of Spidey #135. You never said a truer word....Romita’s actually imitating Ditko (ASM #31)
Richard
At the very edge of the Bronze Age, the summer of 1981, the Perez cover for Legion of Super Heroes 277, (re)introducing Reflecto. It has a feeling of awe and majesty about it.
I'd been waiting to see this guy for about a decade and he turns out to be the most bland design imaginable! Still a favourite cover nonetheless.
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Legion_of_Super-Heroes_Vol_2_277
Dougie, had George Perez been my favorite artist, I really would have had a tough time choosing a favorite cover. He did so many simply beautiful covers for both Marvel and DC throughout the late '70s and early '80s. Since I was reading LoSH pretty regularly then, I recall those Legion covers in particular - they were just gorgeous. Unfortunately, Perez never did any of the interior art for those issues...
Whaaaat, no love for ol' Greenskin..??
Steranko's King-Size Annual ish 1 (1968) still RULES, another beloved iconic cover oft mimic'ed.
http://www.marvelmasterworks.com/marvel/mm/hulk/hulkann001.html
I love how this cover just cannot contain the resonating intensity.
Simple, and would be scratchin' my head as how anyone could walk by it without grabbin' it. Along with the recently-praised 'Spectacular Spiderman #2', what a great year 1968 was..!!
Hey, hey, hey!! Gotta get some DC love in here!! I'm going with Tarzan 224 by Joe Kubert and The Shadow #1 by Mile Kaluta
Hi David – if you want Hulk:
109 – Beautiful Severin art, esp. on Sabu.
140 – Jarella
223 – Beautiful Ernie Chan jobbie.
Richard
Hulk? No problem! Sticking with my personal Byrne theme, there's Hulk Annual #7. and Spider-man Annual #12. The latter in particular is quite good.
Just popping in for a sec, I got a darn report I gotta finish today, no ifs, ands, or buts, but I can't let the topic of Hulk covers go by without bringing up the magnificent Tales To Astonish 93, with the Surfer zooming at the reader and the Hulk hanging off him, all courtesy Marie Severin. One of the earliest Marvels I ever saw and still one of my favorites.
The major problem with assigning essays is that they have to be graded. Such is my lot in life - busy as my mad-scientist partner today!
Hey, John Buscema -- my favorite guy on my favorite book, the Avengers!
Check out #51 (Hank, Thor, and the boys) and #79 (Lo, the Lethal Legion!) -- http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/avengers/2
Great suggestions today, everyone!
Doug
Ok guys, I got 3 offerings.
My favorite cover near the end of the Bronze Age is Frank Miller's Daredevil #181. He had a bunch of nice covers during his Daredevil run, but I fondly remember anxiously waiting for that issue to hit the racks at the convenience store where I bought my books when I was a kid. Frank's Daredevil stuff made me a comic fan, so he's my fav.
Next is Barry Windsor-Smith's Conan the Barbarian #24. Simply BWS at his best.
Lastly, my Neal Adams choice. Man, so many good ones!...but its gotta be a Batman so I'll choose Batman #232 mainly because that early Ra's al Ghul stuff is some of the best Batman stuff I've ever read.
Great stuff everyone. I too love that cover to Amazing Spider-Man #135 by Jazzy John Romita. I have mimicked that cover myself on a couple of my action figure comics. It's one of my all time favorites.
Here are a few more picks of mine.
If we can include the silver age how about Amazing Spider-Man #33 by Steve Ditko (natch). Spider-Man trapped under tons of steel-- and the water's rising.
Daredevil #7 - Daredevil vs. Sub-Mariner, by the incredible Wally Wood.
Avengers #4 (The Return of Captain America) by the King himself.
and Fantastic Four #51 "This Man… This Monster!". Another classic by Jolly Jack Kirby.
But back to the Bronze Age, these are all some favorites of mine.
Amz. Spider-Man #186 (by Keith Pollard)
This is a great cover with multiple images of Spidey as he displays his amazing agility, and almost leaping right off the cover. Awesome stuff.
Amz. Spider-Man #238 (by JR, Jr.) with the Hobgoblin ripping Spidey's costume in half.
PPTSM #101 by my favorite artist John Byrne. A beautiful black & white graphic cover, with Spidey in his black costume.
Captain America #230 (by Bob Layton) A close up of Cap being smashed against a wall by the Hulk's giant fist. Only his shield saving him. This was a cover that actually made me pick up the book.
Iron Man #54 (by Gil Kane) with Namor leaping out of the water decking 'ol shell head. Powerful stuff.
or Iron Man #98 (by Dave Cockrum) with Iron Man fighting Sunfire. I used to have a poster of that one in my room when I was a kid.
Man, I could keep this up all day, but I really have to get back to work.
Superman #317. One of Neal Adams' last covers for DC. I used the image years later as a poster for a band I was in. Amazing Spider-Man #188 by Dave Cockrum and Terry Austin. Spidey in silhouette EXCEPT for his webbing which is colored RED!
Richard, I had never before noticed the similarities between Ditko's cover for Amazing Spider-Man #31 and Romita's cover for issue #135. But you are right - the Romita cover sure is a variation on the earlier Ditko cover.
I guess the Ditko cover never grabbed me the way Romita's did. I'm a big Ditko fan, so no knock on him. But Jazzy Johnny's version has always been a personal favorite.
What a great topic! Got to jump in...
david_b: I share your love for 1968's covers, and particularly for Spectacular Spider-man 2. Indeed, I recently made that cover my background.
Bruce: You are quite right to love Ditko. He did one of the classics that is seldom mentioned- Amazing Spider-man 19. Spidey swinging toward the viewer through a web, with the Torch, Sandman and the Enforcers around him. Plus, a great blurb line- "An adventure epic of most compelling excellence". Stan waxing a bit literary there.
A couple more greats:
Star Spangled War Stories 138, featuring Enemy Ace by Kubert. Absolutely beautiful cover; it's on my purchase list for this cover alone.
From the Bronze Age:
Swamp Thing 7; Swamp Thing and Batman by Wrightson. Nuff said.
Daredevil 163- A dramatically menacing Hulk cover, and all you really see is his hand...
Some of my favorite covers are indeed Hulk covers. The cover to 155 is one of my all time favorites. It's a classic Bronze Age tale beautifully illustrated by Herb Trimpe and John Severin as is the cover. The story itself is my favorite and the cover does depict a key scene within. I love the angle of the cover shot.
Marvel Super-Heroes 32 which reprints Tales To Astonish 69. The cover is classic Sal Buscema. It too depicts an actual scene within. Hulk's message to the Leader really comes across on this cover. No one captures Hulk ! No One ! A vast improvement over the original Tales cover.
Marvel Feature 11. I always love a good Hulk Thing fight. A beautiful cover even if the Grand Comics Database can't decide whether it's all Romita or Starlin Romita.
Finally Amazing Spider-Man 120. Classic Romita. MORE you could ask for ??
It's like picking among my children, but I'll have to say the number one cover all time is the awesome Nick Cardy drawing for Justice League of America #100.
The runner up is New Gods #1 by Jack Kirby.
Rip Off
I tried to think of one without looking at the comics. Could't think of any from the era. I guess I find Silver Age covera much more memorable. I'll go with 2 consecutive issues of the Flash from when he fought "Master Villain." No idea who drew them but I think Cary Bates wrote them.
I'll give you two, one from DC and one from Marvel.
Justice League #148, by Dillin, with Wonder Woman slugging Superman on the JLA satellite, with several other leaguers watching. I love the black, starry background here.
Defenders #13, the Defenders duking it out with the Squadron Sinister, by Gil Kane (my favorite bronze age cover artist). I've mentioned this one before... the background colors are so vibrant and unique for this era, and the cover action is dynamic!
Ric
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