NOTE: This post originally displayed 15 covers. I came to update it on April 30 2020, and chose to replenish only three covers. Thanks for your understanding. -Doug
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Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Comic Book Guest Stars - Cover Version
Doug: Last Friday Karen hosted a lively discussion on our favorite guest stars appearing across our comic book collections. She opened with Triton's appearances in the 1968 Sub-Mariner series, as well as Hercules frequent guest appearances in Thor's mag. You took it and ran with it, and we discussed everyone from Black Widow to the Man-Thing to Dracula! Today I'd solicit your favorite covers, and here are a few to whet your appetite. Time allowing, I will do a follow-up post with your suggestions (yes, I know I said that the last time we did this drill and then bagged it...).
NOTE: This post originally displayed 15 covers. I came to update it on April 30 2020, and chose to replenish only three covers. Thanks for your understanding. -Doug
NOTE: This post originally displayed 15 covers. I came to update it on April 30 2020, and chose to replenish only three covers. Thanks for your understanding. -Doug
Two of my favorite covers with guest stars are the work of Michael Golden: Micronauts #20 with Ant Man. And ROM Spaceknight #12 with Jack of Hearts. Of the ones shown, that Daredevil with Cap is a classic.
ReplyDeleteOne that immediately comes to mind is Amazing Spider-man #187, featuring Captain America. Love that issue, although more for the story than the cover.
ReplyDeleteA really cool cover is Daredevil #178, showing Power Man and Iron Fist in silhouette.
And interesting that Martinex mentioned Rom. That series had lots of guest stars popping in, and they often appeared on the cover. Issue #s 17-18 featured the X-men, #s 21-22 featured d-lister Torpedo, and # featured Power Man and Iron Fist. Those were basically the ones I remembered off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure there were quite a few others.
I do recall being pretty shocked when Thor showed up in IronMan 66 to combat Tony when he was taken over by Doc Spectrum..
ReplyDeleteOne of my earliest, and COOLEST demonstrations of MU continuity at it's finest.
Oh ok, listing T'Challa on CA&F 171, another kewl favorite.
ReplyDeleteAmazing Spider-Man #123, Spider-Man vs. Luke Cage. Classic.
ReplyDeleteWell, I mentioned Spider-Man and Dracula the other day so THAT cover which was a Spider-Man annual I believe. And what about the issue of Incredible Hulk where Wolverine first appears - does Wolvie's debut appearance count as a "guest star" ?
ReplyDeleteHere's three:
ReplyDeleteSilver Surfer 14, and incredibly dramatic classic from Big John Buscema with the Surfer, the Moon and Spiderman. Plus, it features a black background; which really emphasizes the main figures.
Captain America 241; by Frank Miller. The Punisher standing on Cap's shield, and the Avenger under the gun!
Doctor Strange 2, by Frank Brunner. Doc vs. the Defenders, beautifully rendered. Doc's done up in red tones here, don't know why but it works. Also a black background with a prominent Moon, perhaps we have a pattern here...
These are some great choices! I'm gonna steal this idea, lol!!
ReplyDeleteI'd add Avengers #88 (Hulk) and #(Captain Marvel); FF #112 (Hulk); X-Men #62 (Ka-Zar); Daredevil #69 (Black Panther); Iron Man #35 (Nick Fury and DD); Captain America #110 (Hulk) and #154 (Avengers)...and I need to quit and let someone else have a turn... ;D
Oops. Wiped out my #89 on the Avengers guest-starring Mar-Vell.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of annuals, there's Amazing Spider-man Annual #12, featuring the Hulk, and Hulk Annual #7, featuring Icemen and Angel (both drawn by Byrne, and - one of my personal favorites - the wonderful cover of Amazing Spider-man Annual #14, with Dr. Strange, drawn by Frank Miller.
ReplyDeleteI like all of the above.
ReplyDeleteHow about Sub Mariner #22 with Doctor Strange? That haunting image always gets me. Subby's series had magnificent covers; sometimes the stories were lacking but the first 25 or so issues of that book had really cool covers. Strange in the graveyard I think is the best though.
Wow -- talk about a guest-cover explosion!
ReplyDeleteSaying this right up front (man, this post has only been live for 90 minutes as I type this) -- I most likely won't be able to run a follow-up with all of these fantastic suggestions, so please don't be offended if you don't see your nominee(s) on this site at a later date.
But that doesn't mean stop the suggestions -- these are all great! It will give many of us something to do on our lunch break today!
Doug
Damn, some of my choices are already taken! Always loved the Ghost Rider/Son of Satan cover, and that Lois Lane is pretty great.
ReplyDeleteYou are a man of rare taste, Doug, but I have to say I thought Supergirl 7 - the maid of might with Zatanna - had the better cover:)
Avengers 83 - with the Black Widow, Valkyrie and Medusa, how could it not be utterly fantastic?
-sean
Martinex1- good call on the general high quality of Namor's covers. Take issue 69, great Romita cover with Namor vs. Spidey ( recently mentioned in a post here, but certainly worth another reference).
ReplyDeleteWell, o.k. Doug. As long as you use all of the covers *I* suggested, I won't be too offended. ;)
ReplyDeleteSilver Surfer #4, w/ Thor? Man, that image should always be in a Best Covers Ever list. You can't look at it w/out drawing in a breath, preparing for that next instant of incredible impact.
ReplyDeleteMicronauts #7, w/ Man-Thing. I don't own it, but the cover alone has always made me wish that I did.
Incredible Hulk #109, w/ KaZar (just a beautiful Trimpe/Severin cover-- and kind of ahead of its time, in a way).
Incredible Hulk #123, w/ the FF. (Cover may have been better than some of the interior art, unfortunately.)
Werewolf by Night #33, w/ Moon Knight. As I've said often, this title's covers frequently outshine the contents of its later run.
hb
In the spirit of BAB contributions, I won't provide exhaustive cover-guesting, but only mention the covers that either really shocked me, had very warm memories of childhood or REQUIRE mentioning due to their uber-coolness.
ReplyDeleteRedartz, LOVED that Subby 69 cover. Spidey was only shown in a panel or two inside, but even I blatantly noticed the Subby-Spidey covers within 6 months of each other with that and MTU 14.
Both beautiful Kane and Romita renditions, both timeless and both within mere months of my first steps into the Marvel Universe.
And by the way, a comment made above has given me an idea for our next round of cover love. I don't know how expansive that list will prove to be, but I know the three samples that I plan to use in the post, and they are killer good.
ReplyDeleteDoug
Avengers #167 with the Beast slugging Charlie-27 while the rest of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy look on, aboard some sort of space station with an awesome starfield background, always held a special appeal for me.
ReplyDeleteNot much DC here, so thought I'd add Wonder Woman 202 with---er---Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. That's got to be one of the oddest guest apperances ever, but on the other hand, its also WW fighting Cat Woman. so...the wonderful strangeness of comics, eh?
ReplyDelete-sean
Gosh, will today break the record for the number of BAB comments ? What about Spider-Woman #20 - Spider-Woman vs. Spider-Man...."it had to happen".
ReplyDeleteColin, there's been a few threads here that peaked at well over 50 comments, so we've got a way to go yet before we break any records.
ReplyDeleteGood call on Spider-woman. There's also the preceding issue, which had Werewolf by Night on the cover.
And since Sean brought up the dearth of DC covers, here's a few I remembered: Flash #293, featuring Firestorm and Green Lantern #142 with the Omega Men (both masterfully drawn by Perez). Also, there's the covers to Black Lightning #s 4 and 5, featuring Superman.
Thanks, Edo -- and yes, Colin, here are just a few "high comments" posts:
ReplyDeleteMy first post on the selling of my comics collection garnered 79 comments.
But the grand daddy of them all is the Suggestion Box (which, to be fair, is sort of ongoing) with 217 comments.
That being said, there's nothing more fun than a 50 comment day, so keep firing away!
Doug
Iron Man #54 - not the first, and certainly not the last IM-Subby clash, but a personal launching point for me into the Marvel Universe of superhero vs. superhero slobberknockers.
ReplyDeleteTom
Tom, somehow the term "slobberknockers" did not immediately invoke thoughts of superhero slugfests.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's just me...
Doug
Subby always makes for a great cover, doesn't he? I'd overlooked one of my other favorite-of-all-time covers: Incredible Hulk #118. For some reason, that cover/issue tends to pop up in references and reprints. I had a school folder with it, in fact. And keeping the Namor/Hulk feud intact, the cover to Tales to Astonish #100 was great in that we FINALLY had a full-length story where both of the title features converged in a big, ol'-- uhm-- slobberknocker (heh--).
ReplyDeleteHB
Doug,
ReplyDeleteAccording to some slang dictionary, this is what I was going for:
slobberknocker - two or more big guys beating the hell out of each other
I think (?).
Tom
Fair enough, Tom.
ReplyDeleteThe adolescent brain that's stuck in my middle-aged body just didn't seem to fixate on that compound word in that fashion. If you know what I'm sayin' (HB does...).
Doug
Tom's right about "slobberknocker". Oh, and Doug, don't worry if you can't use 'em all, because I really and truly am gonna steal a bunch of these ideas for my blog. Mwhahahahahaaaa!
ReplyDeleteGroove --
ReplyDeleteI seem to sense the potential for a crossover in our future.
If interested, drop me a note on the BAB email and we'll see what we can coordinate.
Doug
Just remember another great cover in this vein from DC: Batman Family #20, with Ragman.
ReplyDeleteAnother DC oddity - Jimmy Olsen 139, the one with Don Rickles as guest star.
ReplyDeleteAlthough not having the faintest idea who that was, it didn't mean anything to me. Must be some sort of American thing....
-sean
I sort of vaguely recalled, based on flipping through the spinner rack, that Ms. Marvel (the first series) often had other heroes guest-appearing on the cover. So I went and checked at the GCD, and sure enough: #5 (Vision), #15 (Namorita - drawn by John Buscema; that's one of those images that certainly spurred some adolescent fanboy fantasies), #18 (the Avengers), and #19 (Captain Marvel - it took him that long to appear in her series?!); also, I suppose the first issue, which features J. Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, also sort of counts.
ReplyDeleteI forgot about those Ms. Marvel covers; those were really sharp.
ReplyDeleteMicronauts #37 with Nightcrawler.
ROM #38 with Shang Chi Master of Kung Fu (who along the topic yesterday's chain I know absolutely nothing about other than this issue).
ROM #41 with Dr. Strange.
And the All New, All Different Slobberknockers with their guests the Guardians of the Gobsmacked. (Very rare but a wonderful cover).
To follow Sean and Edo into DC territory :
ReplyDeleteFlash 175, the second great race with Superman.
Detectice Comics 404, Batman vs. Enemy Ace by Adams, no less!
One of the first Fantastic Four issue I bought was 167, the Thing and Hulk battling the rest of the FF while on top of the St Louis Arch. One of those books I bought for the cover.
ReplyDelete(Le doux caboulot
Fleuri sous les branches
Est tous les dimanches
Plein de populo.
La servante est brune,
Que de gens heureux
Chacun sa chacune,
L'une et l'un font deux).
Edo, I MAY have to get that Ms. Marvel cover.. I did originally buy the Vish issue (#5).
ReplyDeleteHmmm, female slobberknockers...?
"....wow."
Do all those Silver Age Flash issues guesting GL or Kid Flash (or Golden Age Flash) count..? There's some great doozers in there.
I know DC's Silver Age Jerry Lewis mag had noteable guest drop-ins by Batman/Robin and the Flash.
Shot you an e-mail, Doug! I didn't include any DCs, did I?
ReplyDeleteDetective #443 (Batman and Manhunter0 is tops! Also Teen Titans vol. 1, #21 (Hawk); New Teen Titans vol. 1, #4 (JLA); Challengers of the Unknown #86 (Swamp Thing, Deadman, and Rip Hunter);
and Superboy #171 (Aquaboy)!
Okay, I'll shuddup now. I LOVE this topic!
The first one that jumped to mind was Amazing Spider-Man #162, with Nightcrawler and Punisher on the 59th Street bridge tram.
ReplyDeleteMike W.
Wow, what a day! Doug has work cut out with him on the follow-up! Hee hee...glad I didn't volunteer for that!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that in the mid to late 70s, the Hulk and/or Spidey would show up in just about every fledgling series in an attempt to give them a boost -Nova,the Eternals, Howard the Duck, Omega the Unknown -although I think in a number of cases, the guest-stars might have actually been robots. That sounds more like a DC thing...
Yeah, like my namesake Mike W. I always seem to remember Nightcrawler and the Punisher guesting in Spidey's mag. No cosmic earth-shattering storylines here but for some reason this issue always pops into my head whenever guest stars are mentioned.
ReplyDelete- Mike 'Mike and Mike in the evening' from Trinidad & Tobago.
Spidey 161 & 162 were in the very first round of covers that popped into my head as well-- but it was more just the fact of them, rather than that I thought they were great covers. Why are they so prominent in our collective memory? Was that Nightcrawler's first non-XMen outing? Had we just finished up a major Spidey-arc at that time, maybe, and were turning a new page?
ReplyDeleteHunh.
HB
I remember George Perez's run on the FF where the Thing had an Exo-Suit because he lost his powers and he was in the human form of Ben Grimm. Reed designed a suit for him that would retain the original Thing's look, however it was just a suit until his powers return.
ReplyDeleteWell, the Thing failed in a particular mission and couldn't depend on his super strength via the Exo-Suit.
Enter Power Man. He had to join temporarily until the Thing gained back his powers. However there was a jealousy issue going on because he thought he was being replaced. Reed tried to reassure him he was still part of the team. Only he wasn't the muscle behind the team anymore.
At this point I thought that the Thing was going to take a sabbatical or leave the book because he was featured so heavily in Marvel's Two in One team up book featuring "The Thing". Which, by the way, purchased every month because I love the underdog type heroes like good ol' Benjamin Grimm.
Second on my list would be the Hercules/ Thor battles. I purchased the Marvel Treasury Edition featuring Thor that showcased the original Thor/Hercules battles. The Kirby art on those early issues sold me immediately. Kirby's talent for epic battle scenes make me wonder why he didn't devote this attention to The Incredible Hulk magazine instead.
It's only wishful thinking on my part. I'd would have like to have seen Kirby stay on the early issues of the the Hulk for a few more years.
O.k., this may be cheating a bit, but along the lines of my memories of covers of Ms. Marvel comics that I never actually bought, I also seemed to recall that Wonder Woman in the early '80s often seemed to frequently have guest stars on the cover, so I checked out the cover gallery at the GCD and sure enough:
ReplyDeleteIssue #287 has the New Teen Titans;
Issue #s 291-93 - Zatanna on the first one, and then most of DC's heroines on the remaining two;
Issue #300 has a whole bunch of heroes;
And issue #309 has the Black Canary.
Silver Surfer #4. John Buscema's Thor pose is simply awesome!
ReplyDelete