Doug: Here's your guy, Martinex1, back again to lead us on another shopping spree.
Mike S.: I have to give DC their due. I never followed the Distinguished Competition’s line of comics as closely as Marvel’s. I was so enamored with Spidey and his ilk that I would have joined the Merry Marvel Marching Society in its heyday if I was old enough. I only owned a smattering of DC books, but I was thoroughly intrigued by the Phantom Stranger and Metamorpho and the Spectre. All of those characters’ books were intermittently included in comics my cousin shared with me as a youngster. They were odd and dark and creepy. Combine that with a few issues of Unexpected and The Witching Hour and my taste of DC had a horror flavor.
I had read a few issues of the iconic characters here and
there, but most of my knowledge of DC’s core super-heroes came from Hollywood
with Batman on afternoon repeat
cycles, Wonder Woman on CBS, Superman in the theatre, and Super-Friends, Shazam, and even Bat-Mite on Saturday mornings. That part of their universe didn’t catch
fire with me; it seemed too quaint.
However, one DC book that had been particularly etched in my
young mind was “Unexpected” #119. I was
probably a little too young and easily spooked to be reading that one when I did
as it surely cost me some sleep even with a nightlight on. But I read it again and again anyway. It had
a handful of creepy stories about a mirror that records evil deeds, a woman
created out of swamp muck, and a tree that captures lost spirits, amongst
others. All of that was bad enough, but
there was a cover that really captured my imagination. In a single panel it tells the tale of a
blind man who promised marriage to a witch in exchange for his sight. Oh, what horror will he see when he finally
turns around? The cover is not gory or
gross; it is neither bloody nor gruesome.
It just perfectly captures the moment of a sickening realization. It uses light and shadow and an impeccably
rendered facial expression to create the instant when suspense turns to terror.
And that leads me all these years later to today’s $1
Challenge of “If I Had A Buck”. You
see, that cover of Unexpected #119 was lost all of those years ago to the
ravages of childhood disarray. As I
grew older, I sought out to recreate the collection my cousin had shared with
me and that particular book was one of many that I needed to find. But not only did I need to get a copy, I
wanted to know who penciled that cover, that wonderful cover. It turns out that the artist was Nick Cardy.
Nick Cardy (Oct. 20, 1920 – Nov. 3, 2013) was a comic book
artist who was particularly loyal to DC for decades. He is best known for his interior work on Aquaman and Teen Titans, but he touched all of the DC icons and handled a
wide array of genres. He was just as
comfortable with cowboys and romance and gladiators and creatures as he was
with long-johns and capes. He became the
go-to cover artist for DC in the early Bronze Age. He was
flexible in his layouts and always a masterful storyteller. In my opinion, his cover art was ground
breaking in the way he played with logos, angles, dimensions, and light. All the while, his figures were perfect and
the expressions were flawless. Looking
over his huge body of artwork, I have become convinced that I missed out on
some great comics from the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. As I said, DC deserves its credit as does
Nick Cardy.
In 2005, he was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book
Hall of Fame after about 60 years of work in comics and commercial art
including movie advertisements. All of
this was done after receiving two Purple Hearts for wounds suffered in
WWII.
So you know the drill. You have a single dollar to spend on
the Nick Cardy comics below; he handled the cover art on each. Share your selections and share your
thoughts about the man, the art, the company, and the characters.
Aquaman #42 (Nov
1968; $0.12)
Bat Lash #5 (June
1969; $0.12)
Brave and the Bold
#98 (Oct 1971; $0.25)
Flash #225 (Jan
1974; $0.20)
Girls’ Love Stories #156
(Jan 1971; $0.15)
Jimmy Olson #159 (Aug
1973; $0.20)
Spectre #8 (Jan
1969; $0.12)
Strange Adventures #239 (Nov 1972; $0.20)
Superboy and the
Legion of Superheroes #200 (Jan 1974; $0.20)
Teen Titans #16 (July
1968; $0.12)
Unexpected #119 (June
1970; $0.15)
Weird Worlds #9 (Jan
1974; $0.20)
Witching Hour #21 (June
1972; $0.25)
Wonder Woman #206 (July
1973; $0.20)
But. . . but this guy was a terrific artist-!
ReplyDeleteFirst Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, and now Nick Cardy---
Curse you, Adolescent Marvel Zuvembie-hood!
I would not have immediately guessed that these covers were all by the same artist. Tremendous visual versatility-- and yet there are a couple of neat visual "hooks" that he uses so well. As MX1 suggests-- his use of a partially-or-nearly seen threat is just shootin' fish in a barrel as far as cover-makin'-me-buy-this-book goes. Even one of the weaker of these covers (Superboy & the Legion)sucks me in simply because that giant. . .robot?. . . is completely in silhouette.
Aquaman #12-- a favorite cover from childhood, period. I think we saw this in in-house ads?
Bat Lash #5-- Such an oddball western series, 'cause it seems like it changed its creative team w/ every issue-- and yet it was still darned good, IIRC.
Spectre#8-- can't believe this is a Silver Age cover!
Teen Titans#36
Unexpected #119-- goin' w/ yer suggestion, MX1.
And even though it will leave me at 88-cents with nowhere to go-- I'm going with my absolute FAVORITE of these covers: Witching Hour #21, at 25 cents! Why is this image so great? Because it makes me want to buy the book-- even though what's being depicted makes no kinda sense! "What the ding-dong-dell is goin' ON here??" And for that matter-- that floating mansion isn't actually the Houseboat being mentioned in the cover copy. . . or is it? But. . .but it LOOKS SO GREAT, right?
HB
Cardy had such an iconic Silver Age charm and appeal in all his covers.., I especially missed his interior art in the old Titans issues. I bought nearly all of his classic Titan covers in flawless NM condition from this local seller back in the late '80s for $5 each. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteToo busy a day today to elaborate on my favorites.., but Titan issues 20-28 are among the best Silver Age covers ever IMHO.
That first cover is great - it would even convince me to buy Aquaman, that's how great it is.
ReplyDeleteI remember that Wonder Woman, although I suspect the Nubia storyline might not have dated well. Probably still better than current WW though!
Would get the Unexpected and Witching Hour too... agree with HB here, as DC definitely had the better artists at this point; not just Cardy and Garcia-Lopez, but also Adams, Wrightson, Redondo and so on. Partly, I think, because they put out plenty of books in other genres which bought out the best in artists; think Joe Kubert or Russ Heath war comics, or Alex Nino in the mystery/horror books.
But the artwork isn't an end in itself, and as a whole DC lacked the creative energy of Marvel. So the likes of Kirby and Ditko seemed out of place, and its hard to imagine them being at DC without the sales figures of their Marvel work behind them (before that, Kirby didn't last long on Green Arrow.
Erm... sorry Martinex, went off on a bit of a tangent there. Thanks, enjoyed being reminded of Cardy's work.
-sean
Hi guys. First let me say, Sean and everybody,that I love the tangents. If anything, I think the $1 challenges should be about tangents...wherever the discussion leads it leads. Otherwise it's just dollars and cents.
ReplyDeleteSomething specifically that Sean said strikes me as very interesting and it is about the quality of the DC art during this era. There is an adage that goes aomething along the lines that if a great story has inadequate art it will fail, but a mediocre story that has great art will be remembered as a great comic. It assumes that great art rules the day in comic creation. And I believe we have even discussed that here at times. Assuming the adage is somewhat true, and knowing that DC art was often in fact great..were the stories really that bad that they became less memorable? I know there are a lot of Marvelites here, but did Stan and the others write with such enthusiasm and bombast that it just pushed Marvel to a different level? Or was the energy outside of even the writing and art? Was there just something so new in its feeling and direction that excited the comic buyer. Surely Cardy and Garcia-Lopez would have been superstars at Marvel just as Adams and Romita were. Was DC just so dated or are most of us just misunderstanding DC? As stated earlier DC definitely had a wide range of titles and genres and as HB said they were sure doing some "ding dong" crazy stuff on their covers. Why didn't DC spark the imagination like Marvel did for the young me? Even now I truly appreciate and like the art; why wasn't that enough?
Anyhow thanks for the comments. Cheers.
Luckily, someone gave me a penny for my thoughts, cause I need $1.01! Going just by favorite covers here, I'm choosing:
ReplyDeleteAquaman--great action image.
Bat Lash--dramatic scene, nice silhouette and shadows.
Jimmy Olsen-- I like the angle here, and I want to find out about Super-Gladiator!
Strange Adventures--is the ape innocent? It's probably a terrible story, but I love this cover scene!
Teen Titans--creative cover idea.
Witching Hour--I've never seen this image before on a horror cover, so it intrigues.
Ironwolf by Chaykin was a cool series, but not my favorite cover here.
In answer to your question about the quality of stories at DC as compared to Marvels of the same era, I think we're back to Paul O'Connor's line that we discussed about a week ago: With the right mindset...
ReplyDeleteI never felt like I had to have a "mindset" when I read a Silver (OK, latter Silver) or Bronze Age Marvel. But DC's of the same period? I know David B. sings the praises of the Teen Titans, and artistically I'd certainly agree with him. But those stories and the dialogue? Yuck. Thankfully Jim Shooter and later Cary Bates did not do that to the Legion.
So that's a quick response. Will be excited to hear more.
Oh, and I'd add that DC had perhaps better covers in the era 1968-72 than Marvel. That ought to spark some thoughts.
Doug
Fwiw, Martinex, my take on it is that its no coincidence most of the best comics are by writer/artists, because although a blend of word and image it is primarily a visual medium (not that I don't recognize the importance of storytelling, but... I can put up with a well drawn badly written comic a lot more easily than the reverse).
ReplyDeleteBut I don't think being technically accomplished is the only - or even main - criteria to judge comic art, otherwise we'd all love Alex Ross, right? (sorry, Doug).
-sean
Sean -- you lofted that shot from five time zones away??
ReplyDeleteWell played, sir.
Doug
There were a number good DC comics at this time, as the Bronze Age was just kicking off:
ReplyDeleteBrave and Bold by Haney/Aparo
Green Lantern/Green Arrow by O'Neil/Adams
Batman by O'Neil/Adams
Swamp Thing by Wein/Wrightson
Ironwolf by Chaykin
Tarzan by Kubert
JLA by Wein/Dillin
Deadman by Miller/Adams
Kamandi+Demon+NewGods+Mister Miracle+more by Kirby
Bat Lash by Aragones/O'Neil/Cardy
Jonah Hex
Manhunter by Goodwin and Simonson
Then after 1975 we get Warlord and others.
And Garett may have just supported the notion that DC may have had better covers than Marvel. Check out the hall-of-fame quality on those creative teams!
ReplyDeleteDoug
I'm going to be the odd woman out here, but I just don't care for Nick Cardy's art. I can see that he is accomplished and skilled, but I don't care for his style. My first exposure to him was probably that Legion cover posted above. It struck me then (and now) as dark and sort of rough looking -not what I expected or wanted with super-hero comics. On the other hand, Cardy's art seems well-suited for horror. There's just something about his figures that I find almost disturbing. I can't even pinpoint it.
ReplyDeleteDoug, replying to comments I haven't even seen yet is my secret power:)
ReplyDelete-sean
Karen, can I ask of it is the shape of the faces that bugs you about Cardy art? It doesn't bother me but I always noticed his style on faces has kind of wider round eyes, pudgier cheeks, and big chins. His Superman, Bat Lash, and Unexpected guy reflect that. Their chins particularly are bigger. On the Flash this is downplayed and I like their faces better.
ReplyDeleteAlso, and you may not see it as much in the examples I share, Cardy seems to emphasize legs a lot. I cannot explain it but the legs look longer, fleshier, and more center stage than in other artists work. It seems strange but I often recognize Cardy work by the legs. Look at Aquaman, Jimmy Olson, and Robin and it may exemplify what I am referring to.
Is any of this what bugs you in the figures?
I like Nick Cardy's art, although I think he excelled the most on covers. So I'll agree with Karen to a certain (rather small) extent, in that I didn't like his interior work as much. For example, I know a lot of comic fans think Cardy's Aquaman is the gold standard for that character, and while I like it well enough, I personally find Aparo's work on Aquaman much better.
ReplyDeleteBut as I said, his covers were often nothing short of brilliant, and there's a lot of great ones here to chose from; I'm actually going to break with my normal cheapskate tradition in these posts and just pick the ones that I find particularly striking, so here they are:
Bat Lash #5 (June 1969; $0.12)
Girls’ Love Stories #156 (Jan 1971; $0.15) - bet I'll be the only one to pick a romance title!
Spectre #8 (Jan 1969; $0.12)
Teen Titans #16 (July 1968; $0.12)
Witching Hour #21 (June 1972; $0.25)
Wonder Woman #206 (July 1973; $0.20)
I wouldn't mind putting any one those in a frame and hanging it on my wall...
Personally, I always liked Cardy's covers better than his interiors. I think Doug may be right about DC's cover artists in the 60s/70s: Adams, Cardy, Oksner, Buckler, Kane, Andru...they all did some classic covers in that era. I remember a quote I read once (though I can't remember who said it) about how, in the Silver/early Bronze Age, DC had great covers but disappointing stories and Marvel had disappointing covers but great stories.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, for my picks I'd go with Brave & Bold, Superboy & the Legion, Strange Adventures (cause I love apes!), Bat Lash (since I like a good western), and maybe Teen Titans, though I'm not really a fan of Haney's wacky Titan team.
Mike Wilson
Witching Hour
ReplyDeleteUnexpected
Aquaman
Bat Lash
Spectre
Martinex1, you're spoiling me with all these 12 and 15 centers! I never knew how good I had it back then, standing by the spinner rack, change jangling in the pocket...
Really liking that Bat Lash cover. Cardy really rocked as a cover artist. Very solid, clear yet effectively playing with the various cover ekements. I too seem to recall some of these from house ads at the time. Indeed, I think a case could be made that DC's late Silver age house ads were much more striking than Marvel's.
COMPLETELY agree with your last point there, Redartz.
ReplyDeleteMy Silver Age DC comics reading was haphazard at best (part of the huge bags my buddy Bryan swiped from his older brothers-- and loaned to me when I was at home w/ the whole raft of childhood diseases. . . ). But man-- who DOESN'T remember the house ad for FLASH, where the two kids are about to discover the skeleton in a hole, clothed in Flash's costume? Or HAWK & DOVE, with Dove's tear-streaming rage & vow of vengeance for his brother's death? Or the first issue of THE GEEK? And I think both of Swamp Thing's "first" appearances had memorable house ads as well, IIRC. And WONDER WOMAN's first issue as a 60's jump-suit spy-chick.
HB
I do think DC had great covers. I think their colors on the covers were better as well. For instance the black was really a deep black; see the above Brave and Bold and Ironwolf. The Reds also seemed brighter. I wonder if they spent more on the ink and printing or even the paper as it looked richer; and I think (but don't know for certain) that Marvel used the same printers. But I did not always like their cover layouts. They did a lot of multi panel covers that i did not like. And they also had a frequent side border that I didn't like (see Strange Adventures above).
ReplyDeleteI am torn on if the covers not truthfully representing what was inside was good or bad (i.e. A lot of imaginary covers).
And I loved the Marvel covers in their 15 cent era. I felt that there was consistent action and good storytelling on those. I know it is popular with some, but I really dislike the border / window covers of the Marvel 20 cent days. Marvel also had the corner box. The great corner box. And I have to say Gil Kane's frequent covers were hit or miss for me. Was he pre 1972?
As far as the actual art, DC had some really strange and adventurous covers. They broke the fourth wall and played with the logos frequently. Marvel's were more "peak of action/ confrontation" oriented. I give the edge to DC. But Buscema' Avengers and Kirby Thor from that time period are pretty hard to beat.
Some good points about the covers, Martinex! Like you I frowned upon the cover borders of early 70's Marvels, but loved the corner boxes. And to your praise of Buscema Avengers and Kirby Thor covers, I would add: Romita Spider-Man. The Jazzy one really had a knack for dramatic, attractive cover design. And as the 70's progressed, we saw Romita covers on many titles for which he never did interiors. Sort of makes him Marvel's Nick Cardy, perhaps...
ReplyDeleteOK I'd go with Aquaman, Brave & Bold, Flash, Superboy & LSH and Wonder Woman for a grand total of 97 cents!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Nick Cardy definitely deserves his spot amongst comics greats just based on these covers alone!
- Mike 'what can I get for 3 cents?' from Trinidad & Tobago.
Welllllll, you could'a got three gumballs out of the machine at Stirk's Barbershop or Buy-Lo Supermarket, there, edo. . .
ReplyDeleteHB
Thanks for the tip, HB, although it's our pal Mike from T&T who needed the financial advice on his pennies. However, since my total came to 96 cents, that means I can get four gumballs! Bonus!
ReplyDelete