Great Covers; G.I. COMBAT #69

The DC war titles often used monochromatic covers for effect in the late 1950s and early 1960s and this Jerry Grandinetti image for G.I. COMBAT is a good example of why. Not only does it convey the mood of the moment in a gripping and visceral way, but the whites of the gunner’s eyes stand out like bullseyes amidst the rest of the pale blue colors, drawing the reader’s gaze like a magnet. I will say that I feel as though the logo yellow seems a bit too loud, but you can’t argue with the fact that it’s doing its job. That logo could not be any more readable, even from across the room. This was one of the covers on which DC colorist and production man Jack Adler incorporated gray washtones to create a more realistic image. This was an effect that was experimented with over a couple of years, but it took longer to produce and didn’t seem to impact on sales all that much, so eventually it was abandoned. But this particular issue must have sold pretty well, because DC duplicated this cover almost verbatim just a couple months later on the cover of G.I.COMBAT #83 (also by Grandinetti & Adler)