It must be said that Jack Kirby's time at DC in the early 1970s was not without its difficulties. There are all sorts of theories for this, ranging from editorial fear to jealousy to a simple dislike for the King's work among portions of the staff. What he was doing definitely didn't fit in smoothly … Continue reading (Not So) Great Covers: FOREVER PEOPLE #3 and MISTER MIRACLE #3
Here is another example of the phenomenon that we looked at last time: a perfectly fine cover image by Jack Kirby that has been deliberately colored in such a way as to render it unattractive and unappealing. As I said last time, going to this sort of monochromatic color scheme was a last ditch move … Continue reading (Not So) Great Covers: FANTASTIC FOUR #81 (and MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #63)
You'd see this happen from time to time in the mid- to late-1960s on the Marvel books. There's be a cover like this one that somebody--either editor Stan Lee or publisher Martin Goodman--didn't like, feeling that it was too cluttered and difficult to read from a distance, and it would get colored in a horrific … Continue reading (Not So) Great Covers: THOR #153
There's no question that Alex Schomburg was one of the finest cover artists of the Golden Age of Comics. He cut his teeth at Timely, where he excelled in crafting spectacularly complex images of Captain America, the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner battling just hordes of enemy soldiers or criminals or war machines or whatever. … Continue reading (Not So) Great Covers: THRILLING COMICS #57
I don't really want to make this a regular thing, since it's always a lot easier to knock on something rather than being positive about it. But after last week's QUASAR cover https://tombrevoort.com/2023/01/14/not-so-great-covers-quasar-56/ I had a few people come back with comments of, "Oh yeah? Well, this cover is even worse!" And a few of … Continue reading (Not So) Great Covers: POWERS THAT BE #3
This is actually the opposite of what we usually do here, spotlighting a particular great comic book cover of years past. This time, though, we're going to look at a cover that's all wrong. This cover actually hung in my office for years as an example to people of how not to approach doing a … Continue reading (Not So) Great Covers: QUASAR #56
Here's a really lovely and iconic pin-up cover of WOW COMICS featuring artist Marc Swayze's rendition of Mary Marvel, who had only taken over the cover position the previous issue. Rather that emphasizing action or danger or drama, Swayze here gives us a beauty shot of the new character, one that he had a hand … Continue reading Great Covers: WOW COMICS #10
This cover to WYATT EARP #6 by Bill Everett is cool in terms of just how much of a story it tells in a single image. It's got a good use to spotted blacks to draw the eye to Wyatt's face and head in the center of the cover. From there, his gaze carries the … Continue reading Great Covers: WYATT EARP #6
That enormous banner touting the fact that DC's line has shrunk back down to a 32 page package for twenty cents does this piece a little bit of damage--not only does its color scheme not integrate well into the aesthetic of this piece, but it also causes the logo to crowd the head of the … Continue reading Great Covers: PHANTOM STRANGER #20
This is a pretty striking BATMAN cover, especially for the era. It's a good use of graphic design combined with a limited palette to achieve an effect. It's subtle, but you really can't miss that white-held portrait of Batman superimposed over the night's activities.the strong red-orange backgrounds giving the whole cover a bit of punch. … Continue reading Great Covers: BATMAN #383
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