This Carmine Infantino FLASH cover was editor Julie Schwartz’s favorite of all the covers he commissioned. And it’s a tough choice to argue, as this image is so direct and so simple that you could use it as the cover of virtually any Flash story. I’m not wild about the candy cane striping in the … Continue reading Great Covers – FLASH #163
A terrific concept cover–too bad the story that goes with it is so mediocre–by Kurt Schaffenberger for LOIS LANE #63 (with some revisions to the Clark/Superman figure by Wayne Boring, it looks like.) This one’s all about the promise of the story. But that yellow background is like a beacon, and Superman’s primary colors aren’t … Continue reading Great Covers – LOIS LANE #63
Here’s a beautiful CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES cover by C.C. Beck. What really makes this one work is its sense of mood–it’s pretty well removed from the sort of whimsy and hi-jinx that most think of when they think of Captain Marvel covers. The fine detail in the pouring rain and on the stacked sandbags is … Continue reading Great Covers – CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #132
Nice PHANTOM STRANGER cover by Nick Cardy, likely over another Carmine Infantino sketch. A good concept, and fine composition–see how the converging gunfire draws your attention right to the figure in the center–and a nice use of color on this one.
The cover to BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS by Frank Miller is a classic, but for all the right reasons. Here, more than in any comic book cover produced before this point, strong design and typography lead the way. This image is designed to feel far more like a book cover than a comic book … Continue reading Great Covers: BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS #1
I have no idea who the artist was on this CRIME DETECTIVE COMICS cover. But come on–how could you possibly resist picking this issue up?
This Ed Hannigan symbolic BATMAN cover is so ridiculous that it’s excellent! It feels very much in the style of Joe Kubert’s assorted war covers, but isn’t the kind of thing that was often seen on the super hero books. And the fact that Death is literally counting Batman out brings the whole thing to … Continue reading Great Covers – BATMAN #372
Great use of color on this JOSIE cover by Dan DeCarlo. Everything pops, and the typography combined with the color treatment conveys the mood of the era well.
Before the wide spread availability of comic book retail stores, access to comic book merchandise was very hit-or-miss. While most big stores stocked some things, not every single thing that you might want was readily accessible. Beyond that, you might not even be aware that certain things existed. One operation that closed that gap was … Continue reading Superhero Merchandise
As a kid, when I was first getting into comics in a big way, there weren’t yet any comic book stores, not that I was aware of, not that were anyplace that I could ever get to. So opportunities to come across older comics were slim, limited to stores that might not rotate their stock … Continue reading Smith Haven Mall Crafts Fair
The Tom Brevoort Experience 