Another crowded and overwhelming Alex Schomburg masterpiece, this cover to USA COMICS is typical of his output for Timely Comics. The figures of Cap and Bucky are large, ridiculously so in proportion to the other elements of the piece. But it works–even if it does look like Bucky is shooting down a toy plane with … Continue reading Great Covers – USA COMICS #7
An often-homaged cover, this CAPTAIN AMERICA piece by Mike Zeck combines detail and composition into something of a synthesis of the approaches of Neal Adams and Jim Steranko. Deathlok’s red eye right at the center is focal point, and the diagonal of the gun and hand takes the viewer to the image of Captain America … Continue reading Great Covers – CAPTAIN AMERICA #286
This Mike Zeck CAPTAIN AMERICA cover is all about contrasts and expectations. It’s a pretty shocking image, in that we expect to see Cap brandishing a shield, rather than an automatic weapon, and the look of anger and hatred on Cap’s face is similarly unexpected. How could you not want to crack open the book … Continue reading Great Covers – CAPTAIN AMERICA #321
Feel like I’ve been featuring mostly older covers, so for today some more recent ones. Artist Steve Epting reworked his ideas for this crucial CAPTAIN AMERICA cover a few times before finally hitting on this approach. But it’s very effective. The red of the one glove and the droplets of blood silhouette beautifully against the … Continue reading Great Covers – CAPTAIN AMERICA #25
If you can put aside the flagrant racism sprawled all over this Alex Schomburg CAPTAIN AMERICA cover, it’s another excellent example of the sort of piece that he routinely generated during the golden age of comics. The sheer number of actions and details is staggering, in that none of them repeat. Cap both machine guns … Continue reading Great Covers – CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #38
Over time, we’re almost certainly going to be seeing a lot of Alex Schomburg on this site. Schomburg was the pre-eminent cover artist for Timely/Marvel in the 1940s, and also provided covers to several other outfits. His pieces, like this one, were routinely jam-packed with visual information, intricate dances of controlled chaos and energy. Almost … Continue reading Great Covers – CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #37
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE GREAT GOLD STEAL July, 1968 The very first novel starring a Marvel character, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE GREAT GOLD STEAL by Ted White is a fascinating book, if for nothing else but the way that the star-spangled Avenger was depicted. He’d only been revived for four years at this point, and many of … Continue reading BHOCOS: CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE GREAT GOLD STEAL
CAPTAIN AMERICA #183 March, 1975 CAP #183 is a great comic book, the concluding chapter in Steve Englehart’s Nomad saga. But when it was first published, it was one of a couple of comics that completely put me off Marvel as a company. (THOR #233 and MARVEL TEAM-UP #16 were two others…) As a new, … Continue reading BHOCOS: CAPTAIN AMERICA #183
The Tom Brevoort Experience 