Friday, March 12, 2010

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Big Town #20

Here's the first entry of this new feature here at SOTI. Gil Kane produced countless covers over the years and I hope to showcase some notable ones from different eras and different genres. Some will be quite familiar, while others may be new to you. I'm pretty enamored with Kane's cover to Big Town #20 (March-April, 1953), one of many terrific covers he did for this series. DC's crime books were much less violent than those produced by the competition, but they made up for it with engaging covers and clever procedural story lines. I love the perspective Kane chose for this cover, as the sudden rush of gravity gives us a lump in our throats. Everything about the Steve Wilson character is beautifully rendered - from his tie flapping in the wind, to each and every fold in his clothing. It's too bad crime comics went out of fashion, because I really enjoy them and these days I'm more intrigued by an invisible foe punching an average joe than one punching the Hulk.

3 comments:

Guido-VisiĆ³n said...

Great choice to kick off this new feature, Scott! I love Gil Kane´s art, but I´m not very familiar with his work from this era. I love the composition, and the way that the title of the book is integrated to it(could do without the "TV hit show" blurb, though)

Scott M said...

Thanks Guido - I agree about the caption. They are often intrusive. I love many of Kane's covers for DC in the 50s... but I'll try to showcase covers from all eras.

Anonymous said...

Kane now There's a master!