Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Sensation Mystery #115

The cover to Sensation Mystery #115 (May-June, 1953) first caught my eye back in the early 80s, when I saw it in the colour cover gallery of an Overstreet Price Guide. It is one of the most beautifully designed covers to any DC horror/mystery book. The 'stairway to nowhere' is the perfect hook for grabbing a young reader's attention. I love how the guy with the candelabra lets the woman go first down the stairs: "After you, my dear". The shadows on the stone wall are perfect. The GCD states that Frank Giacoia inked this one, and I can't argue with that. I certainly don't think that it was Joe Giella or Bernard Sachs, two men who worked on many of the Kane covers of the period. Although this was several years into Kane's career at DC, you can still see the Caniff school nfluence in his faces. I adore this cover, and would love to get my hands on a copy of the actual book.

3 comments:

Four-Color Kid said...

Nice! Certainly one of the best early cover from Gil Kane!

My favourites are the awesome western covers he did for Marvel 's Bronze Age western reprints.

Scott M said...

I will certainly be covering some of the western covers he did for Marvel in the 70s.

In fact, the only piece of Kane artwork that I own happens to be one of those

Dean said...

Hi, Love the website! You find some great old covers to post.

I happen to have this Sensation Mystery on auction this week starting under $20.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260634076792

Many other comics this week as well.