Monday, February 28, 2011

Giantess Covers

The image of Allison Hayes straddling an expressway on the Attack of the 50 Foot Woman poster may be the most iconic of all Giantess images, but there are plenty of comic book covers to throw into the mix.

Seven years before the Attack of the 50 Foot Woman came the cover to Love Diary #16 (May, 1951) published by Our Town Publishing. Talk about a redundant question: Isn't it quite obvious what is wrong with Gloria? She appears to be about 35 feet tall. There are a few example of photo covers playing around with perspective or photostats to create this sort of effect. I've heard about having a man in the palm of your hand, but this is ridiculous. Is there a rim shot smilie?

Here's one that I only recently discovered. I love digest comics, but there's nothing small scale about the ladies on the Best of DC #57 (February, 1985). Pat Broderick's cover is a pretty liberal interpretation of the "Revolt of the Girls Legionnaires" story from Adventure Comics #326, but it certainly is effective. There's something pretty ironic about Shrinking Violet towering over the boy Legionnaires. Fun stuff, and it's a wraparound if I recall correctly.

Back to romance with Love Journal #16 (November, 1952), also from Our Town Publishing. Do you recognize the artwork? If you can make out the signature on the pic I've provided, you'll see that it's none other than Big John Buscema. He drew plenty of romance books during his career and certainly drew a number of giants during his Thor days, but who knew that he combined those elements back in '52? This is a great one. Also, I'd like to read the investigation into the dangers of 'petting'.

Rita Farr (aka. Elasti-Girl) of the Doom Patrol is probably the most famous giantess in all of comicdom. While she appeared at full height on many 1960s covers, my favourite Easti-Girl cover is Barry Kitson's cover to JLA: Year One #5 (May, 1998). Wow! Was that really 13 years ago? On this cover, Rita and the original DP make a triumphant return and Kitson's use of perspective really makes the image leap off the page. Good stuff.

Let's leave off with a fantastic cover by romance master Matt Baker. Diary Secrets #30 (September, 1955), was the final issue of this St. John title. As far as I can tell, this issue consisted entirely of reprints, but the cover had never been used. Was it newly commissioned, or just something from inventory? Either way, it's a tremendous image, with four men vying of the attention of the radiant blonde. Did that rather striking flower come from another world and cause her growth? Who knows?

1 comment:

Jeremy A. Patterson said...

That Legion cover forshadows the period where Vi ACTUALLY had the powers to become a giantess (late-1990s to early-2000s)!

J.A.P.