Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Our Army At War #3

Close your eyes and think of all of those great war covers Kane did for DC in the 50s and 60s. Having a hard time picturing any, aren't you? Although I've read a biography of Kane, I cannot remember if it delved into which genre he preferred over others. For one reason or another, he did not get many assignments on war covers (although he'd contribute a number of Sgt. Fury covers for Marvel years later). While this particular cover, inked by Joe Giella, is absolutely fine, it does not pack the same impact as the covers done by war comic mainstays Irv Novick and Jerry Grandenetti back then. While there is a lot going on here, it somehow lacks excitement and seems like something you'd see on an generic comic of that era. If you look at the cover gallery for the first 50 or so issues of Our Army At War, you'll agree with me that Kane's entry was one of the weakest.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: The Atom #24

Here's a body horror cover that the likes of David Cronenberg would love. Gardner Fox had a background in science-fiction and it showed in so many of the stories he wrote for DC. Sometimes the concept was better than the final product and the cover is a great way of conveying the concept. This one is fantastic as we get all sorts of texture - from the leaves to the colours above and below the water level. Murphy Anderson was the right inker for this jump as Kane's inking was a bit too fine for a job like this and Sid Greene might have made it look a bit flat. All in all, it's a good as it got for Kane on this title. Shear genius!

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Supernatural Thrillers #6

Here's a Gil Kane Marvel cover from the 70s that you might not have seen. Breaking up a string of Living Mummy covers was this issue, featuring The Headless Horsemen. I see this one far less often than I see other issues from this series and I am not sure why. It's a terrific cover featuring an incredible sense of design and motion. I like Ernie Chan's inks here, as he adds some nice texture, especially to the skull. The skeletal body contrasts beautifully with the cloak and I really like the full moon in the background. I'm not sure that I love the greenish hue on the horse, but it is rather unique. The eyes and snorting nostrils are what seal the deal for me. This is a lesser known, but tremendous Kane cover.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Sgt. Fury #100

If you look at Gil Kane's cover output throughout his career, you'll notice a relative dearth of covers from the war genre. That's not to say he could not produce a solid war cover, but the jobs tended to be assigned to the likes of Joe Kubert and John Severin. I would be interested to hear if Kane enjoyed war stuff or if his preference was to focus on superheroes and westerns. The cover to Sgt. Fury #100 is a terrific example of the inventiveness of Kane's cover design. It has a great 'split' design that we often see above and beneath the water's surface. This time, however, Kane is playing around with time. John Romita makes sure that ever fold in the clothing is accentuated. His inks work very well over Kane here and I'll be sure to keep my eye out for other GK/JR works to feature down the road.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Conan the Barbarian #25

Gil Kane excelled at drawing swords. He also excelled at drawing serpents. These were two of the key reasons he was an excellent choice for Conan the Barbarian covers. In fact, if you scan the cover gallery for any Marvel sword and sorcery series from the 70s, you're likely to spot at least one Kane cover.This is a particularly good one, as I have always been a fan of covers that use a 'Through the Looking Glass' gimmick. This one is actually a collaboration between Gil Kane and Ralph Reese. Reese provided the layout and inks, while the finished pencils were provided by Kane. I like their work as a team quite a bit, and my only real complaint about this cover is the choice of colours for the background, as contrast between the grey and the yellow does not help the image jump off the page. I also question the colour choice for evil sorcerer figure, as he fades a bit too much into the background. Overall, it is a decent final product but not top tier as far as Bronze Age Kane covers go.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Wonder Woman #304

In 1983, Gil Kane drew six consecutive Wonder Woman covers, five of which I would describe as portraits. These has unique layouts and very creative designs, giving them a bit of a 'pop art' flavour. The cover to Wonder Woman #304 is my favourite of the bunch. The use of blue really accentuates the colours of Wonder Woman's costume in the foreground and gives a shadowy feel to the larger figure in the background. The heroic look to the smaller figure juxtaposes nicely against the warrior-like pose of the larger figure in the background. I like the way Kane snuck his initials into the empty space. This cover really shows the strength of Kane's sense of design.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Mystery in Space #50

I am a big fan of purple suits on Gil Kane characters and I guess that it only makes sense that those are packed in purple luggage. This is a pretty typical, crazy cover to DC's flagship science fiction anthology series with a train racing away from Earth. I wonder just how many DC covers from the 50s featured the Earth? This is a wonderfully designed cover with a terrific sense of perspective using the train cars. I love how Kane does French cuffs on the conductor. This may not be an iconic Kane cover, but it has all of the elements that made his covers so compelling.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Creatures of the Loose #31

Kane did a lot of great covers for Marvel in the 1970s, but you need to look to some second tier titles to find some of the very best. Let me start off by saying that I'm not in love with the inking here. The GCD credits both Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito, so that might explain why it seems to be a bit of a mess. What I am in love with, however, is the perspective chosen for this cover. What a great design! It gives it such a wonderful horror movie vibe. Was that 'Beast' font ever used for the X-Men's Beast? I know it is not the one from his run in Amazing Adventures, but it seems familiar.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Batman #180

When you think classic Batman covers from the 1960s, my guess is that you are likely to think that they were all pencilled by Neal Adams, Carmine Infantino and perhaps Irv Novick. When you look through a cover gallery from either Batman or Detective Comics, you'll note that Gil Kane was actually responsible for a handful of the most memorable covers. This one is a particular favourite of mine, as I spotted it in a house ad during my early years of Silver Age collection (this would have been circa 1981) and decided that I absolutely must have a copy.  What caught my attention back then? Well, the exact same things that catch my attention today. First, check out Death-Man. The character design is awesome, even if the name is a bit generic. Second, I absolutely adore the driving rain. Sure, Eisner and Ditko are the masters of water, but Kane is not far behind. Finally, I just love the layout, as the prone Robin in the foreground, staring helplessly at the reader creates a real sense of panic. Gorgeous stuff.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Captain America #215

Ok, so it has been way more than a month but I'm trying to get back on track. Gil Kane did a ton of covers for Marvel in the 70s, but this one easily cracks my top 10. I absolutely adore the design and colour scheme. The decision to leave the background figures in grey was pure genius. I also really love the choice of characters (the inclusion of some Invaders certain time stamps it. I find it amusing that there are two versions of Nick Fury and even Cap appears in his own background (or it is that crazy 50s Cap?). I do wish, however, that Kane had been able to work Batroc and a Sleeper robot into the picture. This is great stuff, nearing iconic levels. It would have made an amazing poster. Still would.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Island of Doctor Moreau

I love the fact that Marvel saw fit to use Kane as the go-to cover guy during the 1970s. This particular cover has all of the elements necessary to get a fanboy's attention. The floating heads of the Beast Men look terrific, and his character design for the creatures is spot on. Of course, Michael York looks a bit more buff, and Lancaster's Moreau even more menacing but I'll chalk that up to artistic license. It's a very powerful cover and, although I like Larry Hama's artwork, I really wish Gil Kane had be tasked with the interior pencils. If you want to hear me chat about the movie, check out my guest appearance on the Gentleman's Guide to Midnite Cinema: http://ggtmc.libsyn.com/episode-148-beasts-and-guns

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Strange Adventures #81

Even though I was not even born until 1972, I somehow feel nostalgic for the fun, science fiction covers of the 1950s. I mean, can a cover really get any more fun that the cover to Strange Adventures #81 (June, 1957)? There seems to be a bit of prototyping (if that's not a word, it should be) with a neat hybrid of Green Lantern, the Atom and even the Trigger Twins. Out hero(es) even looks like a Ray Palmer/Hal Jordan love child. This is a beautifully designed cover, and luckily neither the dialogue nor the caption obscure the artwork too much. I'm particularly fond of the use of the edge of the bunk to help establish the perspective. Being a Kane cover, I half expected this prison to issue purple uniforms to its inmates.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: DC Comics Presents #62

This series features some of my favourite Gil Kane covers of the 80s, and this one is right up there with the best of them. Sure, it's very 'posed' and nowhere near naturalistic, but I like them like that when they involve Golden Age heroes as it is reminiscent of another era. In fact, this one brings to my one of my all-time favourite covers: Action Comics #52. It's highly symbolic as the entire world seems to be at stake as our heroes take on the Nazis. I find the placement of the heroes to be interesting, as Superman defers to Uncle Sam. For me, Gil Kane's Superman from this period always looks like Superboy (probably has something to do with all those Superboy covers). While this is a grand cover, it's the small touch of Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeve that really sells it for me. The interior artwork by Irv Novick and Dave Hunt is pretty top notch as well.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Green Lantern #71

We all know that this title experienced a real paradigm shift (sorry, I've got to use that Poli-Sci degree once a year) with the 76th issue. Green Lantern fans will have noted a subtle change that occurred prior to the reboot by the Adams/O'Neil team. For a dozen or so issues leading up the the passing of the torch, the series evolved into something very different than what it had been in the early 60s. The tone was much darker, as evidenced by many of Gil Kane's covers during the period, with this cover serving as a prime example. Compare and contrast this to any come from the first 50 issues of the series. It's quite a departure. Kane was inking himself on most, if not all, of these covers and the move away from Anderson and Greene allowed for a bit more grittiness. I will likely feature more covers from this period, as I find them to be fascinating.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Marvel Classics Comics #14

Here's one of my favourite Gil Kane covers from the 70s, buried in the relatively obscure Marvel Classics Comics. It has all you could ask for in terms of a Kane cover, plenty of alien destruction and plenty of nostrils. The War of the Worlds seems like a perfect match for Kane, and his tripod design is truly spetacular. My one beef with it is that the gentleman ensnared by the tripod's tentacle appears to be enjoying the ride. I swear that I've seen that pose somewhere before. Captain Marvel? Morbius? Anyhow, it's a powerful cover as it truly capture the sense of dread and panic that is key to Wells' story. I like Cockrum's inking on Kane, he's a good fit.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Jimmy Wakely #13

I'll be posting more about the Jimmy Wakely series soon, but for now I just wanted to highlight this stunning cover from 1951. The design is fairly simple: gunslinger in the foreground, wanted poster in the background. As is apparent, simple is often best. The hat coming off is a really nice touch, and I really like the font in the Wanted poster. Kane could really do it all in the 50s, moving from Western, to Sci-Fi and to Dog comics. The hand positioning is quite cool, and I've always dug the way Kane shows a gun grip. I find the colour scheme quite interesting, as it is nicely subdued - almost giving it a 'wash' look. Great stuff.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: X-Men #33

Most people are probably quite familiar with Gil Kane's work as a cover artist for Marvel during the 1970s. Kane also contributed quite a few covers to Marvel during the late 60s in titles ranging from Tales of Suspense to Sgt. Fury. While many of these are quite solid, I really think they pale in comparison to his DC work on Green Lantern, The Atom and the various Science Fiction titles. Something just didn't add up at Marvel, and I think much of it has to do with the production department. Take this cover to X-Men #33. I think it is certainly one of Kane's strongest covers for Marvel during this period, but it still manages to fall short of greatness. I like the lay out, and the smaller mutants juxtaposed against the giant Juggernaut. The colour choices, however, really diminish the cover's potential impact as everything seems muddy. If this were an Atom cover, the images would pop right out at you. Anyone else see a real distinction between his DC and Marvel covers during the 60s?

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Atom #4

This may not be one of the most iconic Atom covers by Kane, but it has always been one of my personal favourites. One of the key aspects of The Atom's aesthetic appeal is how the little guy looks while in motion. The multi-panel cover of Mr. Palmer bouncing off the eraser is a real treat. DC didn't do too many of these multi-panel covers during the 1960s, so it is quite unique. Like many covers, I really wish that they had cut down on the dialogue, as the verbose thought balloons detract from the overall impact of the cover. I think it would have been great it he said "One", "Two", "Three", "Boom" or something along those lines. I put together a complete run of Atom books quite a few year ago, and the are truly a sight to behold when you lay that all out in a row.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #9

You are all probably aware that Gil Kane drew a number of amazing Rex, the Wonder Dog covers. They are just so much fun, and really harkens back to another era. This is one of my absolute favourites. There are no dinosaurs, no mushroom clouds and no toppling statues, so a beautifully conceived cover. I really love underwater covers (especially those featuring non-aquatic characters), as they are quite suspenseful. In the World War Two based story, Rex and his master, Major Dennis, are trying to hide from Japanese soldiers. Near the end of the story, they must hide in a stream as the soldiers walk by. It's never really explain why Rex needs to be muzzled (would he bark? breathe involuntarily?). Who knows? All I know is that Kane captured the mood perfectly, and made it nearly impossible for a young lad or lass to pass on this book back in 1953. A true classic.

Gil Kane Cover of the Month: Best of DC #44

Unless you are an avid digest collector and/or Legion complelist (I'm both), you may not have seen this Gil Kane cover before. I love Kane's work, but I often feel that many of his 80s covers at DC lack the spark and imagination that we see in his earlier work. There's often a bit of a 'rushed' feeling to them, and his inking had become minimalistic to the point of faces looking almost blank. There are some real gems, however, from this period and this is one of them. This book reprints some terrific Legion stories from the 60s, and Kane's cover reflects the charm and whimsy of that series. Its very simplicity is what makes it so appealing to my eyes, and perfectly suited to the smaller format. I'll try to show covers from various eras as this feature progresses, so that we get a good feeling for what Kane was doing over the years.