Crystal Ball Covers

If you read enough comics, you'll realize that crystal balls were used as a cover gimmick in many genres, over many decades. Let's take a look at a handful of them.

Let's start with Warlord #20 (April, 1979). Of all of the long-running DC series of the 70s and 80s, Warlord may be the one with which I am the least familiar. I have read a bunch, but it never really clicked with me. I should probably give it another chance. I like this Mike Grell cover a lot. He's crammed a lot onto the page, but it doesn't seem too busy. Great design. This was a favourite gimmick for the series as crystal balls were also featured on the covers of issue 16 and 63.

I am sure that somewhere along the way, I have declared myself to be a fan of John Force, Magic Agent. If I haven't, let me do it. now. The cover to Magic Agent #2 (March-April, 1962) is a great example of ACG charm. It's so clean, simple and innocent that it's hard to imagine that they were trying to compete with Marvel and DC. I love Kurt Schaffenberger, and he was a great fit on this type of series. It's too bad he didn't do the interior artwork but Paul Reinman is also underrated.

I cannot discuss crystal ball covers without including Mike Kaluta's awesome cover to House of Secrets #99 (August, 1972). It's obviously an homage to M.C. Escher's Hand With Reflective Sphere, a lithograph first printed in 1935. My guess is that this was on dorm rooms across America back in '72 and that Kaluta's cover resulted in a collective "Whoa - far out, man!". Great stuff and one of the most iconic covers from that series.

Let's visit the superhero genre, as countless heroes have appeared in crystal balls over the years, including the JLA (Justice League of America #21 and #29) and the Legion (LOSH #303). I'll go with Invaders #30 (March, 1979), though, as I actually had it as a kid. I'm not a huge fan of Alan Kupperberg but this cover is decent. I'm not sure that I'd want to be stuck in a confined space with someone called The Whizzer.

For my final selection, I am returning to the horror genre with the cover to The Witching Hour #77 (July, 1977). I am sure that we can all agree that the story title "Coffee, Tea... or Kill!" is awesome, but so is Luis Dominguez' cover. I've seen skeleton Doctors, Santas, Cabbies and Pilots but this is the first Skeleton Stewardess (sorry, Flight Attendant) that I've ever seen. Very patriotic witch, too.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. There are tons of great Crystal Ball Covers out there, so keep your eyes peeled.

 

Native American Headdress Covers Pt. 2

I'm back with some more examples.

The cover to Captain Marvel Adventures #83 (April, 1948) is a pretty typical cover featuring the Big Red Cheese, as many were designed to build him up as an icon. His 'proud warrior' pose is a bit ridiculous and the cape and headdress seem to be competing for attention. Many covers from the 'Marvel' group of titles feature some sort of Native American motif, but this is the only headdress one I spotted. 

Here's one I actually own. The cover to Dennis the Menace #91 (July, 1967). I can't recall ever reading it, and it's buried somewhere in one of my short boxes labelled 'MISC' (not very wise on my part), but the synopsis on the GCD states "Cowboy Dennis is flustered by a real Indian". Considering that Dennis is not easily flustered, this must be as dramatic as a Dennis the Menace story can get.

What would I ever do without Rex the Wonder Dog. It seems that no matter what topic I choose to discuss, there's often a Rex cover that fits the bill. If you were to read comics in the late 40s and 50s, you would likely think that Native American tribes handed out honorary chiefdoms with abandon. The cover to The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #24 (Nov-Dec, 1955) is actually a handsome Gil Kane cover with bright colours typical of that era of DC/National. Kane's snout-like noses were always a good fit for Rex.

Let's end off with the oldest one I am featuring, the cover to Four Color #112  (July, 1946). In this story, Porky Pig learns that he is a relative of Chief Pigronomo (yes, you read that correctly). There's also a plot to swindle the Native American out of their land. I find it a bit surprising that the story would tackle that theme, but applaud the effort. I may have to track down a copy of this one, but that's a story for another column.

Native American Headdress Covers Pt. 1

Recently, Pharrell Williams was on the receiving end of criticism for posing on the cover of Elle magazine wearing a headdress. The thing is, he isn't the first person to misappropriate a headdress. It has been going on in the funnybook world for decades.

Let's start with Green Arrow from the cover of Green Lantern/Green Arrow #79 (September, 1970). Oliver Queen has always been one to stand up for civil rights and has never shied away from controversy, and yet here he is throwing political correctness to the wind and donning a headdress. Let's not even get into Hal's crucifixion here as we can only deal with one issue at a time.

The Three Stooges were never know for being culturally sensitive, so I knew I'd find a cover like the one to The Three Stooges #20 (1962) before I even began my search. The synopsis on the GCD states that "Disguised as Indians, blundering along, they scare off cattle thieves with "magic" and get a peace treaty signed". Not exactly Dances With Wolves.

Holy inappropriateness Batman! With all of the silly covers DC/National was putting out in the 50s, you just had to know that Batman would be sporting a headdress in at least one of them, and here he is on the cover to Batman #86 (September, 1954). What makes this one worse is that the dynamic duo step into the shows of two native heroes known as  'Man-of-the-Bats' and Robin is known as 'Little Raven'. If you look very closely in one panel of Crisis On Infinite Earths, you'll see that they don't survive. I kid. For the record, Superman also had a very similar cover.

Lucy, you have some explaining to do (sorry, if I typed in phonetically a la Ricky, I'd be just as bad). In particular, what the story behind the pink feathers in your headdress on the cover to The Lucy Show #3 (December, 1963). Like the Stooges, I don't expect much in the way of politically correct humour from Ms. Ball. I do wonder, though, why they chose that rather sultry black and white photo for the top right corner?

More to come later in the week, including headdresses on a pig and a dog!

Hero Wanted Covers

Here's a theme that pops up more often than you might think. While we all know Uncanny X-Men #141, let's take a look at a few other prime examples.

Flash #156 (November, 1965) was one of the first Silver Age books I ever owned. How could I pass it up? When I first started flipping through back issue bins as a young lad, many Flash covers jumped out at me. This is a true classic and really sums up all of the fun and melodrama of DC in the mid-60s. Don't worry fans, he didn't really betray the world. It was all a misunderstanding.

There are a number of western comic books that feature a wanted poster, with Showcase #76 being the most iconic. I chose, however, to highlight the cover to Western Comics #44 (March-April, 1954) because I rarely get to talk about Pow-Wow Smith. This is one fine looking cover, pencilled by Carmine Infantino and inked by Sy Barry. I love how he's worth 100 times more dead than alive. 

It is interesting that no matter what theme I choose for these features, there is usually at least one Wonder Woman cover that fits the bill. The cover to Wonder Woman #108 (August, 1959) is a Andru & Esposito classic. It also has a slightly washed look to it, so I suspect that Jack Adler was involved. I have a feeling that I may have seen this on a T-Shirt once. If I am wrong about that, it should be on a T-shirt! George Perez's cover to Wonder Woman #57 is another good example.

Jim Aparo's cover to Brave and the Bold #161 (April, 1980) is the third time Aparo featured a wanted poster for this series. The other two don't quite qualify as, while they featured Batman's teammate for the story, the posters were of The Joker and Ra's Al Ghul, respectively. This cover also features the 'empty costume' theme, something I will be tackling down the road.

Let's leave off with a personal favourite of mine, Star Wars #7 (January, 1978). I vividly remember a house ad featuring this cover and being very anxious to get my hands on it. It was the first 'new' Star Wars story as the adaptation of the first film had wrapped up with the previous issue. It's a stylish Gil Kane pencilled effort, very much in line with the western covers he was doing for Marvel in the 70s. Did they ever refer to their blasters as Laser-Guns anywhere else? I find that rather amusing.

Skeleton Hero Covers Pt. 2

Here are a few more.

Detective Comics #620 (Late August, 1990) was released right in the middle of a terrific era for the title. I was a huge fan of Breyfogle's artwork and it was one of my 'go to' titles during the last years of high school. Breyfogle was also a very inventive cover artists, playing around with layouts and design. This isn't his best work, but it is certainly far from bad. I do like the way his signature appeals to be nothing more than another crease in the cowl.

The second iteration of What If? never quite lived up to the quality of its predecessor. That said, I think the cover to What If #50 (June, 1993) is an appropriate cover design for the story, focusing on the inherent creepiness of an admantium skeletal structure. I don't know much about Armando Gil, but he seems to be very capable of delivering the kind of covers Marvel was known for in the early 90s. That's called damning with faint praise, kids.

Let's finish up with a cool one. The cover to Legion of Super-Heroes #47 (September, 1993) is pencilled by the great Stuart Immonen. His Skelegionnaires have been given a real zombie vibe. I love their posture. I also love the fact that the Invisible Kid's headband stayed on. Is that big skeleton Blok? Didn't he have a costume during this era?

Skeleton Hero Covers Pt. 1

You might be surprised to find out just how often this cover gag has been used, although it seems to have been more popular at DC.

Let's start with my favourite. The cover to Wonder Woman #298 (December, 1982) is quite stunning. It brings a House of Mystery/Secrets vibe to a superhero title. Frank Miller was a terrific cover artist, and did created some truly remarkable images for both Marvel and DC. I think Dick Giordano was a good inker for him and I wish they had worked together more often.

Flash #186 (March, 1968) is another great one. This is the kind of Silver Age cover that would have intrigued any 10 year old on the planet. Ross Andru pencilled a ton of great Flash covers over the years. His sense of design is terrific. For another, rather gruesome Flash skeleton cover check out Rich Buckler's cover to #258.

The wonderful Jonah Hex Spectacular told us how our favourite bounty hunter would spend his post-living years. In fact the GCD Indexer stated "Lots of loose plot ends left hanging, including the fact that Jonah's death has been written already." All of that said, I still really dig the cover to Jonah Hex #92 (August, 1985). I am not always a huge fan of Denys Cowan, but his stuff looks really good inked by Klaus Janson. This is a fitting image for the final issue of a series that saw a ton of Four Colour death.

Alas, poor Clone, I knew him well. Or at least I though I did. The never followed the whole revisit to the Clone Saga in the mid-90s, so I don't have a clue how things turned out. In any event, the cover to Sensational Spider-Man #2 (March, 1996) by Jurgens/Janson team is pretty terrific, especially when compared to the dreck Marvel was putting on shelves during that era. It is a single image. There are no ridiculous captions. There are no mutants. There are not pneumatic babes. How did this get back the editors?

I'll be sharing some more next week.

Word Balloon Covers

Here's a type of cover you won't see very often, as it is not very easy to work the title into a word balloon. Let's look at a few examples:

The first one that comes to mind for me is Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #59 (October, 1981) as I bought it off the spinner rack. While the character poses on the cover seem a bit awkward and the colour scheme is drab, the design and execution of the word balloon is brilliant. This is a perfect example of this type of cover. Also a good one for fans of the Gibbons fans out there. You are out there, aren't you?

I only saw the cover to Superman #11 (November, 1987) for the first time a few weeks ago and it made me smile. This is a terrific way to incorporate the Superman logo into a word balloon. I love the fact that the balloon cannot contain the logo. I also love that Lois is so triumphantly 80s. Great stuff, but I kind of wish they had a Mxyzptlk font to use for our little imp.

The cover to Weird Western Tales #44 (Jan-Feb, 1979) is in a bit of a grey area, as Scalphunter is not technically the name of the series. The thing is, this is my blog so I can make up the rules so I declare that this one qualifies. In any event, it is very inventive. It would also qualified as a 'hanging from the feet' cover and 'racist sheriff' cover.

Let's leave off with Archie... Archie Andrews. Where Are You? #3 (September, 1977). I could have chose a lot of covers from this series, as they used the Word Balloon technique for the first 20 issues. In fact, everyone from Veronica to Dilton asked this question on various covers. Does anyone know of the earliest example of this type of cover?

An Evening at the Improv Covers

Take a brick wall, throw a spotlight against an you're left with either mullet-based comedy (I'm looking at both of you, Jeff Foxworthy and Rosie O'Donnell) or a dramatic comic book cover. Let's take a look at a few examples of the latter.

Crime Must Pay the Penalty #5 (December, 1948) is a perfect example of this type of cover. It looks straight out of a film noir, and I can envisions someone like Robert Ryan or Robert Mitchum striking this pose. I am not sure who drew this particular cover. I know that Rudy Palais did many of the early covers for this series, but if this is his work, someone else came in to do the inking. Good stuff.

The fantastic team of John Buscema and Ernie Chan visit the pages of Marvel's non-canon sandbox with the cover to What If? #13 (February, 1979). I love this one as it has a good pre-Giuliani NYC vibe to it and is date stamped by the Star Wars poster on the wall. I was a big What If? fan as a kid, but I don't think I have ever read this particular issue. I will keep an eye out for a copy.

I have discussed Marvel Treasury Edition #18 (1978) on here before, but I would be remiss if I did not include it in this group of covers. It is an exceptionally awesome image by Bob Budiansky, inked by Mr. Chan. I think that Budiansky is unheralded, or at least under heralded, in terms of cover designs. This one is simply fantastic. The back cover is just as cool, with the issues bad guys caught in a Spidey spotlight.

Metal Men covers have always been a little 'out there', but everything was kicked up a notch during their 'disguised as humans' era. Mike Sekowsky handled the pencilling chores for the final year or two of Metal Men covers, and this is among his best.  Metal Men #39 (August-September, 1969) has a whole lot going on, but the reader still get the Phantom/Hunchback vibe that is at the heart of the story inside.

I will leave off with this brilliant cover to Blackhawk #272 (September, 1984) by the always underappreciated Dan Spiegle. The use of colour,  or lack thereof, is key to this one as it almost comes across like a Jack Adler grey tone cover. I have sung the praises of this run by Mark Evanier and Dan Spiegle before, but if you have not given this series a chance I encourage you to head to your nearest back issue bin as soon as possible. Looking at this cover, I see its beauty but I can understand how it got lost on the spinner racks back in '84.

Roller Coaster Covers

When I thought of Roller Coaster covers, the first book that sprang to mind was Spidey Super Stories #38 (January, 1979). Why? Well, for starters, I owned this one as a kid. Why would I have bought it, as I was certainly reading 'regular' comics at this time? My guess is there is no way to withstand the pure charm of this Sal Buscema pencilled gem. I love how Spidey happily takes a back seat to a fearful Ben and Reed's giant hand. Who could possibly resist this cover?

Here's one that you may not have seen before. The Informer #4 (October, 1954) is the penultimate issue of this series from short-lived publisher Sterling. The GCD suggests that Art Saaf might have drawn this cover, but I am not so sure as his stuff usually seems a little bit more cartoony to me. In any event, it is a dynamic cover featuring a bag of cash, a mean left hook and a green suit that would make Gil Kane envious. I love this one.

I have owned a few of the Archie comics published by Spire Christian over the years, but have never laid my hands on a copy of Archie's Roller Coaster (1981). To be honest, I was surprised that these were still being published into the 80s. I do dig this cover though, as I think Al Hartley had a good eye for cover design, and I'd snatch this up if I ever saw it in a bargain bin as they are fascinating curios.

Batman has been featured on a number of Roller Coaster covers, in fact we'd seen a the Scarecrow on a a roller coaster just a couple of years prior, but this double Joker cover from Batman #286 (April, 1977). Why? Two words: Jim Aparo. Aparo is my all-time favourite Batman artist. In my opinion, no one draws the Joker as well as Aparo, he's part psycho, part showman - and this one deliver two of them.

Let's leave off with this little lovely from the team of Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers. Tales of Suspense #30 (June, 1962) hit spinner racks at the dawn of the Marvel Age, but it still has a very Atlas-era feel to it. I love that dark, rich grey that only Atlas seemed capable of producing. It created a very haunting (pun intended) atmosphere. I'm not one for being anal about perspective, but this would certainly seem to be the world's tallest roller coaster, if not structure.

Mount Rushmore Covers

Spy Smasher is one of the Golden Age heroes who had a tough time due to the end of WW2. After a brief revamp as Crime Smasher, he checked into the Home for Obscure Golden Age Heroes. There were some lovely covers during this title's short run, and the cover to Spy Smasher #5 (June 24, 1942) is no exception. The GCD suggests that it was by Gus Ricca, and I can't really argue with that but I'm open to hear other suggestions. The brushwork and colouring are sublime. Is this the earliest example of a Mt. Rushmore cover?

Truth be told, I've never owned nor read The Owl #2 (April, 1968) but, after seeing this cover, how can I not add it to my want list. Who are the Terror Twins? What are they doing with Lincoln's head? Where did they get those awesome gyro-bikes? I know that it was failed attempt to bring superhero comics to Gold Key by Jerry Siegel, but beyond that I don't know much else. Is this character even remotely connected to The Owl of the 40s? I see that Tom Gill, one of my all-time faves, provides the artwork so it can't be all bad.

For one reason or another, the TV show ALF never did much for me back in the 80s. I do, however, get a good chuckle at many of the covers from this series. I am not sure what ALF was up to on his vacation featured in ALF Annual #1 (1988), but I'm certain that it is wonderfully rendered as Marvel saw fit to hire two of the greatest humour book artists of all-time (Dave Manak and Marie Severin) to provide the pencils and inks. According to the GCD, the High Evolutionary takes part in ALF's adventures herein. Consider my mind blown.

I've always loved the perspective on the cover to Incredible Hulk #239 (September, 1979). The bird's eye view is very unique, and the Hulk seems to be descending upon Mt. Rushmore at a fantastic rate of speed. One of my favourite things about the Hulk is his leaping ability, but it has been underutilized by many writers and artists. Milgrom does a nice job here, although his Presidents don't look 100% accurate. I do like the concerned look on General Washington's face, though.

Let's finish off with this gorgeous painted cover by Norman Mingo for Mad #31 (February, 1957). I've never been to Mt. Rushmore, but I imagine that it is sufficiently popular that you cannot simply hop out of your car for a picture. It blows my mind to look at the credits for old Mad magazines, as this issue has 10+ pages from both Wally Wood and Jack Davis and even has a couple of Basil Wolverton pages thrown in for good measure. Personally, I think Mr. Neuman looks right at home up there.

Angry Clock Covers

Time stands still for no man, and sometimes it even attacks him. Here are a selection of covers featuring time pieces with bad attitudes.

Angry Clock Covers have their origins in the Golden Age, with an early example being this cover to More Fun Comics #113 (August, 1946). Genius Jones uses this rather impressive cuckoo clock to his advantage. This lovely cover was drawn by Stan Kaye, who was always able to bring a simple, yet attractive sense of design to his work. Compared to the other covers featured below, this one has a real sense of innocence.

A few years later, Irv Novick drew this fantastic cover to Wonder Woman #46 (March-April, 1951). On this cover, Wonder Woman is surrounded by a variety of wall clocks, all set at a different time for no apparent reason. Unfortunately, the story does not involve any menacing clocks, but has to do with memory loss and a race against time. There have been plenty of trippy Wonder Woman covers over the years, but this has to be in the all-time Top 10.

Still with DC, here's a Dali inspired cover to Star Spangled Comics #79 (April, 1948), pencilled by the underappreciated Jim Mooney. Robin's solo adventures during the late Golden Age were all but forgotten, until receiving some attention over the last decade or so. His arch nemesis during this period was a villain known as the Clock, so many of the covers and stories have a time-based theme. I love this cover, as it is just so 'out there'.

Speaking of 'out there', let's finish our travel through time with a stop in the 1970s. I will assume that the cover to Twilight Zone #70 (May, 1976) was painted by the great George Wilson, as he was responsible for the vast majority of Western's painted covers during this era. The face looks a bit different than your typical Wilson face, but I am no expert. The story entitled "The Tyranny of Time" features artwork by a young Joe Luis Garcia-Lopez.