With the festive season rapidly approaching I thought I would show some of my favourite Christmas themed US comic covers. Not all these books were classics but the covers are pretty good. The above issue of "Witching Hour" issue 28 from 1973 sports yet another great cover by the legendary Nick Cardy. Sadly there’s not a lot of Alex Toth art (who was the feature artist in the early days of the comics run) in this issue (only 1 page) but the cover makes up for that.
DC’s “Hot Wheels” comic was of course based on Mattel's highly successful Hot Wheel die cast model car line. The entire comic series only ran for 6 issues and even for those not interested in cars (let alone the die cast versions) it's a fantastic series art wise featuring some of Alex Toth’s best ever art especially in issue 5 "The Curious Classic". This cover is by the great Neal Adams who also provided the art on the main story "The Humbug Run".
As a kid I was a big fan of DC's “Teen Titans” comic and I am currently picking up as many of these early (first 30) issues that I used to own as I can. This issues story "The TT's Swingin' Christmas" is very much of its time, which for me is part of its charm. Of course the stunning art by the great Nick Cardy is also a big plus in collecting these comics
Another classic cover by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano from 1972. The story itself "Silent night, deadly night" by Denny O'Neil was illustrated by the regular Batman team of Irv Novak and Dick Giordano and is a standard but fun Christmas superhero tale.
To be honest I haven’t read this issue of “Justice League Unlimited” issue 28, I only bought this for Ty Templeton’s great cover.
Finally, we end on a wonderfully painted cover by Ken Kelly from the 1964 edition of Creepy issue 68. I only bought my copy of this magazine a few months ago on a visit to Lanark. Sadly it's a pretty tatty copy (a badly ripped cover and 2 misisng pages) so I used this picture from the internet. Still it only cost me £2 and has some great John Severin and Richard Corben art along with a nice front piece by the great Bernie Wrightson.
I was probably about seven years old when I walked into my local newsagents in Cambuslang (near Glasgow) with my pocket money firmly he...
Following on from my last post featuring some of my favourite Marvel comic book covers from 1973, I thought I would show some of DC's ...
Nearly a half-century on I still consider 1973 to be the year that cemented my destiny in becoming a lifetime comic book fan. It was a yea...
All brilliant covers, McScotty. I have a couple of copies of that Batman issue, I like it so much. Teen Titans did a few Christmas covers in that late sixties/early seventies period which were classics. Of course, it is debatable whether a Christmas cover sells a comic these days - I'm not sure than any new US comics have Christmas-themed covers. I will have to check. Of course, most of the comics you highlight have a non-denominational "Santa" cover but a number of the comics do allude to a Christian theme of rebirth in the stories inside. Sometime in the 1970s, the term "the Holidays" came more into use in the US, to include Hannukah, Kwanzaa and other festivals that occur around the end of the year, and I think that comic books struggled in how to be inclusive of disparate faiths, perhaps giving up over time on the Christmas-themed story. A great shame, because we lost some good covers.
ReplyDeleteYeah I miss the Christmas themed covers as well baggsey although in the UK we still seem to have these in the few remaining titles published here along with the mandatory snow covered title logo. I suppose in a multi faith society like the US they want to cover as many themes as possible but most folk regardless if their religion in the west tend to celebrate Christmas as a holiday and don't have issues over it even sceptics like myself enjoy the nice tingly Santa religious type story .
ReplyDeleteThere were at least a couple of Christmas themed Specials back in the '90s (I think) which reprinted some classics, McS, and I'm lucky enough to have them in my collection. Out of all the covers you show, I only ever had the Batman one, though I've now only got the tale in reprint form. Incidentally, snow on the masthead of British comics is no longer the regular tradition it once was. There's been a few times over the years (if memory serves) when it's been missing from The Beano.
ReplyDeleteI was in WH Smith's in Glasgow yesterday Kid and your spot on there is no snow on the Beano etc mastheads, I just assumed they kept that nice wee touch. Actually I don't like the Beano logo, it probably changed years ago but I just noticed it.
ReplyDeleteNice post, McScotty. It always seems bizarre that Neal Adams did covers for Hot Wheels comics.
ReplyDeleteI've also not been previously aware of the existence of Creepy. I shall have to investigate further.
Cheers Steve. It really was a strange choice for Adams to do this cover ( along with issue 3) and some internal strips for Hot Wheels in 1970 as I think he had pretty much established himself as the hot new talent in town by this time. Then again he was also doing stuff like Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope for DC as well. Creepy ( and Eerie) were amazing black and white magazines featuring the work of some comic book greats like with John Severin, Adams, Richard Corben, Ditko, Wrightson, Gray Morrow, Wally Wood, Russ Heath etc so they are well worth seeking out.
ReplyDeleteI've just bought the Christmas double-issue of 'Radio Times' which has snow on the masthead (but I know it's not a comic).
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Paul, I like your little joke about the "feastive" season rapidly approaching, considering all the food that gets eaten. It was a joke wasn't it? ;)
I was just about to ask if the Radio Times still has a snowy cover, but CJ above beat me to it.
ReplyDeleteI went to my local comic shop to enquire if Christmas covers still sell, but the answer was that the had no effect on on sales. That said, DC is publishing their "Freezin' Season" annual special next week complete with snow on the cover, following on from "Nuclear Winter special" a few years back. Seems that winter scenes are okay on DC comics as long as they are ironic.
Colin, I didn't notice my spelling error, good catch. I haven't bought the Radio Times (or the TV Times) in over 20 years but I did see the snowy cover when I was in W H Smith's yesterday .
ReplyDeleteBaggsey, I like the fact that DC still publish holiday specials so will look for that one as they gave the odd story with stunning art. I would imagine that Christmas covers have little effect on sales in comic shops as customers know what they are wanting to buy. I wonder if they increase sales in newsagents. though
ReplyDeleteNot many (or any) newsagents sell US comics anymore though, McS. Not in Britain anyway, and I think it's the same in America.
DeleteI meant if sales were affected in newsagents for UK comics like Marvel reprints, 2000AD, the Beano etc. Kid
ReplyDeleteI think if Christmas covers increased sales in UK newsagents, McS, then it's more than likely every comic on sale would have one. Otherwise festive-themed covers would never have been allowed to 'fade away'.
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