As we move closer to Halloween, I thought I would take a look at 13 of Neal Adams' covers for DC's horror/mystery line of titles. Neal Adams first involvement with the "House of Mystery" is an interesting one starting with issue 175 and ending with issue 192. However, this story starts with issue 174 (cover below by Joe Orlando and George Roussos) when editor Joe Orlando moved the title back to its mystery story roots after a period of featuring the superhero-based strip "Dial H for Hero". Orlando's iconic cover to #174 featured three young children who he asked Adams to include in as many of his 18 covers as possible, something he did for literally every issue he drew. Not only would the children appear on the covers but in some instances the 3 children, 2 boys and a girl (the girl being based on one of Neal's daughters) would also appear in an actual story. The reason for adding the children to the covers was simple, Joe Orlando knew his audience and that was kids, so why not include them in the comics themselves. Neal Adams also provided covers for many of DC’s other mystery titles including "House of Secrets", "The Unexpected" and "The Witching Hour" - some of my favourites are shown below:
Above the cover to "House of Mystery" #174 (June 1968) by Joe Orlando and George Roussos. Cover from DC Wiki. Cover at header "Brave and Bold" #93 (Oct 1970) which also features some classic Neal Adams internal art.
House of Mystery #178 (Feb 1969).
House of Mystery #181 (Aug 1969).
House of Mystery #184 (Nov 1969). An excellent issue featuring Alex Toth and Gil Kane art.
House of Secrets # 88 (Nov 1970)
House of Secrets # 90 (Mar 1971) - This issue also features some nice Gray Morrow art.
House of Secrets # 91 (May 1971) - One of a my all time favourite Neal Adams covers.
The Unexpected #124 (May 1971).
The Witching House #10 (Sept 1970) - Another truly stunning Adams cover
The Witching House #11 (Nov 1970)
In 1977 Adams returned to the "House of Mystery" as the cover artist for 4 issues (#251-#254) when the title moved to the 80 page "Dollar Comics" format. Above "House of Mystery" #251 (April 1977) featuring the 3 children.
House of Mystery #252 (June 1977)
House of Mystery #253 (Aug 1977) - Sadly I no longer have #254.
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Neal Adams visually transported DC from the delightful but mildly musty Golden Age into the new shiny Age with his somewhat more realistic renderings. HIs covers had enormous punch at the spinner rack. There's little doubt his covers resulted in sales which gave him a great deal of clout with the executives of DC, and he used that clout for good as in the case of Seigel and Shuster.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't for Neal Adams I wouldn't have picked up and enjoyed so many different titles as anything he drew I just had to buy. Additionally , this led to me discovering (rediscovering) artists like Toth, Gray Morrow etc. A much missed creator.
ReplyDeleteA great set of covers, Paul. There is something about the composition of the cover of HoM #181 that reminds of of Nick Cardy, as if he did the layout for Adams' subsequent pancils and inks. These covers from 1969-1971 have such impact I wonder if Adams also did the colour guides. Jack Adler, who developed DC's way of printing colours like brown and purple not usually available in 4-colour presses, had shared his expertise with Adams. Of course, Jack Adler probably coloured the covers himself.
ReplyDeleteI can see the Cardy influence in the cover for 181 now that you mention it, it's the sort of thing he would illustrate. I couldn't tell you if Jack Adler coloured these or not Ian but as you say he probably did these at this time.
DeleteThere's not a bad cover among them, though some are better than others. It's doubtful whether Kirby, even at his best, could have matched Adams in this kind of subject. McS, I'm puzzled as to why this new post wasn't showing in my blog list when I went to the shops after 3pm today, but it was there when I came back a few hours later and declaring it had been published 16 hours ago. Have you got your blog's 'clock' set at the right time?
ReplyDeleteMy time\timezone seems to be correct on my blog (London). I'll check next time I post a new article Midas think there was an issue a few years ago.
ReplyDelete