Favourite covers: The savage pencil of Neal Adams

There are so many exceptional artists who have produced amazing work on barbarian characters over the years including John Buscema, Barry Windsor Smith, and Earl Norem. But perhaps my favourite of these was the legendary Neal Adams. He didn't draw a lot of books in this genre but he did produce some of the best covers featuring savage barbarians. Below are some of my favourites.

Above the UK "Savage Sword of Conan" #15 featuring the cover of the US SSOC #2

Above: One of my all time favourite black and white magazines from the Atlas/Seaboard group - "Thrilling Adventure Stories" # 2 - more on this issue in my next blog.

Above: Conan the Barbarian # 37 - Another of my favourite comics which I have prattled on about previously.

Favourite Covers: 5 Star Super-Hero Spectacular - Neal Adams

I picked up this issue of DC's "5 Star Super Hero Spectacular" a few years ago solely for the Neal Adams cover thinking this was an all reprint issue (despite clearly noting otherwise on the cover) featuring golden and silver age classics. However , this was of course an all new (in 1977) comic and was the first issue of what would be a DC umbrella title (DC Special Series) for one -shot and special issue published between 1977 and 1981. Regardless, this is one of my favourite DC and Neal Adams covers.

Above the contents page to this issue. As can be seen in the indicia the title "DC SPecial Series" only appears here. In addition none of the comics published under this title were numbered and appeared in different formats including digests, Dollar Comics, 48 page giants and treasury editions. Below are some of the splash pages for the strips in this pretty decent comic:

Above probably the best strip in this issue featuring Mike Nasser (now Mike Netzer) doing his best Neal Adams style art.

The Comic Van - Buying and swapping comics in the 1960's

Back in the 1960's American comic books were for the most part regularly available in newsagents in the UK. While comics like Superman, Batman, The Flash etc were available , they were (compared to most UK comics) also expensive. To combat this there was a ‘Swap’ culture available amongst comic fans at the time. Although my interest in comics in the 1960's was largely confined to UK titles (being only 9 years old by 1969) I do recall my older brother and his pals "buying and selling" rules, which were predicated by the owner of the “comic book van" in my local town.

The “comic van” was a confectionary van that also sold US comic books, bubble gum card sets like American Civil War, Mars Attacks, Batman etc and other media-based items. I no longer remember the gentleman’s name that owned the van, but I can still recall the magic of visiting his van and checking his latest selection of new comics and cards. Comic sales were split into 2 section , new comics, and preowned titles with the option to swap an older comic along with some money (usually getting a new comic for half price). Batman and Superman comics were always the best items to swap as these allowed you to buy a new comic for less money, but titles like Lois Lane, US War comics, Archies etc were never in demand and these were the worst items to swap. In one of my last conversations with my brother we briefly discussed this time and the "comic van" and I wish I had taken more account of the details on these tims and the swaps/stories he told me. Below are some of my brothers original comics that he bought at the comic van (some of these are comics I have repurchased) to go with the above titles ( Justice League of America # 63 by Mike Sekowsky (a repurchase) and Jimmy Olsen #111 by Neal Adams(my brothers original):

Above : Hawkman #27 - 1968 - Cover by Joe Kubert (a repurchase)

Above: Action Comics #359 - December 1968 - Cover by Neal Adams (my brothers original)

Above: Adventure Comics # 354 - 1967 - Cover by Curt Swan (original)

Above: Adventure Comics # 361 - 1967 - Cover by Curt Swan (original)

Above: Superman # 201 - 1967 - Cover by Curt Swan (original)

Above: Action Comics # 368 - 1969 - Cover by Carmine Infantino (original)

Lois Lane # 89 - 1969 - Cover by Carmine Infantino/Neal Adams (Original)

Above: DC Special - 1970 - (repurchase)

I recently saw the above issue of Justice League of America (#74 by Neal Adams) on the excellent Rip Jaggers Dojo blog, which reminded me of the "Comic van" as this was one of my brother favourite comics. It also encouraged me to visit to my loft to look out the above comics when I found some of these in an carrier bag that my cousin gave to me ( I had loaned him some of these comics over 20 years ago and forgot all about them when he returned them a few years ago).

Favourite covers: Batman: 100 Page Spectacular - DC-14 -by Nick Cardy

As I have stated many times before, I have a great fondness for those thick US 80-100 specials, especially those published by DC in the early 1970’s. There was just something appealing about these books with their thick spines and the classic reprints all contained within the confines of some of comics greatest cover. I have waxed lyrical in the past over some of these stunning covers that still take pride of place in my collection and to this list I have to add the above classic cover by legendary artist Nick Cardy for DC-14, from February 1973.

Although all issues in this series featured some form of a wrap-around covers, it was only issues DC-6 to DC-14 that featured a continued cover illustration (others featured either a poster type back cover or a reproduction of the front cover without the logo). Above shows Cardy’s cover in its full glory (illo taken from DC Wiki as my copier isn’t big enough to scan the full cover).

Above: The table of contents page from this issue.

The above page containing an article on the contents of this issue.

The DC 100 page Super-Spectacular series ran for 19 issues that were published between 1971 – 1973. This series had a strange numbering system, for example the first 100 page spectacular (Weird Mystery Tales) started with issue 4 (there were no issues numbered as 1,2 or 3) and with issue 7 the numbering system was changed to add the prefix “DC” (ie. DC-07 – DC-22)to the number. In addition some issues like DC-13 which featured Superman (above), were also numbered as part of the regular Superman series, in this case Superman issue 252. From issue DC-14 - DC22 the title of the series was changed to "100 Page Super-Spectacular".

Favourite Covers : "I quit!"

One of the most iconic storylines in superhero comic books is when the hero decides to quit his or her role as a crime fighter. These issues were usually portrayed in an overly dramatic way on the cover with the hero walking away their head either bowed in despair or making an angry gesture and declaring that they have had enough and that they were no longer going to be anyones “whipping boy”. Of course the hero rarely “quit” for longer than a single issue before returning to active duty, but as a teenager I loved these overly dramatic tales and the "I quit" storylines did produce some excellent covers with the above issue of Spiderman #50 being arguably the most iconic of the entire genre. Below are a few of my favourite “I quit” type covers.

Sadly I do not own the above issue of the "Amazing Spider-Man" issues 50 (cover from Marvel Wiki) but I do have issue 44 of the UK "Spider-Man Comics Weekly" (above) from December 1973, which featured this story. The above SMCW cover is a slightly reformatted version of John Romita's original.

Teen Titans #14 - March 1968 - Cover by Nick Cardy

Justice League of America #109 - February 1974 - Cover by Nick Cardy. It was Hawkman that "quit" the JLA.

Iron-Man #21 ~ January 1970 - Cover by George Tuska & Mike Esposito

Avengers #109 -March 1973 - Cover by John and Sal Buscema

Captain America #176 - August 1974 -Cover by John Romita

X-Men #138 - October 1980 - Cover by John Byrne and Terry Austin

The Flash #264 - August 1978- Cover by Joe Staton and Fank Giacoia

The New Teen Titans #39 - February 1984 - Cover by George Perez. Cover from DC Wiki - I don't have this issue but it's such an iconic "I quit" type cover I had to use it.

Superman #201 - November 1967 - Cover by Curt Swan & George Klien

Fantastic Four #191 - November 1978 - Cover by George Perez & Joe Sinnott. A

G.I. Combat #168 - January 1974 - Cover by Neal Adams

Favourite Covers - Captain America - Steranko, Kirby, Romita, Buscema, Kane, Buckler

Of all the superheroes I think that most people would consider Captain America as the most patriotic. So, with the 4th of July celebrations about to commence for our friends on the other side of the Atlantic I thought I would take the opportunity to look out some of my favourite Captain America covers to celebrate American Independence Day. Cover above by Jim Steranko from Captain America issue 111 (Mar 1968) - cover taken from the collected editions.

Captain America issue 106 (Oct 1968) by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia - I first became aware of this comic when the cover was reprinted as a poster that was advertised in various Marvel comics at the time. Since then I have always wanted to track down a reading copy of this edition, which I did couple of years ago. It's an excellent comic and is my favourite Kirby/Lee Captain America.

Captain America issue 121 (Jan 1970) - Cover by Gene Colan and Joe Sinnott. This was the first US Captain America comic that I bought around October 1971. The next week I purchased issue 122 (below) from the same newsagents. Back in the day it wasn't unusual to pick up US comics many months, sometimes a few years after they were originally published.

Captain America issue 122 (Feb 1970) - Cover by Gene Colan and Joe Sinnott.

Captain America issue 114 (June 1969) - Cover by John Romita

Captain America issue 139 (July 1971) - Cover by John Romita

Captain America issue 142 (October 1971) - Cover by John Romita

Captain America issue 144 (December 1971) - Cover by John Romita - This issue was my first introduction to the work of the wonderful John Romita (earlier issues 114, 139 and 142 shown above, I purchased later).

Captain America issue 153 (Sept 1972) - Cover by Sal Buscema and John Verpoorten

Captain America issue 160 (April 1972) - Cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia

Captain America issue 165 (Sept 1973) - Cover by Sal Buscema

Captain America issue 166 (Sept 1973) - Cover by Rich Buckler and Frank Giacoia

Captain America - Special Editions - issue 1 and 2 - covers by Jim Steranko