Marvel Tales #119, Atlas Comics, December 1949 – Artist: Sol Brodsky.
I found a half dozen strong contenders on Day #119 and went with Marvel Tales #119 for its deliciously nasty cover.
Day 119 will be the last day of the Cole strike, Blue Bolt as a title has ended so we’ll slide L.B. Cole back into consideration starting tomorrow.
Four Color #119 was fantastic, and how about Little Dot #119, how did I not pick that, probably because I didn’t want a certain Harvey fan to think I liked him that much. Captain Marvel Jr. #119 was interesting and who doesn’t love the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #119?!
A great comic book cover matching each day of the year, 1 through 365. Please chime in with your favourite corresponding cover, from any era.
I can accept given that I spent some time thinking about this one. You know what the problem is? The ants. You have to know that they are ants, otherwise they are just a bunch of lines. Mister Mystery #11 is a far superior take on this, and once you’ve seen it you can’t get too excited about this one.
Little Dot is great poster art but fails on my criteria. ASM IMO is not great. People dig it as a crossover of what are probably Marvel’s two most popular characters, but it is visually confusing. Until I reviewed it after you mentioned it, I didn’t know the setting, couldn’t see the tanks coming across the dam, etc. My suspicion is that the word balloons were added/adjusted to address this problem – otherwise “Hulk smash!” in 48 point type would have been more exciting. No word balloons on Schomburg’s covers – instead there would be a nice big sign “Boulder Dam”.
#120 is a gold mine. I am going with Our Fighting Forces. Incredible, exciting composition, and talk about fourth wall – you are in the line of fire with Lieutenant Hunter.
Runner up: Journey Into Mystery. Not a lot going on but the majesty (and the colors) make it.
Tied for runner up: Heart Throbs. It is now not possible to get through a day without an amazing cover by Mr. A.
A laundry list of other contenders:
Brave and the Bold
Crime Does Not Pay
Doom Patrol (horrifying)
Iron Man
JLA
Jungle
Legion of Super Heroes (1989)
Marvel Tales
Strange Adventures
If you are looking for a now-offensive cartoon cover, Famous Funnies #120 and Little Lotta #120 beat Four Color #119 hands down on art – on offensiveness we could argue forever.
Little Dot another nice piece to go along with #119.
Girls’ Romances – I am adding the blonde to my list…
My Romantic Adventures – have a lot of questions about this one…
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen – One Punch Man prototype issue
And as usual DC takes home the JOWA with Batman. The Dark Knight strikes fear into the hearts of criminals by riding a “whirlybat” and dumping grain on them.
Little Dot might have been my pick. Music represented by color dots, that is pretty wil and well done. https://www.comics.org/issue/221027/
Mostly I not a big fan of Bud Thompson’s CM Jr covers, they just don’t hold up compared to Mac Raboy’s. So that killed CM. Jr. #119 for me. But Schaffenberger does some fine later Fawcett covers for the various Fawcett Marvels, don’t rule him out.
I am with Chris on the ants here on Marvel Tales, plus I am partial to Russ Heath’s covers on this title. He did some great ones. Unless I missed one you hit already, watch out for his, and also Harry Anderson’s Atlas pre-code covers. Some real sleepers, hopefully in the coming-up numbers.
Interesting cover with an old school “Bone Collector” vibe, but I have to agree that the ants are more of a suggestion than actually a defined piece of the cover.
However, I was torn between 2 other choices:
• Amazing Spider-Man #119 – this Romita cover is one of my personal favorites, & kicks off a run of great covers in the ASM title. I also think the next issue – ASM #120 – is actually the better HULK vs. Spidey cover; and
• Silver Surfer #119 – This issue stands out within a run of really grand Silver Surfer covers, and may even appeal to other commentators due to the presence of a large hand.
I also really like Romita’s cover of Avengers #119, and JR Jr’s work on Iron Man #119.
Those are ants??? I thought it was long grained sand!
… and I would have gotten away with it too… if it wasn’t for you blasted ants ! I do see the issue with the ants fellas, good call.
I’m not sure why I didn’t pick Little Dot Bud, I liked the musical notes too, at the end of the day I went for the honey.
Just like you Walt, to fall for the honey pot Trap. Oh to be young again
Sad Sack 119 does it for me….you’d understand if you’ve ever cleaned your wood stove pipes after a winter of heating…
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