Fantastic Four #158, Marvel Comics, May 1975 – Artist: Rich Buckler.
Day 158 was a tough one, there was no clear winner so I went with my favorite of the bunch and growing up in the 70s has obviously influenced my decision. I remember once finding a milk snow white copy of Fantastic Four #158, I remember commenting on how incredibly white the cover was and how near perfect it was, this was years ago and unfortunately I did not realize that I’d never see such a copy again, I should have kept that thing.
Look at the deep colors on Jungle Comics #158 (included at bottom), incredible, looks like Sheena has a new outfit coming her way.
Frank Miller did a great job on Daredevil #158 and John Totleben did an amazing job on Swamp Thing #158.
And yes the JOWA has to go to Wonder Woman #158 Egg Fu has to be the worst villain name ever!
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.
That really is a great cover Walt and makes me think I might need to do sine filling in between the Buscema run and the Byrne run after all! Also kudos to the JOWA for Egg Fu… he seems a villain more fitting for Metal Men… but then again look at the creators… maybe the forgot which book they were making that month!
Love that Jungle cover Walt. Strange I was unaware of it. Id skin that pelt for Sheena 🙂
It doesn’t look like the Fantastic Five are have a Stoned Soul Picnic going Up Up and Away against Xemu. Given his coloring it seems he might be an Aquarius. If the battle doesn’t go well Sergius O’Hoolihan might have One Less Bell to Answer. (Now The Living Dream comes in with a snappy eight bars of accordion and spoons.)
That isn’t Sheena – she wouldn’t get herself into such a scrape – that’s “Bondage Blanche”, who when not tied up always makes a point of wearing Ravishing Raw Meat (TM) perfume.
Daredevil is a classic but it just didn’t make my cut because of Daredevil’s unnatural pose. Swamp Thing is super cool – talk about a thumbnail problem – when I was reviewing the covers this was just an absolute blur.
For #159 I am going to play one of my very few funny animal cards and pick Four Color. This being a super classic certainly influenced me, but still weighed against all other possibilities I think it is strongest on composition/art/story. Louie’s hat popping off clinches it.
Some other good ones: Daredevil (much stronger than #158 in my opinion), Jumbo (now _that’s_ Sheena – yow!), and Jungle (yow for Blanche as well as she’s finally had it up to here).
Superboy – another plethora of Superboys – I don’t think that Neal was driving this concept – maybe these were particular treats for a segment of the Superboy readership.
Veronica – good phone reception until Superman shows up and breaks her umbilical.
For the JOWA I see two romance candidates, Girls’ Romances and Young Romance, with Girls’ Romances coming out ahead. Candy should let Jeff go off to dance to The Living Dream with the Mother In the Last Featured romance title.
Agree with Gerald – FF#158 is a great cover. I enjoy how the scene fills the covers, with the villain seeming to attack the reader along with the members of the FF. I also enjoy when the cover the day is one I have in my collection, so I pulled my personal copy (which unfortunately is not a high grade copy such as Walt described above) and the effect is still there, and highlighted by the white background.
Superboy was also outstanding, and I echo Chris’s comments from yesterday wondering why these Adams covers have not found the affection of collectors, given the popularity of Adams covers from Batman and Detective.
Also, although I am a Frank Miller fan, I have never had any affinity for Daredevil #158.
You are right Chris, that is not Sheena, I think I was too deep into the Living Dream album and lost my concentration. Surprisingly there are a lot of good 25 cent FF covers, at the time I think the comic book world still saw the Fantastic Four title as a dominant title but the slide had long begun.
Maurice Whitman! He did the Jungle cover above and nearly every single other Fiction House cover as each title run came to an end. Superb work…you picked one of his Planet covers and I think I countered with my very favorite, Planet Comics #71, as good as anything Wood might have done. Good girl in space!
Whitman did all the rest of Jungle issues to the end. #159 looks like a man in a lion suit, I think the front legs are wrong, but its powerful. #163 could be a candidate for you.
Also take a look at Jumbo #161, 165, 166 and #167. All the little vignettes are different each issue, and nicely done. Horror, good girl art, a touch of sci-fi…these final covers had it all. And although unattributed by GCD, I believe all to be Whitman work. He just was incredible, with paintng-like covers.
With these last issues of Jumbo, Fiction House went right back to the same vignette idea, little boxes with back up features, as they did 12 or 13 years earlier, with their earliest issues. Sadly, the books were now 36 pages instead of 64, but the covers still promised a lot for a dime.
I hope one of these makes the cut…such long runs, into the mid-#160’s for both Jungle and Jumbo. Not many other 1940s titles made it that far along, except for the key DC titles. A few experienced major format changes, like Star Spangled—superhero into war. And of course All Star, from JSA vehicle into All Star Western. Blackhawk and G.I. Combat made it by moving from Quality to DC.
Captain Marvel Adventures and Whiz. Marvel Mystery turned to horror with a change to Marvel Tales, and made it to #159, Timely’s only competing run. Even the wildly popular Crime Does Not Pay only made it to #126, thanks to the Comics Code, but it started later than many of these other titles.