Detective Comics #168, DC Comics, February 1951, Artist: Lew Sayre Schwartz .
For me it was a close race between the winner Detective Comics #168 by Lew Schwartz and the runner up Daredevil Comics #168 (pic below) by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson. Both have a central character posing on the cover so both are lacking the action I think would make them even better. The Detective Comics #168 cover kills with it’s jet black background and the bright yellow burst and title mast and lets not forget the rainbow of question marks.
Those are DC Romance tears Superboy is crying on the cover of Superboy #168! I couldn’t help but think of the late great Dr. John when I saw the cover to Girls’ Love #168, “I was in the right place but I must have took the wrong car…”.
Battle of the big hands happening with Strange Adventures #168 versus Thor #168 (pic below).
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.
Good choice, though that Daredevil was a strong contender. Elektra looks great, the former lover turned enemy is a good hook.
Thor is a bit too generic for me, it doesn’t draw me in. But it is nicely understated Kirby; I’m just used to a little more from him.
David, Thanks for the link yesterday to the Blackhawk serial. The trailer brought back memories. The uniforms were very good, and Blackhawk tied up while that twin-propeller plane taxis towards him….ouch!
Kirk Alyn was on the same convention circuit as I was during one or two summers in the early seventies, promoting his A Job For Superman. I used to carry his book in my early catalogs, and sell it at shows he wasn’t at. Got to know him a little, very nice man, easy to talk to and friendly. I will keep an eye put for a copy for you. Most of them should be signed, I think he published it himself and hand-sold them at shows he was a guest at.
As it was my usual weekend rush, I didn’t notice the Strange Adventures giant hand. The Galactus hand is a good catch, but the classic giant hands are disembodied. I think next year’s feature should be “365 Hands”, and then “365 Tears” for 2021.
I can’t understand everybody liking that Daredevil cover, I find it to be a below average piece of art, and while it has a story element, otherwise it’s a standing around cover.
As #169 is a ringer, I will say Ghostly Tales is just as cool (NEVER step outside the circle!). Superman is really good too – the composition is so classical that I somehow was reminded of David’s The Death of Socrates.
Otherwise we have some fine JOWA candidates. You really have to mention House of Mystery at some point – this Dial H for Hero run looks more like a run of Jughead’s Fantasy. Wonder Woman gives us a rival to Egg Fu, and World’s Finest must have sold seven copies given the stupidity of the cover. However I think the award has to go to Incredible Hulk, as the Bi-Beast matched the ridiculousness of the other ideas and yet became a permanent fixture.
Blackhawk not even worth of a JOWA and should have been put out of its misery by this point. (Just to prove that I am not anti-Blackhawk, I just picked up one of those DC Archives Blackhawk books Bud mentioned to see what the glory days were like.)
Although Detective Comics #168 was the clear and decisive winner, Day 168 was an entertaining day with several really good covers, including those referenced by Walt, and few others including:
– Batman #168 – Both Detective and Batman having outstanding overs on the same day seems to be a rare occurrence, but today was good Batman day.
– Superboy 168 – Great cover! Reminds me of the great Adams Superman cover on Action Comics #419. I just wish it were a action cover rather than a “crying” cover.
– Our Fighting Forces #168 – For some reason, I just thought the scene worked.
But I think JOWA must go to 2 DC comics:
– Flash #168 – Definitive proof that no one at DC knew how to draw someone running, which is a significant downside for Flash comics.
– Wonder Woman #168 – Kangaroo jousting deserves a JOWA.
I love the picks and comments of Bud, Walt, Chris and Derrick. Considering that Superboy, Jimmy Olsen and the earlier Blackhawks were selling over 500,000 copies, being read and not collected ,they must have been doing something right. Nice to hear that Kirk Alyn was a good guy Bud. I imagine him to be like Walt…only with muscles. 🙂
And thank you for your kind Comments Bud . We grew up during a classic period. So fortunate. My love for serials was due to Elwy Yost of Saturday night at the movies on TVO in Canada here. He played the serials at 6 pm every night,with an introduction and history. Little did I realize that my heroes Tarzan, Superman,Batman, The Phantom, Cap and Blackhawk were alive and well in the 40’s cinema.
Dad made sure we got the chores done and were in front of the TV by 6. Dad boasted of having never read a comic in his life, but he supported our fanfare and talked of his army buddies reading funny books as he called them. 🙂
( and he loved Amos and Andy on the radio)
Hey Bud and everyone…check Ewy Yost and John Candy out here
https://youtu.be/YXH3FpLXbNo
I don’t know Chris, I’ve always liked the cover to Daredevil #168, it’s a pretty good scene.
Derrick, I had a second look at the Our Fighting Forces cover and it is a nasty scene, how can you not want to pick up the book to see what happens! And I don’t know Derrick, I kind of like the orange on that Wonder Woman cover.
Dave and Bud, I have a friend names John Barthel, he used to run that old movie store on Markham Street in Toronto across from the old Beguiling in behind Honest Ed’s. He got to know Mr. Yost quite well over the years as Ewy would frequent the shop and they’d talk old movies. John collected old Brave and the Bold comics because he loved all the movies with Knights and with Robin Hood.
Ahh, Brave and the Bold. Russ Heath! Kubert! I’ve upgraded all but a couple now, those pre-JLA issues are treasures.
My experience with serials all came at the early conventions, 1969 into the seventies. Not in NY or San Diego, but the boys in Oklahoma City, Dallas and Houston had all the great old serials on scheduke, the old timers loved them as much as the old comics.
But watching them with your Dad, that’s way cool. When the Batman tv series was on, in 1966, they re-released the Batman serial at theaters. We watched all 12 or 15 episodes in one sitting, in downtown San Jose, complete with all the credits to each episode. I still remember Batman coming in thru a window and tripping over his cape. Reshoot the scene? Nahh…Are you kidding? It was fun.
😀