Doctor Strange #177, Marvel Comics, February 1969, Artist: Gene Colan.
I would have went with a different one if it was close but for the 2nd day in a row Gene Colan carries the day. Colan was a titan!
Something about the late 1960s/early 1970s for issues #177 but I didn’t want to feature only within such a tight date range so I left out great covers like World’s Finest #177 – Luthor/Joker cover, and House of Mystery #177. I did include 1 from the era, Thor #177 – Kirby! and Gil Kane’s very green cover to Green Lantern #177 from 1984.
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.
All three are very sharp. GL’s got the legs of a ballet dancer, impossibly long, but that’s Kane. Colan at his best, his Daredevil and Doc Strange were just perfect. And his Iron Man…
Nice generic Kirby but he sells it once again. Always great to see the other gods too, I liked Balder and the crew getting into stories.
Interesting to think both these long-lived Marvel titles, morphed from Strange Tales and Journey into Mystery, began life as pre-code horror/sci-fi in June 1951 and June 1952, respectively. Those early issues with covers bt Joe Maneely, Bill Everett and Russ Heath were lots of fun.
It’s good Marvel wasn’t restarting with #1’s in the sixties. Tales of Suspense morphed to Captain America while Iron Man lost the TOS coin toss (or won it, depends on your perspective now) and restarted.
All good choices Walt. I’ll go with the Kirby Thor cover, so much to look at !
Sometimes a classic cover is a classic cover for all the right reasons, and Dr. Strange #177 is a true gem.
Also appreciated the views Walt provided of Thor 177 and GL 177. Both are outstanding, but I continue to be amazed at the unbelievable quality of covers that Jack Kirby provided for Thor. I was at a local comic shop last week which had an almost complete run of these great of Kirby Thor covers and I just spent some time enjoying them all before narrowing my selection and walking home with only 3.
No argument here on the Doctor Strange! Plus Derrick is right on that run of Thor covers! I didn’t realize Kane revisited GL! That appears to be a filler issue in Wein/Gibbons run…. or am I wrong?
Hmm. I have to be honest and say that my favorite #177 is Savage Dragon. I guess there is an anti-Larsen vibe that I am supposed to be with but that cover is a cool take-off. Sorry but Doctor Strange is just good. Another poster with only a shred of story, and clearly a standing around cover. Thor beats it by a lot but again no storytelling so it has to be put in a blurb. Thumbs way down on that GL with later Kane’s weakness in drawing faces front and center. (After seeing more of his early work in this exercise I am wondering whether this was some kind of Picasso-esq decision by Kane to elevate style over realism.) House of Mystery would be fantastic as a poster if it had better colors, but as a comic cover the detail overwhelms it. Still the best art of the lot by far.
No mention of JOWAs recently but we have two good ones to choose from today, but the classic Flash beats Batman by a wide margin. And be honest – if you saw that Flash sitting right next to that Doctor Strange on the newsstand (they are nearly contemporaries), which one would pique your curiosity more?
For tomorrow I don’t think there is any possibility other than Wonder Woman. You could call this a standing around cover but it isn’t – the action is implied and the story is dynamite. The runner up is Batman, which will make you feel all the sorrier to have perused the Green Lantern above. I don’t think I have ever seen this book up for auction, and for good reason. Flash is good in a way similar to #174. Superboy is a fairly cool cover from a below average quality set of Adams possibilities. I also really like Thor although the art is kind of crude.
The #178 JOWA to Blackhawk again (huh what?) although that kiss on Girls’ Love comes close to taking it.
I saw the Savage Dragon #177 cover and liked it, not sure why I didn’t add it to the day’s list but it does belong there.
So what exactly bugs you about that Blackhawk cover Chris?
Gerald, I have to admit the Blackhawk is pretty silly, and you know I am a fan. The team is using a giant mechanical beetle to fight one villain? Why? How about straffing him with their planes? There were some superb giant mechanized threats on covers before #100, mostly invented by the bad guys or commies…but once again DC takes an successful theme and dumbs it down to six-year-old level.
Chris, not sure which WW series you are talking about? 1st or 2nd, regarding your JOWA. But as far as tomorrow’s choice, the Adam Hughes cover on #178 is not the best Hughes, and gives me no reason to look inside. WW holding a rose? So what? Seems a throwback to bad romance covers.
Batman #178 has a superb Kane rendering of Batman, thanks for pointing it out. It reminds me of those 1940’s Captain America covers of Cap and Bucky parachuting into battle. I love those. BUT…Kane’s chubby bad guys in those silly red outfits spoils it for me.
Thor 177 ? Kirby was and is my all time favorite…but at this stage he is morphing into 1970’s Kirby…blocky and predictable. Time,age, different sized art paper and battles with Marvel were taking its toll. A few New God and Mr Miracle cover gems lay ahead, but this was the beginning of the decline. Still great,just not the king.
supporting evidence..the covers of FF 1 to 60 compared to FF 61 to 100.
Strangely his Thor and Cap covers seem to suffer less. Enthusiasm? I’m certain Stan and his band of credit thieves had something to do with it. ( when I say credit thieves, I mean people who realized the value of property rights and merchandising long term)