Pep #188, Archie Comics, December 1965. Artist: Harry Lucey.
I have a nice raw 8.0ish copy of Pep #188 and I can attest it is a pleasure to look at and a treasure to own.
I like Gene Colan’s Strange Tales #185 cover but I must admit I thought it was a Colan Dracula on the cover at first glance.
Wonder Woman #188 (1987 series) by Adam Hughes is both innovative and eye catching.
I also really liked Thor #188 and I have to give the JOWA to Batman #188!
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 agree with it all Walt even the JOWA that rubbed you the wrong way! I have to ask tho… does Adam Hughes go to a-lot of exotic dance clubs for his inspiration?
Love the Pep. Also a great snapshot of teen hairdos and fashion. From that time. And well drawn.
Strange Tales – nah, been there, done that. I see nothing special there. Sorry Gene…and Walter. Boring.
Wonder Woman – technically beautiful, but looks like the last cover you liked, just a slightly different angle and no background figures. He is even using the lasso as an element again. Too dark, too generic to capture interest on a stand. Its pure pin-up, and I say that while being a big Fan of Hughes. But as a cover? No. It gets Chris’ static, no action award.
Batman #188 – well, the idea is dumb..ok, REALLY dumb. But technically, Infantino and Giella drew it very well! I was expecting to see one of those terrible Bob Kane (aka Shelly Moldoff) covers from the pre-makeover days in the early sixties. Nearly all would get JOWA awards until Schwartz, Infantino and team got drafted into the “new look” with Detective #327, May 1964. The Batman issue switch I don’t know off the top of my head, like I do Detective. Looks like it was #164, June 1964 issue. So this is 24 issues into the “new look” era.
If I can be permitted a quick aside…speaking of Joe Giella, best known for his Green Lantern inking, perhaps. Did I mention here about meeting Joe at Terrificon in Massachusetts last year? Really, really nice guy. He beguiled me (and he didn’t know me from Adam, I am sure I was just another fan to him) with a great anecdote about his first work. Not at DC, but for Stan Lee at Timely in 1948.
Joe Sinnott was also a guest there too, and they knew one another well. Sinnott wasn’t in as good a shape as Giella, sadly.
So…Giella lost the original art pages, his first job for Stan, on the subway bringing it in…Stan was ready to show him the door, but Mike Sekowsky…of course, Mr. Speed, and already a veteran at Timely by then…he chimes in and offers to whip out the story, saving young Giella his new job. That would make Giella either 19 or 20 years old then. Now he’s 91.
Joe said Stan and Sekowsky would bring that story up every time they’d bump into one another.
4.5
There is a lot to like with Pep but what is really rubbing me the wrong way is the concept. Veronica “accidentally” wore mismatched socks??? That’s like having Reggie eating a huge sandwich or Jughead ogling a girl. If it had been Betty I would be okay. I still wouldn’t go for “great”.
I missed the Strange Tales and I think it is very strong albeit not “great” – Dormammu’s missing arm is an issue for me.
Agreed on Batman – I could tell the cover was weak so I didn’t bother to zoom it.
I am with Bud on WW. Just doing something conceptual and executing it well isn’t getting my “great” vote.
Bud’s Giella story is one of countless illustrating the randomness of life. Maybe there is a follow-on story where Giella brought in some other famous artist or writer, and that would never have happened if Sekowsky had been at lunch.
#189 is better than #188 for covers. For the day’s pick I’ll go with the safe choice of Batman. ASM, House of Mystery, and Thor were all solid competition. Some Miller fans might go with Daredevil but similar to the others I disagree. Miller’s image composition is great but the finished art continues to strike me as crude, and there’s really no story.
For JOWA, Action is a bit of contender but I guess it is just a typical 50’s lame Action cover. I think Wonder Woman is a candidate but I could see disagreement on this. Iron Man is solid with “Enter… The Termite!” But the reigning champion Blackhawk clearly takes the crown with cavemen wielding heat ray guns while flying on jet-powered skis. We need to consider renaming this to the BWA.
Meli noticed what looks like a missing arm on Dormammu, but I’m wondering if that’s not just a under skirt ‘junk shot’ that is happening. Seems awfully close to the doctor’s ‘sanctum sanctorum’, and Strange’s face surely emotes that possibility well. He’s getting it from the front and the back!’
Have to agree on the “Dracula” look. Seen it so many times before, just the players around him have changed.
I like all three choices that Walt laid out above – especially the effect of the WW cover.
But I thought the choice for today came down tot 2 candidates – Thor #188 and House of Mystery #188. The contrasts between the 2 could not be more stark with the light, color and vibrancy of the Buscema’s Thor battle cover pitted against the dark and elemental Adams feel to House of Mystery. Both covers seemed so representative of each artist, I was stuck in making a choice.
In defense of Batman #188, my son was huge fan of the Lego Batman movie. That movie made light of several aspects of the Batman myth, including that subset of villains that seemed less then terrifying. However, it set my son on the task of collecting the first appearance of many of those villains, so Batman #188 was added to his collection as the first appearance of Mr. Eraser. Some other issues were tough to get, like the first appearance of Catman (Detective 311), Killer Moth, and the recent cover selection of the Firefly (Detective 184). But he has also rounded up quite a few others such as Calendar Man, the Calculator, and Polka Dot Man (Detective 300). And from there he moved on to covers that showed the stranger outfits that showed up in the Lego Batman movie like the Rainbow Batman Detective 241), and Zebra Suit Batman (Detective 275) – many of which made cover appearances over the years – and made the dark and gloomy character of Batman, a little more accessible to a kid. His collection has matured as he has aged, but it was this kind issue that brought him to Batman.
missed all the chatter on this one – Montreal !!!!