Worlds Finest #198, DC Comics, November 1970. Artist: Kurt Swan.
World’s Finest #198 is the cover I’d want to look at the longest today and thus it takes top prize for Day #198. Nice to see Kurt Swan get the nod. Kurt drew a lot of Superman just standing around on covers and I was never a big fan but I really do like this action shot.
Barry Windsor Smith’s interpretation of Storm on the cover of X-Men #198 takes a while to sink in, the overall effect is moody and striking.
Greg Capullo draws an excellent cover to Spawn #198 with the inks coming from Todd McFarlane himself.
I really do like this little stretch of Savage Dragon covers.
Other strong #198s included House of Mystery, Amazing Spider-Man and Strange Adventures.
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 but there are two more competitors tomorrow so I guess you are saying this is the best of the three? The race is neck and neck, but for tradition and for some other factors I would go with the original (Superman #199).
X-Men is a hovering around cover. The art is fine but I am generally not a huge fan of the later Smith. He followed the Kane path with the faces becoming less natural and more “Smith faces”.
I almost put the Spawn on my list. It fails too much on my “tells a story” criterion. Spawn is fighting somebody, so what else is new? Pretty much a similar critique for Savage Dragon. In my opinion these covers look nice on a rack but they don’t draw you into the book. If you see a Superman vs. Flash race, the first thought is to turn to the last page and see who won. The reaction to the Spawn cover is “that’s nice work.”
I already gave my thumbs down to the “Fire Apes”, and I say thumbs down to the other two you mentioned. House of Mystery is hackneyed and a downer after seeing the Adams run. ASM is Wonder Bread – a step up from store brand, but still standard and bland. I’m suppose to get excited by the revelation in #198 that Mysterio can create illusions?
Again a thin population for #199. I think it has to be my race favorite, Superman. Really the only thing I don’t care for on this cover is Superman’s face – he looks like Gaston from the animated Beauty and The Beast.
I will call Blackhawk as both a contender and the JOWA. The cover is well done and really tells a story – but “weird mummy insects”??? Four Color is another one of those beautifully colored funny animal covers, and Donald and I have very similar personalities so I have a bias. Wonder Woman is controversial but a really striking and unusual piece of work. Finally the third place racer is World’s Finest, which only rates because of Adam’s beautiful work in figures if not in composition (I hate the annoying bottom panel – yes of course there is a winner and yes of course we don’t expect you to tell us who it is on the cover).
Savage Dragon 198. Again an ode to Kirby and Thor#138 . Thanks Mr Lawson
https://s3.amazonaws.com/cgccomics-production/gallery/Thor_138_9-6.jpg
Walt sure likes these Superman Flash race covers. I must admit I do too. Still…I’m left picturing Walt and his brother at the summer Serbian picnic having three legged races and such…..surely the inspiration?
I do love Chris’s picks. They are invariably better then mine and well thought out and considered.
I felt Smith was never the artist he was, after he left marvel in the early 1970’s. I think he left that part of his life mostly behind. Kinda like Frank Miller. Too much success too soon?
Methinks it was Curt Swan Walt…..and I love his standing around covers…and the title was generally the best seller through out the sixties. 1962 for example 750,000 copies isn’t nothing to sniff at.
In 1966 Batman out sold superman 900,000 issues to 719,000 but this was at the height of the TV series. And the next 4 top sellers Superboy Jimmy Olsen Lois Lane worlds finest often showcased Curt Swan covers. Then Archie was 7th followed By Action and Adventure comics.
All Superman tittles with Swan as artist, or Swan like art as per DC Editors. Mind you Mr Adams and Mr Anderson also did a lot of work on these titles in the sixties. But Curt had been carrying the cover ball for a decade.
By 1968 Superman again was the king of all comic sales at 636,000…and most of his Superman titles were in the top ten.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GWd92cX-_fo/VfB5vAjJ6cI/AAAAAAAAJjQ/RDN9V1j237o/s1600/Superman245.jpg
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Long Live the memory of Curt Swan
After DC’s 1985 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths and with the impending 1986 revision of Superman by writer/artist John Byrne, Swan was released from his duties on the Superman comics. Critic Wallace Harrington summed up Swan’s dismissal this way:
… the most striking thing that DC did was to completely turn their back on the one man that had defined Superman for three decades … They closed the door and turned out the lights on the creator that had defined their whole line. With no real thanks, no pomp nor circumstance, DC simply relieved Curt of his artistic duties on Superman. Curt Swan who had drawn Superman in Action, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Superman, and World’s Finest, and drew Superboy in Adventure Comics, who was the quintessential Superman artist of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. He became was just another victim of the 1980’s implosion. Gone.[25]
Swan’s last work as regular artist on Superman was the non-canonical 1986 story “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”, written by Alan Moore.[26]
🙁
I like ALL of your covers choices this time. Even Savage Dragon is a fun image. It seems to me Swan’s cover might be from an Infantino idea or his rough, it really looks more like Carmine’s work. Nice to see Barry Windor-Smith here to. Sixty five cent cover price, wow. The Spawn fight in the air is very well done.
I had written something earlier today and the kind edit window of WordPress wiped it out, so I will have to be briefer this time.
The gist was that I really grok Dave about Curt Swan. I didn’t appreciate Swan back in the day, and now I really do. Dave’s link to #245 tells me he is the real deal with respect to Swan and Superman. I bought that book on the newsstand, and it was one of those that I chopped up when I was very young. It haunts me to this day. I could get a lower grade copy but I’m waiting….
We should give credit to Alan Moore for that last story. With his star power he put a lot of people in contact with Swan’s work at the very end, and his star power has kept that story in print. I remember looking for those books because of the advance press, and the sense that they closed one door on my youth. They remain keepers.
Heck Chris..if there was ever a book to chop up and enjoy, that was a great one. What images. I always enjoy Alan Moore, and I appreciate Mr Moore’s defense of Jack Kirby on youtube. Now Ive another reason to respect Mr Moore, as if I needed moore. 🙂