Batman #237, DC Comics, December 1971. Artist: Neal Adams.
Neal Adams wins the day with his classic grim reaper cover to Batman #237.
Jack Callahan combines a nice site gag with a pretty girl to drum up a winner of a cover for Four Color #237.
I like what Butch Guice did with the cover to Iron Man #237.
Commentor Chris Meli may like big hands but I like motor bikes and if I can’t get a girl on a motor bike I’ll settle for Captain America on a motor bike.
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.
Walter, taking on this project for a entire year…then inviting suggestions from us…and finally dealing with the (good natured) abuse over your choices. That certainly makes you a “Titan of Comics Appreciation.” I’m more historian than contemporary in my knowledge. I don’t know how you guys can do so well, especially dealers, keeping details on keys, first appearances and condition all nailed for now roughly 80 years of comics. But thanks, Chris! I like being a Titan!
The Adams Batman and Robin looks like the winner, nice work there. I like the Iron Man, good look of surprise even if a bit hokey. How to have facial expressions on an iron mask is a challenge.
Tillie looked so familiar, I thought I had picked it up just for the cover, it is fun. Her strip has always seemed pretty lame to me…but nope, don’t own it. Her Cupples and Leon (Platinum Age) covers can be good. Here is understated humor, so typical for Dell. Their art director for the covers, if they had one, or just the editors, they were really brilliant.
The Cap, I want to like it, but Keith Pollard and Al Milgrom phoned in that motorcycle. The wheels are spinning far too fast, and the whole scene is pretty cliched. They could have done better.
The flat out realism of the Steve McQueen MC scene in THE GREAT ESCAPE is hard to beat..it is said he did his own stunts on it, including jumping the barb-wire fence. Those old WWII bikes are HEAVY and can’t be handled like a modern dirt bike. Take a look at Alex Schomberg’s 1943 Captain America #27. Ok, its out of perspective and the bike has white walls (!) but it still works. What red-blooded kid could resist THAT cover?
Its so easy to be a critic!
I have a feeling that Neal Adams not only won the day (with the obvious choice), but will probably win the year. I haven’t kept count, but I have a feeling he’s had the most covers so far. Next January 1st we should get a final tally – should be a fun read.
Walt is a Titan’s Titan, which I think makes him Titano.
The Four Color is fun and I did give it a glance, but not enough there for me to say “great”.
No to the Iron Man – it’s been done many times before and the art is just par.
The Captain America is interesting. I agree with Bud on the cover itself, which is why I didn’t pick it. It is clearly a weak homage to #27, which is one of the jewels of my collection. However, I was interested in “Diebenwald”, so I googled it and all I found were references to this book, so apparently it is a made-up name. What was noted in all the references was that this book tells the story of Captain America liberating a Nazi death camp. As far as I know, this is the only such story post cover of #46. Given what that book has been doing, I think it would be wise to pick up some very high grade copies of this issue.
#238 a letdown compared to recent issues. I will go with one of the greatest standing around covers of all time, Batman. This is another book that I had as a wee lad and chopped up its cover. I have remedied that mistake at a high price, adding another jewel.
I am on the fence about this, but I will mention Marvel Tales as a distant runner up.
A number of JOWA candidates, so let’s go with something unusual, Our Army at War. After saying nice things about Kubert, I have to take points away for his agreeing to submit this one.
Nice Batman, and I also picked (though not posted about) FF yesterday. Walt’s on a roll!
For 238 I’m going to go with Daredevil by Arthur Adams. It’s way more exciting than that standing around cover on Batman. For a minute I thought I was looking at a different book called ‘World’s Greatest Superheroes’, not a good clear indication of it being a Batman continuity book. While it is a good one, it’s not tops. Other runner-ups are ASM’s classic costume tear, Marvel Tales (though I don’t think Spidey has ever thrown a building), X-Factor for it’s unique lay-out, and lastly Unknown Soldier for sheer impact.
JOWA does indeed have many candidates, but I’m going to give it to Fantastic Four for silliness, and because Franklin looks he has an adult head on a child’s body. A odd Byrne flub IMO.
Close JOWA second is Action. Not because of the Gorilla in a Superman suit, not because Supes feet made a perfect hole in the ground, but because that is the greatest piece of log ever grown! It didn’t even break over his head, and yet it was broken off from the main trunk!!
WWWP?
Titano!! I like it, almost as much as I like the abuse.