Detective Comics #365, DC Comics, July 1967. Artist: Carmine Infantino.
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.
We’re a stubborn lot I can tell you that much. As the selections got thinner and the reasons to leave got thicker the comments never waned, the daily visits stayed firm, we saw it through. Thanks for hanging in there with me, it was an informative and noble exercise.
I’m way too lazy to attempt this but it would be interesting to count up which artist won the most days? Neal Adams? Carmine Infantino? L.B. Cole? I have no idea but I’m sure these three were in the mix.
I thought today would be a fitting day to show what I was up against on a daily basis, I’m posting every cover that was available to me, there were 20 in total and I’ll pick them in the order I like them and I’ll try to give a quick critique of each.
I’m not sure how but I think I’ll do a few Covers posts in 2020, not a regular feature but something to build on this, there is so much to write about and discuss when it comes to comic book covers.
Maybe a top 25 covers post?
The day belongs to Carmine Infantino and his cover to Detective Comics #365, Joker covers always command attention and this one even more so.
Don Gunn gives us another fantastic Brownies cover, it was a joy recognizing the gift that these Brownies covers really are.
Gene Colan is a master at unique perspectives and difficult angles.
Stan Goldberg gives us another great Pep Comics cover on issue #365. Those girls really did like their boys didn’t they!
Neal Adams has done so many great covers but I can’t count Adventure #365 as one of them, credit to the colorist on this one.
Love the underwater punch on Kieron Dwyer’s cover to Captain America #365, I didn’t even know who Kieron Dwyer was until this exercise, he’s a good artist.
John Romita gets credit for the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #365, let’s not pile on John, he’s left his mark on Spidey.
I wish Steve Epting did the foreground in the same format as the background on his cover to Avengers #365.
Ross Andru draws a cover to Action Comics #365 that you really want to open up and read.
Ed Hannigan has given us some stand out Batman covers so I’ll forgive him for his OK effort on Batman #365.
Walt Simonson delivers a battle cover for Hulk #365, the Hulk and the Thing might be responsible for the most “great” battle covers of all time!?
The Thing is one of the hardest Marvel characters to draw “right” but Paul Ryan does a great job on the cover to Fantastic Four #365.
Dan DeCarlo’s cover to Archie #365 doesn’t have me fooled, they’re actually laughing at Archie’s sweater.
Walt Simonson mailed in his cover to Thor #365 but we’ll forgive him because he gave us some great ones.
Brandon Peterson draws a pretty mean Colossal on the cover of X-Men #365.
I’m noticing Stan Goldberg liked to draw Betty and Veronica way more than he liked to draw Archie and Jughead.
The best part of Ross Andru’s Superman #365 cover is that outdated hairstyle on Supergirl.
Joe Kubert was a workhorse, this exercise gave me a new appreciation for his work.
Daniel Branca gets us into Uncle Scrooge’s head quite nicely on the cover to Uncle Scrooge #365.
Didn’t say! I did notice through this exercise that there are a lot of covers not credited to any artist.
Bravo, Walter!
Congratulations Walter – although i haven’t always agreed with you. It was an incredible project. Just two comments on today’s posts. 1. I love Gene Colan and think he is often dismissed as a journeyman, but that DD cover is far from being his best work (anatomy?) 2. To say that John Romita left his mark on Spider-Man is like saying that Jack Kirby was sort of OK. Let’s see what the new year brings us.
So those very first choices, way back early in 2019, with so many books to pick from…they must have been really, really tough to find just the right cover amongst so many.
And this exercise today nicely does point out the lesser lights….interesting that we’re down to just 20 candidates. Fun trivia fact.
I agree with your last two top choices…the Detective is weird and very unique, at least for when it came out. And even a silly theme like this is pulled off with magnificent rendering.
**sigh** …you’ve actually given me an appreciation for The Brownies. They only came up for me previously because Walt Kelly did some early issues. And throughout this exercise, you’ve reinforced the fact that “Dell Comics are Good Comics,” as they used to say. Those Four Color covers just keep giving.
Kudos to Walter for a year of discovery for all of us. It’s been a real pleasure to participate.
Like Bud, I agree with your top two choices. And my guess is that if you were to aggregate the covers Infantino pencilled himself with those he did the layouts for, he’d easily have taken honors for the most top covers selected for this exercise. Speaking of layouts, I do think you underrated the Hannigan Detective. It’s an ambitiously complex scene well-designed. Look how your eye travels from foreground weapons, to Batman fighting his witch-doctoresque foe, back to the two Inca-like natives, to the startled red-head babe in explorer garb, up to the leaping leopard, then back down the curve of the cliff to Batman’s upraised arm, and hence through the composition again. It ain’t easy to orchestrate that, and with the possible exception of the Brownies cover, nothing else for the day is nearly so ambitious.
Thanks for this interesting exercise, and kudos to Bud Plant for his Facebook post tipping me off to what you were up to this year.
Thanks for a great year of cover blogging…I don’t know how you’ll top it! And I’ll also miss your undervalued spotlight…another one of my favourite columns, even if I didn’t always agree with the picks. Looking forward to your future ideas.
Say it’s not over!! What are we going to do every morning without the thrill of finding a new undiscovered cover or seeing an old 4-color friend. Walter, you’ve done a great job with this project. Thanks for all the hard work, time and creativity. It was a really fun journey! For the next year, staying on the cover theme, I’d love to see an in depth look at the top cover artists in the field – as well as the less talked about ones. I did a show for VH-1 where we put all of the the artists songs in order along with their lives. Maybe seeing the progression of the greats would be a of interest. Neal Adams went through a number of phases from his first cover to now, Barry Smith the same, Jack Kirby basically started great and will always be the King. Whatever you do next Walt, I wait with bated breath! A New Years Eve cheer to you, good sir!
Thanks Walt! It was a daunting task to undertake but you did fantastic! We were treated to old favorites and new stuff that I wasn’t aware of! While I will miss this daily column we still have Comic Book Daily to offer us more in the world of comics! A kudos to everyone else’s responses as well which added to what made this a must read everyday!
Walt, congratulations and thanks. Your great idea going in came to a fruition that I think was well beyond expectations. This exercise has brightened every day for me this year through your work, the work of others, and by giving me the excuse to drop my cares for a few minutes each day and review some great comic art. Moreover, the education I received, and the deepening of my appreciation of the medium and artists was extraordinary. A year ago Four Color, Gil Kane, and Joe Kubert were barely on my radar – now they are at the top of my want list. I think “JOWA” will eventually become a recognized term when discussing books. I could go on and on. Revel in a job well done and your enriching of the lives of many others.
With that said, it wouldn’t be right to not complete the year without comments on today’s picks. I was on board with the pick of the day, and I could see the Four Color coming. Of the others I would say that I am not a fan of the Colan DD (as Robin comments, even more anatomical weirdness as Colan aged), and I don’t dig Colossal’s (I mean Colossus’s) face on X-Men.
I like John J’s idea about the evolution of artists. To add another name, Byrne’s art has changed through the years, and some interesting comparisons between the decades could be made.
I was getting ready to go through my routine of looking ahead, and then I realized – we’re done! But I don’t want to be done. So – no commitment, mind you, but I fired up my WordPress blog that I set up just for commenting on CBD, and I put up a post:
https://chrismeli.wordpress.com/2019/12/31/covered-beyond-365-366/
I am going to try to keep this going until the well runs really dry. If anybody feels like continuing along with me, please drop me comments to keep it going. With Action, Detective, Four Color, etc., I think we have some good material to keep us going well into 2020.
Thanks, Walt! It has been a fun experience, and one that dramatically widened my scope to new genres, artists and titles.
And we had the good fortune to end a classic Batman v Joker cover.
Thanks fellas, you guys made it fun. Good ideas going forward too and you guys are right that there should be more after this. Thankfully Chris Meli is stepping up and trying to extend this a little further, I’ve already clicked his link!!
You`re Free Walt …Free !!!!! Serbian Stallion is Unchained from Comic cover madness
https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.vD93buMIEgbRR6N5wxkFHgHaFm&pid=Api&P=0&w=227&h=173
Such a range of covers in one day. I can’t think of much to say but thanks again for this fascinating exercise! Happy New Year, everybody!
Happy New Year to you Tim and to you too Dave!!
You should count backwards this year and end day 365 with #1 issues