Last week I should have been on the outskirts of Belgrade, Serbia for my cousin’s daughters wedding. This whole pandemic thing had them postpone, new date yet to be set. I missed the wedding so I thought I’d compensate…
I figured I’d start with the mush, I think this is Jerry Ordway from Superman: The Wedding Album, December 1996.
Here’s a nice Hal Fosteresque wedding scene by Dave Gibbons for Legion of Superheroes Annual #2, September 1983.
Sadly you just don’t know how long a marriage will last, sadly we know exactly how long the marriage below will last. This is a nice Dan Barry splash from Crime Busters #6, November 1948.
I’ve heard of shotgun wedding but this is ridiculous, Jim Lee’s splash from Batman #613, the Hush storyline.
I honestly don’t know what she sees in him but I hope for her sake they don’t get serious. I really like this Reed Crandall splash from Military Comics #14, December 1942.
Yessir! That Military is Reed Crandall at his best. It bears repeating, his Blackhawk splash pages for #12-21 are masterpieces. He was doing some fine work on The Ray and Stormy Foster and Uncle Sam (in National) also, but you’ll have to dig for them.
Walter meant GANG Busters, as you see by the indicia above. Crime Busters just wasn’t ringing any bells with me. Ah, Dan Barry, another unsung master. The seriously neglected Buster Brown Comics have some killer gtreat Barry in issues before #10 or #12, including a cover or two. He did some nice work in the Golden Age Daredevil also, as that title went to the dogs, err, I meant got taken over by the little Wiseguys in the #40s. In fact, he pops up a lot before he took over The Flash Gotdon strip and mostly left comics for the newspaper strip world, around 1952.
But this Barry also reflects that DC “house style” of the late 40s and early 50s, with contributors (and trend setters) like Alex Toth, Infantino, Joe Giella, et al. Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space benefited from this in the early issues. Sensation Mystery, too, almost every issue a gem. But Danger Trail is still my favorite DC title with all these artists plus Murphy Anderson doing his own thing. Danger Trail had five superb issues (1950-51] with the best creators at DC doing adventure/film noir. Some material intended for cancelled series ended up in World’ Finest as backup strips, circa #68-69 where at least two stories for the unpublished #6 show up.
This DC house style extended into their romance tltes, Girls’ Romances and Girls’ Love, in the earliest issues, a year or two or three before the code. Like many other collectors, I used to hold my nose about anything romance related. But today there’s a smaller but active bunch of us snapping these titles up, beginning with Vince Colletta’s Atlas gems, but extending into most companies. Lots of drek, but like the old days when we looked for Frazetta, Torres, Check and Williamson in countless comics, before the guide began indexing them, there’s still a lot to find. All but the keys (Untamed Love, Forbidden Love, Matt Baker, of course, Bill Ward at Quality, some early S&K, etc), there’s gold to be mined there, both art and some wild stories. And not expensive in most grades.
Bud is biased… but then so am I… love the Crandall! The Dan Barry is a sweet example of that period where crime comics were the rage! I assume you meant you don’t know what Harley’s interest in the Joker is… me either… I figured she was a character who was interested in whom ever had the newest, biggest, shinny …. cough… gun!
Thanks for the correction Bud, indeed it is Gang Busters #6 and thanks for all the juice clues you gave us for more great Splash pages, I’ll try to dig a couple of those out for future posts.
I know what you mean Gerald — Women!