Happy Valentiine's Day!

Super DC Giant #17, October 1970. Cover by Nick Cardy.




War Time Romances #1, 1951.




Superman Valentine's Card, 1940.




Romance illustration, Arthur Sarnoff, n.d.




St.Valentine's Day Massacre, Edmund F. Ward, n.d.




Famous Funnies #163, February 1948.

The Currently Greatest Comic Book Cover Ever

Many DC artists used this gray tone process to produce some very artistic covers, most notably Jack Adler and Bob Brown.

But never was the technique employed to the effect achieved in Adler's Brown's masterpiece for the cover of Challengers of the Unknown #11. Most artists would be content to have a bizarre alien blasting the Challengers, and to make it really weird, maybe have the laser blasts coming out of the alien's eyes! The artist has ably delivered on the strange alien part and could have washed off his brushes and gone home with the satisfaction of another fine, but workmanlike, job completed.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Adler Brown took this one to the next level by perching the alien on a flying Triceratops. Okay, that's really about all I can handle. But no, the artist is not content until he pushes aside my boundaries of how cool I think something can be and establish an entire new paradigm in comic book art by giving the flying dinosaur horse legs.


Correction: Thanks to Mr. Door Tree, and quoted from his comment: "Adler only did the post production work on it...Bob Brown did the ink wash artwork for this cover! Brown created three other ink wash covers at DC...House of Mystery #92, Tales of the Unexpected #43 and Tomahawk #65."

Thank you for educating me along with my two other readers.




Challengers of the Unknown #11, January 1960.

Wrightson's Marvel Superheroes

Here's a few of Bernie Wrightson's earlier renditions of Marvel superheroes. He would go on the produce the Spiderman graphic novel Hooky in 1986 and the Hulk/Thing graphic novel The Big Change in 1987.




The Incredible Hulk #197, March 1976. Cover by Bernie Wrightson.



Captain Marvel #43, March 1976. Wrightson inks on Al Milgrom pencils.




Astonishing Tales #31, August 1975. Wrightson inks on Ed Hannigan pencils.

Land O' Linkin'

I'm feeling kind of random today:


Here's a review of a recent gallery show in Scranton, PA of art by Al Williamson.


I ran across this kind of odd page about 3-D EC Comics which really doesn't have much on it, but it did lead me to the Golden Age Comic Book Stories post of art from the unpublished issue #3.


One Drawing for Every Page of Moby Dick. Does exactly what is says on the label.


And, a couple pictures of Gene Tierney...

The Back Covers

Here's some ads from the backs of comic books, 1938 - 1942.




A typewriter plus a beautiful desk! Only 10 cents a day. You have to write them for the total price. 1941.




The classic Daisy BB Gun. Don't put your eye out! 1942.




Great prizes for selling vegetable and flower seeds. 1942.




The perennial Johnson-Smith Company advertisement. This 1938 ad doesn't look much different from the 1970's ones I remember. Selling the same crap for almost the same price forty years later!




Fireworks! Fun for everyone. Explode them in your friend's face just like in the picture. 1939.

Playboy Pictures

Not those kind! Good living as envisioned by an unknown artist for Playboy magazine, I'm guessing 1970's or early 1980's.

DC Annuals

Here's some early silver age DC Annuals...




Lois Lane Annual #1, Summer 1962.




Flash Annual #1, 1963.




Sgt. Rock's Prize Battle Tales Annual #1, Winter 1964.




Superboy Annual #1, Summer 1964.




Superman Annual #1, 1960.




Superman Annual #2, 1960.




Batman Annual #1, 1961.




Batman Annual #2, 1962.




Batman Annual #3, Summer 1962.




Batman Annual #4, Winter 1962.