Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jan 26, 2016 | 2 comments

Some Avengers and Defenders action for ya …—

Sal Buscema, one of the lynchpins of the House of Ideas, was born Jan. 26, 1936 — making him a nice, round 80.

And how do we celebrate at 13th Dimension? 13 COVERS!

Now, I picked Avengers and Defenders covers because not only is that where you’ll find some of Buscema’s best work, but because they afford us the opportunity to see his renderings of many a mighty Marvelite in one fell swoop!

Happy birthday, Mr. Buscema!

(My standard caveat: This is a subjective list and not a ranking of any kind. This is pretty much what I dig and you may feel very differently. So, rather than beef about a cover you don’t see, instead join in the fun and share your own choices in the comments section or in whatever social-media thread you saw this.)

Sam Grainger inks

Jim Mooney inks

Grainger inks

John Verpoorten inks

Grainger inks

Jim Starlin layout/Frank Giacoia inks

Frank Giacoia inks

Cover images and credits from the mighty Grand Comics Database.