13 GREAT PAGES: A FRANK ROBBINS Birthday Celebration

The comics mainstay was born 105 years ago…

By PETER BOSCH

The late Frank Robbins — born 105 years ago on Sept. 9, 1917 — has been saluted in previous 13th Dimension birthday tributes for his work at DC writing and drawing Batman and Detective Comics, as well as illustrating the publisher’s version of The Shadow. Excellent as those were, I really preferred his work between 1975 and 1978 on Marvel’s The Invaders, where he drew almost all of the first 28 issues of the comic, as well as Giant-Size #1 and Annual #1.

What Mike Sekowsky was to Justice League of America, Robbins was to The Invaders, illustrating what seemed like an endless number of superheroes. The difference, though, was that Robbins was a dynamic action artist, his talent honed by nearly 40 years drawing daily newspaper strips (including a 33-year run on his creation Johnny Hazard). Robbins made every issue an exciting time of good guys versus the most dastardly villains of World War II.

Enjoy the following 13 GREAT PAGES (covers and interiors), in chronological order:

Giant Size Invaders #1 (June 1975). Cover, inks by John Romita.

Giant-Size Invaders #1 (June 1975). Splash page, inks by Vince Colletta.

Giant-Size Invaders #1 (June 1975). Two-page spread, inks by Colletta.

The Invaders #1 (Aug. 1975). Splash page, inks by Colletta.

The Invaders #12 (Jan. 1977). Splash page, inks by Frank Springer.

The Invaders #21 (Oct. 1977). Splash page, inks by Frank Springer.

The Invaders Annual #1 (1977). Splash page, inks by Springer.

The Invaders Annual # 1 (1977). Splash page, inks by Springer.

What If?  #4 (Aug. 1977). Splash page, inks by Springer.

What If? #4 (Aug. 1977). Interior page, inks by Springer.

What If? #4 (Aug. 1977). Interior page, inks by Springer.

What If? #4 (Aug. 1977). Interior page, inks by Springer.

Invaders #1 (March 2019). Variant cover by Robbins.

MORE

— 13 COVERS: The BATMAN Stories of FRANK ROBBINS. Click here.

— Marvel’s INVADERS OMNIBUS Coming in 2022 — Finally. Click here.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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6 Comments

  1. Love Frank Robbins. My first comics by him was Invaders 20( great splash page) and Human Fly 5. Great post.

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  2. I LOVE his work on Invaders!!! His work was dynamic and was perfect for this book. This is one of my favorite series from the Bronze Age.

    Thank you for the post.

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  3. Loved his stuff! His BATMAN with Man-Bat was enjoyable too.

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  4. Only great and versatile inkers could turns Robbins pencils into decipherable images. Imagine if tracers such as Mike Royer tried to ink Frank’s work….

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  5. I have to admit Frank’s work was an acquired taste but I instantly loved his “Golden-Agey” take on the Invaders.

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