Posted By Dan Greenfield on Oct 26, 2023 | 8 comments

Sometimes, you just gotta dig the off-brand…

By WALT GROGAN

Larry Lieber, who has had a long and distinguished career as both a comic book artist and writer, turns 92!

Spending most of his career at Marvel, Lieber, born Oct. 26, 1931, had a hand in co-creating Ant-Man, Iron Man and Thor by scripting several of those early stories. Stan Lee’s younger brother also went on to a nearly 10-year stint pencilling and inking Marvel’s popular Western title Rawhide Kid from 1964 to 1973.

Lieber also pencilled both the short-lived daily newspaper strip The Incredible Hulk and the longer running The Amazing Spider-Man strip, which he drew from 1986 to 2018.

But one of my favorite periods was Lieber’s time as cover artist and editor for Martin Goodman’s Atlas/Seaboard Comics line. In the mid-’70s, Goodman, the ex-Marvel publisher, wanted to outdo his former company by, strangely, aping Marvel’s style and Larry gave many of those covers a very Marvel-like feel. One of my favorites was the cover to Western Action #1 starring Kid Cody and the Comanche Kid, given Larry’s expertise with the Rawhide Kid. The title, sadly, only ran the one issue. (It’s down below.)

So, with no further ado, here are 13 GROOVY LARRY LIEBER COVERS FOR ATLAS/SEABOARD, from the company’s 1974-75 existence:

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The Destructor #1. I really dig this cover. It’s brimming with action! And it always cracks me up when a villain wears a full face mask and tops it off with a fedora! Plus Wally Wood’s inks give Larry pencils a nice, crisp feel.

Wally Wood inks

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The Destructor #2. Here’s another cool, action-packed cover. I can only hope that Deathgrip, who seems to be wearing a cast-off Hydra uniform, doesn’t step on that poor gal’s hands! A death grip, indeed!

Frank Giacoia inks

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The Destructor #3. This one is a bit more subdued and the Destructor would probably have been hidden when this issue was racked on the stands but Lieber’s rendition of Atlas’ Huntress character ably anchors the cover!

Giacoia inks

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The Destructor #4. The Destructor, wisely, is placed center-stage on this final issue of the title!

Giacoia inks

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Morlock 2001 #2. While the titular character recedes to the right of this cover, it is still effectively creepy with a poor soldier getting consumed by Morlock’s grenery!

Giacoia inks

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Planet of the Vampires. Okay, so this one’s not a cover but a promo for the fourth issue of Planet of the Vampires — which was never published! I really like that it’s from the vampires’ point of view and Larry draws these vampires in Jack Kirby’s style. It looks like the direction was to skew the vamps a little closer to the apes in Planet of the Apes. Inked by Al Milgrom.

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Police Action #1. This one is a bit weird. The backup character, Luke Malone, gets a large circle call-out. The damsel-in-distress is prominently featured, and Lomax, the star of the book, while center-stage, is placed in the background. Larry’s art is still awesome, though!

Giacoia inks

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Police Action #2. I like the composition of this cover much better. First, Luke Malone gets a much smaller call-out and Lomax’s leap toward the gunman adds a lot of energy. It’s a great cover in the mighty Marvel style!

Giacoia inks

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Savage Combat Tales #2. This is an awesome cover that was probably covered up on the racks as most of the action takes place on the lower part of it. There’s a lot of danger here, as well as a bit of, I suspect, unintentional humor, from the Nazi’s shorts to Stryker worrying about the grenade and not the naval mine that it will set off!

Giacoia inks

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Tales of Evil #1. Here’s another creepily effective cover by Larry. The wolfman is pretty Hulk-y which is a nice change from the lithe figures that are normally portrayed in comics.

Giacoia inks

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Tiger-Man #3. Here’s another striking, action-packed cover. Tiger-Man is front and center and his flowing hair adds to the momentum!

Giacoia inks

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Weird Suspense #2. This is a strange, creepy cover. The Spider Priestess is clearly meant to be somewhat “attractive,” I guess, based on how she’s dressed, and the Tarantula looks like he’s wearing pajamas. But my favorite part of this cover is the gal gawking at the action rather than taking cover!

Giacoia inks

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Western Action #1. Another great cover and one that has a Kirby-esque feel. Still, it takes me aback to see the main character kill someone on the cover, even though it appears to be justified.

Giacoia inks

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And here’s a 13th Dimension bonus, the original art to several of Larry’s Atlas/Seaboard covers!

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MORE

— 13 Groovy Gaspar Saladino ATLAS/SEABOARD Logos — RANKED. Click here.

— PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite ATLAS/SEABOARD COMICS COVERS. Click here.

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A 10-year-old Walt Grogan fell in love with the Big Red Cheese thanks to essays written by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson in the paperback edition of All in Color for a Dime, released in 1970 and bought for him by his father off a paperback spinner rack in a liquor store on the South Side of Chicago. Walt runs The Marvel Family Web Facebook page devoted to all incarnations of the Fawcett/DC Captain Marvel and blogs about Captain Marvel at shazamshistorama.com.