A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE… I love Alex Schomburg’s Golden Age covers. I mean, they are PACKED. It’s the comic-book equivalent of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. The late Schomburg was born 121 years ago, on May 10, 1905, and for this year’s 13 COVERS birthday tribute, we bring you a couple of the more obscure Timely Comics titles of the ’40s — USA Comics and All-Select Comics, both of which were centered on Captain America (with the Torch and Namor, to boot!). All of Schomburg’s USA covers are here, rounded out by some of his All-Select work. Swell! — — MORE — 13 COVERS: A Fiery Birthday Tribute to ALEX SCHOMBURG (2025: The Human Torch). Click here. — 13 COVERS: An ALEX SCHOMBURG Birthday Celebration (2023: All Winners Comics). Click...
An ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: Jazzy John took over Amazing Spider-Man art duties 60 years ago… — UPDATED 5/10/26: The late, great John Romita took over the art duties on The Amazing Spider-Man with Issue #39, which came out 60 years ago, on May 10, 1966. Perfect time to reprint this piece from 2020. — Dan — There have been few artists better paired with a character than John Romita Sr. was with Spider-Man. Steve Ditko made Spidey hypnotic, Gil Kane made him cool, Todd McFarlane made him kinetic but Romita made him perfect. The drama, the pathos, the dynamism and the beauty all make Romita stand out for me as the essential Spider-Man artist. And he was a killer cover designer to boot. Today, Romita — who was born Jan. 24, 1930 — turns 90. He’s one of the last living links to the Silver Age, and of course, he defined Spidey in the Bronze Age. For years now, we’ve celebrated Romita’s birthday with 13 COVERS dedicated to Peter Parker and the gang, even though the artist worked on plenty of other heroes and villains in his storied career. That’s because I love his Spider-Man that much. Now, generally speaking, our 13 COVERS birthday features are typically pretty democratic: a representative selection in no particular order. But every once in a while, I like to shake things up and go out on a flimsy limb and rank the TOP 13 COVERS an artist did on a signature character. Like the TOP 13 NEAL ADAMS BATMAN COVERS (click here) or the TOP 13 CARMINE INFANTINO FLASH COVERS (click here). A couple things to get out of the way before we get started, though: — Marvel Treasury Edition #1, the Spidey “Rockomic” album and the 1973 Ideal playset are my three favorite Spidey images ever — and ordinarily, they’d qualify for this round-up. But I’ve decided to challenge myself and leave them out because they are basically static images, gorgeous though they may be. Instead, I wanted to show off Romita’s dramatic chops. — Spidey #142 is a personal favorite but according to the Grand Comics Database, it’s not clear whether Romita or Kane penciled it, so I’ve put it aside. That was a tough decision because Romita at least inked it. But I want to be consistent. OK, so here we...
An ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: Jazzy John took over Amazing Spider-Man art duties 60 years ago…
Editorial Novaro’s take on the Bronze Age Darknight Detective…
