BRONZE AGE BONANZA: Kirby! Adams! PLUS: A big month for Ernie Chan — and the showdown you’ve been waiting for! Sort of! — Welcome to BRONZE AGE BONANZA — our monthly series that looks at the greatest covers of the Bronze Age — exactly 50 years later. For more info on this feature, click here. — Neal Adams back at DC! Kirby times three! Chan times four! Dig the TOP 13 COVERS OF SEPTEMBER 1976 — RANKED: — 13. Devil Kids Starring Hot Stuff #79, Harvey. Just a fun, clever little cover by Warren Kremer. — 12. DC Super-Stars #10, DC. I love comics. I love sports. Rarely do they mix well. And, frankly, this cover isn’t all that great except for its inherent silliness. But it’s here because, oddly, it’s a theme this month. — 11. Creepy #84, Warren. See? What are the chances? Maybe because it was the Bicentennial and so baseball and apple pie and… I dunno? Really, ahem, striking cover by Ken Kelly, though. — 10. Eerie #79, Warren. And Kelly just flat-out outdoes himself with this one. I love that he picked Oakland too, because in the 1970s, the Raiders were the baddest, nastiest, and scariest team on cleats. If I were John Madden, I’d have papered the locker room with these. (Not that the team needed it; they went on to win the Super Bowl that season.) — 9. Starfire #3, DC. What I appreciate is the practicality of her outfit. — 8. The Avengers #154, Marvel. What’s better than floating heads? Floating heads that narrate the action! — 7. Fantastic Four #177, Marvel. And what’s better than floating heads that narrate the action? Floating heads that narrate the action… in 3-D! — 6. Detective Comics #466, DC. One of Ernie Chan’s best Batman covers, though it’s Signalman’s outfit that does the heavy lifting. And here’s the thing about that costume: It’s one of the dumbest ever — but it’s GREAT! (Thank you, Sheldon Moldoff!) It’s something that only works in comics (and, by extension, animation), reminding you why comics are so great to begin with. Nowhere else can the outlandish be passed off as the everyday — unless it’s camp. And this isn’t camp. It just is. “Why does Signalman wear a costume like that? Because.” (Bonus: They’re fighting on the Batsignal.) — 5. Vampirella...
AN ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: The Swift and Powerful Monarch of the Ocean made his first appearance 85 years ago… By PAUL KUPPERBERG When he first swam into the pages of More Fun Comics #73, on Sept. 19. 1941, Aquaman was just another back-up feature in a title that consisted of what was essentially a lineup of back-up features: Doctor Fate was on the cover, then came another hero who was making his debut, Green Arrow, plus Radio Squad, Johnny Quick, Clip Carson, and the Spectre. Of course, there was no way of knowing that three out of the six would grow up to one day star or be featured in big budget films (Aquaman and Doctor Fate) and long running television series (Green Arrow). But plucky, never-once-appeared-on-the-cover, talks-to-the-fishes Aquaman held on! The creation of editor and writer Mort Weisinger (who also co-created that issue’s Green Arrow debut with artist George Papp) and artist Paul Norris, the Marine Marvel not only survived the 1940s Golden Age but also managed to navigate the superhero doldrums of the 1950s as a back-up feature in Adventure Comics, until late 1960 when DC used its tryout title, Showcase, to see if he could anchor a solo book. Apparently, he could. And apparently someone had an underwater fetish because his four-issue run (#30-33) followed a three-issue tryout for the scuba diving Sea Devils, which would also be awarded its own title. And, oddly, in 1967, good King Arthur of Atlantis was selected to co-star with the Man of Steel in Filmation’s The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure cartoon series for CBS Saturday morning TV, which seemed a pretty random choice to me at the time. But it does give me an excuse to run this Alex Toth Aquaman model sheet for Super Friends, because who doesn’t want to see Toth art? Not that Aquaman ever lacked for good art. Just during my brief association with the character, writing Aquaman #62-63 (1978) and in Adventure Comics #460-463 (1978-79), I worked with Don Newton and Don Heck. There are many more such illustrators — but not too many to count! Here then, MY 13 FAVORITE AQUAMAN ARTISTS: — Paul Norris. It was a contractual complication that forced Paul Norris to leave his co-creation after about a year. Without realizing it had an exclusivity clause in it that prevented him...
A BIRTHDAY SALUTE to the late artist — in 13 STRIPS…
It’s the 80th ANNIVERSARY of the fashionable two-piece…
SUPERGIRL WEEK Meets DESPOP TUESDAYS!
