Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jul 24, 2022
The TOP 13 COVERS of JULY 1972 — RANKED
BRONZE AGE BONANZA: Adams! Kaluta! Windsor-Smith! Romita! MORE! — 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. — Such variety this month! Only one artist makes the list twice — Nick Cardy. Meanwhile, the rest of the line-up includes a Who’s Who of illustrators, such as Neal Adams, Mike Kaluta, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Romita, Joe Kubert and more. Let’s dive in, shall we? Dig THE TOP 13 COVERS OF JULY 1972 — RANKED: — 13. Archie’s TV Laugh-Out #15, Archie. What’s my favorite attraction at the park? The fashions! Reggie goes bold but I think Veronica takes the prize this time around. Love the of-the-moment appearance of the Smiley Face, which was everywhere back then. — 12. Monsters On the Prowl #19, Marvel. It’s a new cover for a reprint mag and in all fairness, Kirby and Ditko did it better in 1961. But huge props to George Roussos for going above and beyond in embellishing the Creature From the Black Bog. — 11. Adventure Comics #423, DC. Nobody drew Supergirl better than Bob Oksner but here you also get the Justice League! Those eyeglasses on the table are obviously the key to the whole thing — even the Atom gets a tiny pair! — 10. Friday Foster #1, Dell. A one-off produced in the wake of the successful, ground-breaking comic strip that would eventually be adapted into a film starring Pam Grier and Eartha Kitt. Let’s watch that tonight! (Oh, and click here for a terrific REEL RETRO CINEMA column on Friday Foster by Rob Kelly.) — 9. Wanted #2, DC. One of my earliest comics. The selling point for this little Batman ’66 fanatic was the Joker and Penguin team-up, natch. The Flash is just a groovy bonus. — 8. Tarzan Digest #1, DC. The only issue; who else but Joe Kubert would do the cover? Not only is it a great central image, I really dig the packaging and the way the black banner is set off by the colorful circle backgrounded in white. Far out. — 7. The Avengers #104, Marvel. Damn right, the Scarlet Witch is the baddest of them all. — 6. Justice League of America #101, DC. The...
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