BRONZE AGE BONANZA: The temps get cooler but the comics stay hot! — 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. — Hey, I have no clever patter for you this month, so let’s just get right to THE TOP 13 COVERS OF SEPTEMBER 1970 — RANKED: (And don’t forget: These entries are based on sale dates and not official publication dates.) — 13. Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica #179, Archie. Yeah, laugh it up, Mrs. Cooper. In 50 years, your daughter’s world will become a hellscape of wildfires, hurricanes and melting ice caps. — 12. UFO Flying Saucers #2, Gold Key. I guess the editors weren’t taking any chances by putting the words “UFO” and “Flying Saucers” on the cover. I also love that these are really rudimentary, old school flying saucers. And, hey, is it just me or should George Wilson have been a much bigger deal? Damn, I love his work. — 11. Weird #23, Eerie Publications. There’s so much to say here, I’m actually speechless. I think I could do a TOP 13 UNSETTLING THINGS ABOUT THIS COVER but who’s got the time? No. 1 would be the decapitated dude vampire’s beard. — 10. Beneath the Planet of the Apes #1, Gold Key. I think I have to get myself a copy of this. I just have to know how goody-goody Gold Key handled a story where everyone dies in the end and the Earth is annihilated. Plus: APE PROTEST POSTER! — 9. Adventure Comics #399, DC. Like a lot of early Bronze Age covers, this is provocative and unsettling with notes of camp creeping around the edges. The story inside’s pretty grim, though. But at least Supergirl looks fashionably fab! — 8. Captain America #132, Marvel. Bucky — alive in 1970?! M.O.D.O.K. appearing to pull the strings?! Marie Severin pencils?! Well, alright! — 7. The Phantom Stranger #10, DC. Neal Adams was a machine who was so prolific he couldn’t help but repeat themes and concepts, in this case riffing on a classic gothic horror trope. But got-damn, he did it better than anyone else. Prime Adams textural trickery. — 6. The Avengers #82, Marvel. I’m a sucker for an...
BRONZE AGE BONANZA: Late-summer classics… — 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. — As I’ve been putting together this feature every month, it’s struck me just how many classic comics covers would get published in a single month in the Bronze Age. It goes to figure that with people like Neal Adams, John Romita, Gil Kane and Nick Cardy around, this would be the case. But I really do wonder sometimes whether fans at the time really understood how good they had it. I love reading old letter columns, and most fans did seem to recognize terrific work, though there were always the crabs too. Anyway, I look at this month’s crop and there are some of the most famous covers in comics history there. Not all of them are standard-bearers, of course, but there are enough to emphasize the profound greatness of the era. So dig THE TOP 13 COVERS OF AUGUST 1970 — RANKED: (And don’t forget: These entries are based on sale dates and not official publication dates.) — 13. Abbott & Costello #17, Charlton. I really admire the sheer ballsiness it took to do this cover. ALL THOSE FLOWERS. Meanwhile: “BONUS — Special Nutty Daisy Poster in Center Spread of This Issue! FREE!” — 12. Famous Monsters of Filmland #80, Warren. “The only good human — is a DEAD human!” Beneath the Planet of the Apes is probably the wackiest movie of the franchise and I love every damn, dirty minute of it. — 11. Archie #204, Archie Comics. Speaking of, doesn’t it look like Archie and the gang are hanging out at Point Dume in Malibu? Y’know, where they filmed the climax of Planet of the Apes? Obviously, Dr. Zaius was right: The Forbidden Zone was once a paradise! (But, geez, Reg, it’s 1970. Get with it.) — 10. Detective Comics #404, DC. I’m sure most of you think this should be higher on the list, maybe even No. 1. That’s cool. It’s one of Neal Adams’ best-known covers. But you kind of have to grade Adams on a curve. He produced so many legitimate masterpieces that you have to try to be dispassionate. Hard to do, I...
BRONZE AGE BONANZA: The temps get cooler but the comics stay hot!
BRONZE AGE BONANZA: You can just hear the lamentations of their women…
BRONZE AGE BONANZA: Nannies, Surfers and Man-Bats — oh my!
BRONZE AGE BONANZA! Boy, Neal Adams had a helluva month…