NEAL ADAMS is Re-Doing His Own Covers? Here’s a Better Idea

13 COVERS: Now this is how to salute a master …

In case you haven’t heard — though I imagine you have — Neal Adams is paying tribute to his own art in February, with 25 variants that put new spins on some of his best-known DC covers.

Whether or not you think that’s really cool is up to you.

Me? I’m kind of agnostic. I love Adams’ art. He’s my all-time favorite, as I’ve written many times in many ways and I figure I’ll pick up at least a few of these.

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Still, I can’t help but wonder whether DC wouldn’t have made a better choice by having other artists do a Neal Adams Month. In other words, I think it would have been really great to have a bunch of top-flight artists recreate some of Adams’ best-known covers in their own distinctive ways.

So here are 13 COVERS — along with the names of the artists I’d pick to re-do them. I’ve limited myself to the 25 that are in play. And I fully understand that in some of them — like Aquaman #49, below — he’s swapping characters out wholesale. I’m just focusing on the originals — because I can’t help but consider some great versions by some great artists who followed such a master.

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Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments or in whichever social-media thread you found this.

Because debate’s fun, y’know?

Mike Allred

2713

Amanda Conner

15564

Darwyn Cooke

7728

Gary Frank

14419

Francis Manapul

68505

Greg Capullo

2706

Emanuela Lupacchino

15554

Frank Miller

5513

Dave Gibbons

7719

Rafael Albuquerque

2699

Kelley Jones

925

Cliff Chiang

68487

Jock

3939

Author: Dan Greenfield

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12 Comments

  1. Dan the ONLY true “homage” to Neal’s classic DC covers would be an oversized coffee table art book OF those classic DC covers (designed by me, of course, but trust me, i ain’t holding my breath waiting for my phone to ring from DC hiring me to do it)–not this colossal waste of time!

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  2. Of late, I haven’t been too impressed by Neal. His work has changed, and not for the better. I’m with Arlen. I’d rather see oversized reproductions of all his DC covers.

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      • If anyone could do that book justice, it would be you, Arlen.

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        • Tell me about it, Rick! (Or better yet, tell Neal Adams & DC about it! 🙂

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          • I doubt that would listen to me. When I think of all the beautiful Adams covers I’ve seen and more importantly, those that I haven’t, your book idea seems all the more appealing.

          • Well, there’s a reason I put a smiley-face icon after my last post, Rick!

  3. Gotcha, Arlen. I was just flipping through your wonderful book again this morning. Nothing, short of the actual books themselves, captures the fun and beauty of the Silver Age better than your book. I have both versions.

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  4. Actually I must respectfully disagree with this article. This time Neal Adams has the right idea. Not only should he revisit those covers as he is doing but create stories to go along with those covers. The author’s suggestions are just wrong.

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