Posted By Dan Greenfield on Nov 19, 2024 | 5 comments

13 SPLASH PAGES of sci-fi wonder…

By WALT GROGAN

Mike Sekowsky, legendary penciller of the original Justice League of America, was born 101 years ago, on Nov. 19, 1923. Mike was well known for his distinctive style, pencilling speed, and, in turn, ability to save a book from deadline doom.

I was born in 1960, the same year the JLA debuted and it has always held a special place in my heart: The best-known heroes of DC’s Silver Age were collected into a single team and Gardner Fox’s imaginative stories helped form the foundation of the modern DC Universe.

But Sekowsky also deserves a lot of that credit for visually bringing to life those stories. Even as a kid, it took me a while to warm up to his blocky, stocky, sturdy style. He was an artist whose work demanded that you study it. And like other polarizing artists such as Don Heck and Frank Robbins, I grew to love it.

While Mike’s art may not have been flashy, it never lacked imagination.

Before and during Mike’s long and distinctive run on JLA, he also drew for DC’s science fiction anthology title, Strange Adventures, most notably on the Star Hawkins feature. Hawkins was (or will be) a private eye in the 21st century (starting in 2079 to be exact) who was (or will be) hired to track down the Zips (crooks) of his time period.

The Star Hawkins entry from Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Vol. XXII. Art by Gil Kane.

Whether it was a Star Hawkins story or one of many high concept sci-fi tales, Mike was often tasked with drawing aliens and robots, and they all had to look different.

So without further ado, here are 13 STRANGE ADVENTURES SPLASH PAGES by Sekowsky, featuring many of the said aliens and robots he had to visualize:

Secret of the Space-Giant! from Strange Adventures #97 (Oct 1958) by Otto Binder and Mike Sekowsky & Frank Giacoia

Attack on Fort Satellite from Strange Adventures #98 (Nov 1958) by John Broome and Mike Sekowsky & Joe Giella

The Giant From Beyond from Strange Adventures #101 (Feb 1959) by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky & Frank Giacoia

The Three Faces of Barry Morrell from Strange Adventures #102 (Mar 1959) by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs

World of Doomed Spacemen from Strange Adventures #104 (May 1959) by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs

The Case of The Martian Witness! (A Star Hawkins Story) from Strange Adventures #114 (Mar 1960) by John Broome and Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs

The Case of the Robot-Spy! (A Star Hawkins Story) from Strange Adventures #116 (May 1960) by John Broome and Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs

The Turtle-Men of Space!! from Strange Adventures #118 (Jul 1960) by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky & Joe Giella

The Case of The 3-Eyed Invaders (A Star Hawkins Story) from Strange Adventures #131 (Aug. 1961) by John Broome and Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs

The Case of The Interplanetary Imps! (A Star Hawkins Story) from Strange Adventures #134 (Nov 1961) by John Broome and Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs

The Case of the Body-Switching Robot! (A Star Hawkins Story) from Strange Adventures #152 (May 1963) by John Broome and Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs

The Case of the Red Diamond Smugglers! (A Star Hawkins Story) from Strange Adventures #155 (Aug 1963) by John Broome and Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs

The Case of The Romantic Robot! (A Star Hawkins Story) from Strange Adventures #158 (Nov 1963) by John Broome and Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs

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MORE

— 13 Super SEKOWSKY SUPERGIRL Splashes. Click here.

— 13 COVERS: A MIKE SEKOWSKY Birthday Celebration — WONDER WOMAN. Click here.

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A 10-year-old Walt Grogan fell in love with the Big Red Cheese thanks to essays written by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson in the paperback edition of All in Color for a Dime, released in 1970 and bought for him by his father off a paperback spinner rack in a liquor store on the South Side of Chicago. Walt runs The Marvel Family Web Facebook page devoted to all incarnations of the Fawcett/DC Captain Marvel and blogs about Captain Marvel at shazamshistorama.com.