BRONZE AGE BONANZA! Swanderson domination!
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Welcome to BRONZE AGE BONANZA — our new monthly series that looks at the greatest covers of the Bronze Age — exactly 50 years later. For more info on this feature, click here.
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If you’re a fan of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson, boy are you in luck. The Swanderson team makes this month’s list four times!
So dig THE TOP 13 COVERS OF MAY 1970 — RANKED:
(And don’t forget: These entries are based on sale dates and not official publication dates.)
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13. Surf N’ Wheels, Charlton. Love how faddish comics could be back then. This series lasted all of six issues.
Left-side pencils by Bill Fraccio with inks by Tony Tallarico. Right side by Jack Keller.
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12. Underdog #1, Charlton. Love Underdog. Great show. There should always be an Underdog comic.
Frank Johnson
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11. DC Special #8, DC. When I was a little kid, I didn’t quite understand the idea of a comic dedicated to bad guys — but I loved Wanted just the same. Here’s the first Swanderson cover on the list — jammed with a whole slew of DC’s biggest heroes and villains.
Curt Swan pencils, Murphy Anderson inks
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10. Captain America #128, Marvel. Like Cap, Marie Severin kicked ass.
Marie Severin pencils, Joe Sinnott inks
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9. Girls’ Love Stories #152, DC. Let’s face it, sometimes it really was about the cheesecake.
Penciller unknown, Vince Colletta inks
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8. Thor #178, Marvel. How hard does the Abomination hit that he A) actually hurts Thor and B) makes him drop Mjolnir? Yeeowtch!
John Buscema pencils, John Verpoorten inks
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7. Superman #228, DC. The Silver Age was still alive and well in this wacky cover.
Swanderson
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6. Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #130. This one too.
Swanderson
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5. Detective Comics #401, DC. For most artists, this cover would be a triumph. For Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, this was just another day at the office.
Neal Adams pencils, Dick Giordano inks
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4. Green Lantern #78. I don’t think there’s an artist alive who loves drawing Black Canary more than Neal Adams. (Perhaps Alex Toth did, but who’s to say?)
Adams
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3. Batman #223, DC. One of the best Batman covers of the Bronze Age DC Giant era. And a rare one by Swan and Anderson! Love the look on Robin’s face. He’s ready to rumble!
Swanderson
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2. The Amazing Spider-Man #87, Marvel. A Romita classic. One of a zillion.
John Romita
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1. Teen Titans #28, DC. The dynamism, the layout, the ferocity, the sheer boldness. Cardy turned in so many great Titans covers but this was one of his best.
Nick Cardy
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MORE
— The TOP 13 COVERS of APRIL 1970 — RANKED. Click here.
— BRONZE AGE BONZANA: The 1970 INDEX. Click here.
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Sources: Mike’s Amazing World of Comics and the Grand Comics Database.
May 23, 2020
Colletta girls!
May 23, 2020
I like the Swanderson covers in this collection.
May 23, 2020
To walk into the corner drugstore one more time to find titles like these in the spinner racks. What a great time to be a fan.
May 23, 2020
Like you Dan, I didn’t understand why the comic book industry would “honor” a villain with their own comic book, so I didn’t buy them knowing I might be missing out on great stories where they hopefully were defeated by the heroes even in their own books.
But I also saw this as a ploy by the comic companies JUST to sell more comics. I was already getting tired of spending a LOT of money on comics I didn’t have time to read. I had STACKS of different Superman, Spiderman, Batman titles and many others already had multiple titles for one hero which made it worse, which was the main reason I completely quit buying individual comic book series or titles back in 1990. I was tired of playing DC and Marvels game.