The TOP 13 COVERS of MAY 1970 — RANKED

BRONZE AGE BONANZA! Swanderson domination!

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.

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.)

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.

12. Underdog #1, Charlton. Love Underdog. Great show. There should always be an Underdog comic.

Frank Johnson

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

10. Captain America #128, Marvel. Like Cap, Marie Severin kicked ass.

Marie Severin pencils, Joe Sinnott inks

9. Girls’ Love Stories #152, DC. Let’s face it, sometimes it really was about the cheesecake.

Penciller unknown, Vince Colletta inks

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

7. Superman #228, DC. The Silver Age was still alive and well in this wacky cover.

Swanderson

6. Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #130. This one too.

Swanderson

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

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

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

2. The Amazing Spider-Man #87, Marvel. A Romita classic. One of a zillion.

John Romita

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

MORE

— The TOP 13 COVERS of APRIL 1970 — RANKED. Click here.

— BRONZE AGE BONZANA: The 1970 INDEX. Click here.

Sources: Mike’s Amazing World of Comics and the Grand Comics Database.

 

Author: Dan Greenfield

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4 Comments

  1. 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.

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  2. 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.

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