Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 18, 2025 | 7 comments

BRONZE AGE BONANZA: Featuring an outright masterpiece! Kane! Aparo! Kirby! MORE!

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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.

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This month, it’s a race for second!

Dig the TOP 13 COVERS OF MAY 1975 — RANKED:

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13. Plop #15. I thought I could get away from the Plop! covers but no such luck, thanks to Wally Wood, doing his best Basil Wolverton.

Wally Wood (Sergio Aragones borders)

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12. Richie Rich and Casper #7, Harvey. Holy shit, Richie, I think Casper’s going to eat your soul. Then again, you have no soul. (Oh, and Harvey copy editors: This is Richie and Casper together for the seventh time.)

Poss. Warren Kremer

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11. For Lovers Only, #80, Charlton. It’s 1975 but this looks like it was drawn in 1972. Just a little outmoded by this time. Still, I like the polluted, mustard-colored sky.

Frank Bolle

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10. Batman #266, DC. Total sentimental pick here. I mean, it’s a perfectly fine cover but not really a world beater. I’m just letting this in because this comic was a favorite as a kid and it marked the return of Catwoman’s classic — if impractical — purple dress.

Dick Giordano

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9. Movie Monsters #4, Atlas/Seaboard. Whut?

George Torjussen

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8. Tiger-Man #3, Atlas/Seaboard. The little comics company that couldn’t was already on its last legs, but they still managed to unleash my favorite cover of the line, with our beautifully maned hero.

Larry Lieber pencils, Frank Giacoia inks

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7. 1st Issue Special, DC. Decapitated heads were OK by the ’70s, according to the Comics Code Authority. Basic design but really unsettling (and fun) image.

Jack Kirby pencils, D. Bruce Berry inks

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6. The Shadow #12, DC. The last issue of the fan-fave run goes out with a straightforward, nicely composed Mike Kaluta cover. Not one of his best of the series but certainly good enough.

Mike Kaluta

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5. House of Secrets #134, DC. Was it the difference in editors? Ernie Chan’s Batman covers for Julius Schwartz were pretty mundane. Same with a lot of his superhero work. The he turns around and does this for Joe Orlando. Imagine if he really cut loose like this on the Darknight Detective. Comics might have been a different place.

Ernie Chan

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4. The Invaders #1, Marvel. What I like more than anything is how John Romita is basically doing his own version of a super-crowded Golden Age, Alex Schomburg-esque superhero war cover. Well done.

John Romita

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3. Werewolf by Night #32, Marvel. I’m always going on about whether a cover is good because it’s good or because it’s a landmark issue. This is the first appearance of Moon Knight, but that’s not the prime reason it’s here. It’s here because it’s a groovy Gil Kane composition (even if ol’ Fist of Khonshu there looks like he’s about to tip over), Moon Knight looks badass, and it has just the right amount of ’70s city sleaze. Dig it, cats.

Gil Kane pencils, Al Milgrom inks

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2. Planet of the Apes #10, Marvel. I love Beneath the Planet of the Apes both because of and despite its batshit trappings. But I really, really wish there had been a scene exactly like this in the movie. Thank you, Bob Larkin.

Bob Larkin

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1. Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-37, DC. Like I said up top, this was a race for second, because nothing this month — nothing — comes even within sniffing distance of this masterpiece. It’s not only one of the most beloved Batman covers ever, it might be Jim Aparo’s single finest illustration. No wonder Scott Dunbier chose the original art for the cover of this fall’s Jim Aparo’s DC Classics Artist’s Edition, from Act 4. How could he not? Huge props too to Sol Harrison for the perfect color job. This is not only the best of May 1975, it’s most definitely a very strong contender for best of the year.

Jim Aparo

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MORE

— The TOP 13 COVERS of APRIL 1975 — RANKED. Click here.

— BRONZE AGE BONANZA: The 1975 INDEX. Click here.

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