BRONZE AGE BONANZA: Kirby! Adams! Kubert! And one of the best overall months we’ve seen in a long time!
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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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Some months are just outright better than others, and this one’s fantastic. There are so many terrific covers here that not only was picking No. 1 a challenge, you could make an argument for a fistful being among the best of 1975. (Hell, I even had to leave out a sentimental fave.)
Alas, we still have to judge ’em, so dig the TOP 13 COVERS OF OCTOBER 1975 — RANKED:
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13. All-Star Comics #58, DC. Is this cover great on its own or great because it was the return of All-Star Comics, the Justice Society in their own mag, and the debut of Power Girl? Debate begins here.
Mike Grell
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12. Blitzkrieg #1, DC. Fucking Nazis.
Joe Kubert
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11. Blackhawk #244, DC. The series returns after a seven-year absence. Kubert generally did grim better than heroic, but he brings it here. The Blackhawks’ original costumes are still the best, but I kinda dig these chest-baring disco duds, too.
Kubert
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10. The Joker #5, DC. My favorite cover of the series, besides Issue #1. It’s better in concept than execution, but it still rocks.
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9. House of Secrets #139, DC. Bernie Wrightson did so many great spooky covers that I never noticed this one before. But it’s pretty dang nifty (of course) and a near perfect Halloween job.
Bernie Wrightson
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8. Marvel Preview #4, Marvel. Higher or lower? It’s Star-Lord’s first appearance but that’s a much bigger deal in retrospect. Either way, that’s a groovy Gray Morrow painted cover.
Gray Morrow
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7. Howard the Duck #1, Marvel. I can hear some of you quacking: “What?! Howard the Duck #1 down at No. 7? It’s a freaking classic!” It is. But see No. 13 above.
Frank Brunner
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6. Planet of the Apes #15, Marvel. I never tire of pointing out just how bananas Marvel’s POTA mag covers were. I’m repulsed and turned on at the same time. What’s the matter with me?
Bob Larkin
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5. Son of Origins of Marvel Comics, Simon & Schuster/Marvel. Another one where if you tried to put this higher, I wouldn’t stop you. Grand work by John Romita and the only reason it’s at No. 5 is that I think the quartet to come have even more to offer.
John Romita
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4. Power Records #PR-27: Batman — Stacked Cards, Power Records/DC. Neal Adams and Dick Giordano do their version of 1941’s iconic Batman #9, with the menacing addition of the Joker’s giant image looming behind them. If I were to let my bias get the better of me, I’d have this at the top. But being dispassionate, all the Power Records trade dress kinda distracts, even if it presses the right nostalgia buttons.
Neal Adams pencils, Dick Giordano inks
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3. The Brave and the Bold #124, DC. One of the all-time great meta covers. It’d be hard to beat in another month.
Jim Aparo
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2. Jungle Action #19, Marvel. This is just straight-up balls. The first part of the landmark The Panther vs. the Klan by the courageous team of Don McGregor and Billy Graham gets a fittingly rousing cover from Gil Kane and Dan Adkins. Marvel changed the racist, domestic terror group’s name from Klan to “Clan” on the cover and ultimately pulled the plug on the storyline — decisions that still don’t sit right 50 years later. But it doesn’t take away from what the writer and artists, including Rich Buckler, tried to accomplish.
Gil Kane pencils, Dan Adkins inks
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1. Captain America #193, Marvel. Like I’ve been saying: There are so many first-rate covers this month. But for sheer, bombastic comic-bookery, you can’t beat one of the King’s most beloved illustrations (adroitly inked by Jazzy John Romita). Jack Kirby returned to the character he co-created with a bang and this cover — complete with the daffy “MADBOMB” IT CAN DESTROY THE WORLD! — has been a Marvel mainstay ever since. Zero wonder it’s had eternal life on merchandise. Wouldn’t you just love for this to get a Facsimile Edition?
Jack Kirby pencils, Romita inks
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MORE
— The TOP 13 COVERS of SEPTEMBER 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.
October 12, 2025
This was during one of the best plays of my life so I’m very nostalgia. Just about all the last time. I got Son of Origins for Christmas that year. A great time for comics.
October 12, 2025
A really great month for covers, even if I think you got the number order wrong…
October 12, 2025
What’s your order, Jon? Would love to see it!
October 12, 2025
I’d put the Aparo B&B in the top spot and I’d give a shout out (and a higher undecided ranking) to All Star Comics as the Earth-2 grown-up Robin starts wearing the Neal Adams costume.
(And two great issues that I still have! Call me biased)
October 12, 2025
Great list! I would put “Mad Bomb” at #1 as well. I have two T-shirts with that very image, and like you said tons of merchandise with that Cap on it, although often his grimace is changed to a smile. The Power Records cover loses points for me for the unfortunate color mishap of blue on Robin’s forehead. Glad to see All-Star #58 here, because as William Roark pointed out above, E2 Robin gets his snazzy Neal Adams duds (sorry Walt).
October 12, 2025
I agree with Madbomb at #1, it was one of the few Kirby Cap’s I bought at the time and it was because of the cover. I have to give a shout out to World’s Finest #235, Superman’s head popping off on the cover was impossible for my 10 year old self to not pick off the spinner.
October 13, 2025
Great to see (in his heyday) Aparo make the list! His cover that month for Adventure #443 was also excellent! B&B was the perfect mag for Jim Aparo because he could draw every DC character well. Aparo was not only a notable Batman artist, but, for many of that time, he drew the definitive renditions of Spectre, Phantom Stranger, and Aquaman!
October 13, 2025
That issue of All-Star Comics is begging for a facsimile 😀 .
October 23, 2025
The Mad Bomb cover is splendidly iconic. I have an Italian reproduction on a metallic plate. I’m partial to bronze age comics… My personal golden age.