Posted By Dan Greenfield on Oct 18, 2026 | 3 comments

BRONZE AGE BONANZA: Lotta ROMITA — plus ADAMS! KIRBY! WOOD! And 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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Boundaries get pushed!

Romita! Adams! Kirby! MORE!

Dig the TOP 13 COVERS OF OCTOBER 1976 — RANKED:

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13. Mad #187, EC. Maybe it’s just me, but I think of this as one of the more memorable Mad covers of the ’70s. Perhaps it’s the big, red nose.

Jack Rickard

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12. Marvel Tales #75, Marvel. This is an interesting exercise in how to make a reprint cover more compelling than the original. Romita took elements from 1970’s The Amazing Spider-Man #94, moved them around, and reframed them by making Spidey’s mask the dominant image, substantially improving the appeal.

John Romita

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11. 2001: A Space Odyssey #2, Marvel. Funny, I don’t remember Vira from the movie.

Jack Kirby pencils, Joe Sinnott inks

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10. All-Star Comics #64, DC. Not nearly as detailed as Wally Wood’s EC crowd scenes, but it gives off the same vibe. The first of of two All-Star covers he pencilled and inked.

Wally Wood

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9. The Phantom #74, Charlton. A painted Phantom cover by Don Newton will always be considered for this list.

Don Newton

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8. Ms. Marvel #1, Marvel. If the stylish ’70s flip and navel-baring outfit weren’t going to get you — Spider-Man would!

Romita pencils, Dick Giordano inks

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7. Justice League of America #138, DC. Neal Adams returned to DC cover duty the month before, and in October he knocked out three. The other two were worthy of consideration, but I went with this one because it probably has the most staying power. Or maybe I’m wrong and it’s this one. Or this one.

Neal Adams

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6. Our Army at War #300, DC. If you’re gonna nick Will Eisner, you gotta do it with style, and Joe Kubert certainly does here. Don’t know who the colorist was (or who made the choice) but they slayed the assignment. (Pun intended.)

Joe Kubert

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5. Batman Family #9, DC. One of the most striking Batman Family covers of the entire run. It’s a sentimental pick for me, so you may place it lower, but it definitely grabs you by the hair and makes you want to buy it. (It also happens to be my favorite issue of the series.)

Ernie Chan pencils, Vince Colletta inks

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4. DC Super-Stars #10, DC. The sexiest Zatanna illustration up to that date, courtesy of Gray Morrow.

Gray Morrow

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3. Bring on the Bad Guys, Simon and Schuster. On its own merits, I’d put this Romita classic at the top. But while it absolutely deserves recognition here, it has the built-in advantage of being a book cover, so I’m balancing the scales. (The pub was re-released earlier this month for its 50th anniversary, by the by.)

Romita

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2. Howard the Duck #8, Marvel. Howard the Duck runs for president! Perhaps the most famous Howard cover — and certainly his most famous stunt — but I also give Marvel big, ballsy credit for the subversive, remarkably tasteless gag in the lower right corner, a year after assassins tried to kill incumbent President Ford. Twice. (By the way, in 1979, Howard was elected student council president at the University of Virginia!)

Gene Colan pencils, with Howard redrawn by Romita. Steve Leialoha inks.

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1. Red Sonja #1, Marvel. Big and bodacious, Frank Thorne stretched the boundaries of chain mail and the Comics Code with this in-your-face cover that is one of the most iconic of the 1970s. Yeah, it’s over the top, but its boldness cannot be denied.

Frank Thorne

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MORE

— The TOP 13 COVERS of SEPTEMBER 1976 — RANKED. Click here.

— BRONZE AGE BONANZA: The 1976 INDEX. Click here.

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