BRONZE AGE BONANZA: Kirby! Adams! PLUS: A big month for Ernie Chan — and the showdown you’ve been waiting for! Sort of!
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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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Neal Adams back at DC! Kirby times three! Chan times four!
Dig the TOP 13 COVERS OF SEPTEMBER 1976 — RANKED:
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13. Devil Kids Starring Hot Stuff #79, Harvey. Just a fun, clever little cover by Warren Kremer.
Warren Kremer pencils (and maybe inks)
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12. DC Super-Stars #10, DC. I love comics. I love sports. Rarely do they mix well. And, frankly, this cover isn’t all that great except for its inherent silliness. But it’s here because, oddly, it’s a theme this month.
Ernie Chan pencils, Vince Colletta inks
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11. Creepy #84, Warren. See? What are the chances? Maybe because it was the Bicentennial and so baseball and apple pie and… I dunno? Really, ahem, striking cover by Ken Kelly, though.
Ken Kelly
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10. Eerie #79, Warren. And Kelly just flat-out outdoes himself with this one. I love that he picked Oakland too, because in the 1970s, the Raiders were the baddest, nastiest, and scariest team on cleats. If I were John Madden, I’d have papered the locker room with these.
Ken Kelly
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9. Starfire #3, DC. What I appreciate is the practicality of her outfit.
Mike Vosburg pencils, Vince Colletta inks
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8. The Avengers #154, Marvel. What’s better than floating heads? Floating heads that narrate the action!
Jack Kirby pencils from a layout by Al Milgrom, who also did the inks
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7. Fantastic Four #177, Marvel. And what’s better than floating heads that narrate the action? Floating heads that narrate the action… in 3-D!
Kirby pencils, Joe Sinnott inks
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6. Detective Comics #466, DC. One of Ernie Chan’s best Batman covers, though it’s Signalman’s outfit that does the heavy lifting. And here’s the thing about that costume: It’s one of the dumbest ever — but it’s GREAT! (Thank you, Sheldon Moldoff!) It’s something that only works in comics (and, by extension, animation), reminding you why comics are so great to begin with. Nowhere else can the outlandish be passed off as the everyday — unless it’s camp. And this isn’t camp. It just is. “Why does Signalman wear a costume like that? Because.” (Bonus: They’re fighting on the Batsignal.)
Chan pencils, Vince Colletta inks
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5. Vampirella #56, Warren. Seriously, guys, what the fuck?
Enrich Torres
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4. Marvel Double Feature #19, Marvel. It’s not Captain America #176, but the King does it his way.
Kirby pencils, John Verpoorten inks
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3. Super-Heroes Battle Super-Gorillas #1, DC. Requires no explanation.
Chan pencils, Colletta inks
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2. Action Comics #466, DC. From the Department of That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick.
Neal Adams
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1. Justice League of America #137, DC. The ending is a pretty much a dry hump, but we’re talking covers and this is what every comics fan wanted to see since the 1940s. No teasy Superman vs. Captain Thunder, “THIS IS IT — THE ENCOUNTER YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR — THE BIG RED CHEESE MEETS THE BIG RED ‘S’!” Finally, the Man of Steel and Captain Marvel, face to face, and (almost) fist to fist.
Chan pencils, Frank McLaughlin inks
The draftsmanship isn’t the best, but the concept and layout are everything. And the JLAers, JSAers — including Earth-Two Batman and Robin, no less — as well as the Marvel Family, are the icing on the cake. Sargon can’t believe his good luck making it onto this cover.
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MORE
— The TOP 13 COVERS of AUGUST 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.
