Ok, how about this for an idea. We take it in turns to post a favourite (British spelling) comic cover every day. This went really well on the comic fan website that I used to frequent. What we tried to do was find a theme or subject and follow that, until we all got bored with that theme. I'd like to propose a theme of letters of the alphabet. So, for the remainder of October (only 5 days) and all of November, we post comic cover pictures associated with the letter "A". Then in December, we post covers pertaining to the letter "B". The association to the letter can be as tenuous as you want it to be. For example I could post a cover from "Adventure Comics" or "Amazing Spider Man". However Spider Man covers can also be posted when we're on the letter "S". Adventure Comic covers could also be posted when we're on the letter "L" if they depict the Legion of Super Heroes. So, no real hard, fast rules - in fact the cleverer the interpretation of the letter, the better, as far as I'm concerned.
And it's not written in stone that we have to post a cover every day. There may be some days when no cover gets posted. There's nothing wrong with this, it just demonstrates that we all have lives to lead.
If everyone's in agreement I'd like to kick this off with one of my favourite Action Comic covers, from January 1967. Curt Swan really excelled himself here.
Date | Page/Reply | Theme (and clickable link) | Pages | Replies |
Oct 2016 | 1/1 | Letter A | 19 | 228 |
Dec 2016 | 20/1 | Letter B | 17 | 207 |
Jan 2017 | 37/4 | Letter C | 18 | 214 |
Feb 2017 | 55/2 | Letter D | 17 | 208 |
Mar 2017 | 72/6 | Letter E | 15 | 178 |
Apr 2017 | 87/4 | Letter F | 15 | 184 |
May 2017 | 102/8 | Letter G | 13 | 157 |
Jun 2017 | 115/9 | Letter H | 16 | 195 |
Jul 2017 | 131/12 | Letter I | 12 | 133 |
Aug 2017 | 143/1 | Letter J | 16 | 194 |
Sep 2017 | 159/3 | Letter K | 19 | 237 |
Oct 2017 | 178/12 | Letter L | 24 | 285 |
Nov 2017 | 202/9 | Letter M | 24 | 280 |
Dec 2017 | 226/1 | Letter N | 19 | 236 |
Jan 2018 | 245/9 | Letter O | 21 | 245 |
Feb 2018 | 266/7 | Letter P | 25 | 295 |
Mar 2018 | 291/2 | Letters Q & R | 20 | 243 |
Apr 2018 | 311/5 | Letter S | 22 | 270 |
May 2018 | 333/11 | Superman’s 80th anniversary | 21 | 250 |
Jun 2018 | 354/9 | Letter T | 21 | 250 |
Jul 2018 | 375/7 | Letter U | 17 | 207 |
Aug 2018 | 392/10 | Letter V | 19 | 228 |
Sep 2018 | 411/10 | Letter W | 20 | 233 |
Oct 2018 | 431/3 | Letter X | 15 | 180 |
Nov 2018 | 446/3 | Letter Y | 13 | 156 |
Dec 2018 | 459/3 | Letter Z | 13 | 156 |
Jan 2019 | 472/3 | Person being carried | 16 | 190 |
Feb 2019 | 488/1 | Real people | 17 | 214 |
Mar 2019 | 505/11 | Homages/parodies | 19 | 224 |
Apr 2019 | 524/7 | Green-skinned people | 17 | 207 |
May 2019 | 541/10 | Wanted posters | 17 | 201 |
Jun 2019 | 558/7 | Boxing rings | 15 | 180 |
Jul 2019 | 573/7 | Empty uniforms | 15 | 177 |
Aug 2019 | 588/4 | Beaches | 25 | 297 |
Sep 2019 | 613/1 | Apes | 28 | 340 |
Oct 2019 | 641/5 | Haunted houses/graves | 21 | 250 |
Nov 2019 | 662/3 | Motor bikes | 21 | 254 |
Dec 2019 | 683/5 | Foreign language covers | 17 | 209 |
Jan 2020 | 700/10 | Playing cards/tabletop games | 23 | 275 |
Feb 2020 | 723/9 | Valentines and Cupids | 22 | 259 |
Mar 2020 | 745/4 | Statues | 21 | 256 |
Apr 2020 | 766/8 | Elephants | 22 | 263 |
May 2020 | 788/7 | Heroes & villains cooperating | 17 | 198 |
Jun 2020 | 805/1 | The Moon | 26 | 322 |
Jul 2020 | 831/11 | Flags & patriotic symbols | 18 | 215 |
Aug 2020 | 849/10 | Foreign locations (non-US) | 20 | 233 |
Sep 2020 | 869/3 | MST3K (with commentary) | 24 | 292 |
Oct 2020 | 893/7 | Vampires and Werewolves | 20 | 245 |
Nov 2020 | 913/12 | Giants | 24 | 286 |
Dec 2020 | 937/10 | Snow & winter scenes | 24 | 289 |
Jan 2021 | 961/11 | Doppelgängers | 32 | 377 |
Feb 2021 | 993/4 | Movies | 23 | 275 |
Mar 2021 | 1016/3 | Cats/cat-themed adventurers | 22 | 263 |
Apr 2021 | 1038/2 | Dogs/dog-themed adventurers | 25 | 305 |
May 2021 | 1063/7 | Big guns/Heavy weaponry | 25 | 302 |
Jun 2021 | 1088/9 | Dinosaurs/Time Travel | 28 | 338 |
Jul 2021 | 1116/11 | Big Questions/Question Marks | 28 | 330 |
Aug 2021 | 1144/5 | Highways, Travel etc | 19 | 232 |
Sep 2021 | 1163/9 | Favourite Covers/Comics | 28 | 330 |
Oct 2021 | 1191/3 | Lineups | 21 | 260 |
Nov 2021 | 1212/11 | JSA 80th Anniversary | 23 | 269 |
Dec 2021 | 1235/4 | Logos in the action | 26 | 317 |
Jan 2022 | 1261/9 | Dynamic Duos | 29 | 348 |
Feb 2022 | 1290/9 | Romantic Scenes | 26 | 313 |
Mar 2022 | 1316/10 | Bridges | 29 | 339 |
Apr 2022 | 1345/1 | Unexpected Green | 23 | 286 |
May 2022 | 1368/11 | Neal Adams | ||
Jun 2022 | George Perez | |||
Jul 2022 | Parents | |||
Aug 2022 | Fairgrounds/Carnivals |
Tags:
Steve W said:
Peter, your ingenuity knows no bounds! May I suggest a career in programming/computing!
Thanks, Steve, but it's too late for that - I retired from one about 7 or 8 years ago!
Anyway, onwards and upwards. Here's the Portuguese version of the Legion
That's a seriously off-brand version of Tharok and Validus. And it looks remarkably as if they're menacing Marvel's (Carol Danvers) Captain Marvel, as well as Superboy, Cosmic Boy and - er - maybe Sun Boy?
My contribution for today is a Lebanese version of Batman.
Here's what the cover originally looked like.
I think this month’s theme is going to inspire some detective work. The cover to the issue before the one Steve W posted was from Adventure #353 with the Fatal Five.
The scene on the cover Steve W posted arguably is from page 21 (panel 3) also from Adventure #353.
The characters with Superboy would appear to be Princess Projectra with her costume and skin colored quite differently, Cosmic Boy, and Sun Boy—the mostly obscured character in the back has a collar like Sun Boy. Interestingly, the artwork evokes John Forte to me.
Steve W said:
@PeterWrexham
Peter, your ingenuity knows no bounds! May I suggest a career in programming/computing!
I took your table, pasted it into a spreadsheet and sorted the columns so that we can see which are the most popular letters/themes. If we assume that the 'replies' column is roughly equivalent of covers posted, then we have a clear winner.
Date Page/Reply Theme (and clickable link) Pages Replies Sep-19 613/6 Apes 28 340 Aug-19 588/5 Beaches 25 297 Feb-18 266/7 Letter P 25 295 Oct-17 178/12 Letter L 24 285 Nov-17 202/9 Letter M 24 280 Apr-18 311/5 Letter S 22 270 Jun-18 354/9 Letter T 21 251 May-18 333/11 Superman’s 80th anniversary 21 250 Oct-19 641/4 Haunted houses/graves 21 250 Jan-18 245/9 Letter O 21 245 Mar-18 291/2 Letters Q & R 20 243 Nov-19 662/4 Motor bikes 20 242 Sep-17 159/3 Letter K 19 237 Dec-17 226/1 Letter N 19 236 Sep-18 411/11 Letter W 20 233 Oct-16 01-Jan Letter A 19 228 Aug-18 392/11 Letter V 19 228 Mar-19 505/12 Homages/parodies 19 224 Jan-17 37/4 Letter C 18 214 Feb-19 488/2 Real people 17 214 Feb-17 55/2 Letter D 17 208 Dec-16 20-Jan Letter B 17 207 Jul-18 375/8 Letter U 17 207 Apr-19 524/8 Green-skinned people 17 207 May-19 541/11 Wanted posters 17 201 Jun-17 115/9 Letter H 16 195 Aug-17 143/1 Letter J 16 194 Jan-19 472/4 Person being carried 16 190 Apr-17 87/4 Letter F 15 184 Oct-18 431/4 Letter X 15 180 Jun-19 558/8 Boxing rings 15 180 Mar-17 72/6 Letter E 15 178 Jul-19 573/8 Empty uniforms 15 177 May-17 102/8 Letter G 13 157 Nov-18 446/4 Letter Y 13 156 Dec-18 459/4 Letter Z 13 156 Jul-17 131/12 Letter I 12 133 Dec-19 682/6 Foreign language covers Jan-20 Playing cards etc Feb-20 Valentines and cupids Mar-20 Statues? Interesting to see that the letter 'P' was the top letter out of all the letters of the alphabet. Wonder why?
I would have thought "S" would have been more popular than "P".
Fairly obvious why the letter "I" was bottom of the pile.
Anyway, onwards and upwards. Here's the Portuguese version of the Legion.
My last for November
I don't know if you noticed, but they're both signed by Jack Keller, the long-running Kid Colt artist. He also signed Steve's cover Nov. 18 and your cover Nov. 25. He did a lot of gearhead material for Charlton. Possibly also the Charlton covers in Dave's posts Nov. 13 and 29, but they're not signed and I don't know what the GCD thinks.
Dave's Nov. 8 choice, Sgt. Fury #47, blurbs the title as "Tea and Sabotage". That's a play on the title of a once-famous play, Tea and Sympathy.
Steve W said:
In Danish, the Legion of Super-Heroes is Rummets Helte. Who knew?
According to Google translate, that means "heroes of the room". I suspect that a more accurate translation might be "space heroes".
Here's another Danish cover, of a team-up between Batman og Grønne Lygte.
I assume that this is the original version (featuring Batman and Green Lantern, of course).
This is fascinating stuff - I knew it would be.
"Nembo Kid" was one of the first Italian publications that dealt with US superheroes. Yes it is Superman, but they've renamed him 'Nembo Kid'. 'Nembo' is Italian for the cloud they call nimbus. The 'S' on his chest was painstakingly removed in every issue and from the covers. First his breastplate was made red and in later issues it became yellow. Instead of naming everything 'super' the Italians dubbed everything into 'ultra' to describe his powers. In the sixties, publisher Mondadori had Italian creators devise new stories to fill the weekly title. Under pressure from the moral guardians 'Garanzia Morale' (see their logo on some of the later comics) the writers cut back on the fantasy aspects of the comic. Their vision of Superman is weaker, he hardly flies at all and is often seen jogging to the rescue. The issues are small in size, some people complained the writing could hardly be read.
The first 527 issues bore the name Nembo Kid after which it was renamed Superman Nembo Kid which continued the same numbering. (Thanks to Wikipedia for this).
Even though "super" is a Latin word which means the same thing in English, French, Italian and Spanish, they chose to avoid the word. I once heard the explanation that the word "superman" was associated with the Nazis.