A Cover a Day

[Steve W]

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	26	310
Jun 2022	1394/9	George Perez
Jul 2022		Parents
Aug 2022		Fairgrounds/Carnivals

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Odd composition. Is Thor actually standing on the Executioner's leg?

[Don Mankowski]

I feel sorry for the previous guy who had to hear "URANUS IS NEXT!"

Dave Palmer said:

Folks, don’t be fooled into buying some inferior system for shrinking things.  With the Brainiac system you are limited to people or cities.  With our revolutionary new system, you can shrink entire planets.  Imagine an entire planet under glass sitting on your coffee table.  You will be the envy of your friends and the talk of the town.

[Philip Portelli]

Did DC license the Flash to Spire Christian Comics like Archie?

[JD DeLuzio]

While usually Donald is the one behaving selfishly and doing questionable things, he's trying to do the right thing here, and his nephews (and Goofy) are entirely out of line. The Disney Ducks are dicks.

[Richard Willis]

This one tells me that the trend to have fake, old-timey photos taken didn't start in the 60s like I thought, but was a thing at least as far back as 1945. 

[Richard Willis]

I haven't read this story (it's either Red K or magic), but the cover is a little off. Why is the roof flying off? He didn't get taller. He may be fatter in the story than the cover, but he doesn't seem wide enough to burst it apart. Why do the walls of the booth seem to be imploding?

[Peter Wrexham]

Why do the walls of the booth seem to be imploding?

From Superman's massively-increased gravitational attraction?

Here's a remarkably implausible booby trap.  The typewriter (or at least, one specific key on its keyboard) must remain unused from the time the trap is set up to the moment the victim sits in the chair.  The chair must be exactly lined up with the pistol.  The secretary must hit the appropriate key while the victim is sitting in the chair, in the right place.  The secretary must hit the key much harder than I would think is normal to supply sufficient force to pull the trigger.  And how did the D.A. manage to pull the victim out of the way?  Are U.S. legal personnel usually faster than a speeding bullet?

The only explanation that makes sense is to assume that the secretary is actually Mr X, and the D.A. was already on to her.

[Philip Portelli]

When Bob Ross Attacks!

[Peter Wrexham]

I didn't get round to posting yesterday (I was otherwise occupied, attending a virtual convention), so here's a second slice of oddness from Mr. District Attorney.

Here we see the precise moment where the judge threw the case out, and cited the D.A. for contempt of court.

[Steve W]

"Hey guys - did you get that memo from Mort last week?  In order to increase sales, all DC covers must now depict a lion, displaying anthropomorphic qualities. I think I've got it covered this month with the latest Action cover.  What do you think?"

"Curt, I think it said gorilla, not lion..."

[Steve W]

And Peter, I actually ROFL'd when I read your description of the cover of "Mr District Attorney". Brilliant! 

Peter Wrexham said:

Why do the walls of the booth seem to be imploding?

From Superman's massively-increased gravitational attraction?

Here's a remarkably implausible booby trap.  The typewriter (or at least, one specific key on its keyboard) must remain unused from the time the trap is set up to the moment the victim sits in the chair.  The chair must be exactly lined up with the pistol.  The secretary must hit the appropriate key while the victim is sitting in the chair, in the right place.  The secretary must hit the key much harder than I would think is normal to supply sufficient force to pull the trigger.  And how did the D.A. manage to pull the victim out of the way?  Are U.S. legal personnel usually faster than a speeding bullet?

The only explanation that makes sense is to assume that the secretary is actually Mr X, and the D.A. was already on to her.

[Steve W]

The Blackhawk identity deteriorated swiftly once DC had taken the title over from Quality Comics. In the 40s Blackhawk monthly sales were measured in millions, often second only to Superman sales. After 1959 (when DC acquired the title) sales fell month by month until finally DC published the last issue in September 1968. The covers were generally awful, but reached a nadir here with issue #135. A villain with 1,000 hoops! Wow, I can feel the hairs raising on the back of my neck already! No wonder the team are running in abject fear!