Oh, come on!!!!

[Peter Bosch]

Comic books covers are meant to attract a buyer's attention.  And sometimes publishers will go to extreme lengths to get you interested.  BUT...

 

...there are times when you see a comic cover and you go, "OH, COME ON!!!"

 Bat-baby!!!  (And it's "The Story of the Year!?")

 

A totem pole! 

 

Yeah, Zebras are really frightening!!!!!

 

Regarding the below Tomahawk...look, I can accept an alien...but an alien with two Indian feathers on his head? 

 

 An invasion of  leaping sphinxes?

 A villain made of newspaper?

The Frankenstein monster vs. Tomahawk? 

OH, COME ON!!!!!!!

Any covers you feel that way about?

[Randy Jackson]

If you can accept an alien, why not an alien with two eagle feathers?

The vast majority of Jack Schiff Batman covers from the 1950's-1960's could easily fall under this category.

All of these are absurd, but that's part of the beauty of the Silver Age.

[Figserello]

All of these are absurd, but that's part of the beauty of the Silver Age.

 

Hear hear!  Well said that man.  Not even the Silver Age, but comics done right should often be absurd. They start with a blank page, so why shouldn't anything go?

[Alan Wright]

Hey, just look at some of those Superman's Pal,. Jimmy Olsen covers.  Some pal, I'd say...

[Captain Comics]

Peter, have you read that living totem pole story in Rawhide Kid? I just wonder if it would qualify as a precursor to Tomazooma in Fantastic Four #80.

[Figserello]

That Rawhide Kid story was reprinted in the 90s in a collection of western tales to coincide with Ostranders Wild West mini-series, whose name escapes me now.

 

Simple Kirby fun!

[Peter Bosch]

Hi, CC,

I have read both.  A tenuous connection at best.  Both characters are nicknamed "The Living Totem" and being written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby.  Rawhide says about his antagonist, "Once, years ago, there was a living creature called Totem who tried to conquer the human race.  He must have been trapped under the earth by the medicine men..."  The FF "totem"....well...was not. 

There was also a two-issue appearance of a living totem in Strange Tales 74 and 75.

Rawhide's Totem would appear again as a secret weapon in West Coast Avengers 18 (v.1).

 

Captain Comics said:

Peter, have you read that living totem pole story in Rawhide Kid? I just wonder if it would qualify as a precursor to Tomazooma in Fantastic Four #80.

[Philip Portelli]

Of course it's impossible for the Totem to walk, it has no feet!

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Paul Levitz's Silver Age DC book identified Sphinxes and Disembodied Hands as two of the major threats on Silver Age covers. Glad to see Wonder Woman wasn't left out.

[Kirk G]

I'm just pleased to see the majority of your examples are DC, and not Marvel.  Marvel would never have stooped that low...(gulp!)

I think the FF #80  is just a throwback to the monster era.... not necessarily the totum being a pre-cursor.

[The Baron]

Rearding the "Hippie-Olsen's Hate-In" cover: Why is Jimmy dressed as the Third Doctor?

[Alan Wright]

Now that you mention it, his clothing does look similar to what Jon Pertwee wore as the Third Doctor.  But I believe this issue was released about a year before Pertwee's debut as the Doctor.  And it was probably close to impossible to see episodes of Doctor Who in the US in the late 60s.

The Baron said:

Rearding the "Hippie-Olsen's Hate-In" cover: Why is Jimmy dressed as the Third Doctor?

[The Baron]

From what I've heard, Pertwee fancied himself a bit of a "Mod".