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.
Discussion and voting on future monthly themes takes place on the "Nominations, Themes and Statistics for A Cover A Day" thread. Click here to view the thread.
Replies
Another look at Halo, and a hint of the mystery that surrounded her. Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo took the unique approach that while cover featured from the start, this plot point/story wasn't told and resolved in consective issues. (Image courtesy of the Grand Comics Database.)
Two pre-Codes from Atlas: Journey into Mystery #18 and Journey into Unknown Worlds #18
Here's one for the solstice...
...followed by two that fit the theme.
I'm cheating here, but, since summer is beginning in this hemisphere:
When I saw this on display in the library, I assumed it was a graphic novel. In fact, it's a prose YA novel. At the time I was still teaching, and we were looking to expand and diversify the options for the Grade 10 "coming of age" choice novels. Unfortunately, I read this after reading Malinda Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club, an extremely well-written YA/literary novel with "intersectional" racial and LGBTQ representation that naturally grew from her setting and the story she was telling, and an interesting historical perspective. Lo received my recommendation. That novel proved a hit with the kids who chose it, while presenting them with some real and interesting challenges and discussion.
With apologies to Dahlia Adler, Hot for the Summer is a piece of fluff, and no doubt there are readers who would enjoy it. But most of the characters exist to check off a box: "Hi, I'm ___. I"ll be your______ character in this novel" This is how Trump supporters imagine DEI works. Also, the protagonist's main problem is deciding between the hot but sensitive jock guy she's been crushing over and who is now noticing her, and the hot and cool girl she had a thing with in the summer who has transferred to her school. I know kids who would kill to have that problem. Again, it's a matter of expectations: it's not like the stuff we typically discuss at this site doesn't frequently sell wish-fulfillment.
But it is a great cover. Welcome to summer!
Another nice picture of Rainbow.
Another Bifrost cover.
Brave and the Bold #118 (Ap'75)--yes, I know it's not a "proper" 18. Might even be an "illegal" 18 but I've post for Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-In-One and DC Comics Presents so it seems wrong to leave out B&B!
Anyhoo, this one featured the apparently popular WILDCAT of Earth-One (?). It's hard to say as his situation changes from each of his five B&B appearances! This is the best one, IMHO.
Of course, it also has THE JOKER making his second "co-star" role in B&B. The Grinning Ghoul made his spectacular return in the iconic Batman #251 (S'73) which led to B&B #111 (Ma'74) and Batman #260 (F'75). All three must have sold like crazy as one month after B&B #118 came The Joker #1 (My'75) which gave the Clown Prince of Crime nine solo adventures against various super-heres and super-villains. But no rematch with Wildcat!
I've already posted once today, but this post flows out of the "Rampaging Hulk!" discussion and I didn't want to threadjack it. (Besides, it fits better here, anyway.) You may remember Alpha Flight #106 getting nationwide media coverage some 30 years ago due to Northstar's "coming out"* as gay.
*I put "coming out" in quotation marks because John Byrne dropped some pretty broad hints about the character's sexual orientation as far back as issue #1. Later, Bill Mantlo began a story in which Northstar was dying from an AIDS-related illness (although the story's original ending was spiked and never saw print). What I'm saying is, by 1992, the only people who didn't know Northstar was gay were muggles and people who didn't read Alpha Flight. Yet non of that stopped Marvel from accepting the accolades for this "bold statement." Here is an except from what Peter David wrote about it at the time:
As for Northstar, well…for a while there, he was actually dying of AIDs, and that the fact that he was gay was going to be dealt with. It was dealt with, all right: The storyline was altered midway by a decree from upstairs. The declaration was subsequently made that Northstar was, in fact, a magical being, and was dying because he was away from his magical homeland for too long. Yes, that’s right…he wasn’t gay. He was just a fairy. That’s muuuuch better. And the protectors of superheroic masculinity breathed a sigh of relief. That was a close one.
Actually, the whole column is worth reading. Here's a link: When you wish upon Northstar | Peter David.net
Spirit #18 (the original run) November 1949.
-
2851
-
2852
-
2853
-
2854
-
2855
of 2855 Next