A Cover a Day

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.

One thing that's remarkable about this cover -- to me -- is that when I bought it, WWII was in living memory. There were vets walking around, like the guy on this cover, who were still relatively vital, in their 50s. And that was as normal to me as sunrise.

If this story came out now, it would have to be about the vet's son or probably grandson. And in general, this time in comics history is also gone. A time when it was normal for creative teams to stay on a book for years, if not decades, and hot-shots like Mike Kaluta would parachute in with covers like this. When it was normal for books to have numbers in triple digits, with no end in sight. I might change schools, change jobs, change cities, but Batman wouild never change, and come out like clockwork every month, wherever I was.

Now books change creative teams like socks, and routinely start over. If a title hits #100 it's an aberration. And all or most of the WWII vets are dead. To today's younger fans, many of whom never spent a minute in the 20th century, WWII is ancient history, and I have to keep that in mind when talking to the youngs. My perspective at that time is one they will never know, and even for me has been completely replaced by one I couldn't imagine in 1973. Seeing a cover like this introduces a vague cognitive dissonance, as it's on the pre-internet side of my life, which sometimes feels like it happened to someone else. But when I see a cover like this, I vividly recall the emotions I felt when I saw it the first time. Whereas I'll look at a book I got last week and not recognize the cover, even though I read it.

I don't have any grand point to make, just observing how weird it is to age past one's era. It's just not my time any more, and I'm never going to get used to it.

Replies

Lee Houston, Junior October 25, 2025 at 1:01pm

It's the weekend, so time for a little fun. ♫I was working in the lab, late one night...♫ (Image courtesy of the Grand Comics Database.)
Eric L. Sofer October 25, 2025 at 1:36pm

This cover exemplifies horror to me... a nuclear blast and then a survivor. Brr.
Philip Portelli October 25, 2025 at 3:03pm

Can Obi-Wan Kenobi destroy a vampiric Count Dooku?

Where's Grand Moff Tarkin when you need him?
JD DeLuzio October 26, 2025 at 12:16am

Crumb has released some new material, and I think it qualifies for this month:
- Jeff of Earth-J > JD DeLuzio October 26, 2025 at 10:17am
  
  This is one of those comics solicited in "an unusual way." I first read about it in Comic Shop News and checked with my retailer. He was aware of it and had already ordered some for the shelves. He added one to my p&h but it hasn't shipped yet as far as I know. Crumb is 81 years old and hasn't released a new comic in 23 years.
Richard Willis October 26, 2025 at 2:37am

Unexpected #22
- Dave Palmer > Richard Willis October 26, 2025 at 5:56am
Peter Wrexham October 26, 2025 at 7:13am

More horror from GL/GA.
Steve W October 26, 2025 at 11:41am

Wow, that's interesting news about Robert Crumb. I love Robert's work; I'm just reading a book which details the story of his life (The R. Crumb Handbook) and it's fascinating. I was even going to suggest that we devote a month to his covers (even though some of them are maybe a little explicit!) In the meantime here's a horror cover from Batman.
- Captain Comics > Steve W October 26, 2025 at 12:48pm
  
  One thing that's remarkable about this cover -- to me -- is that when I bought it, WWII was in living memory. There were vets walking around, like the guy on this cover, who were still relatively vital, in their 50s. And that was as normal to me as sunrise.
  
  If this story came out now, it would have to be about the vet's son or probably grandson. And in general, this time in comics history is also gone. A time when it was normal for creative teams to stay on a book for years, if not decades, and hot-shots like Mike Kaluta would parachute in with covers like this. When it was normal for books to have numbers in triple digits, with no end in sight. I might change schools, change jobs, change cities, but Batman wouild never change, and come out like clockwork every month, wherever I was.
  
  Now books change creative teams like socks, and routinely start over. If a title hits #100 it's an aberration. And all or most of the WWII vets are dead. To today's younger fans, many of whom never spent a minute in the 20th century, WWII is ancient history, and I have to keep that in mind when talking to the youngs. My perspective at that time is one they will never know, and even for me has been completely replaced by one I couldn't imagine in 1973. Seeing a cover like this introduces a vague cognitive dissonance, as it's on the pre-internet side of my life, which sometimes feels like it happened to someone else. But when I see a cover like this, I vividly recall the emotions I felt when I saw it the first time. Whereas I'll look at a book I got last week and not recognize the cover, even though I read it.
  
  I don't have any grand point to make, just observing how weird it is to age past one's era. It's just not my time any more, and I'm never going to get used to it.

2976
2977
2978
2979
2980

of 2994

This reply was deleted.