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.

[JD DeLuzio]

Forget merely "Exciting" Comics. This one promises Action! Mystery! and Thrills! Or, at least, this compendium does. Enter a world where a heroic guy with a spear can save a damsel in dis ripped dress from a mob of Nazi Klansmen... in the jungle. With bats! Also, the lead Nazi appears to have red skin. Could that be Satan himself?

Presumably, our hero fought a gorilla to get there, and they will escape in a rocket... to a Planet of Dinosaurs!

[Dave Palmer]

“What a team-up, Captain Marvel and Zippy!”

[Steve W]

This issue of "For Lovers Only" came out in Sept 1973. Surely, even 47 years ago, this sort of behaviour was frowned upon by all. Yet it carries the comics code seal of approval.  Strange times.

[Richard Willis]

I think spanking grown women was thought to be cute back then, going back to the old movies and comics. Probably soon after that it wasn't.

[Steve W]

And while we're on the subject of the Comics Code, how the hell did this one get past them? This comic came out in June 1970, and would appear to insult both Christians and atheists. Surely expressing opinions about religion was a no-no for the comics code?

[Steve W]

And this cover must be the perfect example of "editor sketches out cover then insists that the writer/artist manage to come up with a story to support the hypothesis". I suspect a Mort cover.  If I'd have arrived at work on a Monday morning, and found this cover on my desk, with a note attached asking me to spin out the synopsis, I would've resigned my position in disgust. 

[Richard Willis]

Believe it or not, this isn't an imaginary story. Batman really is turned into a genie. Robin and the Betty Kane Batgirl have to change him back.

[Richard Willis]

This time, they aren't concerned about the alien creature revealing their secret identities.

[Peter Wrexham]

It's obviously gross to treat what I assume is non-consensual spanking as funny, and suitable for the cover of a teen romance comic.  But on top of that, I was struck the clumsiness of the pose.  Their relative positions are such that surely he'd be using his left hand?

Or, better still, not doing this at all.

Steve W said:

This issue of "For Lovers Only" came out in Sept 1973. Surely, even 47 years ago, this sort of behaviour was frowned upon by all. Yet it carries the comics code seal of approval.  Strange times.

[Peter Wrexham]

Sorry, you're going to have to stay there.  We need you to power the desk lamps and fan.

[JD DeLuzio]

Peter Wrexham said:

It's obviously gross to treat what I assume is non-consensual spanking as funny, and suitable for the cover of a teen romance comic.  But on top of that, I was struck the clumsiness of the pose.  Their relative positions are such that surely he'd be using his left hand?

Or, better still, not doing this at all.

 I looked up the comic on ebay. Someone who wants fifty bucks for it reprints the page on which that scene appears-- bf gets angry, spanks gf, she realizes how much she loves him, kisses him. If they had presented it as a consensual mild S&M scene, it wouldn't have made it into the comic. Presented in this fashion, hey, okay. A number of films have similar scenes.   McLintock! (1963) with John Wayne is still considered a fun Family Film, and it includes two such scenes (An acquaintance of mine has an amusing review here explaining why we might not see it in this way). Apparently there's a similar scene in an Elvis movie, but I haven't seen many Elvis movies. He sang quite a bit better than he could act.

On a completely unrelated note, here's some hangdog-looking Gold Key extra-terrestrials invading our borders in order to pick flowers. That super "Under-wear-on-the-outside" look is apparently popular on other worlds.

[Dave Palmer]

Another satisfied customer of the Brainiac Shrinking Things and Then Putting Them in Bottles System for Keepsake  Preservation.