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.

[Richard Willis]

[Richard Willis]

[Richard Willis]

[Richard Willis]

[Dave Palmer]

Third in a series of Oddly proportioned buildings From Kirby Architectural.

[Dave Palmer]

“Say Arch, what’s the theme for October again?”

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Specifically, Mr. Spock, the car's license plate bears the USS Enterprise's registration number. 

Philip Portelli said:

Fascinating!

Jeff of Earth-J said:

Can you spot the inside joke?

[Peter Wrexham]

For anyone interested in the story behind this cover, it is described here on Mister Kitty's "Stupid Comics" blog.

Richard Willis said:

[Peter Wrexham]

"The Miss Universe contest never used to get this physical!"

[Steve W]

So, the last day of the month and I believe I've saved the best till last.

Ignoring the blatant sexism displayed on this cover (and it's very difficult), I accept that the cover is 52 years old, and attitudes were very different then.

However, the fact that Batgirl holds up proceedings because she has a run in her tights, begs the question - does this mean her tights were made of nylon? Nylon is a fabric that leads to runs. Let's assume that they are - does that mean Batman's tights are also made of nylon?  And what about other super-heroes? If their tights are all constructed from nylon, how come they don't regularly get runs in them? - after all they all lead strenuous and active lifestyles! 

And this brings me to another, possibly even more important question. In 1995 Burt Ward wrote his autobiography and titled it "Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights".  But why? The one thing we know with absolute certainty is that Robin didn't wear tights. He always had bare legs. So why such a misleading title? I'm confused.

[Steve W]

And btw, as an aside, I've really enjoyed this month. What a grand thing to do - to post covers and have to think about the reason(s) why you're posting it!  What a great concept!  

Maybe we could do something similar in future months - instead of just posting covers following a theme, post covers with a meaning behind them - and have to explain the meaning!

[Dave Palmer]

It appears that Burt Ward did wear tights as Robin

But maybe not always