Super Stuff in the Bronze Age: October 2021

Inspired by a recent post over at McScotty’s blog (https://twthen.blogspot.com/2021/10/favourite-comics-best-mysteryhorror.html), and seeing that Halloween is fast approaching, I thought I’d put together a blog highlighting some of my most memorable spooky comic covers from the Bronze Age….not necessarily from comics dabbling in the supernatural, but simply those that sent a shiver down my spine to the extent that they come to mind almost fifty years later.

First up is Shadow #2, “Freak Show Murders”. This comic cover was the first time I’d seen The Shadow, whom I'd had seen previously mentioned in Fantasy Unlimited as a pulp hero template for Batman. This particular comic was in a batch that my Gran brought back to me in Southsea from the States following a family visit in September 1973. I had immediately phoned my pal Nigel to come round to our house, and I spread the comics that Gran had given my on the table-tennis table set up in our front room. The Shadow #2 caught my eye with its arresting green wash with the circus tent on a windy barren landscape with the solitary Shadow overseeing everything. It was my first exposure to the work of Mike Kaluta, and I was immediately a fan.

Next is up is Phantom Stranger #17 which I bought from one of Mrs King’s newsagents in Albert Road, Southsea around the end of March 1972. Superb cover (I can remember a lot of PS covers) by Neal Adams stuck in my mind all these years. Perhaps the horror of running from a train? The color highlighting and shadows is what sells the image. The story “Like A Ghost from the Ashes” contains some of Jim Aparo’s best work. and the care than Aparo put into the interior artwork was exemplary. (Aparo’s work for DC in that period 1970-1972 was the peak of his powers IMHO). I particularly liked his use of fine dots for shadow in this scene below.

My third spooky cover choice is Batman #237 "Night of the Reaper" which I got at the end of January 1972, featuring Batman and Robin involved in a story juxtaposing the horror of the Nazi concentration camps with the jollity of Tom Fagan’s annual Halloween bash in Rutland, Vermont. The cover is so striking with its dominant red background. I loved the idea of Fagan’s annual Halloween parade, and collected many other comics that featured it over the years (The later 3-part Amazing Adventures/JLA/Thor crossover was a particular highlight). The Batman comic itself has superb Adams artwork and a suitably abrupt ending from the inventive pen of Denny O’Neil. Plus we get to see DC writers featured as supporting players. I loved that “breaking the fourth wall” thing.

Next up are a couple of choices from House of Mystery, a comic which (along with House of Secrets) was a great favourite of mine in the early seventies. So many great Neal Adams covers in that 1969-1972 period, that I found it difficult to choose. Many featured young children in peril, interestingly. In the end I went for two covers, both because each served as the basis for subsequent covers featuring Batman.

The first is House of Mystery #174, the first of that title after it moved to a horror format. I did not pick this up at the time, only as a back issue from Alan Austin’s Fantasy Unlimited a few years later, when I was disappointed to find that it was a reprint issue. However, I was struck by its similarity to Brave & Bold #93, which had triggered my interest in collecting the House of Mystery title in the first place. B&B #93 "Red Water, Crimson Death" has great interior artwork and features a picture of Neal Adams himself on a page highlighting DC accolades at the Comic Art convention.

Similarly House of Mystery #187 (July/August 1970) is a favorite because it was the template for my all-time favourite Batman cover Detective #405, (December 1970) which featured the League of Assassins. The interior Detective comic artwork is typical Bob Brown, but the cover is outstanding. The inspiration presumably comes from the horror movie trope of the angry townspeople hunting down the monster/girl/hero.

Next up is Brave & Bold #92, featuring the Bat Squad. I picked this up at a newsagents in Torrington (remember of the joy of finding excellent quality back issues on spinner racks in out of the way places?) on a family journey back from North Devon in 1971, and read in the darkness of the back seat of the car illuminated by the interior car light. A great cover and story drawn by Nick Cardy, written by Bob Haney.

I loved the Batman of the Haneyverse, a guy who casually walked around town in his batsuit. This time he’s in that apocryphal hip London of the late sixties with fog and Carnaby Street and British police officers saying “By Jove”. The Bat Squad (comprised of a group of hippies helping ol’ Bats) never made a return appearance (and the fact that DC couldn’t even be bothered to get Ira Schnapp to create a proper logo for them on the cover signaled uncertainty about the groups' longevity), but the cover stayed in my mind all these years. Great use of colour to make the image work, especially the yellow of the torchlight. Nick Cardy is an unsung hero in the pantheon of cover artists.

Next up is Nick Fury, Agent of Shield #3, which I recently paid over the odds to get a decent copy recently, following a reminder in Kid’s blog over at https://kidr77.blogspot.com/ It is a classic cover of a woman in the shadow of a big house, running away, repurposed for the comic. I love it for featuring Batamn in the lower left, and the excellent Eisner inspired opening pages by Steranko. Some of his best work.

Incidentally House of Secrets seemed intent on producing similar covers with women running away from unseen horrors / see this run of covers from HoS.

I’ll close with two covers that appeared on paperbacks with comic connections.

The first is the cover of House of Mystery paperback tie-in HoM#1 written by Jack Oleck. The cover artwork by Wrightson has great colouring, and interior black & white spot illustrations convey his sensibility at its most ghoulish. I also had the follow up paperback, both bought in 1976 from Dark They Were & Golden-Eyed in London.

I’ll close with the cover of Doc Savage Bantam paperback #37, Hex. Not a comic cover, but up there with the best of James Bana’s painted covers. I bought it at a book store in Passaic NJ in July 1977. The cover was so striking that I’m surprised that Grafitti Designs have not published a poster print as they have done of many other Doc Savage paperback covers.

So, thanks to McScotty and Kid for the inspiration for this post. Sorry there has been a bit of a gap since the last one. Happy Halloween!

Super Stuff in the Bronze Age

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Favourite spooky Comic Covers from the Bronze Age