Neal Adams - Western covers

 

© DC comics.

This past Sunday I decided to stop by the Chicago Toy Show, which runs every 4 months at the Kane County Fairgrounds. I’d never been before, so was interested to see what was on sale. Well, it was very crowded, with a lot of tables selling Funko Pops, and relatively few tables selling vintage toys from the sixties and seventies. Lots of original Hot Wheels car and sets. 

Amongst the tables there were a few comic dealers, and I spied a reading copy of Tomahawk #116 priced at $10. As it sports one of the very best covers that Neal Adams drew at DC - perhaps the only one at DC of his that has a painted background - I decided to buy it. 

It really is a striking cover. Reading the feedback on the issue as printed in the letters page of Tomahawk #118 reader reaction was extremely positive.  ………

A certain Tony Isabella from Cleveland, Ohio was full of praise:

I presume from editor Murray Boltinoff's comment that Jack Adler was the colourist and Carmine Infantino layouts.

Having stared at it, it came to me that the composition of the cover was not wholly unlike Adams’ later cover of Detective #412. 

© DC comics.

Adams himself was not above reusing popular cover layouts for books on other comics, as shown by this subsequent cover for Tomahawk #121 and Brave & Bold #85.  However, since Murray Boltinoff was editor on both books, he must have been okay with.

© DC comics.

© DC comics.

The cover for Tomahawk #116 was the first Western cover that Neal Adams did at DC, and he followed up with an excellent run of covers for Tomahawk which graced most issues from #116 to #130.

He subsequently drew covers for All Star Western #2 to #5 , Weird Western Tales #15 and of course the stunning cover of DC Special #6, one of my all-time favourites, shown below.

© DC comics.

Interesting that the only Western issues where Adams illustrated the interiors (AFAIK) were Weird Western Tales #12, #13 and #15.

I’d buy a book of Neal Adams covers, if one existed. That’s unlikely to happen, so I might try to create a digital PDF version for my own enjoyment.

Is anyone aware of other Western covers drawn by Adams?