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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:
Having stared at it, it came to me that the composition of the cover was not wholly unlike Adams’ later cover of Detective #412.
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| © 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.
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| © DC comics. |
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| © 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.
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| © 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?
Some great covers there, B. I'm surprised DC haven't yet published a collected edition of Western tales (have they?), as with covers like the ones above, it'd be sure to sell. Regarding that first cover, the Indian is aiming his bow and arrow a fair wee bit in front of Tomahawk, so he's obviously going to skewer a rodent (that we can't see) just about to attack him.
ReplyDeleteI read the entire comic Kid, but could find nothing in the story that indicated that a rogue rodent had a part in "The Last Mile of Massacre Trail" - in fact, the scene on the cover does not actually appear in the story at all (big surprise), which is a shame as your rodent theory would have livened things up a bit. The story is a convoluted tale of settlers being attacked by "injuns", written by Carl Wessler and drawn by Fred Ray, neither of whom I'd heard of before.
DeleteI get the feeling that traditional Western books were already politically incorrect in 1968, as the storyline was more 1950s than 1960s, and Tomahawk was a man out of time.
I'm not aware of a collection of Western tales from DC. From what I've seen I doubt if there is a market for it, as the creators seem pretty obscure, other than the later work of Kubert and Frank Thorne.
What? You mean the perspective on the bow and arrow being slightly off was nothing more than a mistake, B? Who'da thunk it?! (Kirby did the same sort of thing quite regularly as well.)
DeleteI've not seen that Adams cover before, it's a beauty. Good point about Adams ( and no doubt other artists) reusing old cover ideas. I have never been a big fan of western comics but DC produced some very nice western titles around this time many of which had a few Adams covers.. I have a couple of issues of Tomahawk ( and Son of Tomahawk) that not only have Adams covers but also have some nice Frank Thorne art on the strip itself
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a really lovely cover, Paul. I do have a very few Tomahawks and Son of Tomahawk, of which one is a Frank Thorne book. If I can pick just the versions with Adams covers at a reasonable price, I may do just that.
DeleteThank you (and Kid ) for commenting ; I'm aware that I've been rather lax of late in keeping the blog going.
I meant to add although Adams didn't draw a full story he did draw an intro page for All Star Western #2 for the "Outlaw" tale
ReplyDeleteI was unaware of that. I'd like to get those All-Star Western comics from around 1970, but they seem to be rare and quite in demand. I 've just managed to find a digital version of issue #2 and it looks like Adams may have been involved in artwork touch up of Tony Dezuniga's work on other pages. The side view of the lawman in panel 4 of page 7 seems to bear the hallmark of Adams, as does the kid on the horse in the bottom panel of page 9. Page 12 looks better than DeZuniga's part on other pages as well.
DeleteDo you have issue #4? It would be interesting to read the letters page discussing issue #2.