Friday, May 9, 2014

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: R.I.P. Dick Ayers

Well, Groove-ophiles, as you no doubt know by now, Darlin' Dick Ayers has passed. One of the original Marvel Bullpenners and an all-time great talent, Mr. Ayers will be sorely missed. Ol' Groove got to know him personally via mail and e-mail, actually getting to work with him on a short story paying tribute to his pre-Marvel Atlas/Monster days. He was so kind and supportive. Down to earth. Modest. A great man.

Mr. Ayers was best known as an inker, but he was also one heckuvva penciler, as we saw during the Groovy Age. Dick Ayers was THE Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos penciler, helped revive his Golden Age creation Ghost Rider, and lent his talents to Marvel's other war mags, Captain Savage and His Leatherneck Raiders and War Is Hell, as well as lots of westerns, and even the occasional super-hero story (like The Incredible Hulk or Captain Marvel). Late in the Groovy Age, Dick did some awesome work for DC in their war mags (like Unknown Soldier and Gravedigger) and on Jonah Hex, Kamandi, Freedom Fighters, Scalphunter, and others.

Dick's covers are what really knocked Young Groove out, though. Man, he could come up with some dynamic, iconic images that would make the change veritably leap from my hands. Here's a dozen that Ol' Groove thinks you'll enjoy.












And thank you for sharing your immense talent, Mr. Ayers. You were first class all the way!

3 comments:

  1. Nice tribute, Groove - that is wonderful gallery of covers. I particularly like the one for Ghost Rider #1, just lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A perfect tribute, Groovy. His legacy of work speaks for itself. he was also one hell of a nice man.

    ReplyDelete
  3. RIP Dick Ayers. A true legend has passed on. Thank you for sharing your talent with us Mr. Ayers.

    - Mike from Trinidad & Tobago.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin
Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.

As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!