Oh, yeah, Groove-ophiles! House of Secrets had some sensational covers during the Groovy Age! Artists like Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson (if you wanna see more of his HoS covers, click here), Mike Kaluta, Jack Sparling, Luis Dominguez, Ernie Chan, and Jim Starlin shocked, startled, and scared us out of our loose change--and we loved it! Here are 13 of Groove's favorite covers from HoS!
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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!
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!
Mike Kaluta's cover for HoS 99 is a riff on M. C. Escher's "Hand with Reflecting Sphere," a lithograph he produced in 1935:
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_with_Reflecting_Sphere
I'm amazed DC & Kaluta weren't sued for plagiarism. Escher's work is world famous.
Regards,
Chris A.
Certainly Kaluta was paying homage to that image - but but its nowhere near close enough to be considered plagiarism. Its quite easily different enough to be safe.
DeleteI like the fact that the artist was in the midst of drawing a comics page when the startling revelation came that he was being watched.
DeleteKaluta subsequently watercoloured the original art. I have seen it for sale at cons.
Regards,
Chris A.
How much was it going for?
DeleteA small fortune, doubtless. I didn't see a price on it.
DeleteI've seen the original art for Wrightson's HoS 92 (at Metropolis Collectibles in NYC), but can't find the original cover art for 94 in which he also utilised ink wash. One day a scan will turn up.
Regards,
Chris A.
Miss the golden days of House of Secrets where one could look forward to cover masterpieces by Adams, Kaluta, Wrightson (you missed one of his best: HoS # 96. Probaby second only to his Swamp Thing cover). Things declined markedly when DC decided to save money and started using Luis Dominguez' rushed, unimaginative covers. But I guess that why the earlier covers are so prized now.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there were an editorial change? When Joe Orlando left DC's the Witching Hour around issue 16 then a lot of the top talent on that title also left (Wrightson, Kaluta, Jones, Toth, Adams, e.g.)
DeleteI also loved the gorgeous printing of those pre-1975 books.
Regards,
Chris A.
Didn't miss Wrightson's cover for #96; just follow the link to the Wrightson HOS post in the text.
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected.
Delete