Back in the dawn of the Groovy Age, when Neal Adams came on the scene at DC, they put him on a few strips (
Deadman in
Strange Adventures,
Batman team-ups in
Brave and the Bold,
Superman/Batman in
World's Finest, lots of mystery stories for
House of Mystery, the
Unexpected, and the rest), but they really worked him on their covers. The entire
Superman Family of comics,
Batman, Detective, Adventure, World's Finest, Tomahawk, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, the mystery comics, and even the romance comics. Here are a few very early, very cool Adams covers from the late 1960s--including Neal's
first DC Cover! Can you guess which one it is? (I'm presenting the covers in random order, so no hints from me!)
Boy, Adams was just what DC needed at that time. I have a tough time taking many of the DCs and their silly cover philosophy from 1950-1966 or so.....but Neal Adams singlehandedly pulled them out of these doldrums.
ReplyDeleteAt first, DC tried to have Adams draw some of those "silly" covers, but thankfully, they realized they needed to turn him loose and let him create some masterpieces. The colors on these covers are well-done, too. Beautiful.
Oh...and I'm guessing the Bob Hope cover was first??
ReplyDeleteDingdingdingding!!! You're our winner, Chris! Consider yourself "know-prized"! (Which means you know you won! ;D )
ReplyDeleteNioce selection! I was pleasantly surprised to see one that I hadn't seen before (The Secret Hearts cover. Looking forward to the "Blinded with Comics Blog
ReplyDeleteMan, Neal did some of the best covers of all time! Those books are worth collecting just for those!
ReplyDeleteDC should really publish a book of JUST Neal's covers!
ReplyDeleteI'm grateful that the BATMAN ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS hardcovers (volumes 1, 2 and 3) insert chronologically all the Neal Adams covers Neal Adams did on the various Batman titles, including BATMAN, DETECTIVE, WORLD'S FINEST, and BRAVE AND THE BOLD.
ReplyDeleteMy only complaint with those books is that the stories extensively re-drawn by Adams. I would prefer them as they were originally published. Fortunately the covers are published as the were, unchanged.