Famous First Fridays: Dave Cockrum Debuts

One of the most awesome artists of the Groovy Age was, naturally, Dave Cockrum. Dave's slick, stylized, hip art (especially his facility for creating some of the most way-out costumes ever) never failed to dazzle the eyes. He started out providing art for various fanzines (including Marvelmania--the pic to the left comes from ish #2) and soon made his name helping revive fan-favorite super-teams like the Legion of Super-Heroes and the X-Men, where e helped create Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Thunderbird, Phoenix, Wildfire, and many more.

His road to stardom began in Warren's Vampirella #11 (cover-dated May 1971) with a story written by writer/fanzine publisher/comics shop entrepreneur Buddy Saunders called "Prisoner in the Pool!" Check it out!


After that dazzling debut story, Dave continued producing work for Warren publications, as well as the fanzines. He also found himself assisting DC mainstay Murphy Anderson. This helped lead to Dave's first full-color pro work, found in the back of the immortal Superman #248 (November 1971): a Fabulous World of Krypton short written by another rising star, Marv Wolfman, called "All in the Mind!" And yep, Ol' Groove's got that one for ya, too!


Dave was also a dynamic and prolific cover artist, especially during his tenure at Marvel, so , before we go, why don't we take a look-see at his first-ever pro cover: Batman #246 (September 1972)--inked by Neal Adams, no less!