Friday, July 31, 2015
The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Groove's Fave Limited Collectors' Edition Covers
Dig it, Groove-ophiles! One of the coolest things about the Groovy Age was DC's tabloid-sized Limited Collectors' Editon mags. Page after page of reprints from the DC vaults under glorious cardstock covers. Here are my faves. C.C. Beck. Joe Kubert. Jim Aparo. Dick Giordano. Neal Adams. Mike Grell. What were yours?
Man, those were fun! I still have most of these. They were all great, but I really loved the two Tarzan books. This was also my first exposure to Captain Marvel because the store I frequented didn't carry the regular Shazam! series.
ReplyDeleteSome of these bring back memories, albeit somewhat bittersweet: I remember wanting the JLA and Legion books sooooooooo much, but never got them.
ReplyDeleteLove the cover on the Batman edition reprinting the original Ra's al-Ghul saga - that's the cover the Tales of the Demon tpb that I have now.
How can one say Nay to any of those covers. But if you are asking for favorites... well... I tended to be partial to those featuring covers of Golden Age comics. E.g., ones that showed the the first Wonder Woman, Supes, etc. Someting about the Treasury Size, combined with a cover from 35 years earlier that I'd never seen... All that said, I really wish DC had done more Treasurys, or just reprinting of 100-page Giants, of the "Quality" characters like Pastic Man, Blackhawks, etc. I mean, I paid like $10 (?) as a kid in the 70s to get Alan Light's book that reprinted Ray and Condor stories and the reprinting was really, really hard to read. Hey Groove - How about a special on books in the 70s that reprinted golden age stuff, like Alan Light's Ray/Condor book? Cheers and have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteI think I had all of these except the last one. These were about as good as it got comics-wise as a kid in the 70s, along with the 100-pagers. I remember picking up the white-cover Shazam on a family trip to New York in 1974, at a magazine store in Times Square, when I was 8. As a back issue, it was marked up to the princely sum of $1.50! I was delighted to be able to get it, since I'd missed it on the newsstand the year before.
ReplyDeleteI also loved the golden age reprints--the ads and the back-up stories were fascinating.
I just picked up the Ra's al-Ghul one for 6 bucks a few weeks ago from the local shop, they had a few more of these plus some Marvel ones as well. Really bring back the memories, such a generous format.
ReplyDeleteMy faves are the Batman one on the rooftop with his foes spotlighted, looks like a Neal Adams job there, and the Superboy & the Legion one, great iconic cover from Mike Grell.
ReplyDelete- Mike from Trinidad & Tobago.
The "Batman one on the rooftop with his foes spotlighted" is by Jim Aparo, THE Batman artist of the Groovy era.
DeleteThese treasuries are amongst my most cherished childhood memories. Whenever my mom needed to drag me along to do all day errands with her, she'd buy one of these to keep me occupied.
ReplyDeleteI still have all my original copies that are well worn and beat to h*ll, not to mention missing their back covers as yes, i did assemble *all* the table top dioramas.
That purple Batman rooftop one was my favorite (both cover and diorama!). I've since seen a Neal Adams' version of that layout. Does anyone know which one was the original?
…and the JSA flip side to the Justice League one always blew me away too. I was completely fascinated as it was my first exposure to the JSA and had no idea who they were since they weren't in the actual book.
ReplyDeleteJoe Kubert's wraparound cover for THE BIBLE was a favourite, too. Marvel likewise put out some good ones in the '70s. As a matter of fact, the first Marvel/DC crossover was not SUPERMAN VS. SPIDER-MAN....it was the WIZARD OF OZ treasury edition! A good trivia question for bronze age fans.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I thought Tarzan was having his left forearm bitten off by the lion on the second TARZAN treasury edition cover. I was amazed that the Code would allow that, or so I thought.
Best regards,
Chris A.
Kubert could draw animals, couldn't he?
ReplyDeleteThe Legion issue pictured was my introduction to the Silver Age years of the team. That Mordru 2-parter is still one of my favorite stories.
Doug
As one of the biggest Neal Adams fans on the planet I have to go with the Batman on the end as my favorite. The beautiful cover enhances the already great artwork within. What is that special effect used on Ra's al-Ghul: Craftint, Mezzotint? I can happily say my copy of this treasury is now autographed by Mr. Adams from one of his swings through the convention circuit in the Portland/Seattle area the past few years.
ReplyDeleteNeal Adams likely did an ink wash of Ra's al Ghul for the back cover, then DC ran a filter over it, turning the greys into crosshatched lines (as well as the blank spaces). They called this process (in those days) a VELOX or SILVERPLATE, but getting the hatching pattern was, as you stated, called a mezzotint. Neal had done it before on an ALL-STAR WESTERN cover for DC in the early '70s, as well as for THE WITCHING HOUR (see below):
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http://tinyurl.com/ogka8fk
Regards,
Chris A.
Thanks for the info. I liked the different things DC was trying with their mags in the 70s.
DeleteThese were all awesome. The Beck and Aparo covers were probably my favorites, but I also loved the glorious painted Superman cover based on pulp artist HJ Ward's painting that hung in the DC offices for years, and, rather late in the game, the cover to Batman's Strangest Cases (http://www.comicwiz.com/images/Batman_c59_sm.jpg)
ReplyDeleteOne of those Batman 1.00 books had the first image I'd ever seen of the 1943 Batman movie serial. I'd read about it but never seen a photo. Those oversized books were a must have for me too as a kid.
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