Remembering Artist Kurt Schaffenberger

Remembering artist Kurt Schaffenberger on his birthday (December 15, 1920 - January 24, 2002) with another ending, the covers for the last two issues of Marvel Family (#88 and #89, October 1953 and January, 1954)...the last appearances of Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. before they showed up in Shazam! #1 at DC!

Santa Hauls The Marvel Universe

Santa Claus tries to carry the whole Marvel Universe in his back, but it seems too much for him in the Art Adams cover for the January, 1993 Marvel Holiday Special, with stories for Wolverine, the New Warriors, Spider-Man, Deathlok and the Punisher, and pin-ups for Excalibur and Captain America.

Celebrating Artist Joseph Michael Linsner

Celebrating the birthday of artist Joseph Michael Linsner (December 13, 1968).  

His incredible painted work has adorned many covers, with some of the earliest featuring mutant Mystique for the earliest issues of her title....and they are drop dead gorgeous!

Mystique #1 and #2 (June and July, 2003)

.

Mystique #3 and #4 (August and September, 2003)

.

Mystique #5 and #6 (October and November, 2003)

.

Remembering Artist Dan DeCarlo

Remembering artist Dan DeCarlo on his birthday (December 12, 1919 - December 19, 2002) with a couple of covers for the Archie Giant Series Magazine, featuring Santa Claus.  

On the first, #168 of January, 1970, Betty is asking for what she wants for Christmas (much to Veronica's dismay), and the second, #220 of December, 1973, has Sabrina dealing with Santa in a mall as well.

Batman As Santa

Batman as Santa?

That's how it looks on this Neal Adams/Dick Giordano cover for Batman #239 (February, 1972).

But, inside, in a story by Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano, it starts with Batman helping a street corner Santa who was robbed, leading him to the robber, his poor daughter, and the robber's boss, who he actually was trying to help....and Batman instead taking the sleigh to save the boss' life.

Celebrating Artist Leonard Kirk

Celebrating artist Leonard Kirk on his birthday (December 6, 1966) with friends, not unlike these two covers of Supergirl (#36 and #37, September and October, 1999) where Supergirl faces off with the members of Young Justice (Impulse, Robin, Arrowette, Wonder Girl and Superboy) who were manipulated by Dante.

The End Of Quality Blackhawk

Quality Comics went out of business in 1956, leading to the end of Blackhawk, with issue #107 (December, 1956)....but, DC took over publishing the next month with Blackhawk #108 (January, 1957)....with the same art team of Dick Dillin and Chuck Cuidera!

Home For Christmas

Making the switch from war comics to the holidays, here, with a incredible cover from Joe Kubert to Sgt. Rock #350 (March, 1981), where the Rock wants to be "Home For Christmas".  

Remembering Artist Keith Giffen

Remembering artist Keith Giffen on his birthday (November 30, 1952 - October 9, 2023) with a look at his covers for the Omega Men, a Baxter (enhanced paper) series.  The Omega Men were a team of citizens of the Vega system, who had banded together to fight the oppression of the Citadel, having a system wide war.  Their members included leader Primus, his wife Kalista, cat like Tigorr, cloaked Nimbus, rocky Broot, serpentine Demonia and winged Harpis.  During this run, bounty hunter Lobo was introduced, and the Omega Men suffered a shake up, as Tigorr took control...and defeated the Citadel!

Omega Men #1 and #2, (April and May, 1983)

.

Omega Men #3 and #4, (June and July, 1983)

.

Omega Men #5 and #6, (August and September, 1983)

.

Lost Sgt. Rock

It seems at times that Sgt. Rock was lost, whether being redirected by a superior officer, or working with out a compass, but Easy Company could always count on the Rock....as shown on these two covers for Sgt. Rock #334 and #335 (November and December, 1979) by Joe Kubert.

Happy Thanksgiving 2025

A happy Thanksgiving to all.

May you have more fun, and not face a turkey as big as this pilgrim did, in this cover to More Fun Comics #26 (November, 1937) by Vin Sullivan.

Blackhawk's Batman Villains

Blackhawk had changed from a straight war comic to almost a team fighting super villains....but, they had a few interesting villains by name.

Blackhawk fought (a) Mr. Freeze and Cat-Man before Batman did!

Mr. Freeze

In Blackhawk #117 (October, 1957) with art by Dick Dillin and Chuck Cuidera, the Blackhawks were helping to test inventions by three scientists, when the items were stolen by a masked man, whom the Blackhawks called Mr. Freeze (due to his using an ice-ray, one of the items, on them). 

The team eventually deduced it was one of the scientists, Professor Thurman, who was the real criminal, using his robot to commit the crimes.

Cat-Man

While in Blackhawk #141 (October, 1959) also with Dillin/Cuidera art, the team encounters a villain who is willing to take incredible chances with his life, as he feels he was gifted with the lives of a cat by a witch doctor in Africa.  

Blackhawk and his crew convince him he has used up his extra lives, and not wanting to lose his last one, Cat-Man surrenders.

"The Real Ones"

But, Batman's Mr. Freeze debuted in Batman #121 (February, 1959, as Mr. Zero) and his Cat-Man in Detective Comics #311 (June, 1963), going on to long careers facing Batman and more.  

Though they aren't the same characters, Blackhawk had them as villains before Batman!

Sgt. Rock Art

Here, a couple of Sgt. Rock covers showing a slightly different view of war and war comics by Joe Kubert, and quite the stunning looks from issues #370 and #371 of November and December, 1982.

 

Remembering Artist Steve Lightle

Remembering artist Steve Lightle on his birthday (November 19, 1959 - January 8, 2021) with a couple of his covers to Conan the Barbarian, featuring Conan and Red Sonja - #244 and #246 of May and July, 1991.

Remembering Artist Darwyn Cooke

Remembering artist Darwyn Cooke on his birthday (November 16, 1962 - May 14, 2016).  

An incredibly talented artist and writer, with a love of comics...remembered here by the first four issues of Catwoman, which he did the covers for.

Catwoman #1 and #2, (January and February, 2002)

.

Catwoman #3 and #4, (March and April, 2002)

,

Sgt. Rock At Sea

Usually working in the European front, Sgt. Rock occasionally fought in the Pacific, as shown here in Our Army At War #257 and #258 (June and July, 1973) with covers by Joe Kubert.

Saluting Our Veterans

Saluting our veterans on this Veterans' Day with this cover to Sgt. Rock (#417, of August, 1987 by Joe Kubert), here, with a hopeful vision of what happened to Frank Rock after World War II.

Sgt. Rock Front And Back

It's so easy to think of Joe Kubert when thinking of Sgt. Rock, but Jerry Granenetti did a few covers feature the top kick of Easy Company, like Our Army At War #92 and #93, from March and April, 1960.

Celebrating 50 Years Of Wonder Woman

While Wonder Woman was around for more than 50 years, and there was an attempt at a Wonder Woman TV movie just before this, Wonder Woman as she looked in the comics first found its way onto the airwaves on ABC, with the telemovie The New Original Wonder Woman, staring Lynda Carter.

Set in World War II for the first season, the show then moved to the modern day (the 1970s) when it moved to CBS for its second and third seasons.

In 2015, DC gave us comics based on the TV show, with covers by Nicola Scott, with 4 Wonder Woman '77 Specials (and a little more....).

Wonder Woman '77 Special #1 and #2 (June and November, 2015)

.

Wonder Woman '77 Special #3 and #4 (May and November, 2016)

.

Celebrating Artist Jim Steranko

Celebrating the birthday of legendary artist Jim Steranko (November 5, 1938) with his two covers to Shanna the She-Devil (#1 and #2, from December, 1972 and February, 1973)...a throwback to the classic jungle comics of Jim's youth!

Strange Adventures With Clocks

It's time for that yearly extra hour of sleep, as you should have set your clocks back, but for the residents of Earth here in Strange Adventures #71 (August, 1956, with cover by Ruben Moreira), it was "Zero Hour For Earth!".

Skeletons At War

Switching from horror to war, and combining the two, here are a couple of covers by Luis Dominguez, with skeletons at war with humanity, from Weird War Tales #30 and #31 (October and November, 1974).

Happy Halloween 2025

A happy Halloween to all, as Flash, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern join in on this cover to Comic Cavalcade #12 (Fall, 1945), with the heroes drawn by E. E. Hibbard, Harry Peter and Martin Naydel.  

An Unexpected Witch

Another horror host, this one, the Mad Mod Witch (also known later as the Fashion Thing), who first appeared in Unexpected #108 (August-September, 1968) in a story by Dave Wood, Jack Sparling and Rocco Mastroserio, and continued regularly in the title up to Unexpected #116 (December-January, 1969/1970), missing Unexpected #113, but appearing with other horror hosts like Abel and Cain in DC Special #4 (July-September, 1969), and then in Witching Hour #13 (February-March, 1971) with the Three Witches....and popping up here and there over the years, most notably in a few issues of Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

She made a few cover appearances, including Unexpected #109 (October-November, 1968) by Jack Sparling, Unexpected #111 (February-March, 1969)  by Nick Cardy and Unexpected #114 (August-September, 1969) by Neal Adams.

Remembering Artist Bernie Wrightson

Remembering artist Bernie Wrightson on his birthday (October 27, 1948 - March 18, 2018) with his cover to Doctor Strange/Silver Dagger #1 (March, 1983) with reprinted Stephen Strange's battle against the Silver Dagger from Doctor Strange #1, #2, #4 and #5.

More Weird Science

More Weird Science, with the second (and sadly last) collections of Weird Science from Ross Cochran in 1980s, featuring classic Weird Science tales from EC, this time, with covers by Wally Wood!

Volume 3 features Weird Science #12 through #17.

Volume 4 features Weird Science #18 through #22.

Remembering Artist Al Feldstein

Remembering artist Al Feldstein on his birthday (October 24, 1925 - April 29, 2014) with a couple of covers featuring his EC work, but are from Russ Cochran, as that company reprinted much of the EC comics in the 1980s, including these two volumes, featuring Weird Science.

Volume 1 reprinted Weird Science #5, #6 and #12 through #15.

Volume 2 reprinted Weird Science #7 through #11.

A Scarlet Witch Solo

Though Wanda had been around the Marvel Universe since the earliest days of the X-Men and the Avengers, her time was spent mostly as a team member.  

It took until 1994 and the end of the Avengers West Coast for the Scarlet Witch to get her first four issue mini-series, where she faced the Demons of Dark Design, Master Pandemonium and Lore (all under writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and artists John Higgins and Mark McKenna).

Scarlet Witch #1 and #2 (January and February, 1994)

.

Scarlet Witch #3 and #4 (March and April, 1994)

.

Remembering Artist Nick Cardy

Remembering artist Nick Cardy on his birthday (October 20, 1920 - November 3, 2013) with something a little unexpected....a couple of his covers to Unexpected (#120 from August-September, 1970 and #139 from September, 1972) which give you signs of warning...that these couples ignored!

Frankenstein Monster Meets Dracula

It's a battle of monsters that is a Universal theme, but here is the tale of the first battle of the creation of Frankenstein and the lord of the vampires, Dracula...

...brought to you as only the mighty Marvel could at the time!

The Fury Of A Fiend!

There was a bit of a set up for this, in Frankenstein #7 (November, 1973, by Gary Friedrich, John Buscema and John Verpoorten, with Frank Giacoia).  The Monster, in the later 1800s, fell in with a group of gypsies, falling for the beautiful Carmen Burnemissa.  Working with her grandmother, Madame Marguerita, the Monster went along with them, heading to Transylvania in the Monster's pursuit of the last surviving Frankenstein (as the Monster wanted to end his creator's bloodline).  

Secretly, Marguerita was a vampire, feasting on the village....and bringing down their wrath on the gypsy caravan.  The Madame led the monster to a cave, where she said the last Frankenstein lay dead....but, after the monster cleared the boulder blocking the cave, they found her true goal....the undead body of Dracula!

My Name Is...Dracula--

Here, the battle has truly begun, in Frankenstein #8 (January, 1974, by Gary Friedrich, John Buscema and John Verpoorten, with Buscema inking his own cover).  The Monster, enraged by the trickery of the Madame, ends up fighting Dracula (surprised by the monster's strength, and still weak from his own resurrection).  The sounds of the battle drew Carmen to the cave, where threatened by her own grandmother, the monster slew the madame, revealing to her granddaughter that she was a vampire. 

The battle ended as Dracula disappeared in the melee, with the monster and Carmen discovering that the villagers had slain all the gypsies.  Furious, the monster left to attack the village, leaving an unconscious Carmen behind.  Meanwhile, Dracula searched the village for sustenance, but the villagers were prepared to ward off his attacks.  So, wandering the countryside, Dracula found the unconscious Carmen, and fed.  The monster set upon the village, who were also ready for him, and bound him to a lamppost, building a fire around him to end the monster.

The Vampire Killers!

The battle ends in Frankenstein #9 (March, 1974, by Gary Friedrich, John Buscema and John Verpoorten, with cover inks by Tom Palmer).  The monster is able to escape fiery death as the villagers rush to face Dracula, who was attempting to feed on another female victim.  The villagers rally against Dracula, but fail, as the count goes to secure a new coffin for his cave.  The monster lets the villagers know he will end Dracula, and that they should not attack him.  Back at the cave, the monster encounters the now vampiric Carmen, who attempts to feed on the monster, paralyzing his vocal cords.  

Overcome with grief, the monster ends Carmen's undead experience.  Dracula is angered the monster would end one of his brides, and fights with the monster, with the monster successfully defeating Dracula (for now).  Even better, at the end, the monster comes into contact with the last surviving Frankenstein (Vincent)....but that is a story for another time.