Remembering Artist Will Eisner

Remembering comic pioneer and artist Will Eisner on his birthday (March 6, 1917 - January 3, 2003) with a couple of his covers to the Spirit, featuring femme fatales...including P'Gel of Paris!

From The Spirit #20 and #21 (April and June, 1950).

Celebrating Artist Simon Bisley

Celebrating the birthday of artist Simon Bisley (March 4, 1962) with four of his covers to Lobo's Back, the 1992 mini-series, featuring Lobo....and his back (and something else as well, but it needs not be discussed here).

The first issue had 1 regular and 2 variant covers, but they were all in the first issue!  Simon only did the cover for the second as well (without any variants), though it was a four issue mini-series.

Lobo's Back #1 and #1a (May, 1992)

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Lobo's Back #1b and #2 (May and June, 1992)

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The Early Crimson Dynamo

Iron Man was a true hero (secretly industrialist Tony Stark), but he did inspire some incredible menaces in his time.  One of those was the Crimson Dynamo, who was the Russian counterpart to America's armored Avenger.

Here are the first two men to wear the Crimson Dynamo armor.

Anton Vanko

Anton Vanko debuted in Tales of Suspense #46 (October, 1963), becoming "The Crimson Dynamo!" in a tale by Stan Lee and Don Heck, under a cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.  Here, under orders from the Soviet Premier, Vanko was sent to the United States to ruin Tony Stark and take care of Iron Man.  Khrushchev was also planning on eliminating Vanko after taking care of Iron Man. 

While in battle with Iron Man, Tony found the frequency that Khrushchv was communicating with his other agents with, and shared the fact that the Soviet Premier was planning on eliminating Anton after he took care of Iron Man.  

Thus, Iron Man convinced Vanko to defect.

Boris Turgenev

Boris Turgenev fell into the role of Crimson Dynamo via manipulations not his own, in Tales Of Suspense #52 (April, 1964) in the "The Crimson Dynamo Strikes Again!" by Stan Lee and Don Heck (with a cover by Jack Kirby and Paul Reinman).  Furious that Vanko defected, Khrushchv sent his agents, the Black Widow and Boris Turgenev to eliminate Vanko, as well as Tony Stark and Iron Man.  Vanko, working at Stark Industries, was set upon by Boris, who took on the armor to ruin Vanko's work for Stark.  

This led to a battle between the new Crimson Dynamo and Iron Man (who had upgraded from his gold to his red and gold armor).  Boris knocked Iron Man unconscious, and he, along with Natasha, were taking Vanko and Iron Man back to Russia.  But, Iron Man revived, and, with the sacrifice of Anton Vanko, defeated Boris, leaving Natasha an agent alone in the United States.

The Crimson Dynamo would return, with improved armor, with other people under the armor, to face off against Iron Man, Black Widow and more, usually in conjunction with the Titanium Man and other Soviet agents!

Celebrating Artist Ed McGuinness

Celebrating the birthday of artist Ed McGuinness (March 1, 1974) with his variant covers to the Agents of Atlas mini-series, from 2009 during the Dark Reign, featuring Gorilla Man (Ken Hale), Namora, Marvel Boy, Venus, Jimmy Woo and the Human Robot (M-11)...

...Marvel's heroes from the 1950s in the here and now....

Agents Of Atlas #1 and #2 (April and May, 2009)

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Agents Of Atlas #3 and #4 (June and July, 2009)

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Agents Of Atlas #5 (July, 2009)

Celebrating Artist Andy Kubert

Celebrating the birthday of artist Andy Kubert (February 27, 1962) with this wraparound cover for X-Men #30 (March, 1994) celebrating the wedding of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, also known as Cyclops and Marvel Girl.

A good portion of their fellow X-Men attended as well, making his a whole school function...

Celebrating Artist Jeff Butler

Celebrating the birthday of artist Jeff Butler (February 26, 1958) with his covers to the 1993 3 issue mini-series for Green Hornet: Dark Tomorrow.

Now Comics had the rights to Green Hornet, linking the radio and TV versions, as well as having a modern version, and this version, set in a dystopian future where this Green Hornet, a Clayton Reid, is really a bad guy, facing off against a heroic Luke Kato.

Green Hornet: Dark Tomorrow #1 and #2 (June and July, 1993)

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Green Hornet: Dark Tomorrow #3  (August, 1993)

Celebrating Artist Greg LaRocque

Celebrating the birthday of artist Greg LaRocque (February 24, 1954), with a couple of his covers for the Legion of Super-Heroes...#17, December, 1985, sort of a last normal day for the kids of the 30th Century, to be followed by #18, January, 1986, where freeing the time traveling villain, the Infinite Man, allowed the effects of the Crisis On Infinite Earths to start to seep into the Legion's time.

The Wedding Of Dracula

 

To be fair, weddings aren't usually what you think of when you think of Dracula, but here it is.

The Wedding of Dracula came out cover dated January, 1993, and reprinted Tomb Of Dracula #45 and #46 (June and July, 1976) by Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan and Tom Palmer, wherein, after a pre-show with Blade facing Hannibal King, Dracula wed Domini (and faced the Faceless Man).  Domini then appeared on and off until the end of the Tomb of Dracula series.

Celebrating Artist Mike Allred

Celebrating the birthday of artist Mike Allred (February 20, 1969)...

...here, with his Superman related covers (Action Comics #31 and Superman #31, July, 2014).  

Variants to the usual, celebrating the 1966 Batman TV series!

Remembering Artist Curt Swan

Remembering artist Curt Swan on his birthday (February 17, 1920 - June 17, 1996) with a couple of his all too rare covers for Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane (#78 and #80, of October, 1967 and January, 1968)....though these two covers don't necessarily show that Superman and Lois were in a good place at the time.

Brides In Love

Another mostly forgotten title from Charlton, Brides of Love lasted 45 issues from August 1956 to February 1965, but did feature some incredible art, such of issues #17 and #29, by Joe Sinnott and Vince Colletta.

Happy Valentine's Day With Red Sonja

Red Sonja celebrated Valentine's Day back in 2021, with the Red Sonja Valentine's Day Special, with variant covers by Joseph Michael Linsner and Jimmy Broxton, with Sonja acting very unusual with Kulan Gath in throw back covers to romance comics....

....and, a bonus, the photo cover with cosplay girl Savannah Polson as Red Sonja! 

Jason Goes To Hell The Final Friday

An odd adaptation of a movie, with Jason Voorhees and Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday.

3 issues in 1993, by Andy Mangels (from a screenplay by Dean Lorey and Jay Huguely), with art by Cynthia Martin and Allen Nunis...

...and, odder still, from when Topps (usually known for its collectible cards) made a brief foray into the world of comics with the Friday the 13th franchise.

Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday #1 and #2 (July and August, 1993)

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Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday #3 (September, 1993)

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Just Married

Just Married, a romance comic from Charlton, that lasted for 114 issues from January, 1958 to December, 1976...

...here, with a couple of covers from Luis Avila (#61 and #84, from November, 1968 and April, 1972).

Archie Knows Football

Archie Andrews knows football (as show by Archie #250 of February, 1976, by Dan DeCarlo and Rudy Lapick)...or does he (as shown by Archie #268 of February, 1978, with unidentified artists). 

Remembering Artist Rich Buckler

Remembering artist Rich Buckler on his birthday (February 6, 1949 - May 19, 2017) with a couple of his covers for Secret Society of Super-Villains (#13 and #14, March and April-May, 1978), where Captain Comet, the hero dedicated to fight the villains, gets thrown off the dimensional path, so instead of following them to Earth-2, ends up on Earth-3, where he fights the villains who looked like heroes, the Crime Syndicate of America, specifically Johnny Quick, Superwoman and Power Ring.

Celebrating Artist Val Semeiks

Celebrating artist Val Semeiks on his birthday (February 5, 1955) with a couple of his covers to The Demon (issues #23 and #24, of May and June, 1992),  where the reader is reminded that Etrigan lives in Gotham, as Robin and Batman get involved in his adventures with the Howler, yet it ends up being Jason Blood's girlfriend, Glenda Mark, who solves the problem.

The Wedding Of Karate Kid and Queen Projectra

After a whirlwind romance, and a long period of courtship, Karate Kid and Queen Projectra finally got married.

But, where did this love affair start?

A quick look below....

Adventure Comics #346 (July, 1966)

With "One Of Us Is A Traitor" by Jim Shooter and Sheldon Moldoff, with a cover by Curt Swan and George Klein, the Legion welcomed four new members to their ranks...Karate Kid (Val Armorr) from Earth, Princess Projectra from Orando, Ferro Lad (Andrew Nolan) from Earth and Nemesis Kid (Hart Druiter) from Myar.  These four had to prove themselves to the other Legion members, and did.  

They joined right in time, as Earth and the United Planets were menaced by a new warlike race called the Khunds...and it seems Earth's defenses were being destroyed by a member of the Legion...Karate Kid.

That was not true, and the real traitor was reveal, and the other three remaining on the team...with Val and Jeckie falling in love.  Val had to endure many trials to eventually wed his Princess...but was only finally able to after the death of her father, when she became Queen of Orando.

Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #2 (September, 1983)

Under a cover by Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt, with a story by Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen and Dave Gibbons, Val and Jeckie were finally married in "Whatever Gods There Be...". 

Legion wedding are usually big affairs, and this one was as well, with the full Legion membership gathering from their busy adventures...

...as the team had just fought off Darkseid, and was busy restoring Daxam from the damage he did to Mon-El's homeworld, and another group (including Supergirl) just fought the Emerald Empress of Fatal Five.

Strangely enough, the wedding was relatively uneventful on Jeckie's home planet of Orando, but a team of Legion members (including Dream Girl and Ultra Boy) were accidentally sent back in time to ancient Greece, where they encountered aliens who were pretending to be the Greek gods.

Still, the marriage happened, and the two could live on her planet in peace (well, for a too short time....).

Celebrating Artist Ron Frenz

 

Celebrating the birthday of artist Ron Frenz (February 1, 1960) with the American Dream...

...a heroine from Earth-982, a near future approximation of the Marvel Universe, with the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson as Spider-Girl, and a next generation of Avengers)....who is Shannon Carter, the cousin of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter, who idolized Captain America, trained in his combat techniques, and eventually got Captain America's shield.  Debuting in A-Next #4 (January, 1999) to join those Avengers, Shannon then had her own 5 issue mini-series.

A-Next #4 (January, 1999) and American Dream #1 (July, 2008)

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American Dream #2 and #3 (July and , August 2008)

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American Dream #4 and #5 (August and September, 2008)

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Star Trek On Android

More schenanigans from Q...this time around, Q turns the Enterprise-D crew into Soong type androids like Data, and they learn while Data has incredible abilities, he also lacks the humanity of the crew, in this two part story from Star Trek: The Next Generation #79 and #80 (January and February, 1996) by Michael Jan Friedman, Gordon Purcell and Terry Pallot, with Gordon and Terry providing the covers.

Celebrating Artist Steven Butler

Celebrating the birthday of artist Steven Butler (January 29, 1965) with a couple of his covers for Nightwatch (#5 and #6, August and September, 1994), wherein the hero (the Spawned Nightwatch) faces off against Venom.

Celebrating Artist Frank Miller

Celebrating artist Frank Miller on his birthday...here, with a couple of his earlier efforts at Marvel, drawing two Star Trek covers (#5 and #10, August, 1980 and January, 1981), as the crew of the Enterprise had just come out of their movie debut in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Celebrating Artist Sal Buscema

Celebrating artist Sal Buscema on his birthday (January 26, 1936) with a couple of his Sub-Mariner covers (#34 and #35, February and March, 1971), wherein Sub-Mariner joins forces with the Hulk and Silver Surfer (setting the stage for the Defenders, though Doctor Strange would replace Silver Surfer for a time).

Remembering Artist John Romita

Remembering artist John Romita on his birthday (January 24, 1930 - June 12, 2023) with a couple of his covers to Amazing Spider-Man (#66 and #67, from November and December, 1968) featuring the master of illusion....Mysterio!

Celebrate Thor's Day With Him

Fresh from his hatching out of his cocoon in Fantastic Four #67 (October, 1967, with cover by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott), the creature created by the Enclave, known as "Him", faced Thor and Sif in Thor #165 and #166 (June and July, 1969, covers by Kirby and Vince Colletta)...and would then later return in Marvel Premiere #1 (April, 1972, covers by Gil Kane and Dan Adkins) as the man called Adam Warlock!