Remembering Artist Neal Adams

Remembering artist Neal Adams on his birthday (June 15, 1941 - April 28, 2022) with a pair of his covers from Adventure Comics (#365 and #366, February and March, 1968) featuring Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, where the team go to the homeworld of Shadow Lass (meeting her for the first time) and face the return of the Fatal Five!

Celebrating Flag Day

Celebrating Flag Day the United States army today, with a couple of Blackhawk covers by Howard Chaykin, from issues #258 and #259 (May and June, 1983).

How Hot Is It?

All in all, it is too hot to make a column.  

But you want it hotter?

Well, how about this cover to Vault Of Evil #13 (September, 1974) by Larry Lieber and Vince Colletta?

...and if you really want it hotter, you can go to...

Celebrating Artist Charles Vess

Celebrating the birthday of artist Charles Vess (June 10, 1951) with his Spectre covers, 3 from the 1980s, and one from the 1990s...

...a hint of the fantasy art he is much more famous for.

Spectre #13 and #14 (April and May, 1988)

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Spectre #15 and #5 (June, 1988 and April, 1993)

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Remembering Artist George Perez

Remembering artist George Perez on his birthday (June 9, 1954 - May 6, 2022) with a pair of his Justice League of America covers (#192 and #193, July and August, 1981) where in the JLA faces T. O. Morrow, and learn just a little extra about the Red Tornado (and his ties to the Tornado Tyrant and the Tornado Champion).

Justice League of America #192 (July, 1981)

In "Quest For Genesis" written by Gerry Conway, with art by George Perez and John Beatty, Red Tornado attacks the JLA in their satellite...forcing them to destroy him.  While debating this, Red Tornado attacks again...with the team stopping that Red Tornado as well.  This makes the team think of Reddy's android status, and his creator, T. O. Morrow and Red Tornado's origins.  

Meanwhile, Red Tornado is at home with Kathy Sutton and Traya, until his mind is attacked by....T. O. Morrow, who summons Reddy to his secret mountain base.  Red Tornado had told the JLA that Morrow was dead, but Morrow explains that, after his being thrown out of reality when Red Tornado joined the JLA, one version of him ended up on a planet, while another mutated into the Future Man (who was the one who died).  So, Morrow tried to recreate Red Tornado....but neither worked.  

Why?

Justice League of America #193 (July, 1981)

In "Secret Of Genesis" written by Gerry Conway, with art by George Perez and John Beatty, as T. O. Morrow attempted to deconstruct Red Tornado, he found so much more than he was looking for.  A being called the Tornado Tyrant came out of Red Tornado, and, thanks to the arrival of the JLA team, Firestorm had time to search around, and found the Tornado Champion (two beings from Rann, where faced Adam Strange, but then came to Earth to admire the JLA, and then, on its own created world, had to create a JLA to stop its evil side).  

Still, imitating the JLA wasn't enough for the Tornado Champion, so, ending up on Earth-2, found T. O. Morrow creating his android, and attempted to take control of it...he did, but at the cost of his memory.  So, Tornado Tyrant and Tornado Champion were hold up inside of Red Tornado, without Reddy's knowledge.  To contain the Tornado Tyrant, Firestorm recreated Red Tornado's android body, and with the help of the Tornado Champion, recreated Red Tornado (without memories of his two warring factions, a secret which Firestorm would keep....at least until the Crisis).

Celebrating Artist Darryl Banks

Celebrating the birthday of artist Darryl Banks (June 7, 1964) with a couple of his Green Lantern covers (#98 and #99, May and June, 1998), where Kyle Rayner ended up in the 30th century of the Legion of Super-Heroes.  

Remembering D-Day

Remembering the invasion of Normandy during World War II, which happened on June 6, 1944...called D-Day.  D-Day was also a war comic from Charlton, with 5 issues (no number three was published), and though they weren't entirely focused on that date, it did show our heroic armed forces in action, with the first two covers likely by Dick Giordano, cover four by Sam Glanzman, cover five by Rocco Mastroserio, and cover six by Carlos Cassala.

D-Day #1 and #2 (Summer, 1963 and Fall, 1964)

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D-Day #4 and #5 (September, 1966 and October, 1967)

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D-Day #6 (November, 1968)

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Tharn In Jungle Action

When is a hero debut not a hero debut?

When the hero is Tharn!   

Tharn, a jungle hero debuted in Jungle Action #1 (October, 1972, cover by John Buscema), but was a reprint of adventures of Lo-Zar, who debuted in Jungle Action #1 (October, 1954) by Don Rico and Joe Maneely, with Joe also providing that cover.  Tharn stories appeared in the first 4 issues of the new Jungle Action, with the name change to prevent confusion with Ka-Zar, sharing space with reprints of Lorna Queen of the Jungle and Jann of the Jungle.  Lo-Zar had 6 issues in his Jungle Action run as Lord of the Jungle.

Jungle Action #1 (October, 1972) and Jungle Action #1 (October, 1954)

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Covers by John Buscema and Joe Maneely

Jungle Action #2 (December, 1972) and Jungle Action #2 (December, 1954)

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Covers by Gil Kane and Joe Maneely

Jungle Action #3 (February, 1973) and Jungle Action #4 (April, 1955)

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Covers by Jim Starlin & Frank Giacoia and Carl Burgos

Jungle Action #4 (April, 1973) and Jungle Action #6 (August, 1955)

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Covers by Gil Kane & Frank Giacoia and Joe Maneely

Original Jungle Action #3 and #5 (February and June, 1955)

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Covers by Syd Shores & Frank Giacoia and Joe Maneely

Given time, maybe later we'll look into Lorna the Jungle Queen and Jann of the Jungle!

Lorna the Jungle Queen #1 (July, 1953) and Jann of the Jungle #14 (December, 1956)

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Covers by Carl Burgos

Celebrating Artist Scott Rosema

Celebrating the birthday of artist Scott Rosema (June 2, 1958) with his cover to the Archie Comics Cartoon Network Presents Space Ghost #1 (March, 1997).

Adventures With Superboy-Prime

Looking in on Superboy-Prime (the Superboy from an alternate world called Earth-Prime where super heroes were characters in comic book, taken away after the end of the Crisis On Infinite Earths, only to return, with a psychopathic rage and murdering many heroes including Titans and Bloodlines heroes)....here, in Adventure Comics #4 and #5 (January and February, 2010, with covers by Jerry Ordway, with variants by Francis Manapul as #507 and #508)...

...this Clark Kent was forced to face some of those he killed, brought back as Black Lanterns, with Alexander Luthor Jr. leading the charge (and these stories might also have been his step towards redemption).

Plus back up stories with the Black Witch (Mysa, the former White Witch of the Legion of Super-Heroes), and Superboy/Kon-El as well.

Adventure Comics #4 and #507 (January, 2010)

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Adventure Comics #5 and #508 (February, 2010)

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Celebrating Artist Greg Horn

Celebrating the birthday of artist Greg Horn (May 30, 1970) with his covers to the 4 issue mini-series : Justice League: The Rise Of Arsenal.

In the mini-series, Roy Harper, Arsenal (the former Speedy) deals with the loss of his daughter Lian and his arm, due to the attack on Star City by Prometheus.  During the course of this series, Roy falls back on drugs, gets a prosthetic arm, fights Lian's mother (Cheshire), fights with Black Canary and Nightwing, and ends up executing the Electrocutioner and battling his mentor, Green Arrow (who says 2010 comics weren't fun???).

Justice League: The Rise Of Arsenal #1 and #2 (May and June, 2010)

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Justice League: The Rise Of Arsenal #3 and #4 (July and August, 2010)

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Celebrating Artist Scott Koblish

Celebrating the birthday of artist Scott Koblish (May 28, 1970) with his wraparound cover to the Despicable Deadpool #300 (July, 2018) featuring...well, Deadpool and a ton of his alternate world counterparts (well, who would it feature...Shakespeare?).

Celebrating Artist Tom Mandrake

Celebrating the birthday of artist Tom Mandrake (May 26, 1956) with a couple of his early Spectre covers (#1 from December, 1992 and #4 from February, 1993) along with the cover to the Spectre: Crimes And Punishments from December, 1993, which reprints Spectre #1 through #4 from that run.

 

For Memorial Day

Remembering those in the United States armed forces who have lost their lives in service to our county this Memorial Day with this very emotional cover by Joe Kubert, featuring Sgt. Rock, mourning the loss of Easy Company, from Sgt. Rock #389 (June, 1984).

Remembering Artist Carmine Infantino

Remembering artist Carmine Infantino on his birthday (May 24, 1925 - April 24, 2013) with the end run of his covers for the Flash, covering the trial of the Flash.  

The Flash was on trial for murdering the Reverse Flash....and, as the powers that be at DC decided Barry's fate in the upcoming Crisis (to end the title), instead of starting a new story with the Flash, the trial just seemed to go on forever....

Flash #340 and #341 (December, 1984 and January, 1985)

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Flash #342 and #343 (February and March, 1985)

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Flash #344 and #345 (April and May, 1985)

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Flash #346 and #347 (June and July, 1985)

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Flash #348 and #349 (August and September, 198)

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....though Flash was found guilty, he was later cleared, dealt with the end of his title, and then ran headlong into the Crisis on Infinite Earths....

Remembering Artist George Baker

Remembering artist George Baker on his birthday (May 22, 1915 - May 8, 1975) with a couple of his covers featuring Sad Sack (Sad Sack Laugh Special #35 and #36, April and June, 1967) featuring Sad Sack and crew working on a ship!

Celebrating Artist Steve Lieber

Celebrating the birthday of artist Steve Lieber (May 19, 1967) with a couple of his covers featuring Hawkman (appropriate for someone who attended the Joe Kubert School)...as Hawkman's history went from mildly crazy to really intense with Zero Hour, from Hawkman #10 and #11 (June and July, 1994).

Remembering Artist Alan Kupperberg

Remembering artist Alan Kupperberg on his birthday (May 18, 1953 - July 17, 2015) with a couple of his covers featuring the heroes of World War II, the Invaders (#38 and #39, March and April, 1979), where Captain America, the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch faced U-Man, the Nazi from Atlantis!

Remembering Artist Dave Hoover

Remembering artist Dave Hoover on his birthday (May 14, 1955 - September 4, 2011) with a couple of his Starman covers....featuring Will Payton dealing with the legacy of Ted Knight, including his son, David Knight, and his foe, the Mist (temporarily using the name of Nimbus) for Starman #26 and #27 (September and October, 1990).

Spotlight On War Against Crime!

A quick spotlight on War Against Crime!....an 11 issue series from EC, here, with two covers by Johnny Craig (#6 and #7 from April-May and June-July, 1949)....with the criminals under the spotlight by the police.

Happy Mother's Day Lois Lane

A happy Mother's Day to all, especially to Superman's wife, Lois Lane, who, sometimes has happy kids with Superman, like in Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #23 (February, 1961, with cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye) or not so much, from Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #39 (February, 1963, with cover by Kurt Schaffenberger).

Celebrating Artist Ty Templeton

Celebrating the birthday of artist Ty Templeton (May 9, 1962) with a couple of his covers for Secret Origins....#30 (September, 1988) featuring Elongated Man, Plastic Man and Woozy Winks, and #37 (February, 1989) featuring Doctor Light and the Legion of Substitute Heroes!

Ken Shannon Crime-Busting Private Eye

Ken Shannon Crime-Busting Private Eye was one of the last titles of Quality Comics, featuring Ken Shannon, who, as a private eye, would bust crime.  Ken had some odd cases in his 10 issue career, with issues written by Joe Millard, Robert Bernstein and Bill Woolfolk, with art by Reed Crandall (who did covers for #2-#8), John Daly and Chuck Cuidera....and a short feature in most issues...Angles O'Day by Jack Cole.

Ken Shannon Crime-Busting Private Eye #1 and #2 (October and December, 1951)

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Ken Shannon Crime-Busting Private Eye #3 and #4 (February and April, 1952)

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Ken Shannon Crime-Busting Private Eye #5 and #6 (June and August, 1952)

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Ken Shannon Crime-Busting Private Eye #7 and #8 (October and December, 1952)

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Ken Shannon Crime-Busting Private Eye #9 and #10 (February and April, 1953)

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