Remembering Artist Russ Heath

Remembering the talented artist Russ Heath (September 29, 1926 - August 23, 2018) on his birthday.  

Usually known for his war comics, Russ could do some fantasy art as well....though hidden through the view of a scuba mask, as he did these incredible covers for the Sea Devils....an intrepid group of adventures including Dane Dorrance, Judy, Nicky and Biff, with Dane later leaving the group to become a member of the Forgotten Heroes, who fought incredible mystic menaces and fantastic creatures of the deep.

Showcase #27 and #29 (July-August and November-December, 1960)

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Sea Devils #1 and #2 (September-October and November-December, 1961)

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Sea Devils #4 and #5 (March-April and May-June, 1962)

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Sea Devils #6 and #7 (July-August and September-October, 1962)

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Sea Devils #9 and #10 (January-February and March-April, 1963)

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Sea Devils #14 and #15 (November-December, 1963 and January-February, 1964)

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National Pancake Day 2022

Little Archie came up with a great idea for making pancakes easier (and Jughead can't wait), as you can see from this cover to Little Archie Comics Digest Magazine #42 (May, 1990), here, on National Pancakes Day!

Captain America Vs Conan

Long before the Savage Avengers, fans wondered what it would be like if Conan the Barbarian faced off against one of the Marvel heroes...

...case in point, the cover of Comic Reader #150 (November, 1977), as illustrated by Larry Houston, where Captain America tests his shield against the sword of Conan!

 

Remembering Artist Joe Kubert

Remembering artist Joe Kubert (September 18, 1926 - August 12, 2012) on his birthday with a look at a few covers he did for fantasy characters over the decades, including the Viking Prince and Claw The Unconquered.

Claw The Unconquered had 9 issues done before it disappeared for a while, but when it returned in 1978, Joe Kubert provided its last 3 covers for the warrior with the demon hand.

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Musician Jim Rook found himself in another dimension, where he welded a different sword as Nightmaster, for 3 issues of Showcase in 1969.

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Viking Prince was a series Joe Kubert provided the interiors for from Brave and the Bold #1, but only covers for the last three issues of the Viking Prince's run in 1959.  

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Joe Kubert was usually know for war covers, but, as you can see, he could sneak some fantasy into those as well!

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Even more than the covers above, there was a team-up of Sgt. Rock and the Viking Prince...and you can read more about that here!

  

Batman Day 2022

Celebrating Batman Day with an iconic image of Batman and Robin from Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson, which was a poster available at the height of Batman's popularity during the 1966 Batman TV series.

This visual proved so popular, that it served as the inspiration (with slight modifications) for two different collections of Batman stories: Batman From the 30s to the 70s (1971) and Tales Of The Batman: Carmine Infantino (July, 2014), along with the image being reprinted in Limited Collectors' Edition #C-44 (June-July, 1976) and Batman In The Sixties (March, 1999). 

But, it was originally a fold out pin-up in Detective Comics #352 (June, 1966), where Batman and Robin faced off against Mr. Esper (who would later return to cause the calamity that helped form Titans West!).

A Little On Mike Grell's Warlord

 

Just wanted to give a little coverage to Mike Grell's Warlord, and the best way to do that is to cover DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #10 (June, 1981), that has this spectacular wraparound cover by Grell!

Though the digest doesn't include these issues, readers are introduced to USAF pilot Travis Morgan, who crashes in the lost world of Skartaris (a world inside a world), where he meets the lovely queen Tara and evil sorceror Deimos, with more info here.  This starts a battle between Travis and Deimos that spans many issues of Warlord, which the major parts are reprinted in the digest (and coverage of issues #3, #4 and #5 have been done, with more to come!).  

The issues that have parts reprinted are:

Warlord #3 and #4 (October-November, 1976 and December-January 1976/1977)

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Warlord #5 and #6 (February-March, 1977 and April-May, 1977)

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Warlord #7 and #10 (June-July, 1977 and December-January, 1977/1978)

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Warlord #15 and #19 (October-November, 1978 and March 1979)

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Warlord #20 and #21 (April, 1979 and May, 1979)

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A truly entertaining read of a modern man in a wonderous fantasy world, and presented to celebrate the birthday of Mike Grell, creator of the Warlord, who was born September, 13, 1947, but DC needs to collect more of the Warlord saga!

Archie The Barbarian

When Riverdale's season ended, and the Archie gang were transported to the 1950s...they could have ended up in worse times. 

They could have ended up in pre-history, with Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead having to get used to a more barbaric life, as imagined by artist Stan Goldberg for this cover of Comic Reader #216 (February, 1984).