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Post by dlw66 on Feb 24, 2009 13:15:23 GMT -5
We've had fun over the past many months posting some of our favorite covers in various categories. Since the Avengers has often been known for its "floating heads" covers, I thought we could post some from other titles in the Marvel (or DC) Universe. Came across this one at lunch today:  |
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Post by Dr. Hank Pym on Feb 24, 2009 13:34:30 GMT -5
OK, this will be fun! I'll have to look through my collection and find some of my own!
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Post by scottharris on Feb 25, 2009 14:30:26 GMT -5
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Post by dlw66 on Feb 25, 2009 14:38:33 GMT -5
Soctt, I really like that Thor cover! But, doesn't Wanda look like she is either REALLY depressed or even asleep? I really liked that short period of time when the Liberty Legion was popular. Here's a great Kirby effort -- bought this one off the newsstands when I was around 9 years old.  This one may have turned up in another thread we had going...  |
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Post by Shiryu on Feb 25, 2009 17:08:12 GMT -5
From Spidey   |
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Post by scottharris on Feb 25, 2009 23:17:29 GMT -5
That's a cool cover for ASM #274, though it would be cooler without the intrusive Secret Wars II banner. Best of all is the artist -- none other than Stan Lee's brother, Larry Lieber. Cool.
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Post by Tana Nile on Feb 26, 2009 10:36:49 GMT -5
I always thought this one was pretty cool:  |
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Post by dlw66 on Mar 2, 2009 15:21:25 GMT -5
The lack of DC covers in this genre is somewhat peculiar, given how Marvel and DC often mimicked each other. DC's effort at "floating heads" often just included the roster of the JLA et al. on the sides of the cover. The issue is addressed in this Internet article, which I'd come across some years ago. There are many, many Marvel examples we've yet to cite, so I'll just let the author cite them! Have fun! comiccoverage.typepad.com/comic_coverage/2006/08/marvel_comics_a.htmlPS: I in no way endorse the author of the above article, nor the website therein, but you must click on the link to their store -- there are some truly groovy offerings! PPS: After a bit more searching, I found (for DC at least) the best of both worlds! Here is the cover to JLA #208 from 1982, which has the rosters on the side, but reacting to the action on the cover!  |
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Post by sharkar on Mar 3, 2009 20:09:19 GMT -5
The issue is addressed in this Internet article, which I'd come across some years ago. There are many, many Marvel examples we've yet to cite, so I'll just let the author cite them! Have fun! comiccoverage.typepad.com/comic_coverage/2006/08/marvel_comics_a.htmlPS: I in no way endorse the author of the above article, nor the website therein, but you must click on the link to their store -- there are some truly groovy offerings! I have to give Mark Engblom's "Comic Coverage" blog a wholehearted thumbs up. It's one of the few comics blogs I read on regular basis--I even post comments there on occasion--and I always learn something new and interesting from it. PPS: After a bit more searching, I found (for DC at least) the best of both worlds! Here is the cover to JLA #208 from 1982, which has the rosters on the side, but reacting to the action on the cover! Great find, dlw--the cover is hysterical! Speaking of DC, here are DC covers I liked as a kid- -the second cover does not contain floating heads exactly, more like heads 'n' torsos 'n' hands...but the guys' expressions are priceless. Back then, I thought these covers were "groovy!"    And I always liked this cover, too, by the Swan-Adams dream team.  |
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Post by Tana Nile on Mar 3, 2009 21:32:55 GMT -5
I have that Superboy but never realized Adams inked it (correct?). Interesting tidbit, Sharkar. Here's a trio of JLA covers, all from about the same time period (and all in my collection).  So we get reacting-floating heads here.  These are non-reacting but not exactly roster-style.  And just a single villain floating head! |
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Post by dlw66 on Mar 4, 2009 13:12:29 GMT -5
Excellent covers, ladies!
Someone (whoever you choose to be) now has the homework assignment to go away from the Big Two and see if heads were floating at other companies!
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Post by starfoxxx on Mar 4, 2009 17:24:06 GMT -5
That JLA #149 cover is great, I hadn't seen that before.
Thanks Tana Nile.
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Post by Tana Nile on Mar 4, 2009 23:21:58 GMT -5
Excellent covers, ladies! Someone (whoever you choose to be) now has the homework assignment to go away from the Big Two and see if heads were floating at other companies! Does this count? It's ALL floating heads!  Creepy, multi-colored floating heads...big ones....  I guess the editor for Twilight Zone really dug the floating heads...  And Boris Karloff also got in on the action (I love these old painted covers)  |
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Post by dlw66 on Mar 5, 2009 11:33:44 GMT -5
EXCELLENT research, Miss Tana!! Here's another Archie cover --  And they were floating over at Charlton, too!  |
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Post by dlw66 on Mar 7, 2009 22:32:55 GMT -5
Here's a sample, from Avon Publishing:  |
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Post by sharkar on Mar 9, 2009 19:36:02 GMT -5
I have that Superboy but never realized Adams inked it (correct?). Yes, that's correct. Thanks largely to art director Carmine Infantino, Adams was all over DC's covers around this time in a variety of roles (penciling, inking, laying out the basic cover, and/or providing the finishes over someone else's layouts). He inked/finished a few of Swan's covers around this time, though for the Superboy face he seems to have used a lighter touch than usual: the face reminds me more of Klein's inking of Swan than of Adams'. Speaking of floating heads and Adams, here's a cover from a comic I had back then. The cover always struck me as pretty pedestrian (for Adams, that is): "reacting" floating heads in a "clash" cover.  |
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Post by dlw66 on Mar 12, 2009 14:40:57 GMT -5
Sersi looks pretty alarmed, but at what? She's obviously looking past the action...  |
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Post by Shiryu on Mar 21, 2009 17:20:29 GMT -5
Nice cover. But... who's the shadowed guy? |
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Post by sharkar on Mar 22, 2009 18:43:43 GMT -5
Nice cover. But... who's the shadowed guy? Shiryu, your great question gives me an excuse to expand a bit on this cover (as I was hoping to do!) You hit on exactly why I consider this a pedestrian cover. Who is this mysterious, seated character? Luthor, Brainiac, the Riddler, the Joker? Or Commissioner Gordon, Robin, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White? How about a Legionnaire, or Earth-Two's Batman or Superman? Surely, the dark figure has some relationship to at least one of the four heroes, right? No--it's a character concocted expressly for this story, an actor who pretends he's an alien--actually, two aliens--who's discovered Batman and Superman's secret identities and who's playing an elaborate game with them. I remember when I bought this comic in 1968, I thought the story was silly but OK, I liked the appearance by Batgirl, and I liked the Adams art...but I felt cheated by the cover. How on earth could anyone answer the question "who am I?" The guy had never been seen before! But this was just the way DC operated in the '60s. As many of us probably know, back then covers were often done in advance of the actual stories, especially at DC, who considered the covers to be an essential marketing tool. The cover had to sell the comic. Adams has stated in various interviews that Mort Weisinger wanted his covers (for the Superman family of books, which included World's Finest) to "ask a question." The reasoning was the reader would then have to buy the comic in order to get the answer to the question posed on the cover. So at times DC covers were drawn up containing questions and afterwards the story was created around the cover's question (not just for the Weisinger books but for some of the others too). According to Adams, as he got more input into covers (and stories in general), this died out but for a while it was an accepted practice at DC. |
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Post by ultron69 on May 8, 2009 9:48:33 GMT -5
Here is one I actually have. It's not a hoax! Prof X dies!  |
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Post by sharkar on May 8, 2009 11:22:14 GMT -5
Here is one I actually have. It's not a hoax! Prof X dies! Yep...and he stayed dead for all of 23 issues.  I like the cover too, even though I'd rather see Buscema do what he does best--bodies in action (such as X-Men #43, Avengers or "clash covers" like Avengers #53 or Avengers Special #2). |
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Post by ultron69 on May 8, 2009 11:26:49 GMT -5
Good info in the DC covers, sharkar. I love comic book history.
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Post by sharkar on May 8, 2009 11:59:40 GMT -5
Good info in the DC covers, sharkar. I love comic book history. Thanks...and welcome to the club, ultron69!  BTW, from what I've read regarding the Prof. X "this is not a hoax" death: when it occurred in #42, Roy and company fully intended it to be permanent...they felt this would allow for greater development of the other X-Men (and in turn this would lead to better sales for the comic). Later on when Neal Adams was doing the art, he told Roy he wanted to bring back Prof. X and that he knew exactly how to do it without contradicting the story in #42...Roy gave Neal the green light to do so. Hence the return of Prof. X in X-Men #65. (Of course the book was canceled with #66, but that's another story for another time...) |
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Post by ultron69 on May 8, 2009 12:34:56 GMT -5
Wow, that is cool. Broght back just in time for the book to be cancelled! I actually have most of the back issues from #12 through #93. After I get finished reading through all my Avengers, those wacky mutants are next!
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Post by scottharris on Jun 28, 2009 3:55:50 GMT -5
What were Vision and Scarelt Witch doing during their hiatus from the Avengers between Avengers #211 and 234? They were bringing floating heads to the rest of Marvel. One of the cooler floating heads covers:  |
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