Thursday, August 27, 2009

Showcase Presents G.I. Joe



I recently went to the G.I. Joe convention and had a good time. I've always had a love for the 12" Joes from the 1960's. DC Comics jumped on the bandwagon in 1964 by putting together some of their war reprints under the G.I. Joe banner in their famed tryout series Showcase. The first installment, #53, cover dated November-December, 1964, came out right around the time the first figures were being introduced. There was a new four page framing story by the team of Robert Kanigher, Joe Kubert, and Irv Novick that introduced the various stories. This issue reprinted G.I. Combat #'s 52, 59, and 60 and featured art by war comics legends Kubert, Russ Heath, and Ross Andru.



The second G.I. Joe Showcase, cover dated January-February, 1965, reprinted Our Army At War #75, Star Spangled War Stories #50, and All-Amercian Men Of War #67, featuring art by the same creators as the previous issue. I don't think these sold real well but with new covers by Kubert, they are well worth going after. They are great representations of 1950's and early 60's DC war comics.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Art Of Joe Jusko



I just got the fantastic The Art Of Joe Jusko book from Amazon yesterday and it is an amazing book. It's chock full of just beautiful artwork covering all sorts of genres, ranging from superheroes to horror to sci-fi to fantasy. The reproductions are great and the full color artwork is stunning. All comic art fans should definitely own this coffee table book.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Unknown Soldier Action Figure



I picked up this super cool new Unknown Soldier action figure yesterday at the G.I. Joe convention. I've always wanted a figure of this great character and I'm not disappointed. Seeing this made me want to break out my Showcase Unknown Soldier volume, which reprints Star Spangled War Stories #151-188.



Featuring great art by the likes of Joe Kubert, Jack Sparling, and Gerry Talaoc, these are some of the best DC war stories of the 1970's. If you don't have this volume already then you're definitely missing out on some good Bronze Age DC.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

World's Finest War Covers



I love DC's Golden Age patriotic covers. World's Finest had some of the better ones in my opinion. I always enjoy seeing Superman, Batman, and Robin cavorting to meet the challenge of the evil Nazis. Thanks, as always, to the indispensible
Grand Comic Book Database for these fantastic covers.









The End Of A Great Era



I recently reread a lot of the Jim Aparo era issues of The Brave And The Bold, my all time favorite comic. Issue #200, the last issue of the series, was a great ending to this fantastic comic. I always enjoyed Aparo's covers and this one is one of my favorites. I was never a great fan of Batman And The Outsiders, the book that sort of replaced B&B. It had some great Aparo art, but it just didn't grab me like The Brave And The Bold did. I'm glad the heritage of this classic title is living on in the new DC series and the great Batman cartoon.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Trevor Von Eden Black Lightning Sketch



I got to meet 70's Black Lightning artist Trevor Von Eden at a convention a while ago and he drew this great sketch for me. Black Lightning was a quintessential 70's character that I dug quite a bit as a kid. His costume was great and I was a sucker for lightning based powers. Lightning Lad was one of my favorite Legionnaries. I don't think too many people have Black Lightning in their sketchbooks.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Al Williamson's Flash Gordon



I just recently picked up this fantastic book containing all of the Flash Gordon comic books drawn by the great Al Williamson. It's the first time all of these tales have been reprinted in one volume. If there was ever an artist for Flash it's Williamson. The art is this book is just stunning. It reprints the 1960's King Comics issues, the adapatation of the 1980 movie, and the mini series he did for Marvel in the 90's. The strips themselves are reprinted in black and white but there are some color inserts including these beauties.





There's more where those came from. If you have any love for science fiction comics or Flash Gordon in particular, this book is a must have.

Monday, August 3, 2009

More Bicentennial Goodies

I thought I'd post some more covers from that great month of July, 1976 when DC celebrated the bicentennial. Included here are two beauties from the one and only Jim Aparo, including one of my first exposures to his art, the great Adventure #446.







Sunday, August 2, 2009

DC Salutes The Bicentennial



One of the coolest things about collecting Bronze Age DC was trying to get all the Bicentennial covers they put out in July, 1976. Since this was about a year or so before I started collecting comics, I had to piece them together through the years. I finally managed to get them all about five years ago. It was very satisfying. This ad was instrumental in helping me get them. Although that belt buckle would have been cool, there was no way I was going to mutilate these great books. Here are some of my favorite covers from that historic month.









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