Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Because Life Isn’t All Cheney And Rumsfeld

"The Man Who Married Lois Lane!"
"The Invasion Of The Super-Ants!"
"The Halloween Pranks Of The Bizarro Supermen!"
"The Invader From Earth!"
“Lois Lane’s Revenge On Superman!"
"The Human Porcupine!"
"The Colossus Of Gotham City!"
"The Eighth Wonder Of Space!"
"Batman And Robin, Medieval Bandits!"
All rights reserved by DC Comics.

These are all from 1960-ish, a pretty good time for covers. Big empty spaces; rock-solid logos, each one an arch over a gateway to somewhere awesome. Very tall tales told with perfectly straight faces. Censorship was heavy, so they had to grab people with outlandish ideas which, lacking the timeless pull of sex and violence, sure look stupid today (although there is a pleasant hint of scandal about "The Man Who Married Lois Lane!"). The non-Batman ones were pencilled by Superman's primary artist for 25 years and a very nice man: the late Curt Swan.

You can look at about a trillion more covers at the astonishing Grand Comic Book Database.

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