Famous Funnies 212 - Another Frazetta masterpiece

When you go to a great restaurant, and have a great meal...maybe a really fabulous rack of lamb, or a particularly great salmon fillet, or maybe a great glass of wine...unless you are a professional, you may not be able to say why you liked it.  At the end of the day, it was just, well, REALLY good.  With wine, I like a good glass as much as the next person, but I can't tell if it is because of a great nose of earthy notes with a hint of cinnamon, or whatever...I just know, after having had quite a few bottles in my time...what is good and what isn't.

Well...this cover is a great example of that same sentiment.  I am not an artist.  I can't necessarily speak to you about the technical aspects of what is an is not great composition or what specific aspects of a pictures execution make it better than the next.  I might try, but at at the end of the day, I know what I like...and I can usually tell when an artist is committed to their craft.

Frazetta had command on this cover and the others in the series.  And while I am not an artist...I know well drawn figures when I see them.  And while I may not be trained, I think I have a sense for good composition...for good story telling that is accomplished without words.  Everyone knows today that people can't just float around in space...I suspect they knew that back in the early 1950's too...but that doesn't matter here.  The beautiful girl in distress, our fearless hero (Buck Rogers), the lunatic alien thugs and their fleet of ships.  The image is bold and dynamic.  It moves.  It brings back images in my mind of Mystery in Space #1...also a classic black covered sci-fi book from the early 1950's with cover art by Carmine Infantino.

So there it is...classic 1950's sci-fi that is really timeless.  Why?  Because these artists were serious about what they were doing and were not just turning the crank.  Thanks fellas!

Until next time...

Superman #252 - DC Super Spectacular

In the early 1970's, DC printed 100 page versions of a lot of it's titles and labeled them as "Super Spectacular" issues.  These issues are fairly collectible today and are often hard to find in decent shape due to the square binding. They started publication in the summer of 1971 with issue number 4 and went to issue number 22.  The books contained all reprints from earlier DC issues.

The other day a friend of mine gave me this comic as payback for a bottle of wine I had bought for him.  This particular issue is interesting for the Neal Adams wrap around cover.  A close inspection of the cover will show that Hawkman and Hawkgirl are on the cover twice, but DC aficionados will tell you that these are Earth 1 and Earth 2 representations of these characters...keep your lore straight!  And their is a funky looking flying doctor guy at the top "right" of the wrap around cover...not being a DC expert, I had to do do a little research on this one.  Thanks to "Giant Size Geek" for pointing out that there is a key to who all the character's are in the back of the magazine itself.  He reprints it on his blog.  (Turns out the funky looking doctor guy is "Mr. Keeper", by the way!)

     

Neal Adams was know for great work on Batman, Superman and Green Arrow.  This cover is a great example of that work...but do check out his Batman and Brave and the Bold covers.  They are some of the best work to come out of the 1960's and 1970's, in my humble opinion.

So...not a bad trade for a decent Beauregard Pinot Noir from Santa Cruz County.  Not a bad trade at all!

Until next time...