COVER STORIES for 07/16/2006
COVER STORIES INSTALLMENT #62
Welcome to the 62nd edition of "Cover Stories," in which I look at a number of comics covers with a common theme!
This week's topic is one that's near and dear to my heart... assuming this runs on July 16th, and I haven't messed up my scheduling of this column, it is my pleasure to announce that yesterday, I got married to the former Jessi Reier! Our wedding took place at Oddfellows Park on Johnson Point, not too far from where we live in Lacey, Washington!
So, since yesterday I got married, how better to commemorate that here with a bunch of wedding-themed covers?
Now, probably the most famous wedding covers in comics would be the Fantastic Four Annual in which Reed and Sue got married, but you know, no actual wedding was pictured on that cover - and the other famous wedding covers would likely be the Superman Wedding Special or the Amazing Spider-Man Annual in which the title characters married Lois Lane and Mary Jane Watson, respectively... but those two fall much too recently for the date range I've set for myself here! Well, okay, there's also the issue of Action Comics featuring the wedding of Earth-2's Superman and Lois Lane... but why be so obvious? I mean, it's not like I don't have plenty of Superman-themed covers in this column, right?
Huh... well, there's Superboy right there on this cover, featuring the wedding of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad as well as the joining of Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy, making this a Superman-themed cover, isn't it? Well, at least he's not the one getting married!
You'll note Lightning Lad's robotic arm... he lost it a ways back, when he shot a lightning bolt at a space creature which bounced off it, poisoned, and struck his arm, necessitating its amputation, but Brainiac 5 managed to cobble up the bionic arm you see here (some guys have the worst stuff happen to them, you know? He also got killed off at one point... although he did get better).
You might also note those bizarre staffs, which look like either Popsicles with extra-long handles of the Legionnaires, or perhaps action figures glued to a length of broomstick. Yeah, I know, it's supposed to be like swords, yadda yadda yadda.... But it's a silly idea, you know?
Adventure Comics 337's cover was by Curt Swan and George Klein. "The Weddings that Wrecked the Legion" was by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, with Sheldon Moldoff doing the inks. And I suppose it won't spoil things too much when I reveal that the double wedding was just a hoax to capture some bad guys (geez, spend too much time hanging around with Superboy, and he starts to rub off on you, eh?). This story has been reprinted in Adventure Comics 411, Best of DC Digest 67, and Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 4.
Also in this issue, "The Secret Lives of Superbaby" by John Sikela, in which Martha Kent accidentally gives Lana a box with Superbaby mementoes (itself reprinted in Superboy 51). There's also a PSA, "Are You A Litter-Bug" by Henry Boltinoff, who also provided a "Cap's Hobby Center" to round out the issue!
OK, here's another DC wedding-themed cover, but no Superman, Superboy or even Superbaby here!
Wow, Detective Comics 391's cover is a bit of a bummer, isn't it, with that whole "Batman's Widow" thing at the end (although the bat-tombstone is kind of cool). Apparently, on Earth-1, superheroes can marry in their costumed identity - who'd'a thunk it? This cover, as many of you probably recognized, was by Neal Adams.
Inside, "The Gal Most Likely to Be - Batman's Widow!" was by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Joe Giella... and while I think I may have read this story in the past, I don't recall any details... other than to guess that once again, this was a hoax wedding... geez, aren't I going to present any real weddings in this column?
Ah, here's a real wedding, finally! But look who one of the guests is...
Yes, the Man of Steel is a guest at this wedding, along with Batman and Flash (actually, there were even more famous guests at this shindig than are hinted at on this cover!). Rita Farr, AKA Elasti-Girl, does indeed marry Steve Dayton, AKA Mento! Bob Brown did the art chores for this cover.
Now, I mentioned famous guests... Elasti-Girl's wedding was attended not only by her teammates the Chief, Negative Man and Robotman, but also by Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Superman, Kid Flash, Robin, Wonder Girl, Beast Boy... and those party crashers, the Brotherhood of Evil - The Brain, Madame Rouge, and Monsieur Mallah, aided and abetted by Garguax.
Oh, there was one other guest... Super-Hip! Yes, Super-Hip, appearing from DC's Bob Hope comic book!
Also in this issue: A PSA, "Your Free Trip Around the World" by Jack Schiff and Morris Waldinger, a Peter Puptent filler by Henry Boltinoff, and Cap's Hobby Hints, also by Boltinoff!
Next up on the wedding list... here's Flash 165!
Fortunately for me, I don't have a costumed alter-ego who could show up at my wedding to mess things up for me... OK, to be honest, the Flash here's not messing things up, he's trying to set them right! Murphy Anderson did the artwork for this cover.
"One Bridegroom Too Many" was by John Broome, Carmine Infantino, and Joe Giella. The story was reprinted in Flash 328 with two new pages added. And yes, Barry Allen did indeed marry Iris West here... but I won't tell you who was trying to take Barry's place on the cover (although I'd imagine that you can probably guess!).
One more wedding cover?
Now, here's a cover that tried to be secretive about who was getting married... but really... was anyone surprised? I mean, old-school comics geeks like myself would've figured it out from the "25 trillion miles" line, so you'd know that this was the wedding if Adam Strange and Alanna!
This cover was by Ernie Chan... who has done some decent cover work, but this, in my opinion, wasn't any of it (too bad Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson couldn't reteam to do this cover, eh?). "The Hero Who Jinxed the Justice League!" was by Cary Bates and Dick Dillin. The villain of the issue was Kanjar Ro.
And yes, this really was an actual wedding!
So that's it for this group of wedding covers! But if you want more than that... well, you'll have to wait for next year, as I'm sure I'll commemorate my first anniversary with another wedding column!
Join me next time for another installment of "Cover Stories," in which I'll present some covers dealing with a certain old-time circus attraction, and in the meantime, you can check out my blog at http://waffyjon.blogspot.com for other musings and ramblings by me, or email me with comments about this column at !
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