COVER STORIES for 04/22/2007
COVER STORIES INSTALLMENT #102
Welcome, faithful readers (and those of you joining us for the first time) to the 92nd installment of Cover Stories, the weekly column in which I, Jon B. Knutson, present a group of covers with a common theme!
Let me first apologize for this column being late... it's entirely my fault! I usually write up several columns in advance and send them in to webmaster Justin, but I completely forgot that last week's column was the last one I'd sent!
This week's theme is "Sports," and we begin with Adventure Comics 129:
You know, Superboy wasn't always the blue boy scout that people think of... I mean, check out this cover... not only is he using his powers to humiliate a whole group of boys competing against him, but he also seems a bit snide about it (check out his expression!).
The cover for this issue (pencils and inks) was by Al Plastino. Within these covers, you could read stories of Superboy in "The Pupils of the Past" by Bill Finger and George Roussos, Aquaman in "The Treasure Beneath the Lake" with art by John Daly, Green Arrow in "The Boy Detective" with art by George Papp, and Johnny Quick in "The Slowpoke Crimes" with art by Mort Meskin and Roussos (which was reprinted in 100-Page Super Spectacular DC-22, which is probably a cheaper source of this story).
Here's a different kind of sporting cover... All-Flash 31 features Jay Garrick, the golden age Flash, plus (if I'm not mistaken) his girlfriend Joan on "The Planet of Sport" - and what a beast he's facing off against! The rider looks a little like Shrek, with a Snidely Whiplash mustache and no antenna... while his steed is some improbable mix of a hippogriff and a centaur! Pretty stuff, eh?
This cover was by Everett E. Hibbard. Inside, the Flash stories were: "The Secret City" by Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino, and Frank Giacoia (reprinted in Flash 229), "Twisted Destinies" by Kanigher, Lee Elias and Moe Worth man, "The Planet of Sport" by Kanigher and Hibbard, and the fillers "Ton O'Fun" by Harry Lampert and "The Triple Cross" by Ted Udall and Raymond Perry.
Wow, this is just all DC this week, isn't it? And here's another DC Golden Age cover, Batman 39!
You know, Bats just doesn't do silly stuff like this anymore, does he? No ice skating figure bats (and that's pretty impressive, given how small that bat is, isn't it?)... Robin wouldn't be caught dead in short pants, especially on the ice. But it was a simpler time, wasn't it? This cover was by Jack Burnley and Charles Paris.
That Batman tales in this issue were "The Frightened People!" by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Ray Burnley, "The Man in the Iron Mask" by Finger, Kane and Burnley, and "A Christmas Tale" by Finger, Kane and Burnley (featuring Catwoman).
Also in this issue were the fillers Chief Hot Foot by Henry Boltinoff, Shorty by Whitney Ellsworth, a Captain Tootsie ad by C.C. Beck, "Death Serenade" by Desmond Walters (a text story), and Willie the Office Boy by Phil Berube.
And to wrap this up... how about a one-shot, non DC book?
This one-shot, produced in 1957 for "Chicago" Roller Skates, doesn't have any credits on the Grand Comics Database... but it looks to me as if the cover art is by Kurt Schaffenberger (at the very least, the inks have got to be his). This was a 30-page book, all about the secrets of roller skating... and apparently, one of the secrets must be (if the cover is to be judged correctly) that if you're a guy and you're helping to tie the skates of a female companion, look right into her eyes while you're tying... and don't just stare at her legs! I don't know how he expects to tie a decent knot that way, but then, I'm not a skater!
Join me next time for another installment of "Cover Stories," which will revisit the "Sexy" theme of a few months back, with cover entries chosen by Joe Lenius, a faithful reader of this column! And in the meantime, you can check out my blog at http://waffyjon.blogspot.com for other musings and ramblings by me (including postings of comic book ads, classic toy photos, and much more), or email me with comments about this column at !
Anything Goes Trivia
