Neal Adams covers were much more thrilling that than Bob Brown’s interiors on Superboy. Those Adams covers drew me in — pun intended — nearly every single time.
Of course, that could be said about pretty much any Adams DC cover vs. interior artist at the time — but we digress.
Still, Brown was a better storyteller than fans give him credit for, and his action pages, like this one, almost always delivered a fair level of drama and interest.
And despite the fact that the villain, “Mr. Cipher” didn’t quite deliver the terrifying promise of the cover’s drama in the interior, it’s yet another example of an issue I remember 50-plus years later, so it’s fun to own a page from it.
Welcome to Day five of the 12 DC Days of DeCember.
Continuing our celebration of the Fastest Man Alive with a few classic “re-runs” — pun absolutely intended— from the early days of the blog.
Following Carmine Infantino on the Flash was obviously no easy assignment to begin with, but it appears Ross Andru and Mike Esposito had the deck stacked against them.
At the starting line was a fun issue, Flash #175, the sequel race between Super-Man and the Flash. Shortly thereafter is Carey Bates’ offbeat tale in Flash #179 that introduces Earth “Prime” — our earth — into the DC multiverse.
But, after that… we get: Giant-headed Flash, Flash with a broken toe, Flash color-blind, etc. Plus: Flash fighting hippies, sea creatures, lizards, demons, aliens, oh my. Samurais? Seriously?
WTF? How about the rogues, who only make a handful of minor appearances during this run, with only Captain Cold warranting a cover? What about Flash of Earth-2? And, if you’re going to have a Green Lantern team-up (#191) how about putting him — or at least a blurb — on the cover?!
I count seven writers —seven! — during this this 20-issue run. It’s no wonder the character couldn’t get any traction. As a kid, on a kid’s budget, it was difficult not to give up on everything but the 25-cent reprints at that point. My allowance screamed: Run Away!
Still, cool art can often transcend the material, and does so here. On this unusual page, Andru, who always had a great sense of space and time, delivers a fascinating layout as Flash races from one point to the next in Central City. (Plus, as fans of Andru’s latter Spider-Man run can confirm, Ross loved drawing buildings.)
It’s also a reminder of what could have been accomplished artistically with better material to work from — and less questionable editorial choices.
Following Carmine Infantino on the Flash was obviously no easy assignment to begin with, but it appears Ross Andru and Mike Esposito had the deck stacked against them.
At the starting line was a fun issue, Flash #175, the sequel race between Superman and the Flash. Shortly thereafter is Carey Bates’ offbeat tale in Flash #179 that introduces Earth “Prime” — our earth— into the DC multiverse.
But, after that… we get: Giant-headed Flash, Flash with a broken toe, Flash color-blind, etc. Plus: Flash fighting hippies, sea creatures, lizards, demons, aliens, oh my. Samurais? Seriously?
WTF? How about the rogues, who only make a handful of minor appearances during this run, with only Captain Cold, warranting a cover? Where’s Grodd? What about Flash of Earth-2? And, if you’re going to have a Green Lantern team-up (#191) how about putting him — or at least a blurb — on the cover?!
I count seven writers —seven! — during this 20-issue run. It’s no wonder the character couldn’t get any traction. As a kid, on a kid’s budget, it was difficult not to give up on everything but the 25-cent reprints at that point. My allowance screamed: Run Away!
Still, the art can transcend the material, and does so here. On this unusual page, Andru, who always had a great sense of space and time, delivers a fascinating layout as Flash races from one point to the next in Central City. (Plus, as fans of Andru’s latter Spider-Man run can confirm, Ross loved drawing buildings, and he’s definitely warming up on this page.)
It’s also a reminder of what could have been accomplished artistically with better material to work from — and less questionable editorial choices.
Special Note:
DC needs to reprint the entire Robert Kanigher/Andru/Espo Wonder Woman run — about 73 issues — in an Omnibus. Only the first dozen comics have ever appeared in color since their original publication about 60 years ago. (Also, Metal Men needs a similar treatment… But I digress.)
I had only recently started buying Marvel comics off the spinner racks when Not Brand Echh premiered in the summer 1967. I was immediately attracted to its zaniness. I knew Marvel didn’t take itself too seriously from reading its traditional comics — The “Bullpen Bulletins”, the “no-prize” gimmick, the Merry Marvel Marching Society, et al — but Not Brand Echh (NBE) was a new level of nutty. (A bit later on I discovered it was in the spirit of the original EC Mad comics, but I didn’t know anything about that era yet.)
The actual golden age fight between the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner had just been reprinted a few months ago in Fantasy Masterpieces (# 8), and here was a send-up making fun of the whole thing? The Human Scorch? The Sunk-Mariner? As my friends’ older siblings would say back then, far out.
Bill Everett is typically credited as one of the pencillers on this story — I’d like to believe that — but writer Roy Thomas says he remembers that Everett may have only worked on the title splash at most. Either way, Ross Andru was no stranger to superheroes or satire, and this page is a favorite.
1967 also saw the debut of Topps Wacky Packages and Roy’s earlier comic book satires, Krazy Little Comics, also from Topps. Summer of Love? Sure. But also —- Summer of Satire.
