Sunday, December 19, 2010

Comic Book Cover Collage!


How many artists does it take to make a comic book cover? Well the answer can be surprising. The cover for the British comic above is better called a collage of various images lifted from a variety of Marvel sources by several different artists from many different years.



The primary struggle between Hulk and Thor is from a splash page by Sal Buscema and Frank Bolle in The Defenders #10. This is issue is part of the great Avengers-Defenders Clash.


The Sub-Mariner figure in the background is lifted from the cover by Neal Adams for Marvel Feature #1 which debuted The Defenders.



And if I don't miss my guess, the Wasp figure is a flopped and recolored image by Jack Kirby and Chic Stone for The Avengers #12. That one I'm less certain of to be honest. (NOTE: I was wrong. See the UPDATE below for the correct information.)

The Iron Man figure in the background looks familiar too, but I haven't located the source on that one. Anyone know? (See UPDATE below.)

One thing is for sure, some Marvel staffer who put this The Mighty World of Marvel cover together was adept with the scissors, and had a keen eye for good artwork.



UPDATE: As it turns out, someone does know where that Iron Man pose came from. BrittReid informed me that the Iron Man figure comes from Captain America #100 by Jack Kirby and Syd Shores, and as it turns out so does the Wasp figure, which I mistakenly thought came from The Avengers #10. This begs the question of why the Subby figure on this cover was not yanked too, since the pose to the Adams cover is so similar. Thanks Britt.

SECOND UPDATE: Ironically after I made this post yesterday, I found this at The Groovy Agent where Rich Buckler talks about this hectic time when covers like the one above were produced.

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3 comments:

  1. The Iron Man figure is lifted from Captain America #100. Art by Jack Kirby & Syd Shores.

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  2. Thanks for the tip. I'll amend my post. It's been nagging at me. I saw some Kirby in that pose, but I smelled Romita on inks not Shores. Thanks again.

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  3. As it turns out, that cover is the source for the Wasp image too. I'll have to change that also. Thanks again.

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