Complete Covers of the Second 25 Years
by Mark Waid (Author) and various (Abbeville Press Inc.1994)
ISBN: 1-5585-9609-7
This second quarter century of alluring covers from Action Comics (featuring #301, June 1963 to #600, May 1988) is a microcosmic representation of the comic industry itself, as the changing mores of society and the rise of fan culture take hold. From a cheap mass-market entertainment medium for kids, comic-books gradually became a relatively high-cost niche industry pandering to and dictated by the ever more vocal desires of a core fan-base.
The charm, humour and whimsy that sat side by side with wonderment, adventure, mystery and conflict slowly disappeared from the stories as well as the covers in favour of threat and even covert sexuality, and innocent thrills became a minor consideration. This was not necessarily a bad thing, just a sad thing and a practical thing. Adults read comics too and even kids weren’t as innocent as they apparently used to be.
So it’s no small relief to see that at least the quality of art and design of those shiny attention grabbers never diminished or altered. For that we can thank Editors like Mort Weisinger and Julius Schwartz and of course the artists.
Curt Swan, Jack Abel, Neal Adams, Murphy Anderson, Ross Andru, Eduardo Barreto, Howard Bender, Brian Bolland, Wayne Boring, Pat Broderick, Rich Buckler, John Byrne, Nick Cardy, Ernie Chua, Denys Cowan, Mike DeCarlo, Mike Esposito, John Forte, José Luis GarcÃa-López, Frank Giacoia, Keith Giffen, Dick Giordano, Mike Grell, Ed Hannigan, Carmine Infantino, Klaus Janson, Gil Kane, Karl Kesel, George Klein, Mike Mignola, Sheldon Moldoff, Jim Mooney, Bob Oksner, Jerry Ordway, George Pérez, Marshall Rogers, Alex Saviuk and Kurt Schaffenberger were – and are – indelibly imprinted on my life and probably yours too.
This little book is true childhood dream and a gloriously guilty pleasure.
© 1994 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.