Martinex1: Today will be a feast for the eyes - I assure you! Since the dawn of hero team comic books, there has been the group shot! Pin-Ups, covers, posters, and double-page spreads have highlighted the characters as a team and highlighted the particular artist's skills.
I believe the first group team shot that I was exposed to came at the end of
Avengers #71. On the final page, the team assembled for a posed picture that still resonates with me. Sal Buscema crafted that particular pin-up but team art by John Buscema, Jack Kirby, John Byrne, George Perez, Ron Frenz, and others are just as noteworthy. Today we will look at all kinds of teams (and non-teams, and general groups, and all-out mobs) as they appeared throughout Bronze Age history. Be prepared to discuss your favorite examples whether shared here or not. Let's get started with some other Avengers art that caught my fancy.
Marvel seemed to revel in their various superstar teams from the Avengers to the X-Men, but DC also capitalized on their mightiest with beautiful groupings. They established a cover trope initiated by Keith Giffen that always made me smile.
But let's not stop there, DC's premiere team was spotlighted by everybody from George Perez to Alex Ross.
But it doesn't stop there for DC, they had some memorable poses from the Teen Titans as well.
Back at Marvel, the Fantastic Four was know for their Jack Kirby pin-ups almost from the beginning. John Byrne carried on the team "photo" idea in his run on the book. He also supplied some magnificent poster art for the FF and all of their cast.
The Defenders, X-Men, Champions, Inhumans, and others all have had their days in the sun as well. Whether in commissions starring our Bronze Age favorites, or from long forgotten pin-ups, the team photo has become a favorite of mine to gaze at.
The X-Men, of course due to their popularity, appeared in many groupings...
Sometimes it was fun to gather all of the heroines together...
Or all of the villains...
Or the whole Universe (or at least as much as the paper size would allow)...
So what were your favorite group poses? How did this type of page or cover or poster affect your collecting? Did you long for this style of art or did it leave you cold? Which artist did it best? And which did you own? Bring your group positions to the group discussion today at BitBA! Cheers!
UPDATE ALERT: Martinex1: From all of these great comments, I have added some additional images so everybody can see the other suggestions. How did I leave off the Legion? No answer... sometimes at BitBA things slip the mind. Cheers!
15 comments:
Wow! You have indeed provided a feast for the eyes! I love these sorts of panels/pinups/etc.
It's wonderful to see the over-the-top John Buscema images from the Avengers as well as the cover to the JB art book near the bottom. Overall you have really represented the breadth of masters of the medium.
A couple of quibbles - on the back cover to Marvel Treasury Edition #7, I always found it odd that Kirby included both Yellowjacket and Giant-Man. In the first FF pinup, I have just never understood Ben's squatting pose. So strange. And incidentally, I've been reading the FF from the beginning, and in those first many issues Jack really did draw Ben as the same height as Reed. Of course later artists have greatly increased Ben's mass and stature!
And of course my quibble above all quibbles comes from the image you show of the "bomber jackets"-era Avengers. Ugh...
Great post! Well-researched as always.
Doug
That is one fantastic posting of pinups! I will be feasting on that all day long. Thank you! My only other thought regarding pinups was that in my youth I came across several Comics that had several's superheroes gather together for social events like the wasps and yellow jackets wedding. Or, read and Sue's wedding. they were also favorites of mine back in the day.
The Kirby group shot looked very familiar and I was going to ask if it comes from the back cover of the Avengers Treasury Edition but Doug confirmed it :)
One of my favourite ever group shots appeared on all the back covers of Marvel UK's weeklies at Christmas 1976. It showed Captain Britain standing in the middle (just two months after his debut) flanked by Spidey and the Hulk on either side with various Marvel characters in the background including a gorilla because Planet Of The Apes was still being printed (just about!!) - at the bottom it wished Merry Christmas from Marvel and the whole picture was framed by holly with snow falling so it looked very festive.
I also remember a group picture of Peter Parker and the gang in that bar they frequented, of which I can't recall the name - the Coffee Pot or something? Excuse my terrible memory - it was a long time ago!
you did an excellent job of sourcing this art!
a lot of this art is great … and I’ve seen it before over the years but George Perez always stands out as a master of these type of pieces.
The Giffin/Maguire JLA cover has entered into trope-dom by now
That Sal Buscema Defenders piece really brings back memories… those were the days for sure.
I scrolled on down looking for some of my favorite group shots, but - alas, they were not there -
The Legion Of Super-Heroes has had some great ones over the years.
Love the group shots. I'd never seen those X-Men ones, I like 'em. My favourite X-Men group shot was Dave Cockrum's splash page for #107 (it even got made into a poster...a classic era, to be sure!).
I had that Byrne Fantastic Four poster, loved staring at that thing. My first comic book poster was Byrne's Alpha Flight group shot where Puck is gigantic and the other members are perched all around him.
I was surprised not to see the big Legion of Super-Heroes shot that was at the end of issue #300.
One more shout-out springing to mind: George Perez! First, his classic cover for #181, and also, in vol. 3 #10, Perez gives two great splash pages, one of all the Avengers to date and the second of all the Avengers villains over the years (I especially love that second one).
-david p.
Yeah, Perez was a master of the group shot; just look at all his splash pages in Crisis, or the Who's Who covers. One of my favourites in your list is that pin-up from JLA #197 (even though you left off the JSA half).
A few more of my favourites:
The gigantic Keith Giffen Legion poster from the 80s that featured pretty much every character who'd appeared in Legion at the time.
John Byrne's "guest writer" contribution to the old Bullpen Bulletins page some time in the mid-80s; great shot.
And last but not least, DC's all-star jam poster that came out just after Crisis, with contributions from artists old and new.
UPDATE ALERT: You all had such great additions that I added many of those to the main page. Take a look - they are out there now!
How did I forget about those Legion examples?
So many greats to choose from...so enjoy the update! Cheers!
Wow, love looking at these!
Thanks for the subject Martinex!
For those who would like another chance at the Byrne F.F. poster, it will be at shops in May!
This time I'm framing it.
Terrific additions! Thanks for including them!
-david p.
Lots of terrific images today, Marti! Love that Bruce Timm collage of the Marvel women. And Killraven, it's great to hear that Byrne poster is returning; I'll be in the comic shop in May looking for it.
Oh, another favorite: actually a cover, Fred Hembeck's cover for Fantastic Four Roast. Eeeeverybody is on it...
Marti, thanks for including my suggestions !!
I made a couple of mistakes in my memory of the Xmas group shot but I remembered the gorilla :D
And, of course, Peter and the gang hung out at the Coffee BEAN not the Coffee Pot...D'OH !!
Wow, what a collection.
I am totally rooting for the Coffee Bean picture from JRS. All my beloved spiderman characters from the 1960s! I've never seen this picture before!
My favorite is the John Buscema two-page spread from Avengers Annual #2. The dynamics of that shot is typically awesome. The only weakness is Hercules who is added om after the original art was done. He's not in the pencil versions of this spectacular image.
Rip Off
Rip, it is interesting that you explained that about Hercules - I always felt that character looked off balance and out of synch in that pin-up. Now I know why. Thanks.
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