Last year we looked for issues with Santa Claus on the cover and this year I merely looked for examples with snow falling or with snowy locales.
When I ventured into the research, I thought this would be an easy one to put together but I found it much more challenging than I expected. Archie had its fair share of covers with characters battling through wintry weather. Richie Rich carried the day, as the little rich boy seemed to enjoy the wet stuff as much as he enjoys greenbacks. Yogi Bear also had a fair amount of snowy covers from Dell. But DC and Marvel had relatively slim snowy pickings (I must be missing something significant) and I was expecting a blizzard.
It is time to pick your favorites and share your thoughts. If you have favorites not pictured here, please call them out and share, share, share this time of year.
Put on your hats and mittens and come on out and make your four choices for this round of the Quarter Bin!
18 comments:
Best snowy cover ever - Marvel UK's 'Spider-Man Comics Weekly' #105, dated February 15th 1975. The third issue of the six-issue run of The Kingpin vs. The Schemer. On the cover Spidey is swinging through a snowstorm unaware of a gangster lying in wait who is masquerading as a snowman wearing a top-hat and holding a machine-gun. Beat that!
Ha ha Colin! I don’t know if I can beat that, although I do have a fondness for the alien snowmen with laser eyes from Strange Adventures.
I did find the cover you recommended and I put it up on our twitter feed @BackintheBronze.
Kudos for that one. A great recommendation. Any others? Cheers!
Colin, that was the first cover I thought of as well.
The second one that leapt to mind is the cover of DC's The Unexpected #150, with a boy on a sledge, in the process of discovering that the neighbourhood snowman has a rotting corpse hidden inside it.
Steve that one is just creepy. I don’t know why cherry snow scenes mixed with horror bother me more - but they do. Must be the juxtaposition. Keep ‘em coming. I’ll get that one up on our twitter as well.
Correction - the Yogi Bear covers are Charlton and Gold Key books, not Dell. I will fix that.
Cheery not cherry! Does autocorrect ever help?
Wow, I remember a lot of these: Power/Iron Fist, Spidey, DD, that infamous Alpha Flight issue, Hulk, X-Men, Legion, New Teen Titans, G.I. Joe, and those two Batmans with the snowbeast (the second of which had kind of a weird ending, if I remember right).
If I had to pick four, I'd probably go with the Legion (which I remember being a really good story); Savage Sword of Conan (since I haven't read it); DD 229 (part of the Born Again storyline); and maybe the Calvin & Hobbes collection.
As for other suggestions, when you mentioned snowmen, the first thing that came to mind was Sgt. Rock #350.
Another one that's always lodged in my mind is the cover to Werewolf By Night #31, showing our, "Hero," menacingly closing in on a small girl, clearly in the mood for a snack. Seeing Wolfie portrayed as a genuinely dangerous predator, rather than the somewhat hapless fighter of evil he was usually shown as, always seemed somewhat shocking to me.
Are Supergirl and Zatanna fighting over an Abominable Boyfriend?
That "Cold And Lonely Corner Of Hell" Legion cover was one that stuck with me for a long time - well designed.
Good timing on this post. We got covered in snow yesterday, and it's white as far as the eye can see here now. All that snow out the window adds nice atmosphere while perusing your selection on display.
Mike W. That is great suggestion with Sgt Rock 350. I don’t think I’ve seen that before - though I have honestly not followed Sgt Rock closely at all. I should probably rectify that.
Steve - likewise I will add that WWBN to the list. I always interpreted that the werewolf was trying to save the girl from falling off the cliff, but looking at it now, he does look more aggressive.
-3- we have not seen any significant snowfall at all. Flurries at best. Today it is clear, blue skies, and sunny.
A special thank you to Redartz who helped me find and fill in some gaps for today’s post.
Well, there's also X-men 120 and X-men 121, my first two X-men books.
Love that Holiday Grab-bag Treasury edition - so many fond memories attached to receiving and reading that one.
Edo those are great examples. I have no idea why they did not spring to mind. They should have.
Also...http://dcindexes.com/gallery/!marvel/amazingspiderman/amazingspiderman408.jpg
Love the Calvin and Hobbes. It actually reminds me of my youth of winter in the woods all around us, growing up.
Oddly. perhaps two of my favorite Christmas issues which have snow on the inside, but not the cover, are Luke Cage #4 and Marvel Team Up #1. (At least, that's how I recall them.)
Lastly, at 4 for a $, I'll take any of the Richie Riches!
Wow, I've got a lot of these. Very fun covers! The Daredevils, Alpha Flight and the G.I. Joe ones are some I'm especially fond of.
In the spirit of adding to the list, I'll throw in Daredevil #206 (snowy fight on the cover, where Kingpin intervenes with a "Merry Christmas" save).
And Avengers #257, fighting Terminus in the Antarctic.
Thanks for these. Splendid.
-david p.
David p. Thank you. I knew there was an Avengers cover. I could picture some of it in my mind but I could not find it. Cheers on that!
Great cover topic today, partner! You pulled up some 'cool' ones. Nyuk,nyuk...
Interesting that you found that cover to "Abigail and the Snowman ", that was a book I picked up on a whim when it came out. Pretty enjoyable. And that Strange Adventures cover with the laser snowmen is....unsettling. -3- that Legion cover has always been a favorite of mine too. Given sure knew how to design a striking cover, between the color, the detail and the composition.
Charlie- Calvin and Hobbes; good for countless memorable snow scenes. Watterson must have loved them; it showed.
Oh, for my buck: the Holiday Grab Bag Treasury, Scooby Doo, New Teen Titans and that bizarre Strange Adventures.
Oh, that Jonny Quest issue has an interesting 'Easter egg'. Look for an upcoming post on these little tidbits (yes, previews of coming attractions)...
"Given" should be Giffen No, Marti, autocorrect is not a help :)
Oh, yeah, didn't pick any comics: I'm going with Savage Sword of Conan, Creepy, Monsters Unleashed and Detective 119 - I mean c'mon, that's 3 b&w magazines plus a Batman comic from the 1940s for a buck!
My favorite snowy / Christmas themed comic cover is Amazing Spider-Man #166 (c1977) featuring Spidey facing off against the Lizard and Stegron. I distinctly remember seeing it on the spinner rack at my local convenience store when I was a kid. It just really gives me that special holiday feeling when I see it. (And the story on the inside is great too).
Post a Comment