Detective Comics #153, DC Comics, November 1949 – Artist: Dick Sprang.
I know I covered this as a Spotlight pick a while back but it is a fantastic Dick Sprang cover and it has to win the day. Detective Comics #153 is the first solo Batman cover since Detective Comics #37.
I was thinking of Whiz Comics #153 but I didn’t really like how the Death character and Cap. Marvel look like they don’t belong on the same cover, one looks like he belongs in a kids coloring book while the other could fit right onto an old EC pre-code horror comic.
Secret Hearts #153, I swear I had those pants bag in 1974, I was 10 and an immigrant kid so my mom thought these were high fashion. This may explain my inexplicable love for blue comic book covers.
Venom #153 is nasty good and I’m not sure what’s happening on Swamp Thing #153 but the Swastika gets your attention.
A great comic book cover matching each day of the year, 1 through 365. Please chime in with your favourite corresponding cover, from any era.
I love the cover Walt…and the colors. Perhaps DC should have titled it The Flying Bulletproof Batman 🙂
Good choice. I think of Timely using predominant reds and yellows to their greatest advantage on so many covers. All those Human Torch covers on his own titles, plus most issues of Marvel Mystery, for example. Just the tip of the Timely iceberg.
But DC does it great here. Amazing that its a rare solo Batman, I hadn’t realized they were so infrequent until you pointed it out. Yet Robin got his own solo covers in his run in Star Spangled, and there are some fine ones there, ironically.
Robin adds an element of lightness or levity to Batman covers—its that darned colorful costume. Those really early Detective covers, pre #38 and Robin, they are so good. And beyond my budget!
You are right on with the Whiz. Its looks like two different artists to me, but for what its worth, Grand Comics Database gives full credit to C.C. Beck. Still, the irony of that cover is so strong-just two issues short of the end of Whiz and CM. The final issue, #155, also has some irony, as war and horror genres are taking over the title (and super hero industry) from CM.
The classic of “final” covers is still Marvel Family #89, last of that title, where the three Marvels appear only in white silhouette…but I bet most folks know that one. And the story title…”And Then There Were Known.” Sad day in late 1953, for Marvel Family fans.
I never thought of two different artists on the Whiz but you may be right Bud. Speaking of 1953, that’s one of the toughest years for DC collectors, not that many quality copies out there.
Walter, that’s interesting about 1953 DC titles being scarce. I wonder how much impact the ant-comics crusade was having across the board, for many companies? Was it impacting EC? They still seemed very strong in ‘53.
Or perhaps moreso, was the marketplace so packed with a variety of books, DC was losing some of the dominance they enjoyed in the forties. Another reason to push Fawcett out of business, as they did, and support the code, to cut down the plethora of titles and publishers.
We know the code helped DC, and it must have also helped Dell, both had good reputations for kid-friendly comics that parents would let their kids buy… I could be wrong, but to me Dell seemed to explode with new titles, including all the film and tv tie-ins, post-code…? I’ve been turning on to many of these, including so many painted covers. And their writing was strong, also.
Bud, the issue is the scarcity now. I think that we see the result of a book-burning mentality at the time due to the Kefauver hearings. Perversely its possible that this impacted the kid-friendly books most of all, as the moms were more aware of them being in the house, so they were the first to go. The ECs might have been hidden a bit better by older kids, although they aren’t exactly plentiful, especially in higher grades.
I am a huge scarcity addict, both because it’s cool to have something different, and because I think it protects investment value. I continue to hunt those early fifties DCs in particular. And I also notice with those DCs that there was a delayed reaction to the code – 1956 and early 1957 are generally very scarce as well.