The Silver Age 1956-1970
SHOWCASE #4 October 1956
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert
The Silver Age began with Showcase, a key title that was the launchpad for numerous new characters and reworkings of Golden Age concepts. First out of the blocks was The Flash, reimagined as police scientist Barry Allen by writers Robert Kanigher and John Broome and cover artist Carmine Infantino. Here, Infantino uses a film strip device to convey the character’s speed.
SHOWCASE #22 October 1959
Artist: Gil Kane
Having enjoyed great success with reimagining The Flash, editor Julius Schwartz assigned writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane to rework Green Lantern. The result was test pilot Hal Jordan, who is given a power battery and ring by dying alien Abin Sur and recruited into an organization of “space-patrolmen in the super-galactic system” (later named the Green Lantern Corps).
SHOWCASE #34 October 1961
Artists: Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson
The third Golden Age hero to be completely reimagined in Showcase, in the hands of editor Julius Schwartz, writer Gardner Fox, and artist Gil Kane, The Atom became scientist Ray Palmer, who uses a dwarf star fragment to shrink himself. Much as he had with Green Lantern, Gil Kane had a long-lasting association with the character, which continued into the 1980s.
SHOWCASE #73 March 1968
Artist: Steve Ditko
In 1968, Steve Ditko arrived at DC. One of the greatest artists to ever work in comics, he immediately unleashed one of the most unique heroes in the company’s history. Debuting in this issue of Showcase, The Creeper – alias talk-show host Jack Ryder – was a bizarrely garbed crime fighter whose eerie laugh Ditko incorporates into the cover design.
SHOWCASE #75 June 1968
Artist: Steve Ditko
Two issues on from The Creeper’s arrival (and trailed in an advertisement in Showcase #73), Ditko debuted another high concept for DC. The duality of teenage brothers Hank and Don Hall – the aggressive Hawk and pacific Dove – is reflected in Ditko’s mirrored cover composition. Ditko’s initial stint at DC was brief; he departed shortly after this, returning in 1975.
DETECTIVE COMICS #241 March 1957
Artist: Sheldon Moldoff
One of the most memorable concepts to grace a cover in the Silver Age, the premise of “The Rainbow Batman” is less wacky than it might at first appear: Batman dons a series of colourful costumes in order to draw criminals’ attention away from an injured Robin. Three years later, in Detective Comics #275, Sheldon Moldoff introduced another crazy costume: the Zebra Batman!
DETECTIVE COMICS #359 January 1967
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson
Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, Barbara, wasn’t the first Batgirl – she was preceded by Betty Kane in 1961 – but when she was introduced in this issue (at the request of the Batman TV show producers), she proved a resounding hit. Working with editor Julius Schwartz, Infantino designed a costume based on Batman’s, but with its own flourishes and striking, very modern, black-and-yellow colour scheme.
DETECTIVE COMICS #366 August 1967
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson
The cover of Detective Comics #366 succeeds admirably in compelling the reader to pick it up. Who wouldn’t be intrigued by a perspiring Batman frantically drafting his own will before death claims him? The dialogue and story title were by regular letterer Ira Schnapp, but the beautifully cursive calligraphy on the will was all Infantino.
ADVENTURE COMICS #247 April 1958
Artists: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye
Thirtieth-century Super Hero team The Legion of Super-Heroes debuted in this issue, ostensibly as a one-off concept. Curt Swan’s game-show style cover composition was later referenced on Superman #147, Adventure Comics #322, and more. Returning to Adventure Comics a year later in issue #267, the Legion became increasingly popular with fans.
ADVENTURE COMICS #300 September 1962
Artists: Curt Swan and George Klein
The Legion became a regular feature in Adventure Comics from this issue, remaining a part of the comic for almost a decade. The multiple-panel cover – with a central figure flanked by smaller insets – was a hallmark of Curt Swan, who employed it on a succession of Superman annuals, but only this once on Adventure Comics (later referenced by Keith Giffen on Legion of Super-Heroes #301).
THE ATOM #36 May 1968
Artist: Gil Kane
An ingenious, dynamic composition, depicting the Silver Age Atom literally punching the Golden Age Atom out of the comic, this cover is a terrific example of Gil Kane’s exquisite figure work and unique staging of action. Having introduced the Ray Palmer Atom in Showcase #34, Kane became the character’s primary chronicler when The Atom moved to his own title.
ACTION COMICS #242 July 1958
Artists: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye
Second only to Lex Luthor in Superman’s rogues gallery, Brainiac makes his debut in this issue. The character is depicted on his first cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye. A former student of renowned illustrator Harvey Dunn, Kaye was Wayne Boring’s inker before becoming Swan’s main inker from the mid-1950s until the early 1960s.
ACTION COMICS #252 May 1959
Artists: Curt Swan and Al Plastino
Another cover first for Curt Swan, this details the arrival in the Superman mythos of Kal-El’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, alias Supergirl. But as the cover text declares, Supergirl’s wasn’t the only debut this issue: the lead story introduces one John Corben, showing his transformation into persistent Superman foe Metallo (and his acquisition of a Kryptonite heart).
ACTION COMICS #254 s July 1959
Artists: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye
First appearing in teenage form in Superboy #68 in 1958, Bizarro was introduced in an adult version here in a story drawn by Al Plastino. On the cover, Curt Swan gives the imperfect Superman duplicate an almost Frankenstein’s monster feel, with a high forehead that was toned down for subsequent appearances.
ACTION COMICS #300 May 1963
Artists: Curt Swan and George Klein
Having begun his career at Timely as a penciller and inker in the early 1940s, after World War II George Klein concentrated on inking at DC, succeeding Stan Kaye as Curt Swan’s main inker in the 1960s. Klein brought a finer, more nuanced – almost delicate at times – feel to Swan’s artwork, as demonstrated in this beautifully rendered far-future scene.
ACTION COMICS #277 June 1961
Artists: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye
Krypto the Super-Dog had arrived in 1955 during the Golden Age, but as the Silver Age progressed, Superman’s family expanded to include a gaggle of Super-Pets. Beppo the Super-Monkey debuted in 1959 and Streaky the Super-Cat in 1960; all three feature in this issue, with a comical cover by Curt Swan.
ACTION COMICS #368 October 1968
Artist: Carmine Infantino
Primarily associated with The Flash, as well as his covers for Mystery in Space, Detective Comics, and Batman, Carmine Infantino drew just ten Action Comics and Superman covers in his career. This, his first cover for Action Comics, is also one of his best, evocatively encapsulating a story in which Superman returns from space to find an Earth free of crime, war, and disaster.
BATMAN #119 October 1958
Artists: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye
Silver Age Batman covers could be deliriously silly, even surreal, especially in the hands of Curt Swan, who drew around a dozen Batman covers during this period (plus another handful later in the 1960s). This one illustrates the story “Rip Van Batman”, in which a bearded Dark Knight awakens from a drug -induced slumber in a Gotham City of the future.
BATMAN #122 March 1959
Artists: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye
Batwoman, alias heiress and circus performer Kathy Kane, had been introduced in 1956. The first member of what would become the “Batman Family”, she was a regular guest star for the next eight years. Typically for the Silver Age, her marriage to Batman, beautifully portrayed on this cover, would be revealed as a dream by story’s end.
BATMAN #156 June 1963
Artists: Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris
A particularly influential cover, Sheldon Moldoff’s image of Batman holding Robin’s body has become something of a trope, and not just at DC – covers referencing this one can be found on comics released by many other publishers. The “trippy” feel of the cover reflects the story, in which a military experiment causes Batman to hallucinate Robin’s death on an alien world.
BATMAN #194 August 1967
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson
The Batman logo had remained largely unchanged since the first issue of the series, but Carmine Infantino literally broke the mould with this cover, incorporating the logo into the action in a new and thrilling way. Infantino’s work on Batman and Detective Comics helped revitalize the Dark Knight, who became known as the “New Look” Batman.
BATMAN #166 September 1964
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella
While it wasn’t uncommon for Batman to be imperilled on covers, elaborate death traps were a new innovation in the Silver Age. This was Infantino’s second cover for Batman, displaying a more flowing line than predecessor Sheldon Moldoff, a keen sense of composition, and a willingness to subvert anatomy in service to storytelling.
BATMAN #217 December 1969
Artists: Neal Adams and Gaspar Saladino
This Neal Adams cover was a taste of what was to come in the Bronze Age: a more realistic approach to figure work and dramatic high or low vantage points. The status quo is shaken up inside too, as Robin leaves for college and Bruce Wayne and Alfred leave Wayne Manor; their absence would last for more than a dozen years.
WONDER WOMAN #105 April 1959
Artists: Ross Andru and Mike Esposito
As splendid as Ross Andru and Mike Esposito’s cover is, this issue is just as notable for the artists’ and writer Robert Kanigher’s interior story. Having retold and revised Princess Diana and Steve Trevor’s initial encounter in Wonder Woman #98, here the creative team reworked Diana’s origin, introducing the notion of her powers deriving from Aphrodite, Athena, Mercury, and Hercules.
WONDER WOMAN #95 January 1958
Artists: Ross Andru and Mike Esposito
WONDER WOMAN #178 October 1968
Artists: Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano
A new creative team – Denny O’Neil writing and Mike Sekowsy on covers and interior art – meant a bold new look and new direction for Wonder Woman from this issue onwards. Sekowsky signals the change on the cover, garbing Wonder Woman in a late-1960s mod fashion outfit and depicting her daubing a paint cross over previous versions of herself.
WONDER WOMAN #185 December 1969
Artists: Mike Sekowsy and Dick Giordano
Over successive issues, writer Denny O’Neil and artists Mike Sekowsy and Mike Esposito revamped Diana for the mod era, stripping her of her powers and establishing a new modus operandi for her as a martial arts crime fighter and owner of a fashion boutique. Those changes are reflected on this cover, a more down-to-earth take on Wonder Woman’s world.
Taking over from Irv Novick as Wonder Woman cover artists from this issue, Ross Andru and his longtime inker Mike Esposito also supplanted Harry G. Peter as interior artists from #98, beginning a nine-year run on the title. Their first cover marks a step change, with a flowing line and a reference to the atomic age in the nuclear blast.
STRANGE ADVENTURES #110 November 1959
Artists: Gil Kane and Jack Adler
DC’s first science fiction title, Strange Adventures, began in 1950. Gil Kane worked on the series from its earliest days, but this cover is one of his most arresting; the weird juxtaposition of an everyday motoring scene with a giant hand looming over the horizon is lent extra weight by Kane’s detailing on the hand and Jack Adler’s wash effects and colouring.
STRANGE ADVENTURES #207 December 1967
Artist: Neal Adams
Strange Adventures took on more of a supernatural feel in the late 1960s, shown by its redesigned logo and the introduction of Deadman in #205. Created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino, circus- performer-turned-avenging-ghost Boston Brand’s adventures were elevated creatively when Neal Adams took over as artist. This, Adams’ first cover, features portraits of multiple DC staff members.
STRANGE ADVENTURES #212 May 1968
Artist: Neal Adams
Deadman’s search for his murderer was a continuing thread through the character’s run in Strange Adventures. Neal Adams became writer as well as artist with this issue (taking over from Jack Miller), marking the change with a cover that showcases his expressive figure work and heightening of drama via acutely angled vantage points.
SILVER AGE ARTISTS
CARMINE INFANTINO
A towering figure in DC’s history, not only did Carmine Infantino (1925–2013) help usher in the Silver Age, but he shaped the direction of DC well into the Bronze Age. Having begun drawing comics early in the Golden Age, by the 1950s Infantino had made a home for himself at DC. In 1956, he and writers Robert Kanigher and John Broome reimagined the Golden Age Flash in Showcase #4, Infantino designing an eye-catching red costume for the reworked character. Infantino’s cover and the story within kickstarted
a resurgence of the by-then moribund Super Hero genre, and began an association between artist and character that would last into the 1980s. During a career at DC that saw him elevated from art director to publisher, Infantino played a major role in how covers were approached – for a time in the Silver Age roughing out every cover line-wide – as well as redesigning the Dark Knight into what became known as the “New Look” Batman.
BATMAN #181 June 1966
CURT SWAN
If Wayne Boring defined the look of Superman in the Golden Age, then Curt Swan (born Douglas Curtis Swan, 1920–1996) crafted the archetypal Man of Steel for the Silver Age. Swan got his start at DC after the war, drawing Superboy from the late 1940s and depicting the first meeting between Superman and Batman in Superman #76 (1952). But it was when he began drawing Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen in 1954 that Swan came into his own. His restrained, measured style was a curious counterpoint to the wackiness of the Silver Age stories he was drawing (and which he found jokey), but the melding of approaches worked, not least on covers, where he lent a succession of absurdist notions (Jimmy as a giant turtle-man!) a trademark believability. His handsome, convincing Superman is still for many the gold standard, so much so that he was the natural choice to draw Superman’s “final” story, the Alan Moore-written “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”.
ACTION COMICS #311 April 1964
GIL KANE
As Gil Kane (born Eli Katz, 1926–2000) himself noted, his was the first generation of comics artists to be directly influenced by comic books. Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, Kane was an avid reader of comics, and by the age of 16 was working in the field himself, drawing borders and word balloons and finishing artwork. Before long he was pencilling comics, working for DC, Marvel, and others through the Golden Age; but it was when the Silver Age dawned that Kane really began to make his mark. With writer John Broome he redesigned the Golden Age Green Lantern as test pilot Hal Jordan in Showcase #22 , and went on to chronicle the character throughout the 1960s (along with The Atom, another Golden Age character he redesigned). Building on the dynamism of one-time mentor Jack Kirby, his covers were characterized by a distinctive, expressive approach to the figure, especially from the late 1960s onward, when his style took on a freer form.
GREEN LANTERN #60 April 1968
With a formative grounding in life drawing, painting, and sculpture, Nick Cardy (born Nicholas Viscardi, 1920–2013) brought a new sophistication and sense of realism to comics. He began his comics career in 1939, and after serving in World War II, started drawing for DC in 1948, contributing stories to Gang Busters, House of Mystery, Tomahawk, and more. Cardy largely remained with DC for the rest of his comics career (he exited the field at the end of 1974 in favour of commercial art and illustration), crafting acclaimed runs on Aquaman, Teen Titans, and western series Bat Lash through the 1960s. As the 1970s dawned, he turned his talents almost exclusively to covers, working with editor and fellow artist Carmine Infantino to conjure covers that combined beautiful draftsmanship with a finely honed feel for composition. For Cardy, covers were all about impact – finding a simple, powerful image that could convey a story and stop a potential reader in their tracks.
Few did that better than him.
NICK CARDY
AQUAMAN #45 June 1969
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #28 March 1960
Artists: Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson
Having helped to establish the idea of the Super Hero team in the Golden Age with the Justice Society of America, writer Gardner Fox recreated his success 20 years later, bringing together DC’s Silver Age heroes as the Justice League of America. Cover and interior artist Mike Sekowsky depicted the debut of the team and villain Starro, while letterer Ira Schnapp designed the logo.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1 November 1960
Artist: Murphy Anderson
Sekowsky remained as interior penciller when the Justice League gained their own title six months after their debut, but the first cover (and the three thereafter) was drawn by Murphy Anderson. Known for his ability to reliably turn his hand to any character, Anderson increasingly became a “go-to guy” at DC for inking, embellishing the Silver Age works of Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, and Sekowsky himself.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #9 February 1962
Artists: Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson
Co-creator of the Justice League of America (with writer Gardner Fox), Mike Sekowsky drew the initial 63 issues of the team’s own title. His Justice League of America covers are typically inventive, sometimes arrestingly so, such as this classic composition depicting the team’s origin, wherein the League members are transformed into trees.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #10 March 1962
Artist: Murphy Anderson
A companion piece to the preceding issue, here Murphy Anderson deploys a similar body-morphing technique, portraying the League as finger puppets– perhaps inspired by the cover of 1952’s Sensation Comics #109 – at the mercy of villain Felix Faust (who debuts in this issue). The flat yellow background focuses the eye on the team’s flailing gestures and Faust’s leering expression.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #21 August 1963
Artists: Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson
The Justice League meet the Justice Society for the first time on this key cover, instituting an annual team-up that would persist for the next two decades. Sekowsky’s device of seating the League at a table echoes the JSA’s first appearance on the cover of All Star Comics #3, more than 20 years earlier.
SUPERMAN #199 August 1967
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson
It is a question that many comic book fans would have dearly loved answered in the Silver Age: who is fastest, Superman or The Flash? Sadly, despite the promise of Carmine Infantino’s thrilling cover, they wouldn’t find out in this issue, as the heroes’ race is interrupted by a concussion, Kryptonite, and a pair of rival gambling syndicates.
GIANT SUPERMAN ANNUAL #2 January 1961
Artists: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye
Conceived for the first Superman Annual in 1960 – and used on early Batman annuals too – the multi-panel cover was an effective way of showing all the extra stories contained within. Other artists employed the format, but none did it as well as Swan, especially on this villain-focused second annual, with its finely rendered central Superman.
SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #53 June 1961
Artists: Curt Swan and Stan Kaye
For many, this cover epitomizes the Silver Age: a sublimely outrageous concept, executed in typically restrained style by Curt Swan. Jimmy endured numerous transformational indignities in the Silver Age, turning into a genie, a balloon, and a porcupine, but this was the apotheosis. Swan’s cover homages a classic Thrilling Wonder Stories pulp magazine from 20 years earlier.
THE FLASH #133 December 1962
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson
Of all the characters Carmine Infantino worked on, The Flash holds a special place. Infantino drew around 70 issues of The Flash during its Silver Age run – both covers and interiors – from 1959 to 1968, and over 50 more in the 1980s. His early covers for The Flash are inventive and surprising, such as this eye-catching depiction of The Flash transformed into a marionette.
THE FLASH #163 August 1966
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella
It’s a novel way to get a reader to pick up a comic book, but an effective one: depicting The Flash holding up his hand and literally shouting to the reader to “STOP!” in giant red-striped lettering. Comics characters had been breaking the fourth wall to address readers on covers since the Golden Age, but never as urgently as this.
THE FLASH #174 November 1967
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson
At the end of his run on The Flash in the Silver Age, Carmine Infantino made his boldest design choice yet, making the logo the central focus of the cover artwork in a way only he himself had done before (three months earlier, on the cover of Batman #194, see p.57). His concept, with the rogues draped triumphantly over the letters, would be referenced repeatedly by other artists.
THE FLASH #123 September 1961
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson
The notion of the DC Multiverse began with this landmark issue. A decade after his final appearance, the Golden Age Flash was reintroduced when Barry Allen wound up on a parallel Earth and encountered Jay Garrick (who was a comic book character on Barry’s Earth). Carmine Infantino’s influential device of positioning the two Flashes either side of a wall has been much imitated over the years.
SEA DEVILS #2 December 1961
Artists: Russ Heath and Jack Adler
Primarily known for his war stories at DC, Russ Heath’s work on Sea Devils is just as remarkable. First appearing in Showcase #27, this team of aquatic adventurers were shown in a succession of beautifully rendered, perilous situations on their first ten covers. As seen here, Heath’s line work was given added depth by Jack Adler’s wash effects.
MYSTERY IN SPACE #90 March 1964
Artists: Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson
As an illustration of science-fiction hero Adam Strange’s parallel existence, this Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson cover is tough to beat. Debuting in Showcase #17, Strange was faced with the unique dilemma of splitting his life between Earth and his adoptive planet, Rann, which he travelled to via Zeta-Beams.
AQUAMAN #1 February 1962
Artist: Nick Cardy
Despite having been around since 1941, Aquaman had never starred on covers until he appeared on The Brave and the Bold #28 and a short run of Showcase in the early 1960s. His first solo series began shortly after, pencilled and inked for the first 39 issues by Nick Cardy, who also drew all 56 delicately rendered, beautifully composed covers until the series went on hiatus in 1971.
AQUAMAN #30 December 1966
Artist: Nick Cardy
This sombre cover – illustrating a story in which a duplicate Aquaman is killed in battle – showcases Nick Cardy’s fine brushwork. Cardy would discuss covers with DC’s art director, Carmine Infantino, trying out different poses and angles; a mark of this cover’s success is that Cardy later recycled the composition for Superman #265, with Superman borne on the shoulders of soldiers.
AQUAMAN #40 July 1968
Artist: Nick Cardy
As Nick Cardy’s run as Aquaman cover (and interior) artist continued, he became increasingly bold in his formal choices. Here, he turns the hair of Aquaman’s queen, Mera, into an undercurrent, sweeping Aquaman and Aqualad helplessly along. Doing his own inking allowed Cardy to define Mera herself with wispy, ghostly lines and delicate crosshatching.
AQUAMAN #42 December 1968
Artist: Nick Cardy
Debuting in Aquaman #35, Aquaman’s nemesis Black Manta provided Cardy with the basis for perhaps his most memorable cover of the series. Depicted in contrasting light and shadow and hoisting a defeated Aquaman aloft, the villain is ingeniously positioned by the artist atop a logo formed from stalagmites.
AQUAMAN #51 June 1970
Artist: Nick Cardy
Nick Cardy made increased use of dramatic vantage points and angles as his tenure as Aquaman cover artist neared its end. One favoured technique was to depict an underwater scene from below to convey a sense of aquatic peril, as on this cover, where the characters are dragged upside down to the depths, accentuated by the sideways lettering and story title.
YOUNG LOVE #39 October 1963
Artist: John Romita Sr.
Arriving at DC in the late 1950s after spending most of the decade working for Atlas (Marvel’s predecessor), John Romita Sr. spent the next eight years drawing romance comics. In Young Love he illustrated a series featuring Nurse Mary Robin, basing her likeness on Kathy Tucker from Milton Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates newspaper strip.
GIRLS’ ROMANCES #96 November 1963
Artist: John Romita Sr.
John Romita Sr. drew the vast majority of the covers for DC’s romance titles during his time at the company, developing a method with editor Phyllis Reed whereby she would elicit and build storylines from the covers he created. This wonderful Girls’ Romances cover was referenced by Vince Coletta on the cover of Young Love #94 in 1972.
FALLING IN LOVE #99 May 1968
Artist: Ric Estrada
Unusually psychedelic for a romance comic, this atypical composition evokes the tail end of the Swinging Sixties (and includes a nod to frequent DC advertiser Palisades Amusement Park for good measure). Estrada preferred drawing war stories, but worked across DC’s line, his elegant figure work in particular marking him out.
TEEN TITANS #1 February 1966
Artist: Nick Cardy
Nick Cardy had been drawing the Teen Titans on covers since the team’s first appearance in The Brave and the Bold #60 in 1960, and went on to pencil and/or ink the initial 43 issues of their own series. His first cover for the series utilizes a unique layout, anchoring the diagonal composition on Kid Flash racing up the stairs.
TEEN TITANS #16 August 1968
Artist: Nick Cardy
This clever cover – a favourite of Nick Cardy himself – demonstrates Cardy’s elegant figure work and exceptional design sense. Incorporating the logo and story title into the cover of the towering book, Cardy highlights the metafictional nature of the tale, in which the Teen Titans are transported to another dimension to battle comic book-esque alien invaders.
TEEN TITANS #23 October 1969
Artist: Nick Cardy
After Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman’s teen sidekick, finally received a belated origin in Teen Titans #22 (adopting the civilian name Donna Troy), Nick Cardy showcased her new look on the cover of #23. The device of Donna bursting out of a poster bears comparison with the cover of #16, where she is being pulled into the pages of a book.
GREEN LANTERN #59 March 1968
Artists: Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson
Gil Kane was deep into his Green Lantern run by the time he and John Broome created Guy Gardner for this issue. At the time conceived as a “What if the power ring had gone to someone else?” concept, Gardner would later be established as backup Green Lantern should Hal Jordan be incapacitated, before effectively replacing Hal for a time.
GREEN LANTERN #63 September 1968
Artist: Neal Adams
This was Neal Adams’ first Green Lantern cover; two years later, he and Denny O’Neil would revolutionize the title with the introduction of Green Arrow and a string of socially conscious stories. Here, responding to the prevailing trend of experimentation on covers, he uses a divided composition and sketchy line work to convey Green Lantern and the world fading from existence.
GREEN LANTERN #65 December 1968
Artists: Mike Sekowsky and Joe Giella
In common with other comic books of the period, by the late 1960s Green Lantern covers were becoming more expressive. Mike Sekowsky drew a short run of Green Lantern covers in 1968 that seemed freer and looser than his ones for Justice League of America (the work for which he is best known), this swirling, sand-swept urban scene being a prime example.
GREEN LANTERN #75 March 1970
Artist: Gil Kane
Gil Kane’s final Silver Age Green Lantern cover was also the final issue before the title was revamped by Neal Adams and Denny O’Neil (though the logo had already been redesigned). Kane’s evolution as an artist from earlier in his run can clearly be seen: this cover is still rooted in the fluidity of the figure, but with a more stylized line and facial expressions.
DC Comics Cover Art
Written by Nick Jones
Penguin Random House, 2020
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