Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Eighteens: Engage!

69. THE CRYPT OF TERROR vs. JACK OF FABLES




70. OUTER SPACE vs. BLACK HOOD




71. MARGE'S TUBBY vs. RICHIE RICH




72. PORKY PIG vs. PINK PANTHER AND THE INSPECTOR

73. ARCHIE'S PALS 'N' GALS vs. ARCHIE'S TV LAUGH-OUT




74. LITTLE EVA vs. LITTLE AUDREY




75. STAR TREK vs. HOURMAN




76. DIARY SECRETS vs. TEEN-AGE ROMANCES

69. Crypt of Terror
It has a big, bold title and a proper living corpse on it. One that's got a thing for moider. I'm not eggxactly thrilled as much with the Fables cover, and oddly Bolland often as a DC cover artist.

70. Black Hood
That's the classic Outer Space issue where Arm Fall Off Boy goes bad. Hood has the creepier danger. It's also nice to see a lady rescue the hero. Hood could at least have wiggled, nodded or mumbled a warning to her though.

71. Marge's Tubby
Everything Richie gets involved in leads to money, so the cover sums that up well. But I like the unawareness of Marge.

72. Pink Panther
Porky looks far too grumpy on his cover, while the panther is cool under the sternest gaze.

73. Archie's TV Laugh Out
I can feel Pals and Gals gaining in points, but Laugh Out has a bit more immediacy and an Archie-cast packed cover. Large logo spaces make both stand out.

74. Little Eva
The inventiveness of Little Audrey is great, but the unexpected results of Little Eva win the day. That would have been funny, even without the bubble bath being super bubble bath.

75. Star Trek
The cover of JSA sums up the book. A cast of spandex thousands all crammed in trying to get some space. Trek could be boldly going down to the shops, but it's streamlined, central and gains points for rearranging the logo to better show off the image.

76.Diary Secrets
Gosh, the gritty real world relationships of Diary against the utter bitchiness of Romances! Tough call! I'm going with what I think is the better drawn Diary Secrets, complete with its lost souls down at the Travel Aid desk. The green logo matching the lead's jumper and gloves is a nice touch.

69. JACK OF FABLES.

70. OUTER SPACE. NOT PENNY'S SPACE-BOAT.

71. TUBBY. Multitasking! And I like the tapping foot.

72. PINK PANTHER. COLOR!!

73. ARCHIE'S PALS 'N' GALS Sure, it's a pretty standard 'teens are crazy' gag BUT THOSE BONGOS THO

74. LITTLE AUDREY. Is Little Eva's cover painted? I don't think it suits.

75. STAR TREK.

76. DIARY SECRETS. My goodness, what a setup.

77. DANGER vs. WONDER WOMAN



78. VENUS vs. JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY




79. ALL-STAR COMICS vs. BOY COMMANDOS




80. MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY vs. CARTOON NETWORK STARRING (SPACE GHOST)

77. WONDER WOMAN. The moonlight effect and that weird brown-gray take it. Danger smart for putting a big moon behind the canoe though to draw the eye to that first -- THEN the foreground gun.

78. JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY. The setup is old hat but there's something about that black canopy.

79. BOY COMMANDOS. Gives your eye a path to follow. All-Star is All-Over the place.

80. CARTOON NETWORK STARRING. UH-OH!

77. Wonder Woman
Danger could have been a winner here. it reminds me of another cover. Despite the bold title, it's too wordy and the caption talks about a dilemma, rather than avoiding being perforated. Still, I know they had to add in text quickly as both "Mooning in the Swamp" and "Bugsy Meets a Giant Sized Man Thing" were both refused for some reason. I'm also wondering how long that guy has been lying around in the swamp waiting for the pair. Where's his boat? Has he caught sniffoos? I've never been keen on that Wonder Woman cover either. I've no idea why. It's got that dark riders quality form Lord of the Rings, and it looks as though Circe is behind the creatures. They have totally ruined their night sight, carrying around that torch though. I'm wondering if it's more to do with the insides. Perez stepping back from pencilling duties around that time?

78.Journey Into Mystery
Venus has a more immediate effect. The distorted perspectives were perhaps unintentional, but they add creepiness to the cloaked guys. If only the Luck Lords were so scary. But Journey Into Mystery gives a well executed, understated scare. Title and caption all fit into the awning, even if it's at a slight angle. There's a hint of organised crime in the shoes? The caption is perhaps too large, but it tells you everything you need to know about what's inside. L'il thoth will have read this one at some point.

79. Boy Commandos
Did you worry about purple protrusions and imagine your heroes covered in sticky stuff? That will have been the cover of All-Star #18 then, and the protrusions are the weird insect thing's eyes. "Insects turn to Crime!" What, they're going to live their retirements in luxury after they money launder the proceeds of it? Baffling. But there's not much going on with Crazy Quilt. I'm not sure if the Boy Commandos are shrinking or it's just the pencilling making them too small. I refuse to give a win to silly All-Star, so I'm justifying it by liking the multi-coloured prop in Boy Commandos.

80. Mr DA
Someone built a clock, with a mini-goon in it! With a little machine gun! Crazy fun! He must have left the DA a note saying that he had to stand in front of the clock at 12. That's what the title suggests. It's mad enough, without the crook going to all that trouble on the off chance the DA would pass the clock by at the right time. Space Ghost can't come close to competing with this. And it doesn't.

81. NEW EXILES vs. ACTION GIRL




82. ANIMAL MAN vs. POWER OF THE ATOM




83. SPACE ADVENTURES vs. ALL TRUE ROMANCE




84. GI JOE SPECIAL MISSIONS vs. TWO-FISTED TALES

85. DALE EVANS vs. GIRLS




86. STRANGERS IN PARADISE vs. BATMAN ANNUAL




87. MIGHTY MOUSE vs. WOODY WOODPECKER




88. SUPER FRIENDS vs. STRANGE ADVENTURES

81. Action Girl
It's possibly something to do with Jadedness (not the Infinitor). But probably to do with nearly every Big 2 Event since Crisis being of dreadful quality. So, seeing a group of heroes enter into a portal to save a world/ sacrifice themselves doesn't interest me nearly as much as that robot in one of the photos in the back of Action Girl. Is it a toy? Is it an evil robot villain? Teeds has made me really want to buy Action Girl comics.

82. Animal Man
A driven-to-the-edge workaholic physicist stuck in a sword and sorcery world had a lot of potential (you know, if that's what you were dealt with) None of which came across in any of the minis or this ongoing. The fire matches with "The End"; the sword is bigger and his Conan trappings have gone. Bolland illustrates Buddy's morphogenetic links beautifully in this cover. Despite what I was just saying about not being a huge fan of a lot of his DC covers, it doesn't mean that he couldn't hit it out of the park.

83. Rocky Jones
Rocky Jones looks a little swivel eyed, and his dad a bit stoned. I'm pretty glad Vena is there to make sure the rocket programme works. Mainly comics will focus on teams of prominent, celebrity heroes. But look at Parisian Girl on the left of All True Romance. The Legion have just gone back in time to recruit her. But she has to keep that lamppost upright until the repair team gets there, and can't go into the future. Selfless heroism. The bloke on the right means that a title change to Some Men Are Tools was only an issue or two away. So, it's Vena vs Parisian Girl...

84. Two Fisted
Posting deaf guards doesn't work against The Black Stabby in G.I. Joe. Having your guards face the point of threat is also usually a good idea. I hope Stabby has breathing apparatus in that mask. That can't be comfortable swimming in. It's a little mean calling it Two Fisted when one of the characters on the cover only has one. Mr Pan sure has taken something personally. Having gone on about Big Bold logo backgrounds, the two here stand out well, without obstructing the picture behind them. I just prefer the perspective of Two Fisted more. I wonder if they'd be allowed to call it He Man Adventure these days, without Skeletor turning up.

85. Dale Evans
Crikey! King Mob wasn't the only one of the Invisibles to go back in time. Mister Six did it too, turning up here (with 'tache intact) as Uncle Six to train a new cell. Look at that steampunk wheelchair keep up with the horses! Eat that Professor X! The first page has Laughing Deer shout "$*!* You!" as she shoots the politicians about to screw over the indigenous population with another worthless treaty! Steadfast partner Dale Evans covers the escape! The other cover has some people protecting a house from property developers (putting "evil" in front of "property developers" seemed redundant there ). I'm sure I read some of the series. But I don't remember the cast and it's one of those covers where identification would add more of an impact. It's galloping horses and chairs for me!

86.Strangers in Paradise
SiP gets past the identification of cast problem nicely. You don't have to know who the guy is to find out what the rest of the cast think of him. As nice as Mignola's art is, it's just another Bat variant standing in front of props, rather than interacting with them. Having both ladies either side of a rising central statue reinforces the phallic nature of the message too.

87. Woody
Wide eyed Mighty Mouse is about to learn all about stress analysis as that tree breaks and kills Pearl. Woody has that feeling that you get when someone isn't pulling their own weight. The tree gives a nice background to the logo. But it would win simply for having Woody using the double O as a cycle.

88. Strange Adventures
I looked at Super Friends a few times wondering if that was the Trapper, before seeing the text at the top. It looks to be a standard, evil villain issue. If they're lucky the Trapper will take over Supes' mind and use him to destroy the Earth. If they're unlucky, the Trapper is about to show them his Time Trip Holiday Snaps. Right. We've discovered a lost civilisation. Let's invade on their territory and privacy and take lots of samples. Perhaps even a live specimen or two. Why, they're attacking! They must be primitive! Let's use our better weapons to subjugate them! Captain Colonialism gives us a good starter about ignorance on the cover of strange adventures. I don't believe for a second that the old guy didn't provoke the flying guy. Worth a read in the vain hope that one of the flying man makes him eat his blinding flashlight. The artist manages to get the cast of Super Friends all in a row. In Strange Adventures, each vertical third is used nicely to space out the cast. But, I'm going with lost civilisations over cackling. Ironically, as he's born before his time, Captain Comet is a missing link of sorts too.

81. NEW EXILES.

82. ANIMAL MAN More intrigue. POTA is superhero guy with sword and flames, OK fine.

83. ALL TRUE ROMANCE. Oh yes, Miss Lady did that. Over on Space Adventures they all look like they're on the dope.

84. Mr. Returning's body language reads as cartoony/comedic, which does not fit the setup. GI JOE by default.

85. GIRLS. The stillness is more compelling.

86. SIP has the Dick joke but BATMAN actually delivers the goods! No, not Robin. And IIRC, not Bruce either....

87. WOODY WOODPECKER. Both are banned on Arbro. MM annoying, and are we going to have another Kenz Nuhor situation on our hands? Oy.

88. SUPER FRIENDS. I'll take the bright.

89. LONE RANGER vs. RISING STARS




90. LARGE FEATURE COMIC (PHANTASMO) vs. FANTASTIC COMICS




91. DOC SAVAGE vs. MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS




92. WOLFF & BYRD COUNSELORS OF THE MACABRE vs. AMAZING X-MEN

93. SGT FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS vs. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN




94. PICTORIAL ROMANCES vs. WARTIME ROMANCES




95. FANTASTIC FOUR vs. AQUAMAN




96. INFINITY INC vs. GANG BUSTERS

89. RISING STARS. With LR, you pretty much know what's happening and what will happen next. The stillness of the RS figure -- who seems well aware of the -- stands out more, and it's not certain what's next.

90. FANTASTIC by default, as Phantasmo looks like a friend of Mayavale.

91. MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS. Book cover fills comic cover. Okay...? Maybe it makes more sense to its readers. It's just not gonna win again a colorful pack of presents, including that nifty She-Hulk doll!

91. W&B is great if you understand it: it's a reverse someone being freaked out by some scary thing, it's the scary thing being being freaked out by even scarier thing....lawyers!! Might take a new person a minute to download all that. In teh meantime, AMAZING X-MEN makes the threat obvious.

92. IRON MAN. The action moves with the narrowed field, not against it.

94. WARTIME ROMANCES.

95. AQUAMAN. A static piece, but appropriate for the occasion. A&M are central, but when you pull back there's a line from Robin to GL and Hawkman up front.

96. GANG BUSTERS. Simpler is better here. WTF is up with Nuklon's arms? The game aspect just seems like an add-on.

89. Lone Ranger
LR looks like a total tease, but at least it's not Pov amateur hour.

90. Phantasmo
"With his mighty powers, Samson might find a shirt shop" Phantasmo has a "You can't touch me, but I can touch you" gimmick. He might be the villain and, like the Invisible Man, I'm interested to see if how it doesn't work out.

91. MCP
MCP has more variety in how it promotes the stories within. The pulp on Doc Savage doesn't look very convincing.

92. Wolff & Byrd
Kooky underground comix eye beats the one that's basically a mirror.

93. Iron Man
I like the surrounding faces in Sgt Fury a lot more. Intense without having to be all shouty. But men of iron in a smelting plant has a good theme to it. I'll take molten doom to read over swimming pool punch ups.

94. Pictorial Romances
Marjorie didn't make you miss anything Mister. Take some responsibility, or at least get a watch. Besides, the punishment for those grass stains on your knees is Drowning By Detergent! Marjorie has saved you there. But Pictorial is an instant favourite! We've seen lots of guys on romance covers being complete tools to the women in their lives. But this guy abandons his partner and a baby! It takes it to a new level of gitness. I'm trying not to look too closely at the kid's hair colour and draw any conclusions. Whatever has happened, that git isn't going to throw a shirt that well ironed into a case anytime soon, if he leaves her.

95. Aquaman
Aquaman is lovely, with everyone in their little breathing helmets. Elsewhere, the Thing shakes his fists at something in FF shock. Nicely drawn though.

96. Gang Busters
Where oh where can the Black Ace gang be hiding? Let's rest a moment beside that Giant Black Ace to figure it out. But it still wins over the very busy Infinity cover. Lots of Helix. Were they pitching for their own series?

97. MUTANT X vs. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY




98. SHADE THE CHANGING MAN vs. GHOST MANOR




99. MIGHTY THOR vs. ALL-NEW X-MEN




100. LITTLE AUDREY AND MELVIN vs. SPARKLE COMICS

97. MUTANT X. Mostly because I don't like GOTG's art style, but MX's cover gives a pretty good indication of what's inside so it's not just a default win.

98. SHADE THE CHANGING MAN. Mostly because I like the colors. The trees on Ghost Manor are kinda cool, but ghost's vaguely Holly Hobbie knockoff vibe is uck. This IS a default win.

99. MIGHTY THOR. Okay, a little attitude. Oh the other side -- Lorna, why is you wearing orange pants?

100. LITTLE AUDREY AND MELVIN. While Nancy and Sluggo are clever (and real), LA&M more appealing art.

97.Mutant X
Sure, Guardians may have alternate Punishers, or the cast from the Dark Knight Returns on a coffee break. But the ethnic cleansing from one of Marvel's heroes reminds us of the dark side of supposed patriotic messages.

98. Shade
It wins purely on the colouring. It looks as though he's having a weird mid air whizz. A Meta-wee. But it's going to take a bit more than being haunted by Strawberry Shortcake to get me to pick up a Ghost Story.

99. X-Factor
Thor is all pose. The magnetic circles draw me into the X-Factor cover and it's someone doing something.

100. Audrey and Melvin
Using the string ads that little bit of inventiveness to Audrey. The logo fitting in nicely in the foliage gets points too. There's also the very good chance that Audrey & Melvin will be simply Audrey from the next month onwards, following a tragic archery accident. SO, worth reading to see if that happens.

101. SAVAGE HAWKMAN vs. PROMETHEA




102. TRANSMETROPOLITAN vs. NEW AVENGERS




103. POISON ELVES vs. REVIVAL




104. PLASTIC MAN vs. MICRONAUTS

105. TESSIE THE TYPIST vs. KATY KEENE




106. WINGS COMICS vs. HOT RODS AND RACING CARS




107. POLICE COMICS vs. JSA




108. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY vs. MARVEL SUPER-HEROES

101. Promethea
Wave your hands in the air all you like Beakface. Your cover is too busy and doesn't carry anywhere near the threat of the angry woman with the stabby implement. The colour of her cover is themed with the cover blurb too.

102. New Dark Avengers
Tramsmet is just playing dress-up. Osborn has the sheer personal power to draw in the reader to his nefarious plans. I preferred the Dark Avengers to the main teams form what I read of it.

103. Revival
Revival looks a bit unsettling. Poison Elves looks as though there's something going on a bit further down that we can't see.

104. Plastic Man
As much as I like the Micronauts art, both Rann and Mari should really have noticed that none of the things around them are likely to have moved, since they're in a dolls house. It takes away the threat, when you see the big face. Although Woozy has some serious sight issues, it gives you an idea of what the story is going to be about and how much fun its going to be. Morrison ripped this off (surprise) for a JLA scene.

105. Katy Keene
Your secret admirer could be hiding in your skirts M'lady Keene. You would still win by default. Although Tessie does have cats on the cover, they are running away from the book which is all you need to know about its contents.

106. Wings
Hot Rods is clearly the inspiration for an A-Ha video. We have action, romance and mechanics! The background is excellent and the car is good. The logo is a favourite too. But today I'm going with Sky Horses chasing aeroplanes (well, that's what I prefer going with, rather than the planes being boring representations of the 4 horses: Death, Dusty, Gypsy and Dobbin. When Death (the horse. The skeleton is just a prop)realised he didn't really need the others, he just decided to bring his friends along). Crazy Horses!

107. Police Comics
Sorrow has a bad hair day and look at the JSA overreact. Just because all of them wears hoods (Scott wears a wig). It might not be the best cover, but having the two leads interact on it will always get points. There's no background considering the strength of the two leads.

108. Guardians
MSH has a guy whose shoulders could double for a mantelpiece and a guy with a nasty looking bow and arrow. But they're walking on something with the circumference of a ping pong ball. So, it's Guardians for the more polished art. It does get some points for a sort of Killraven/Cap America too.

101. PROMETHEA. I think you see her point.

102. They also have points, but I don't love either. NEW AVENGERS because it's not just a straight-up lift.

103. REVIVAL BY DEFAULT. Poison Elves looks like a vertical cell phone video uploaded to YouTube that also have the wrong resolution or aspect ratios or whatever.

104. PLASTIC MAN. Micronauts over-crowded.

105. KATY KEENE. The corny pun over on Tessie is kinda funny but has nowhere to go.

106. WINGS.

107. POLICE.

108. GUARDIANS. More visually interesting version of group shot.

109. HOWDY DOODY vs. ROUTE 666




110. WEBSPINNERS: TALES OF SPIDER-MAN vs. CATWOMAN




111. OZARK IKE vs. ALLEY OOP




112. FATALE vs. NEW AVENGERS

109. Howdy Doody
What's going on in 666? My interest is on why that jacket hasn't ripped. Giant zombie heads? Zombie sailors perhaps, going by the jumper. At least I can see what a git Howdy Doody is on his cover. Nice and clear.

110. Spidey
A moment of triumph for Doc Occ, nicely captured. Is Catwoman having an identity crisis, or just a sewing mishap? Not quite as reader-grabby if it's the latter.

111. Alley-Oop
We had a cover about calves before, so I'm jaded towards Ozark. The everyday vanity down the ages on Alley, even if its not as well drawn, gets the win.

112.
Ozark Ike might be distracted by the curves on Fatale's cover, but I'm more interested in the coffin cam perspective of Avengers. The black, white with the red rose is a good touch as is the placement of the logo to not interfere with it. The Avengers name hovers a bit ethereally overhead.

109. HOWDY DOODY.

110. SPIDER-MAN. I suppose.

111. ALLEY OOP. Ah, the "dames, whatcha gonna do" matchup. The cursing knight seals it.

112. Both very eye-catching in different ways. Fatale's lines, moody coloring, and framing! New Avengers' perspective and washed-out (mostly) coloring! Okay...NEW AVENGERS.