Three great comic book covers a day until we run out of covers or I run out of gas. Please chime in if I miss a great one, and if I concur (!), I’ll recap.
This is it, the end of the line for the “true” numbering.
If this were really going to be my last post of this theme, I wouldn’t show any of these, but as I’m going to go back and hopefully show some great covers from the Marvel “legacy” numbering, I thought I’d firmly close out Four Color with a big nail in its coffin. I had to look at hundreds of photo covers, so my readers have to feel some of my pain. This is the Bizarro of this topic.
Yes hundreds of photo covers, but Four Color #1298 holds special honors:
Photo cover? Check. Bizarre? Check. Animal abuse? Check.
Covered, 365 and Beyond Covered 365 have been a showcase for great painted Four Color covers. Four Color #1336 is not one of them:
It just blows my mind that the artist could turn in such an excellent and yet weird and repellent depiction of the guy at the bottom. “WILL THESE LICE NEVER STOP??!!” And check out the face on the guy getting kicked.
Finally, we close out the longest running series of all time with the pitiful whimper of #1354:
Action or Detective had better run another twenty years so this one can eventually be placed in the dustbin of history.
Chris Meli's WordPress blog 
You may be onto a new topic here… covers that are so weird they make JOWA’s seem normal! The first one reminds me that in the 60’s there were lots of chimp related movies and T.V. shows: Lancelot Link, Banana’s, and the infamous Me and the Chimp! To name a few! Somebody thought it was a great idea…but few others!
The second cover has so many elements going for it… but none seem to work all that with the rest! The guy clutching his head reminds me of one of the Doc Savage and Shadow pulp artists who often depicted someone in a similar pose… guess that lice really spread!
That was really the very last Four Color?? Boy, they really didn’t care at that point did they?
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Yes, some real losers here. Not going on my want list. On Stage looks like a collage of different people who have nothing to do with the scene. No photo shop in those days, else I’d say that’s it, the artist phoned this one in with old images….
I don’t even remember the Hathaways, and I was a TV junkie in those days. I looked it it, the show lasted ONE season in Oct 1961 to March 1962. this is cover dated March-May 1962.
I bet sales on THAT comic sucked, Comics were still .10 until 1965, but Dell was asking .15 – maybe worth it for a Carl Barks, but not for this. Hallf again as much as a nice Fantastic Four, or The Incredible Hulk, or The Flash. No kid would have paid an extra .05 for one, just Moms with really bad taste….
Chris, Thanks for your dedication to getting these out to us…every day, I just cannot believe you lasted as long as you did. Looking forward to the legacy covers, and more virtual gatherings on Walter’s site.
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I am actually looking forward to these ‘Legacy’ covers as I probably have seen very few. The only ones I bothered to look in the past were mentioned on Comic Culture by Owen and Walt!
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Thanks to my two loyal and legendary commentors (I guess that’s not a word). You guys have kept me motivated to keep on a schedule, but frankly it’s been easy because I love looking at this stuff and drawing connections. Especially good to have Bud there to dare me to snatch the pebble from his hand – I’ll never get it but my knowledge and appreciation always deepens.
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