EVERYTHING BUT IMAGINARY #222: COMIC COVERS FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA

[Blake Petit]

Here we are, friends, on one of my favorite day of the year. For those of you outside the United States, July Fourth is just the day that they release some of the biggest summer special effects flicks, but here in the U.S. of A., we’re celebrating Independence Day, which in my family means the annual Ginormous Petit Fourth of July Barbecue. Depending on what time you read this, I’m either helping my father and uncles set up the barbecue pit, gorging myself on ribs, burgers and my grandmother’s famous Zombi Bread, or lying on a lawn chair stuffed to the gills. It’s a glorious day.

So for today, I want you guys to forget politics, put aside parties, arguments, the right and the left, and join me in a celebration of some of the all-time great patriotic comic book covers. These aren’t necessarily the greatest ever, but these are the ones that make me want to put Lee Greenwood and Bruce Springsteen on the CD player and wave my flag high. And how better to start than with the first appearance of the greatest American hero of all time?














Captain America Comics #1 (1941), by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Talk about a product of another time – an American hero bursts onto the scene, shrugs off the bullets of a legion of Nazi thugs and nails Hitler a good one on the chin. Was it propaganda? Sure it was – but this was World War II, a time when Americans found themselves truly united against a great enemy, and watching him take a blow to the face from a man dressed up in the flag was an image that really spoke to people. Like most great comic book covers, of course, it has been re-done over the years – many times, by many artists.














Cap, of course, had no monopoly on propaganda covers during the war. It was pretty much part of the heroic mandate – there was a war on and superheroes had to step up, either by supporting the troops, encouraging folks at home to buy stamps and bonds, or even soliciting donations for the American Red Cross. And of course, it being a less politically correct time, you couldn’t be surprised to see slogans that, today, would be shocking to readers, such as what Superman was encouraging his readers to do on this Action Comics cover:














A slogan like that would get someone fired today. Fortunately, there were a lot of more benign covers from the Golden Age to choose from as well:



























Patriotic covers often fall into a few different motifs, as well. Most popular, of course, is the classic “Hero holding the American Flag” cover.



























Also popular: the “hero standing in front of the American Flag” cover.



























Superman, of course, has his very own patriotic motif. After its first appearance in Superman #14, the trend became for the man of steel to pose with that other flying symbol of America – the bald eagle.














That’s for Superman, though. When you’re Captain America, you don’t need a motif. Every cover with you on it is inherently patriotic. I could easily have done a whole column just of Captain America covers, but here are just a few of my favorites that I didn’t already slip into other categories:














After 9-11, of course, patriotic covers took on a new meaning.














And lest we forget, it’s not just the superheroes that gave us patriotic covers. Archie, Mickey Mouse, Richie Rich – they’ve all gotten into the act. Charlton comics even did an adaptation of the musical 1776 – proving that there was a time when everything was made into a comic book.














And there you have it, folks. This is by no means a definitive list. Heck, it’s not even a comprehensive one. This is a fairly random list of some of my all-time favorite patriotic covers. If I left out one of your favorites, let me know. Feel free to post a link. And in the meantime, grab a hunk of barbecue, take a dip in the pool, enjoy the fireworks – but don’t forget just what it is we’re all celebrating today. Happy Independence Day!

Favorite of the Week: June 27, 2007

Some weeks there’s absolutely no competition in this little EBI closer. Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver first rocked our world with Flash: Iron Heights, then they blew us away with Green Lantern: Rebirth, but last week’s Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special may just be the magnum opus for this team. They’ve managed to take a villain who had become a joke make us feel a genuine threat not just to Green Lantern, not just for the Green Lantern Corps, but for the entire DC Universe. This book rocked in more ways than I can describe. It wasn’t just my favorite of the week, it’s perhaps the best comic book yet this year.

Blake M. Petit is the author of the superhero comedy novel, Other People's Heroes, the suspense novel The Beginner and the weekly “Think About It” humor column at Think About It Central. He’s also the co-host, with the inimitable Chase Bouzigard, of the 2 in 1 Showcase Podcast. E-mail him at Blake@comixtreme.com and visit him on the web at Evertime Realms.

[Terry Verticchio]

Happy Independance Day, all you Yankee-doodle heads!

What's interesting about the first Cap cover where he punches Hitler, I believe America wasn't even in the war yet when it came out. Maybe the Publisher knew something the general public didn't.

[Blake Petit]

I think it was just a case of him knowing which way the wind was blowing.

[virtuadept]

Great column, I loved looking back at all these covers even if it's the day after the 4th when I am reading this. Really got me in the patriotic mood.

[Mini]

Originally Posted by Blake Petit

This one is my favourite out of all the covers shown, not because of the homage to Captain America, but because of the soldier playing with the giant wall mounted Etch-a-sketch in the background!!

[TobiasJeth]

Sinestro Corps was amazing, easily the best book i've read all year, and I cannot wait to where it goes from here. I haven't been this excited about an upcoming storyarc since AoA.

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by Mini

This one is my favourite out of all the covers shown, not because of the homage to Captain America, but because of the soldier playing with the giant wall mounted Etch-a-sketch in the background!!

Heh -- goodness, that DOES look like an etch-a-sketch. I never noticed that before.

[Scott A. Williams]

Good rundown, Blake -- Supergirl #80 makes me wish I was an American

Originally Posted by Blake Petit

After 9-11, of course, patriotic covers took on a new meaning.

One cover that struck me as being a classic of patriotism (regarding post-9/11) was Art Spiegelman's New Yorker cover; at first all black, on closer examination depicted the World Trade towers in a darker tone of black. Naturally, this wasn't a comic -- but the idea was re-used for his graphic novel, "In the Shadow of No Towers."

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by Scott A. Williams

Good rundown, Blake -- Supergirl #80 makes me wish I was an American

Ed Benes should put that in his press clippings.

[chrismozer]

What? No props for Fighting American?

Excellent column!! I always love looking at those old covers!!!

What holiday is next on the list for a column like this? X-mas seems a natural.

Pat on the back for me...i picked up GL: Sinestro Corps Special B4 i read this column. That's a first. I usually find myself running back and picking up Blake's Fave of the week

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by chrismozer

What? No props for Fighting American?

Excellent column!! I always love looking at those old covers!!!

What holiday is next on the list for a column like this? X-mas seems a natural.

Pat on the back for me...i picked up GL: Sinestro Corps Special B4 i read this column. That's a first. I usually find myself running back and picking up Blake's Fave of the week

I considered running some of the classic Fighting American stuff, but I couldn't find any I really liked.

The Liefeld Fighting American is not even worth consideration.

I do Christmas columns every year, but I hadn't done one just of covers before. That's not a bad idea...

[chrismozer]

Originally Posted by Blake Petit

I considered running some of the classic Fighting American stuff, but I couldn't find any I really liked.

The Liefeld Fighting American is not even worth consideration.

I do Christmas columns every year, but I hadn't done one just of covers before. That's not a bad idea...

Follow the link. Scroll down to see Agent America!!

http://www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=929

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by chrismozer

Follow the link. Scroll down to see Agent America!!

http://www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=929

Oh, I'm AWARE of Liefeld's work. I just don't feel like justifying it by placing it in my column...

[Walt Kneeland]

good stuff...

It's always fun seeing theme-grouped "galleries" of covers...especially when you've seen/own the issues, but through the years never really put them together...

I'm also a fan of (well done) "imitation" covers--such as the re-doings of the Captain America issue, where one cover inspires a bunch of others, either the same character or others...

Sinestro Corps. is one issue that's left me rather frustrated: saw it in the store, passed it up because it was $5 and I didn't have any great expectation of it (hey, "just" a GL story/spin-off, right?)...but after several days of reading so much about it, mail-ordered it last weekend, and was rather bummed when it wasn't in my mailbox yesterday (hoping it is today...)

[chrismozer]

Originally Posted by Walt Kneeland

I'm also a fan of (well done) "imitation" covers--such as the re-doings of the Captain America issue, where one cover inspires a bunch of others, either the same character or others

Love those type of covers, too. I would always show my son recent covers based on old comics (recent issue of Black Panter was imitated from Fantastic Four #3).

See recent issue of Justice League Of America. The covers of 3 issues line up to form one nice picture. Love that, too.

My son is always amazed when i show him this type of stuff. That's right..cannot show him plumbing or other man-things, but comics are my thing.

[Blake Petit]

I can only hope that my hypothetical kids are impressed by comic lore too.

Yeah, I love "homage" covers myself. That's one of the reasons all the zombie stuff has been so much fun for me.

[chrismozer]

Ohhhh....how could i forget the zombie stuff?? Those are great covers. I hadda break out X-men #1 with Jim Lee Gatefold to show Alex when the zombie homage came out.

Wish i could remember how many times i've seen an Action #1 homage. I definitly remember it being imitated on an Amazing Spider-Man ish.

[Blake Petit]

Yeah, I'd say Action #1, Amazing Fantasy #15 and Fantastic Four #1 are among the all-time most-homaged covers.

[chrismozer]

Originally Posted by Blake Petit

Yeah, I'd say Action #1, Amazing Fantasy #15 and Fantastic Four #1 are among the all-time most-homaged covers.

True Dat. I also loved how Incredible Hulk #325 (Grey Hulk Returns) paid homage to itself!!!

I pay homage to all those who've come before every Wednesday.

[Cardiac]

This reminds me of the documentary programme Comic Book Superheroes: Unmasked! During his interview Stan Lee pointed out that the superheroes were fighting the Nazis before America has even seen fit to enter the war, perhaps because much of the creative talent in the industry were young Jews and were more likely to be keeping track of events in Europe than the general populance.

In the same documentary Stan Lee also said something which should serve to remind us all of the dark underbelly of the flag-waving wartime propaganda comics, which Blake, to his lasting credit, touched upon above. I'm paraphrasing at best:

"Our comics featured two types of Japanese; buck-toothed, and fanged."

While the gaudy celebration of noble ideals is extremely useful in our darkest times, and provides a sense of belonging and ritual to millions, I think all of us, whatever our political affiliations, can see the value in remaining vigilant against the temptation to use patriotism to betray the very ideals we're being patriotic about. I've read enough Captain America comics to know he'd agree with me.