One last cover for 1967—the one non-Titans, non-Aquaman cover Nick did that year—House of Mystery #171. You generally don't see covers with solid black backgrounds like this, but it certainly stands out. I particularly like the different inking techniques Nick used on each of the monsters.
On to 1968, which was turning point in many ways for Nick. In mid-to late ’67, Carmine Infantino was put in charge of designing covers for DC. By this time, both artists were very design-oriented, though Nick wasn’t always allowed the freedom to show it.
Very quickly into their new working relationship, Carmine and Nick developed a back-and-forth approach. It wasn’t just Carmine handing Nick a sketch and saying, “Go draw this.” They would hash out ideas in the office, then Nick might still make minor—or occasionally not so minor—changes once he sat down to draw. The results really start to show with the Jan.-Feb. 1968 cover-dated issues of Teen Titans (shown below) and Aquaman (come back tomorrow).
When Nick drew the cover for Teen Titans #13, he was on the verge of quitting DC. He hadn’t gotten a raise in all his time with the company, and by the time he’d sat down to draw the issue, he’d been denied a raise in a face-to-face meeting with then-DC President Irwin Donenfeld. According to Carmine, Donenfeld didn’t care much for Nick’s work (nor did Production Manager Sol Harrison). Luckily, Carmine knew big changes were afoot, and he convinced Nick to stay on.
Nick wasn’t happy with the coloring on this one, as the background was colored so dark that it really obscured the linework. I think the concept of making the background a single color in order to highlight the Christmas tree shape was a sound one, but it was poorly executed.
Here'’s the Aquaman cover I mentioned yesterday. I talked about this one in the Nick Cardy thread, but to briefly recap, Nick went with a series of triangle shapes in his design. Arthur and Mera form a triangle, Aqulad in the b/g forms a triangle, the water coming off the figures form triangles, etc.
I got the feeling when talking with Nick that this cover and the Teen Titans cover were the first two he’d done to this point that he was truly happy with. He liked certain aspects of earlier covers—a figure here, a composition there—but these were the first of the covers he remembered with real pride and satisfaction. And he gave a lot of the credit to Carmine for allowing him to be more creative.
1968 was a great year for Cardy covers. Here’s an often overlooked gem done for Secret Six #2 (June-July 1968). The coloring on this one really puts the exclamation point on it.
And that brings us to Showcase #76 (Aug. 1968), the origin and first appearance of Bat Lash. This was easily Nick’s favorite series to work on. He liked westerns (he even did a series of western paintings in the early ’80s), the humor aspects played to his changing style, and he was able to contribute much more concept-wise and story-wise than at any other time in his career (and I think this was the biggest factor). Plus, there were plenty of pretty girls to draw!
Though the series was in the vein of the Maverick TV show, Nick modeled Bat Lash very loosely on Robert Redford (this was just before Redford starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).
I like how, even in his Wanted poster, Bat has his eyes on the lady.
With Nick gearing up on the new Bat Lash series, he had to give up Teen Titans—though he did stay on as cover artist. Teen Titans #17 (Sept.–Oct. 1968) was his last issue doing full interior art—but he would return with issue #20 as the inker (over Neal Adams and Gil Kane), and eventually would come back to pencil and ink the series.
This cover doesn’t quite go all-out psychedelic, but the fisheye lens perspective (besides being tricky to pull off) gives a hint of that flavor.
1968 also marked the arrival of Dick Giordano at DC Comics, and with him many of his former Charlton freelancers, including Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo, as well as Denny O’Neil, who we’ll get back to tomorrow. With Giordano taking over the editorship of Aquaman, he installed Skeates and Aparo as the new creative team, though Nick, as with Teen Titans, was kept on as cover artist.
Issue #40 (July–Aug.) marked the debut of the new direction, and it featured one of Nick’s best Aquaman covers. Nick really liked the flow of the piece and its graceful (my word, not his) curves.
I'm doing something a little different day on account of it being Thanksgiving Day. This cover for Plop! #2 (Nov.-Dec. 1973) is by the one-of-a-kind Basil Wolverton.
But before you think I’ve changed subjects, in that issue of Plop! was a seven-page story written by George Kashdan and penciled and inked by Nick Cardy, “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” It’s a story fitting for the day, and one of Nick’s favorites he worked on. I won’t spoil the ending, but here’s the best page from the story. Back to the normal routine tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving!
I also have a growing appreciation for Bob Oksner, thanks to you @nweathington , my random cover program, and this thread...that Shazam cover is a lot of fun and I'm pretty sure I owned this one...
As I mentioned in the Nick Cardy thread, the cover for Bat Lash #2 (Dec. 1968-Jan. 1969) was not only Nick’s favorite of his Bat Lash covers, but probably his favorite cover overall. And the story inside this issue is probably the comic story he was most proud of, as he plotted it and got to tell the story exactly the way he wanted. It’s probably been posted in this thread as well, but it’s well worth seeing again.
I also have a growing appreciation for Bob Oksner, thanks to you @nweathington , my random cover program, and this thread...that Shazam cover is a lot of fun and I'm pretty sure I owned this one...
Oksner’s also penciled the main story in that issue. I had the issue before that one, which at one point had the Oksner cover attached.
As I mentioned in the Nick Cardy thread, the cover for Bat Lash #2 (Dec. 1968-Jan. 1969) was not only Nick’s favorite of his Bat Lash covers, but probably his favorite cover overall. And the story inside this issue is probably the comic story he was most proud of, as he plotted it and got to tell the story exactly the way he wanted. It’s probably been posted in this thread as well, but it’s well worth seeing again.
As I've said before, I think this may well be the finest comic book cover ever printed.
Because Oksner didn't sign his covers, I just assumed many of the Superman ones were drawn by Curt Swan. Both men perfectly captured the house look. Even 40 years later I'm still surprised to see that I was wrong about the artist.
We leave 1968 with a cougar on the prowl in Nick’s cover for Young Romance #157 (Dec. 1968-Jan. 1969). With The Graduate released the previous year, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” hitting #1 earlier in the year, this plot was a no-brainer for the romance comics. And Nick drew two beautiful age-appropriate women.
We leave 1968 with a cougar on the prowl in Nick’s cover for Young Romance #157 (Dec. 1968-Jan. 1969). With The Graduate released the previous year, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” hitting #1 earlier in the year, this plot was a no-brainer for the romance comics. And Nick drew two beautiful age-appropriate women.
1969 started off with a bang with this dramatic cover to Spectre #8 (Jan.-Feb. 1969). It’s a simple design, but it certainly grabs your attention. The colorist did a nice job with this one.
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Very quickly into their new working relationship, Carmine and Nick developed a back-and-forth approach. It wasn’t just Carmine handing Nick a sketch and saying, “Go draw this.” They would hash out ideas in the office, then Nick might still make minor—or occasionally not so minor—changes once he sat down to draw. The results really start to show with the Jan.-Feb. 1968 cover-dated issues of Teen Titans (shown below) and Aquaman (come back tomorrow).
When Nick drew the cover for Teen Titans #13, he was on the verge of quitting DC. He hadn’t gotten a raise in all his time with the company, and by the time he’d sat down to draw the issue, he’d been denied a raise in a face-to-face meeting with then-DC President Irwin Donenfeld. According to Carmine, Donenfeld didn’t care much for Nick’s work (nor did Production Manager Sol Harrison). Luckily, Carmine knew big changes were afoot, and he convinced Nick to stay on.
Nick wasn’t happy with the coloring on this one, as the background was colored so dark that it really obscured the linework. I think the concept of making the background a single color in order to highlight the Christmas tree shape was a sound one, but it was poorly executed.
It's a nice change from the classic "celebrate the grotesque" approach.
I got the feeling when talking with Nick that this cover and the Teen Titans cover were the first two he’d done to this point that he was truly happy with. He liked certain aspects of earlier covers—a figure here, a composition there—but these were the first of the covers he remembered with real pride and satisfaction. And he gave a lot of the credit to Carmine for allowing him to be more creative.
Though the series was in the vein of the Maverick TV show, Nick modeled Bat Lash very loosely on Robert Redford (this was just before Redford starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).
I like how, even in his Wanted poster, Bat has his eyes on the lady.
This cover doesn’t quite go all-out psychedelic, but the fisheye lens perspective (besides being tricky to pull off) gives a hint of that flavor.
Issue #40 (July–Aug.) marked the debut of the new direction, and it featured one of Nick’s best Aquaman covers. Nick really liked the flow of the piece and its graceful (my word, not his) curves.
But before you think I’ve changed subjects, in that issue of Plop! was a seven-page story written by George Kashdan and penciled and inked by Nick Cardy, “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” It’s a story fitting for the day, and one of Nick’s favorites he worked on. I won’t spoil the ending, but here’s the best page from the story. Back to the normal routine tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving!
I finally made the jump to "1974" last night for my random cover of the day.
So, Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US, and here's the Cap cover that came up today, with pencils by John Romita Sr....
Not a particularly special cover, but I’ve always liked Romita’s Cap.