Comic Cards Project: Day 6 • The Flash

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The debut of The Flash in 1956 revived interest in superheroes and marked the beginning of what became known to comic geeks as the Silver Age of comics. After World War II, superheroes declined in popularity and only a few super characters survived into the 50s. However, comic books about crime, horror, and romance, which by that time made up … Read More

Comic Cards Project: Day 5 • Adam Strange

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Adam Strange is an archaeologist who gets zapped by a “zeta beam” and is instantly transported 25 trillion miles away to the planet Rann. There he finds an advanced civilization of earth-like humans and is befriended by one of their scientists who has a beautiful daughter (of course) named Alanna. Before too long, the zeta beam wears off and Adam returns to earth. Every six weeks he rendezvouses with a zeta beam in … Read More

Comic Cards Project: Day 4 • Elasti-Girl

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Elasti-Girl might be the most glamorous superhero ever. She was a gold medal-winning Olympic swimmer who became a movie star before gaining the ability to expand and shrink her body at will. Once she had super powers, she was invited to join Robotman, Negative Man, and The Chief in the dysfunctional super group, The Doom Patrol. The Doom Patrol was an unusual … Read More

Comic Cards Project: Day 3 • Robby Reed

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Robby Reed??? You never heard of Robby Reed? I’m not surprised. He starred in a somewhat obscure feature called “Dial H for Hero” that ran in the comic House of Mystery. A typical teenager who acquired a device that looked like an old rotary phone dial, Robby could dial H-E-R-O and be turned into some kind of super-being. He became a different, … Read More

Comic Cards Project: Day 2 • Black Canary

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Black Canary was a character created in the 1940s with a look based on the actress Veronica Lake. In the late 40s and early 50s superheroes fell out of favor and their stories were no longer published. But like a lot of the old characters, Black Canary was revived in the 1960s. I first discovered her when I was 10 … Read More

Comic Cards Project: Day 1 • Batman

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I’m working on a personal project, illustrating a deck of playing cards using characters found in DC comics between 1957-1967 — the height of the kitschy Silver Age of comics. I’ll be posting one illustration every weekday for 11 weeks, which will take us just about until the end of May. 55 posts = 52 regular cards, 2 jokers, and … Read More

Aquaman’s Birthday

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  September 25, 1941, seventy years ago today, the first Aquaman story hit the stands, printed in More Fun Comics #73. Created by writer Mort Weisinger and artist Paul Norris, he is one of a handful of superhero characters to appear continuously since those early days of comic books. Here’s a little painting I did of the sea king a … Read More