Bruno Premiani doesn't get as much recognition ans some other Silver Age artists, and that's a shame because he is one of my favorites. He had a great mastery of storytelling and character design. While he worked on some other characters, I feel he really got a chance to shine with his depiction of the Doom Patrol's adventures. He's another artist that I really began to appreciate more once I saw his work in black and whit in the DC Showcase reprints.
Well, you certainly captured his excellent artwork with regard to Elasti-Girl!
ReplyDeleteNicely done, Ross. And have a Happy Easter. :-)
This is a great cover, Ross. I think I would've preferred a night sky background, though... if you catch my drift.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of costume designs, I'm wondering about that Giant-Man costume. From the tags, I gather that it's either Bob Powell or Bob Brown who drew it. It has one of those (now retro) sci-fi looks, complete with the flared shoulders that I still find kind of cool. Do you know its genesis?
And I assume that that's Hank Pym in the costume. I'd suggest an ongoing relationship between these two, given that they're both big-growth characters (and have hyphens in their superhero names) but Hank's a bit of a jerk (in the comics, occasionally crossing the line into physical abuse) and Rita deserves better.
ITEM: Fantastic cover selection! Elasti-Girl and Giant-Man even have similar powers, in both directions, and this is just a pip.
ReplyDeleteITEM: I agree with you on Bruno Premiani, and that's doubled and redoubled about the DC Showcase Presents the Doom Patrol books. That guy was one of so many silver age artists who knew how to draw clean, sharp, and yet still dynamic art. Could we ever use an artist like that today!
ITEM: Bob G. - unless my memory fails, that's Hank Pym - he's the only one ever to wear that version of the Giant-Man costume, and not for very long. However, unless things changed since I quit reading new comics, Hank was guilty of physical abuse ONCE, and that while he was suffering mental problems. I feel it's been rather over-exaggerated for far too long.
@Bob: Hank first wore this costume in Tales to Astonish #65, March 1965. He had figured out how to shrink & expand other objects with the Pym Particles and started carrying stuff. Jan decided he needed a new costume. He wore it through the end of his run in TtA #69. I'm not sure if he had any appearances between that and returning to the Avengers as Goliath (May 66).
ReplyDeleteSlightly of the subject: although you probably already have your Easter cover stove for this year, might I suggest Bugs Bunny, Roger Rabbit, and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny; all trying to figure out what happened to the Easter Bunny? "And if they can't find him, one of these 3 will have to take his place!"
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Delete"off" and "done" not 'of'and 'stove'
DeleteNew phone keyboard acts weird at times.
ELS, I agree with you one thousand percent regarding Hank Pym and the physical abuse issue. With everything thing that's been retconned out of comics in the last twenty or thirty years, I wish someone would finally retcon this one incident out of existence once and for all.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the correction re: Hank's physical abuse issue. I knew that, and don't know why I forgot about it in the moment; I feel rather ridiculous about that. Still, I've generally thought about him as one of the less likeable characters in the Marvel Universe. (Admittedly that impression is dated; I haven't read anything with him, at least the Earth-616 version, in decades.)
ReplyDeleteThanks also for the info on Hank's costume here. It's one I'd like to see next to Colossal Boy's with the similar shoulder design.
Now this I can see leading to not 1 but several X-overs with both teams; Iron Man & Robotman, Thor & Negative Man, Giant Man & Wasp & Elasti Woman, Captain America & Mento & Chief all leading up to both teams working together leading up to a showdown vs the Brotherhood of Evil & Masters of Evil, all pawns of Kang & Mr. Nobody
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