I enjoyed making a photo cover featuring Superman meeting King Kong (along with The Phantom) back in STF #3306,STF #3306, but I always regretted not using the classic Kong from the original 1933 film. This cover finally scratches that itch for me. I added in a suitable opponent for our headlining characters to face off with.
Absolutely and brilliantly Lovecraftian! Bravo!
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Not bad! Now, if we could just get Superman and Grendel vs. Mangog.
ReplyDeleteSuperman has experience with giant apes. (Titano)
ReplyDeleteThat's a very exciting guest "Starro." #BadPunNoCookie
ReplyDeleteThis cover does look like it was edited together with the same level of skill and technology as was typically used in the 1950s, so any and all apparent "flaws" become just part of the atmosphere. I can practically hear the "whoosh" of the "wind" as Superman "flies" by courtesy of a wind machine and simultaneous pan and zoom on the camera.
Soapbox moment: We've become spoiled by today's seamless computerized VFX. The older stuff may have been cheesy and cut-rate by today's standards, but the real purpose of VFX isn't to fool the eye but to help tell the story. The older Godzilla movies got a lot of ridicule, even at the time, for the big G looking like a guy in a rubber suit walking through a scale model of Tokyo (because that's what it actually was), but nobody can deny that the images still caught the audience's imagination.
This cover does the exact same thing. That may look like some sort of toy eye pasted on a picture of the underside of a starfish, but I immediately identified it as Starro and felt a chill of terror. Well played!
A real Huh! moment for me when I clicked on today's offering. When I got over my surprise, I was left thinking another really great notion, nifty execution. The more I look at it, the more I seem to see the black-and-white movie unreeling in my mind.
ReplyDeleteAnd can Kong meet Titano?
How about Grodd and Superwoman (of the Crime Syndicate of America) against Monkeyman & O'Brien?
ReplyDeleteThis B&W cover has Kong getting his own 'Star' ...SUPER!! Beautiful retro edition of a first meet and greet. Ross congrats on maintaining a dream job all these years...and beyond!!
ReplyDeleteRandom thought: If we paired the second Stooge with the third Doctor, wouldn't that be Fine and Dandy?
ReplyDelete@Bob Greenwade: as puns go, that was "Pertwee" good!
ReplyDeleteThink of the serial this could have made.
ReplyDeleteI know a lot of people think George Reeves IS Superman and have a soft spot for him, but I don't. If the original King Kong is on the cover, I think Kirk Alyn should be on it. But the cover is fantastic as usual.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice prequal to the currently Justice League of America vs King Kong and Godzilla.
ReplyDeleteFirst season of George as Kent showed what he could do unrestricted. Had those later seasons remained clean of interference. What's wrong with some inspiration?
ReplyDeleteHe didn't torture, just knocked out. He didn't have to keep proving himself. This could have been a very interesting meet if Kong didn't act just "ape" like, say like Congorilla.
For me, the Filmation version (voiced by the late, great Bud Collyer back in the 1960's) _is_ Superman.
ReplyDeleteNah... it's all about Christopher Reeve! Dude looked like he stepped right off the comic page, and no one else has ever been able to do effectively portray Superman and Clark Kent as well as he has... I've even heard before how members of the crew actually thought they were being played by two different actors! He was just that good! And that's even before getting into what the man went through in real life...
ReplyDeleteLove it!
ReplyDelete@Ben & Cary: let's split the difference. Filmation Superman was the best in animated cartoons. Christopher Reeve was the best of the post-Bicentennial feature film Supermen. Now, let's all have a bowl of ice cream.
ReplyDelete@Anon1006 Deal!
ReplyDeleteCover of the month!
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