Friday, April 27, 2018

The Best Covers You've Never Seen--Superfriends!!

From issue #1 (1942) thru issue #29 (1948), DC's Comic Cavalcade always featured these three guys on the cover:

Cover by Frank Harry

Often it was a holiday theme, occasionally it was a "split" cover showing a scene from each of their adventures.

But most of the time...

Cover by Frank Harry

...it showed Jay and Alan and Diana just hanging out together, having fun!

Cover by E.E. Hibbard

I know, crazy concept, right? Heroes enjoying each others company? Being friends?

Cover by E.E. Hibbard

I mean, would you ever see this kind of cover today? Let alone on multiple issues?

Cover by E.E. Hibbard

I mean, where's the grimdark? How could a cover of Diana helping the boys sell a fish story ever attract readers?!?

Cover by E.E. Hibbard

And no, these issues never featured the heroes teaming up on the inside--they were all solo stories (along with other heroes, funny animals, Mutt & Jeff reprints, and gosh knows what else).

Cover by Martin Naydel

But apparently, someone at DC thought that the idea that these heroes were friends, and enjoyed each others' company, and just liked to spend time together, made an enticing selling point.

Cover by E.E. Hibbard

Heck, some even thought the idea might be inspiring to kids.

Cover by Harry Lampert and Alex Toth

Still, by 1948, most super-heroes had fallen out of favor, and soon Comic Cavalcade covers (and the insides) were all funny animals, all the time.

Yeah, olden days, etc.

Still, it would be nice if, just occasionally, we'd get a modern cover of heroes just hangin' out and being friends.

3 comments:

  1. These really are fun. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. I like these better than the WORLD'S FINEST covers of the same vintage.

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  3. Cover #22: The thrills and excitement of The Greatest Show on Earth pale in comparison to a Wonder Woman nip slip.

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