Which Golden Age Artist Has The Most Classic Covers? 0

[PreHero]

For me, it's Eisner and Fine. They may not have the most, but they are my personal favorites. I suspect Schomburg has the most.

 

I'm also surprised that none of the Frazetta Famous Funnies are classic, and so few EC.

 

It's interesting how Classic Cvrs never made it much out of the Golden/Atom Age.

[JohnT]

Are these all designated at the whim of Bob Overstreet?

[ashrael]

Are these all designated at the whim of Bob Overstreet?

 

Of course not, he had to have a copy too

 

[GreatEscape]

Are these all designated at the whim of Bob Overstreet?

 

I believe ~80% are Overstreet designations (as listed in OPG, most of which CGC recognizes)...the other 20% are CGC designations that appear on their slabs.

[143ksk]

Betty and Me 16 - ??

 

It's almost certainly DeCarlo. It also isn't in the 100 best Archie covers IMO.

[Bonds25]

I'm going to guess it's Schomburg and then L.B. Cole.

[BB-Gun]

For me, it's Eisner and Fine. They may not have the most, but they are my personal favorites. I suspect Schomburg has the most.

 

I'm also surprised that none of the Frazetta Famous Funnies are classic, and so few EC.

 

It's interesting how Classic Cvrs never made it much out of the Golden/Atom Age.

 

Some of those EC covers are real head bangers. They probably should be classics but we haven't realized it yet.

[Electricmastro]

A lot of Alex Schomburg’s covers are perhaps too similar to each other and a little cluttered. Only a handful of Mac Raboy’s covers stand out to me when he plays with lighting in a profound way and Lou Fine’s covers tend to be imaginative, but are a little crude compared to his interior art. L. B. Cole’s effective use of color and sometimes eventful, but focused approach helps his covers stand out to me the most.

[Frisco Larson]

For me, I'd have to say that taking into consideration the entirety of the Golden Age, it would be Alex Schomburg that stands out to me to have given the most classic covers!!! From the earliest days of Timely in late 1939 until around the middle of 1946, he drew SO many of my favorite Captain America and Marvel Mystery covers!!! Captain America 3, 26-29, 31 & 33 are ALL fantastic covers, none of which are similar to each other!!! Marvel Mystery 3 thru somewhere in the 50s numbering, Alex drew so many covers filled to the brim with outlandish torture devices, imaginative escape scenarios and heroic last minute rescues! It's true that SOME of his covers, once the books shrunk to the smaller size around 1944, took on a bit more of a "similar" look and feel, but his output prior to that is MORE than enough to outpace just about any other artist that comes to mind. Oh, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least MENTION his covers for All Select, All Winners, Daring Mystery, Human Torch, Mystic Comics, Sub-Mariner, Young Allies, U.S.A. and a handful of other short run titles. And that's just Timely. His body of work at Nedor is also enormous! Several Excitings and Thrillings are considered classics. He also did a handful of covers for MLJ. And then there's Suspense 3, perhaps THE most classic cover of all in some collectors eyes! There are still more that I haven't mentioned, but you get the idea. Everyone has their favorites and it's often difficult to distill that down to one, but I would bet that the majority of the GA collectors on the boards at least have a FEW Schomburg covers that they love. Schomburg it is for me!!!  

[Primetime]

14 minutes ago, Frisco Larson said:

For me, I'd have to say that taking into consideration the entirety of the Golden Age, it would be Alex Schomburg that stands out to me to have given the most classic covers!!! From the earliest days of Timely in late 1939 until around the middle of 1946, he drew SO many of my favorite Captain America and Marvel Mystery covers!!! Captain America 3, 26-29, 31 & 33 are ALL fantastic covers, none of which are similar to each other!!! Marvel Mystery 3 thru somewhere in the 50s numbering, Alex drew so many covers filled to the brim with outlandish torture devices, imaginative escape scenarios and heroic last minute rescues! It's true that SOME of his covers, once the books shrunk to the smaller size around 1944, took on a bit more of a "similar" look and feel, but his output prior to that is MORE than enough to outpace just about any other artist that comes to mind. Oh, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least MENTION his covers for All Select, All Winners, Daring Mystery, Human Torch, Mystic Comics, Sub-Mariner, Young Allies, U.S.A. and a handful of other short run titles. And that's just Timely. His body of work at Nedor is also enormous! Several Excitings and Thrillings are considered classics. He also did a handful of covers for MLJ. And then there's Suspense 3, perhaps THE most classic cover of all in some collectors eyes! There are still more that I haven't mentioned, but you get the idea. Everyone has their favorites and it's often difficult to distill that down to one, but I would bet that the majority of the GA collectors on the boards at least have a FEW Schomburg covers that they love. Schomburg it is for me!!!  

AGREED 

[KCOComics]

1 hour ago, Frisco Larson said:

For me, I'd have to say that taking into consideration the entirety of the Golden Age, it would be Alex Schomburg that stands out to me to have given the most classic covers!!! From the earliest days of Timely in late 1939 until around the middle of 1946, he drew SO many of my favorite Captain America and Marvel Mystery covers!!! Captain America 3, 26-29, 31 & 33 are ALL fantastic covers, none of which are similar to each other!!! Marvel Mystery 3 thru somewhere in the 50s numbering, Alex drew so many covers filled to the brim with outlandish torture devices, imaginative escape scenarios and heroic last minute rescues! It's true that SOME of his covers, once the books shrunk to the smaller size around 1944, took on a bit more of a "similar" look and feel, but his output prior to that is MORE than enough to outpace just about any other artist that comes to mind. Oh, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least MENTION his covers for All Select, All Winners, Daring Mystery, Human Torch, Mystic Comics, Sub-Mariner, Young Allies, U.S.A. and a handful of other short run titles. And that's just Timely. His body of work at Nedor is also enormous! Several Excitings and Thrillings are considered classics. He also did a handful of covers for MLJ. And then there's Suspense 3, perhaps THE most classic cover of all in some collectors eyes! There are still more that I haven't mentioned, but you get the idea. Everyone has their favorites and it's often difficult to distill that down to one, but I would bet that the majority of the GA collectors on the boards at least have a FEW Schomburg covers that they love. Schomburg it is for me!!!  

I tend to agree. 

Schomburg is why I started collecting GA. Those early Timely covers were mesmerizing. I understand why people find them to busy,  but I've always preferred the detail to much of the DC books from the same period.  Not to say those DC books weren't spectacular in there own right,  but Schomburg's work jumped off the page! 

I love Cole's use of color. I've been buying allot of Cole lately. Flessel and Everette are two other guy's I tend to be drawn to, but Alex is the king. His airbrushed Startling Comics covers may be my favorite GA art work. 

[RareHighGrade]

22 minutes ago, KCOComics said:

I tend to agree. 

Schomburg is why I started collecting GA. Those early Timely covers were mesmerizing. I understand why people find them to busy,  but I've always preferred the detail to much of the DC books from the same period.  Not to say those DC books weren't spectacular in there own right,  but Schomburg's work jumped off the page! 

I love Cole's use of color. I've been buying allot of Cole lately. Flessel and Everette are two other guy's I tend to be drawn to, but Alex is the king. His airbrushed Startling Comics covers may be my favorite GA art work. 

Nothing against Alex (I absolutely love Suspense 3), but Flessel had some extraordinary covers, especially considering they were pre-1940, that deserve recognition as classics.

 

[KCOComics]

17 minutes ago, RareHighGrade said:

Nothing against Alex (I absolutely love Suspense 3), but Flessel had some extraordinary covers, especially considering they were pre-1940, that deserve recognition as classics.

 

I've always thought Flessel doesn't get his due. Probably because his best work was pre-war, but at a time when comics were largely an extension of the Sunday funnies,  he was drawing some some really extraordinary stuff. 

[adamstrange]

1 hour ago, RareHighGrade said:

Nothing against Alex (I absolutely love Suspense 3), but Flessel had some extraordinary covers, especially considering they were pre-1940, that deserve recognition as classics.

 

 

My first thought on seeing all these great covers is 

My second thought is that you really need to upgrade that Tec 13! 

[Electricmastro]

Another good choice, Charles Biro:

1937:

1938:

1939 (on-sale year):

1940:

1941:

1942:

1943:

1944:

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1946:

1947:

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1950:

1951:

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1953:

1954:

1955:

1956:

Edited July 18, 2020 by Electricmastro