30 in 30 - Day 19: It's The Neal Adams Show!

[Brandon Shepherd]

Don't touch that dial!

 

I wrote about a Neal Adams cover from Action Comics on Day 18, and for Day 19, I have another Neal Adams Action Comics cover to share. This is Action Comics #468 (Feb. 1977), "Terra-Man At Nine O'Clock!" I'm not too familiar with the interior stories for most of my Bronze Age Actions so I'm not sure who or what Terra-Man is all about, I will say that he is a villain who's appearance reinforces the derogatory term "funny books." Regardless of the villain's appearance, Neal Adams still delivers an interesting cover.

 

Neal Adams style is instantly recognizable, especially in the facial features of the kid exclaiming "It's the Terra-Man-Superman show!" This cover is very different, the image of the three kids gathered around the TV looks to be a nostalgic homage to the 1950s, just speculation on my part. The POV is very up close, the faces are huge and the TV screen consumes most of the cover, in the top blue portion of the cover you can almost make out the images of a plant and a framed picture. It's also cool to see Superman angry, he's trying to clean Terra-Man's clock but it's hardly fazing him.

 

To be honest, when I pull my Neal Adams Action Comics examples together, this one does not quite go with the other covers I have. If I had more than the handful of examples I currently have, then the Action #468 would more than likely look better in the group. This is not my favorite Neal Adams cover, it is a little different but I certainly do not dislike it. This cover and its subject matter may be a bit odd, but the example I have is a beautiful one and it's also from my favorite Bronze Age pedigree.

 

To being different!

 

Brandon

 

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[Ronnylama]

and a pedigree to boot...very nice. Neal does children and perspective so well

[Garlanda]

Ugh, Terra-Man. So he was basically an old west cowboy who was abducted by aliens and taught to operate sci-fi technology. Somehow he lived an extra hundred years or so and is a space cowboy bandit. Oh, and he rides a pegasus. The only thing worse was Earth 2 Terra Man, who was magic and could shoot from his finger if he made gun gestures. I had this one from an old polybagged three-pack, and even as a little kid I didn't fall for it.

 

[Brandon Shepherd]

At least we can admire Superman #377 for the cover art from Gil Kane.