CGC FORUM TOP BRONZE AGE COVERS - #5

[jbud73]

Ah the Top 5 Conspicuous by his absence thus far, artist Jeff Jones makes his presence felt in the Top 20 by nabbing the #5 spot with his cover art to Wonder Woman #199. While Jones may not have produced in the same quantity as his peers at the time, when he did produce it was usually a home run.

 

Thanks to greggy and johnenock for nominating this book - greggy also added the following thoughts on the cover.

 

I have to confess this is my favorite all time bronze era cover. The cover features fabulous art by Jeff Jones of Wonder Woman in chains with a masked executioner in the background. The shadowing and facial expression of Wonder Woman makes this cover quite mesmerizing. - greggy

 

[october]

[Rocketeer]

...never understood why people like this better than #200,...I find the dark colors in the 200 much more horrifying,...and anyway,..#199 always struck me as Cher ,..portrait in bondage,...

[goldust40]

It's a fairly simple piece by Jones - not my personal favorite of his (one of my three nominations was for SHOSL 3) but it's still a contender.

[johnenock]

It's all in the headsman for me. I'm a sucker for hooded figures. This was my #2 pick after Supes 233. Again, my 9.4 trumped by a 9.6.

[october]

(one of my three nominations was for SHOSL 3)

 

Mine too....I think.

[Comicdey]

Awsome artist with a classic GGA bondage pose......and you wonder why it's in the top 5? If she was in a cheetah bikini, it'd be a top 2 finisher

 

Finally one I voted for shows up.

[mar-vell]

cool cover! i have to admit i never even new it existed before i came to these boards!

[blowout]

Must admit I'd not seen this cover before this poll and it is pretty cool. But top 5??

[Timulty]

So far 2 of my 5 are top 10. Yee Haw!!! I got to admit, it's a toughie between this one and 200. I think johnenock's about the Headman is correct. It is menacing without being dark which is surprising for this type of cover. Definitely happy, this one made it.

[mr_highgrade]

This is one of my all time favorite covers.

[bigfiver69]

It's pure classic... and a perfect example of the kind of artistry that put DC waaaaaaay ahead of Marvel (critcally, if not always in sales) during the ealry 1970s.

 

It's straight person_without_enough_empathyin'. One of my faves of all time,

 

Shep

[VintageComics]

I'm sure the use of dark/light contrast to accentuate the feminine form has a bit to do with the appeal of this cover

BTW that executioner is just awsome...looks so relaxed...

[johnenock]

The light and shadows seam to highlight WW feminine features

[drbanner]

Just a sweet, sweet cover!

 

The BWS Conan covers are really the only Marvels comparable to what DC was putting out at the time - most of the Marvel covers are all cluttered up with text boxes, logos, and word balloons, almost formulaic. The picture frame covers are kinda neat, but that comes at the expense of a much smaller image are (note that many of the top covers have large, strong central images).

 

Bronze Age DC covers are so much more diverse in content and style, and it's pretty obvious from the results here that most collectors prefer them. Did Marvel even try any grey tone covers during the BA?

[ashrael]

Great cover. I thought this would end up #1 overall.

[blowout]

Great cover. I thought this would end up #1 overall.

 

Why?

[jbud73]

A few words about the artist Jeff Jones and the BA. I remember in my mid-teens as my taste in comics spread out from X-Men, Daredevil and New Teen Titans, I started going to small local Cons - then T.O. cons and finally the Chicago ComicCon. Back then, if you were a Copper Kid, back issues were generally Bronze Age. I mean the SA stuff was cheap by todays standards, however it was a bit pricey for me at the time and didnt quite make it past the generation gap in terms of story (I actually read every comic I bought back then)

 

While digging through the back issue bins I would often come across a cover and go WOW thats different, I've never seen that cover before its pretty cool, I wonder who drew it?? And the answer many times was Jeff Jones. WW 199 is a perfect example of that, along with its sister issue 200, its just different from everyhting around it in a good way. Plus this is a true bondage cover - sometimes I wonder about the bondage notation, as I've mentioned before it got to be that a piece of rope near a females toe on a cover would get ppl to start calling it a bondage cover. There are no questions with WW 199 - I now wonder how they got it by the CCA I bet that's an interesting story In the end I think everyone is happy that the art was published. So next time you're rummaging through some early BA and you come across a great DC cover where you don't recognize the artist - betcha its Jeff Jones.

[divad]

Now THIS is a Jeff Jones:

 

[divad]

Even better on the back cover: