This classic Avengers cover by John Buscema and Tom Palmer is fantastic! It's dramatic and dynamic and tells a story in a heartbeat. You had to have this comic, to find out who the Valkyrie was and how these dames beat Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
And it seems that the layout was so powerful that Art Adams wisely borrowed it for the return of the Lady Liberators in Hulk just last year. I can't help but notice that the potential cast for an all-woman Marvel team is much richer than when Roy Thomas did it so many decades ago. He basically used every woman in the MU aside from Sue Storm and Jean Grey to fill out the ranks of the original "Liberators".
Great stuff! I need to hunt down a copy of this perhaps, if it ain't too expensive.
Oh and here's a special behind-the-scenes treat. Here is Marie Severin's original layout for the John Buscema cover. You can see that Big John went a different way with the image, but Marie's still bristles with energy. Adams seems really to have a bit of both of the designs echoed in his Hulk cover.
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great to see Severin's first draft.....and the after-thought: "make other girls a bit bigger"!
ReplyDeletethanks for posting this!
the Thomas/Buscema run on the Avengers is one of my favourite comics runs, ever. and this issue, in particular, I love. yeah, it's clumsily written, but just check out that art! man, but Big John knew how to draw the ladies!
ReplyDeleteI had a whole bunch of Marie Severin's rough designs gathered up at one point. They really show the inside of the process. I noticed that the Black Widow has her old outfit on in the rough too. The sleek black costume was brand new when this issue popped.
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I jumped on the Avengers just as Big John was establishing himself. I didn't realize as a mere youth how lucky I was to be on the ride with a great talent. I missed the Lee-Kirby experience on the FF, but I was there for the Thomas-Buscema fun on Avengers.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right. Big John's ladies are both vital and alluring.
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