Here’s a 1989 Marvel Age cover by Moebius featuring the Silver Surfer.
This issue promoted the two issue “Silver Surfer Parable” story that Stan Lee and Moebius did together. It wasn’t very successful story-wise, but seeing Moebius doing his version of Norrin Radd and Galactus was cool. Nuff Said!
Every comics company loves to give their heroes a new look from time to time. During the Shooter-era of the 1980s, the Marvel heroes were re-designed with new looks and costumes.
Spider-Man: Black costume from Secret Wars, sans the symbiote.
Iron Man: Tony Stark designed this red and silver armor in Iron Man #200.
Hulk: Grey Hulk from Peter David’s tenure on the series.
Thor: Walt Simonson designed this new battle armor and let the Thunder God grow a beard.
Captain America: Steve Rogers put on this costume and became a free agent for a while. Later on, US Agent wore this costume whenever a team needed a third-rate Captain America—like the current Mighty Avengers series.
Were these Marvel makeovers as bad as shoulder pads and mullets? I liked the Grey Hulk the best out of this lineup. Nuff Said!
Thor brings down the thunder and lightning in this 1977 pin-up that appeared in Marvel Preview #10, by Jim Starlin.
Starlin's black and white drawings during this period were unworldly good.
I've run out of steam on Thing Tuesday. Henceforth, let Thursday now be known as Thor Thursday! Nuff Said!
Here is an interesting factoid from Marvel fan Klaus Nordby: Heh! Maybe it'll console you to know that the English "Thursday" is etymologically derived from "Thor's day". Here in Norway, it's called "Torsdag" -- for we spell his name "Tor". Our Wednesday is called "Onsdag" -- which is derived from "Odin's day".
Marvel Age Annual #1 from 1985 featured this crowded wraparound cover by Kerry Gammill.
Virtually all of Marvel's characters from this period are featured here. Two of the wackiest are the Beyonder (on the right) in his zoot-suit from Secret Wars II and Magneto (in the middle) in his reformed period leading the X-Men. Whoever designed that stupid new costume for Magneto with the giant "M" on his chest should have consulted Tim Gunn first.
There's one character I can't identify, in-between Colossus and Storm in the middle section. Who the heck is that?
Can you name all of the rest? Reply in the comments if you can. Nuff Said!
This poster by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott for the 1975 Marvel Convention features all the stars of that era.
Not only do the big superstars look great, but so do the “B” players (Ka-Zar, Luke Cage Powerman, Shang-Chi, etc) and the Marvel monsters (Ghost Rider, Frankenstein, Dracula, etc). There are even two licensed characters, Conan and Doc Savage. What a diverse world the 1975 Marvel Universe was! Nuff said!
Marshall Rogers created this 1987 cover for Marvel Age 52, promoting the re-launch of the new series he did along with Steve Englehart. I am sure the Jack Kirby purists will object…but I still like it! Nuff said!
This Solomon Kane pinup, by Berni Wrightson, appeared in Kull and the Barbarians #2 in 1975.
As usual, Wrightson works wonders with Kane fighting a monster in the shadows on a moonlit night. Too bad we never got to see Wrightson draw a full length Robert E Howard story!
One thing I always think about when looking at Wrightson and Barry Smith. In addition to everything else, they are great at drawing natural scenery, such as grass, weeds, plants, and trees. Nuff said!
This Red Sonja pinup, by Howard Chaykin, appeared in Kull and the Barbarians #3 in 1975.
Chaykin drew a number of Sonja stories for Marvel, including her origin story. I always thought there was something great about Chaykin's style applied to swords and sorcery.
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