Comic Book Resources

That Thor cover is homaging a previous Thor cover, issue 126 where the other combatant is Hercules.

My favorite example of cover logo breaking, besides Simonson’s Thor, is Infantino’s cover to Batman #194, all the way back in 1967. That might be the first example.

For the Who Is It? You’re talking Tom Tresser aka Nemesis, right? Clue #5 for me.

Ding-a-ling! I knows it!

Tom Tresser, aka Nemesis. Always loved that character from back in his days as a Brave and Bold backup feature. Unfortunately, I didn’t really get it until #5, though my eye kinda read #3-5 simultaneously.

On “de-aging,” one example that nobody really talks about much is Black Canary, who took a dip in a Lazarus Pit a few years ago – to save her life, but it also made her younger. Logically (as part of the early JLA “age cohort”), she should probably be in her mid-30s or older now, but is physically in her early 20s or something. (Always thought there was interesting story potential from that sort of change, which is significant, but isn’t extreme enough that everyone would instantly notice it. “Has she had some work done?” )

Illyana Rasputin was aged *and* de-aged. In the aging process (from young child to teen), she wasn’t artificially aged so much as she aged normally in Limbo, which is on a different time schedule than Earth’s. This was in Uncanny X-Men and the Magik limited series. She was de-aged (back to young child) in New Mutants during the Inferno story. The aging story in Uncanny had its own logic which made sense, but the de-aging plot in New Mutants didn’t make much sense to me. There’s no explanation given as to why she de-aged, and I can’t think of a logical one myself.

When it comes to Ron Frenz, the answer is, “What cover ISN’T he ‘homagaing’?”

The Batman cover you mention is the Infantino one with Blockbuster isn’t it? I still think that’s one of the best.

Pre-Simonson “smashing” covers:

Steranko, 1968: Hulk Smash! (admittedly, it’s not clear it’s the Hulk’s fault that the logo is crumbling)

Infantino & Anderson, 1967: Blockbuster bust!

Neal Adams, 1969: Living Monolith hold! (not strictly logo-smashing, though it looks like it’s about to be – and X-Men #135, which you show, is an homage to it)

Somewhere I’ve seen a different version of that Adams cover in which the X-Men are strapped (or otherwise attached) to the letters of the logo, but it was apparently rejected for being too busy and obscuring the logo.

There is also the Neal Adams X-Men #56 cover with the Living Monolith, which I think that Dark Phoenix cover in homaging, and having been done in 1969 it might be one of the first.

Yeah, Batman #194 is the Blockbuster busting up the logo of Batman.

My answer is Dum Dum Duggan. Just because I wanted to say “Dum Dum Duggan”

Here’s a link to the cover of Batman #194 for reference.

http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=21247&zoom=4

I just posted about about the aforementioned Batman 194 (from 1967) and X-Men 56 (from 1969), but I tried to include links to the Grand Comic Book Database that perhaps screwed things up. I also mentioned Steranko’s great cover to the Incredible Hulk Special #1 (October 1968), in which the logo, which looks like it’s made of rock, is crumbling as the Hulk appears to be trying to hold it up on his back.

The Spider Man cover was ruined for me when I looked down and saw “Stilt Man”. You might as well have scrawled “, lol” after the guys name in marker pen

What’s great about that Spider-Man cover is the inscription – the “original” Stilt Man. So, there was more than one, and both (all three? four?) were equally lame?

There was a decent issue of Daredevil in the early 300′s (the Chicester/McDaniel era) where Stilt-Man appears and he’s played for intentional laughs.

I was just about to comment on the “original” Stilt Man too. The thought of another Stilt Man just makes me laugh.

“What’s great about that Spider-Man cover is the inscription – the “original” Stilt Man. So, there was more than one, and both (all three? four?) were equally lame?”

Well, Turk had a short stint in the stilts.

The great thing about that Stilt-Man issue is the fact that it specifically addresses all these people making fun of him in these responses. Boy, Roger Stern was a god on ASM.

I can’t believe a young Storm is mentioned, but not X-Babies.

The X-Men cover, as mentioned, is an homage to an earlier Neal Adams one, but there was an unused Neal Adams cover for that same issue that had the X-Men tied up to the logo. That was some nice fourth-wall breaking.

I don’t know if the reasoning is as bad as the others, but whoever told The Creeper that a red feather boa really completes the look should be taken out and shot.

Thor #458 is of course referencing the cover of Thor #126, which featured Hercules instead of the twin Thor. Even the background figures are included!

Further, Thor #451 references/homages/rips off that Beta Ray Bill Thor #337, although instead of everyone’s favorite alien horse thunder god it’s featuring the Sensational Character Find of 1992, Bloodaxe. Now that Bloodaxe is one of the most popular and beloved of Marvel superhero characters, isn’t it fun to see where he got his start?

I’m an idiot. I saw everybody’s comment except JR’s, which was the first one on the thread. He gets the cool point. of course.

As for crumbling logos, a couple months back I posted a series of ten of ‘em. Robby Reed had a number of them early on in the history of his Dial B for Blog website; I tried not to duplicate his.

Always liked the X-men cover with the team chilling out on the logo . . .

X-men 181

Wonder Tot and the “Saucy Amazon Babe” blurb?
At least it wasn’t “Saucy Amazon Baby.”

CREEPY.

I think extra points go to the X-Men 135 logo, since they carried the gag to the next month, featuring a logo that was intact but had cracks running through it from where it had been “repaired” from the last cover.

Someone said the Steranko Hulk one, right? That’s pretty much the archetypal interactive logo.

Also: Gotta be snarky. I hate, hate, HATE Age Regression. Superhero comics are purest grounded space opera, sure, but the emotional resonance is lost if you ignore or screw around with the basic elements of the human condition, like aging. And dying.

And that Byrne X-Men cover (or the Adams one, if thats the original) was homaged by Alan Davis in Excalibur… I think maybe issue #49, iirc.

What I LOVE about that X-men # 135 cover is the logo is reduced, in effect, to “ME”. A GREAT cover considering it showcases the selfish turn Jean’s character takes in the issue.

My favorite breaking the fourth wall cover is that issue of Suicide Squad where the leader of the Jihad is cutting through the cover with that flaming scimitar of his. You could even see the midle pages of the comic! Awesome! How I msis Ostrander’s Suicide Squad….

Late to the game. Personal favorite 4th-wall breaking cover was Action Comics 560: the logo normally reads “Superman Starring in Action Comics, but Ambush Bug has replaced the word “Superman” with “Ambush Bug.” “Superman” (the word) is lying on the ground, and Supes (the character) is looking at Bug with moider in his eyes. It isn’t much, but since I like the Bug I like the cover.
http://comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=39141&zoom=4