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We’re taking a break in the “Widow” storyline for a Last Kiss Sunday comic–also drawn by Dick Giordano. We’ll be back to “Widow” tomorrow. In the meantime, below are some more of Dick’s Charlton romance covers–just ’cause they’re cool. (Click on covers to see larger images.)
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I’m busy packing for this weekend’s Spokane Comicon so I’ll go light on the text and give you a visual treat instead. Dick’s superhero work is well known to fans, but here’s something you don’t see every day. These scans are from some romance covers that Dick loaned to me years ago. Click on the covers to see larger versions.
Click on image above to see spectacularly larger view of today’s comic.
In terms of sheer volume, Dick Giordano’s work nearly gives me a heart attack. An index of all his work takes up nearly nine pages.* In little tiny type. And that’s just through early 2003.
And his art? Gorgeous — both when he was penciling and (as so often happened) when he was inking other artists.
But his impact as an editor and innovator is even more impressive. During his tenure, Charlton launched its line of “action heroes.” Those heroes—Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, The Question, Sarge Steel, etc. — are about the only thing most people remember about Charlton.
Years later at DC comics, Giordano played a key role in the development of The Watchmen (which Alan Moore loosely based on Charlton’s action heroes.)
Dick was also at the helm when Frank Miller broke ground with The Dark Knight Returns. And Crisis on Infinite Earths? That was Dick’s idea.
For much of the 1980’s Dick was the voice of DC. His “Meanwhile…” columns ran in all DC comics—giving readers behind-scenes scoops and always ending with a soothing, “Thank you and Good afternoon…”
“My syntax was poor, but that’s how I talk,” said Giordano. “I sound like Yogi Berra.”*
*from Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time
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“Ask anyone who the two nicest people in comics are…and they’ll say Archie Goodwin and Dick Giordano…
“You’ll hear a lot about Dick’s niceness in the following pages, so I’ll lighten up here about all that and give you the dark side of Dick Giordano.
“Hmmm. Well, so much for that!”
–Neal Adams, March 2003
from the Foreword to Michael Eury’s Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time
Of all their many collaborations, this 1978 oversized comic may be the oddest and most insanely fun from the team of Neal Adams (penciller) and Dick Giordano (inker.) Image and characters ©2010 respective copyright holders.
More about Superman vs. Muhammad Ali
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I am extremely grateful to my friend Michael Eury for permission to quote from his book Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time.
I’m going to be relying on Michael’s book (a lot!) over the next few days as I pay tribute to Dick.
And, luckily for you, it’s a great read. Well written. Well researched. And (like Dick himself) not afraid to be a bit silly while making a point.
For instance, here’s a snippet from Michael’s intro to the book:
“I wish I could say that the first thing I noticed about Dick Giordano was the mastery of his inking line, or his knack for drawing sexy women, or even his editorial run on Aquaman. My appreciation of those and countless other Giordano attributes came later.
“The first thing I noticed about Dick Giordano was his really groovy sideburns.”
Okay, maybe that’s too silly. We’ll try again tomorrow.
