Cover Contest 3/28 - 4/3/18 Transformations!

[Kirby101]

Ravin Ray reminded me of these transformations that nobody used.

[Tami]

I forgot...Congrats Foxley.

[Jack Dracula]

It seems as though Storm is the most transformative character of the Marvel Universe.
I guess for DC it'd be silver age Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen.

[CaptCleghorn]

It seems as though Storm is the most transformative character of the Marvel Universe.
I guess for DC it'd be silver age Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen.

Superdickery. Amirite?

[PaulBullion]

It seems as though Storm is the most transformative character of the Marvel Universe.

More so than Hank "Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellow Jacket, Wife Beater, shrinking gadget scientist dude, Ultron" Pym?

[Jack Dracula]

More so than Hank "Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellow Jacket, Wife Beater, shrinking gadget scientist dude, Ultron" Pym?

Well, let's see: African Goddess, X-man, Asgardian Thunder Goddess, Vampire, Dire Wraith, Brood Queen, Punk Rock Bad Girl, Human, Queen of Wakanda.
That's just the ones I can think of.

[Soubhagya]

It seems as though Storm is the most transformative character of the Marvel Universe.
I guess for DC it'd be silver age Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen.

I would say Jimmy Olsen is the most transformative character for DC. He is famous for that. So much so that he has a tpb named so.

https://www.amazon.com/Superman-Amaz.../dp/1401213693

Supreme a Superman pastiche written by ALan Moore has all equivalents of Superman. Say Diana is a stand in for Lois Lane. Suprema for Supergirl. Radar The Hound Supreme for Krypto The Superdog. Even Professor Night for Batman. And there's an issue on Billy Friday who is a stand in for Jimmy Olsen and he undergoes a transformation. A great tribute to the 60s Superman by the peerless Alan Moore.

But Lois Lane and even Superman kept undergoing transformations a lot.



I even found one for Justice League.

I think they were looks from different eras. Isn't it?

[Scott Taylor]

Catwoman turning Superman into a mouse, hah!

You can really see how Stan Lee and Marvel changed the scene so much.

[Iron Maiden]

You certainly can! One of my aunts used to buy DC comics for her grandson and sometimes I would stay overnight at her house. Seems to me there were a lot of goofy stories like Superman doing the Krypton Crawl in what I suppose was a desperate attempt to make him look "hip". Or many Imaginary Tales. Even when I was young those books looked silly to me. By this time the Fantastic Four was already into it's third year and when me and my brother tried that out we were more into that kind of story than what was going on at DC.

[Soubhagya]

You certainly can! One of my aunts used to buy DC comics for her grandson and sometimes I would stay overnight at her house. Seems to me there were a lot of goofy stories like Superman doing the Krypton Crawl in what I suppose was a desperate attempt to make him look "hip". Or many Imaginary Tales. Even when I was young those books looked silly to me. By this time the Fantastic Four was already into it's third year and when me and my brother tried that out we were more into that kind of story than what was going on at DC.

I have read somewhere that DC used to target the eight year olds. They don't look for much complexity or long drawn storylines. Look at the success of Teen Titans Go! for example. Marvel did something different. They targeted a slightly older audience. The teenagers.

Does that mean DC stuff was bad? It depends upon whom you are asking. I won't read such shenanigans in the main books every month. But even i enjoy such stories from time to time. I don't watch Teen Titans Go! religiously. But if its on tv and i am free for ten or twenty minutes, seeing some insane stuff can be enjoyable. At least those comics had some kind of internal logic which make sense within the rules set in the story. This show doesn't even have that.

I am pretty sure these kinds of stories can work even now...for eight year olds. And older people who have some eclectic tastes.

Don't mind me. Its not a shade upon you or anybody who thinks its silly. It is silly.

[Scott Taylor]

If those kinds of stories were done today, I probably wouldn't want to read them. Having read many of those older goofy tales, they are very simplistic and poorly constructed. Comics gained their reputation as being for kids only for a very good reason!

Growing up as a kid in the 70s, the attitude about comics by adults was a kind of bonus. Most adults didn't care what I was reading if it was a comic book, because those were all considered to be written for little kids thanks largely to DC. But as anyone knows who grew up then, many of the comics then were getting very "adult"

[Jack Dracula]

The viewpoint that comics are all for kids is still pretty pervasive. I was at our local public library looking at graphic novels recently and discovered all of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books on the bottom shelf where any kid could pull them out and look at them. Evidently it never occurred to the librarians that any of the funnybooks might have some very explicit content.

[Tami]

The viewpoint that comics are all for kids is still pretty pervasive. I was at our local public library looking at graphic novels recently and discovered all of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books on the bottom shelf where any kid could pull them out and look at them. Evidently it never occurred to the librarians that any of the funnybooks might have some very explicit content.

Some libraries do separate the Adult comics from the Teen and children comics. Others have so few in their collections that they put them all together. Bottom line, it's not up to the librarians to restrict books. Parents have to be the ones to make that decision. Children can also get a eyeful by looking at some magazines as well, or going into a bookstore, or watching TV, or going on the Internet.

Some libraries also put little sticker labels on the spines of books to indicate which age group the work in appropriate for.

[Soubhagya]

If those kinds of stories were done today, I probably wouldn't want to read them. Having read many of those older goofy tales, they are very simplistic and poorly constructed. Comics gained their reputation as being for kids only for a very good reason!

Growing up as a kid in the 70s, the attitude about comics by adults was a kind of bonus. Most adults didn't care what I was reading if it was a comic book, because those were all considered to be written for little kids thanks largely to DC. But as anyone knows who grew up then, many of the comics then were getting very "adult"

Comics are for kids and the kids within adults. A teenager bit by a radioactive spider (Spider-man) is not too different from a kid who says a magical word and becomes Superman (Shazam). Both are for kids. Its about retaining that spirit while being sophisticated enough for adults.

That's where those Silver Age stories don't work. Your criticisms are correct. But every era learns from the one that comes before. Without them the later eras wouldn't be existing. Most of the covers posted here are actually not from the Silver Age but later. The time when they tried to be adult.

Nevertheless, you are right. They are considered for kids by lots of adults. Who would then later go to watch the same thing in films.

[The Darknight Detective]

I have read somewhere that DC used to target the eight year olds. They don't look for much complexity or long drawn storylines. Look at the success of Teen Titans Go! for example. Marvel did something different. They targeted a slightly older audience. The teenagers.

Does that mean DC stuff was bad? It depends upon whom you are asking. I won't read such shenanigans in the main books every month. But even i enjoy such stories from time to time. I don't watch Teen Titans Go! religiously. But if its on tv and i am free for ten or twenty minutes, seeing some insane stuff can be enjoyable. At least those comics had some kind of internal logic which make sense within the rules set in the story. This show doesn't even have that.

I am pretty sure these kinds of stories can work even now...for eight year olds. And older people who have some eclectic tastes.

Don't mind me. Its not a shade upon you or anybody who thinks its silly. It is silly.

I have always felt the earlier style of CB writing was akin to a short story, while the post-SA stories are more like novellas or even novels. Nothing wrong with any of the forms, IMO. Of course, as you pointed out, pre-Bronze Age DC was directed towards a younger crowd (though the '30s stories seem confused on that count), but not anymore.