Simply the Best: The Neal Adams Wrap-Arounds

It was cool enough that DC's early 70's line of 100-Page Super Spectaculars not only featured new stories, but scads of reprints from the mysterious and (at that time) largely unseen "Golden Age of Comics".

It was cool enough that the 100-Page Spectaculars had no interior ads to gobble up the page count.

It was cool enough that the Super Spectaculars were pretty much the biggest, fattest comics a kid could buy for 50¢.

Though never really a sales success for DC Comics, their 100 Page Super Spectaculars were the coolest thing a young comic book fan could hope for.  What could possibly make them any cooler?

A Neal Adams Wrap-Around cover, that's what!

Indisputably the hottest comic book artist of that generation, anything Adams touched always seemed that much cooler, and his covers for a trio of Super Spectaculars were certainly no exception. As if the fact that Neal Adams drew them wasn't enough, these particular covers were:

1.  "Wrap-Around" covers, which (as the name implies) feature one continuous image encompassing both the front and back covers.

2.  Perfect examples of "crowd scene covers", one of my favorite sub-categories of comic book covers. I've always loved covers packed with characters, whether embroiled in action or in a classic "yearbook" shot of gathered heroes. Pouring over the small details while trying to identify everyone was a true joy for me as a kid (and, yes, as an adult).

The first of the "Adams 100-Page Trilogy" was titled World's Greatest Superheroes (click on the cover images for a larger look-see).

Published in late 1971, the cover featured the line-ups of both the Justice League of America (front cover) and the legendary Justice Society of America (back cover), including the Golden Age (or "Earth-2") versions of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.  By the way, did you catch the little switcheroo with the two Wonder Women?  See, at the time, the Earth-1 Wonder Woman had forsaken her costume and powers for the life of an Emma Peel-like adventurer, so the more classic-looking Wonder Woman of Earth-2 was moved to the cover, while the white-garbed Diana Prince was moved to the back cover with the JSA. Sneaky, huh?

The next Adams wrap-around cover was for Batman #238 (1972), which featured a disparate gathering of Batman, Robin, the Doom Patrol, Aquaman, Sargon the Sorcerer, Plastic Man and, as if that somehow wasn't enough, the entire Legion of Superheroes (including the loopy Legion of Super-Pets)!

The final (and my personal favorite) of the three covers is the spectacular Superman #252 (1972), featuring "The World's Greatest Flying Heroes" soaring through a bright yellow sky.

As an avowed Golden Age groupie, I loved the inclusion of so many first generation superheroes, such as Kid Eternity (upper left), the Ray, the Spectre, the Shining Knight (on the winged horse), the original Green Lantern, and many others.  Another great touch I appreciated was the Golden Age Hawkman (flying next to Superman) wearing his original helmet with the full hawk's beak.  Normally, the full-beak hawk helmet looked silly to the extreme...but here, after Adams got done with it, strangely cool looking!

"But Wait! There's MORE!"

Yup.  That's not quite the end of what made the 100 Page Super Spectaculars so gosh-darned Super Spectacular.  In addition to the widescreen majesty of the Neal Adams wrap-around covers, each issue also included a handy visual key and character bios on an inside cover, so young fans could confirm the identities of the heroes they recognized and learn about the ones they didn't!
Imagine that...making things easier for a new reader!  Looks like the modern comics biz could learn a thing or two from those primitive Old-Schoolers!

Comments

[h]

100-Page Super Spectaculars were the perfect primers for the prospective super-hero fan for life. It sure worked for me. The variety of tales was stupendous. Too bad the format has never been a big sales hit.

[Mark Engblom]

I forgot to mention that many dealers of the time didn't want to carry the larger 100 pg. Super Spectaculars (risk-averse retailers aren't so much about innovation and format tweaking as they are about sticking with the sure thing). As a result, the 100 pg. Spectaculars are some of the rarest, most sought-after (i.e. "expensive") back issues of the entire Bronze Age era. If you've got 'em, hang onto 'em!

[Richard]

Well, DC thought enough of the big format in late 1973 to make a number of their regular books 100 pagers, though, unlike the earlier Super Spectaculars, they contained ads. Batman is a good example. Issues 254-261 are all 100 pages.

[cinephile]

Neal Adams just drew the coolest Batman EVER, didn't he?

[Mark Engblom]

Definitely. The Neal Adams Batman was quite a seismic shift when it first saw print, defining the basic look of Batman ever since. I have to say, however, that the Batman Adams drew for the above Batman cover is posed a bit awkwardly. It doesn't seem quite up to his high standards.

[[email protected]]

The 100 pagers are definitely the best. The World's Greatest Superheroes one was one of the first comics I had (must have been about 5), and of course I lost it and thought I'd imagined it until I saw an ad for it about 15 years later. Finding a copy was a highlight of my comics collecting. I had a similar experience with the Superman 252 issue. I even have a large (maybe 36 x 20 inches) B&W promo poster of the Superman 252 cover that DC produced. Don't know exactly where they sent it in those pre-comic shop days, but it's a nice piece that I framed. There's no one like Adams, and these covers were classics. Sam

[Mark Engblom]

"There's no one like Adams..."

Absolutely! Though I have different opinions about Adams himself (based on his interviews and controversial theories), I'll always be crazy about his comic book work...especially the stuff from the height of his career in the 60's and 70's (before things kinda went off the rails).

Wow, that black and white poster of Superman 252 sounds like a beauty...and must be incredibly rare. Glad to hear you're taking good care of that gem! Thanks for making me aware of it...and for stopping by!

[Jerry Hillegas]

How about a Fred Hembeck version.

[Mark Engblom]

Hi Jerry!

I don't know if Fred ever did his take on any of these covers....though I'd love to see them if he did....especially the Flying Heroes cover!

[Jerry Hillegas]

World's Greatest Superheroes

[Mark Engblom]

Wow! Thanks for the link, Jerry! I should have know Fred had done an homage of that cover.

[Jerry Hillegas]

I own the art for that one. I'm sure he has done cover re-dos for the other two, just don't remember where I've seen them. SMILES.

[Brian G. Philbin]

Nice to see my work being appreciated. Only wish you'd given me credit - I spent untold hours recreating those images.

[Mark Engblom]

Hey Brian...the covers I posted are the original versions by Neal Adams...none of them are your recreations. I'm not sure what the problem is.

[Brian Philbin]

Hi, Mark - if you look at my site: http://www.metropolisplus.com/dc100page/index.htm
You'll see that I scanned each of these covers, spine, front and back, then stitched them together. Yes, they are my recreations. Neal Adams drew the original art, but they've never been reproduced for use on the web by him. What you've posted is a re-post of material I restored from scans for viewing on my site. Every item you have here was recreated by me for my own site and you won't find other versions anywhere else that weren't put together by me. Not sure why you don't get that you've lifted work from my article (now 13 years on the web) and presented it as your own "find".

[Brian Philbin]

I should also mention that I've left artifacts in the touch-up work that essentially "signs" the restorative work as my own. That's how I know where these images came from.