Worst Cover Ever: An Un-Special 50th Anniversary Issue

I always feel a little bit guilty picking on covers from the so-called Silver Age of Comics (the mid 1950's through the late 60's) since standards have shifted so dramatically over the past forty to fifty years. However, every now and then a Silver Age cover comes along that's so bad, so poorly designed, that even the simpler standards of its native time period can't excuse it. 

A good (bad?) example of these classic underachievers is the cover of Justice League of America #50 (1966), obviously published before "divisible by 25" issues received "Extra Special Anniversary Issue" status...because as you're about to see, there's nothing special (much less "extra special") about this mess:

Let's go down the checklist of problems, shall we?

1. Granted, horrifying color choices were rampant in the 60's and 70's, but that blank pea-green background immediately sets the limbo bar of low expectations far below even that decade's ticky-tacky standards. If this was the best representation of the 20th century, then maybe we deserved to be attacked by the Lord of Time! 

2. The ultra-awkward positioning of the JLA members is just awful. Batman's oddly twisted body and poorly-drawn legs make him appear to be perched on the Lord of Time's left shoulder while feeding him his right boot. And what's with Batman' right hand? That vast, empty space between Batman's head and Lord of Time's football helmet would have been a great place to put his outstretched arm instead of giving the impression it's sprouting from Batman's stomach.

In addition to a leg sprouting out of his rear end, "Special Guest Star" Robin has kind of a hunchback thing going, which is only aggrivated by his red tunic blending in with Lord of Time's red costume.

The Flash appears to be...well, I'm not sure what's he's trying to do. Possibly attempting to pantomime either the capital letter "A" or "L". Whatever it is, it looks highly silly.

3. Finally, when it comes to effective cover design for superhero comics, you ideally want to establish a credible threat level for your featured villain, right? 

Well, apparently artist Mike Sekowsky didn't get that memo, since the Lord of Time's zany Jerry Lewis face is far more laughable than it is threatening. Add to that a poorly-drawn left arm (with an elbow that stretches clear down to his waist), cartoonishly misfiring rayguns, and that wedged-in "sandwich board" of wordy hype, and you've got yourself one heck of a Silver Age crap sandwich.  On rye.

Comments

[suedenim]

Another problem is that the red-and-yellow clad Flash gets almost completely lost against the Lord of Time's red shirt.

I was actually thinking at first "Huh, I know it was the time of Batmania, but a JLA cover with Batman as the *only* League member besides Green Arrow on it?" I literally didn't spot the Flash until giving the cover a closer look.

Batman's awkward pose is interesting - looks like it's roughly equivalent to those awkward poses you see with a lot of female characters today, giving them a gratuitous "butt shot" at the same time they're looking toward the reader in an anatomically-impossible way. (Here, it seems the goal is to make absolutely sure Batman's chest symbol is unobscured.)

Mike Sekowsky seems to have taken an approach sort of like Chester Gould on Dick Tracy - "good guy" characters are usually attractively-drawn, but evil characters are given wildly expressive (and ugly) mugs. I actually kinda like that approach, though I think it works better on more "realistic" features like Jet Dream than with superheroes. (Easier to think of them as just ugly guys than hideous mutants or something, I suppose.)

[Johnny Bacardi]

Slam Sekowsky if you must; personally, the things that bug you about this cover (well, except that pea green background- it's awful) don't bother me all that much and are pretty much the norm for his idiosyncratic style. Lots of other people have taken their shots in similar fashion. But you could at least spell his name right; it's Sekowsky with a "y" at the end, not an "i".

[Brian Disco Snell]

I was never a fan of that style of the logo, seperate colors for each word. Creates a situation where it's almost impossible to find a background that it doesn't clash with!

[Mark Engblom]

Johnny-

Though not a fan of Sekowsky's work at all, this cover (to me) seems several steps below what I'm used to seeing from him. At the very least, the guy usually pumped out clear (if dull) layouts that didn't have near the number of artistic "no no's" this cover has (multiple tangents, screwy perspective, poor use of the page, etc).

I'm sure that the "other people" you cite also had some valid reasons for not liking the guy's stuff. It's nothing personal...I just don't like it...and I like it even less here.

Thanks for the correction on the name. I had spelled it right in my tags section, but blew it with the "i" spelling. Again, nothing personal intended.

[Pat Curley]

Sekowsky must have been dependable, because his art was wretched. I've always felt that he single-handedly destroyed Supergirl when he took over the art chores on that feature a few issues into her Adventure Comics-starring run. In that series, Adventure #397 stands out as probably the worst cover, although there's quite a bit of competition.

Sekowsky seemed to specialize in these covers showing a multitude of JLA'ers attacking one oversized villain; see #15, #18, #20, #36, #37, #40, #41, #47, and #49 for other examples.

[Wes C]

Yeah, bad cover, really awkward poses. What is up with the Lord of Times face?

I know I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I've always had a fondness for Sekowsky's artwork. I can't quite put my finger on it, it has a cleanliness and slightly airy quality that appeals to me.
I've not seen tons and tons of his work, but I usually end up thinking "hmm, it doesn't seem that bad to me"

I think it looks esp. good in the Justice League Showcase reprints.

It may sound like heresy, but I prefer Sekowsky to Curt Swan any day. Not to get too personal or anything ;)

Like I said, I'm in the minority on this one.

BTW: Worst Cover Ever is my favorite feature of your site.

[greyman24]

Love the look on the Lord of Time's face. He seems to be staring at Batman's boot and saying, "Ohh! Yummy!"

And, in this case, he's apparently been taken over by some other force: as his mechanical, weirdly disassociated arms seem to be firing his guns at random.

[brainypirate]

coming at this one month later -- has no one mentioned the fact that Batman is either 30 feet tall, or Green Arrow has borrowed the Atom's belt? It sure looks to me as if Bats is between GA and LoT, but their proportions only make sense if he's much CLOSER to the reader than GA is.

[Comic Coverage]

Good catch, brainy! GA does indeed look tiny with Batman's "swoosh" lines to the right of him. (sigh)