What makes the best comic book covers? It’s a great topic for debate. For us as individuals there is no wrong answer, of course. It’s purely subjective. But with a little thought it is frequently possible to explain what it is about a particular image that grabs you. The best ones are the ones that make you stop and check out something you weren’t previously going to purchase – and in some cases, you even end up picking up a title you’ve never even heard of before.

This week’s column comes from the Twilight Zone. I was commanded to click on the image of a comic book cover and I couldn’t figure out why. Then I did some research and found out something a bit odd…

Originally we were going to look at a few of the covers from Rip Hunter… Time Master. This classic series from DC ran for 29 issues from 1961 until 1965. The covers featured work by Ross Andru, Mike Esposito, and Bill Ely as cover artists. Looking at the series chronologically and the covers seem to incorporate all of DC’s favorite themes of the day. These are themes such as dinosaurs, fish-faced aliens, problems in space that look like they would be strange adventures indeed, knights of old guarding bridges, some more aliens and then there are appearances by Cleopatra, Hitler, and George Washington.

On the very last issue, Rip Hunter…Time Master #29 (November-December 1965) Gil Kane creates a terrifying image of a large spider about to devour Rip and the gang. In many ways, this run of covers captures many of the ideas that were great in the previous decade. Which was obviously a problem in 1965.

While doing research on this run of covers and the artists behind them, the cover to Glamorous Romances #55 (November 1951) from Ace Magazines absolutely jumped out from the one hundred plus covers that were scrolling past my eyes. And at first I couldn’t figure out why this random comic, one that I hadn’t ever read before much less even seen, jumped out at me. Which means that, since the basic idea behind this column is to figure out why a comic book cover image should grab our eye, the book was demanding that it be covered!

The way that this cover stopped me in my tracks demonstrates how even the flash of an image that can be found resting deep, deep in our individual memories can shape our choices as fans. Romance comics get little respect from collectors, fans, or auction sites. With very few exceptions, the work of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon being a notable one, romance as a genre is put off to the side by most fans of comics. I have never read them unless there was research to be done. So why did this cover stop me cold in my quest for more Bill Ely and his great way with a dinosaur?

Naturally the picture on Glamorous Romances #55 itself would attract some attention. It is beautifully painted. The subject is easygoing and attractive. Her portrayal even kind of harkens back to classic turn of the century advertising and the setting is on yellow. Which is always a good color for a cover background. But when I saw the woman on the cover I, without a moment’s doubt, was positive that I knew her. But I had no idea why. There wasn’t even a thought as to whether I should click on the image for further info, I just did it as if I was commanded.

Here is what I told myself at first. “The stripped shirt that she is wearing hit on a quick flash of memory of the film Singin' in the Rain.” Stay with me here for a second…

You see, as a young kid, I first saw the film Singin' in the Rain on TV. This was way before the days of tape, VCR, DVD, or Blu-rays. This meant that it was easily at least 15 years before I saw the film a second time.

Between Debbie Reynolds’ youthful charm, Gene Kelly’s athletic dance moves and Donald O’Conner’s hilarious “Make ‘Em Laugh” dance routine, I loved the film immediately. Still, there was one oddball image that stood out and has stayed with me for a long time.

During Gene Kelly’s classic Singin' in the Rain solo number he steps off of the curb to slap at the puddles that accumulate at the edge. Behind him, in one of the shop windows where he stops, there is an elaborate window display for a travel agency. To my young eyes the window in the film reminded me of the window displays that I had seen in the big, deluxe department stores found in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Plus, as a kid I dreamt of travel.

The image of the scene, and especially the stripes on the bathing suit of the woman in the window, jumped right out to me the first time that I saw the movie. And you have to figure that the image was a strong one for the first time that I saw it was during a black and white broadcast. So it makes sense to me that, if I was scrolling through multiple images of comic book covers, I might get caught for a second at a piece of art that portrays a woman in a striped shirt. That is how powerful the memory of my first viewing of Singin' in the Rain is. Naturally I have seen it a dozen times in the last few years and the image is always there.

Okay, that is the power of art. It makes you think or travel in your mind or become nostalgic. But who the Hades is this woman? And why do I think that I know her so well? As I worked I racked my brain and I still couldn’t think of one person that I have ever met that she resembles.

Here is a quick clue to what I eventually found out.

During the late ’60s and into the early ’70s, Humphrey Bogart was experiencing an upsurge in popularity. Movie houses were regularly scheduling festivals with his work. TV stations were putting his films back in rotation. Watching such Bogart and Lauren Bacall films such as To Have or Have Not or Dark Passage was a big part of high school education back then. In fact, I just watched To Have and Have Not over the holidays with a friend. During the last decade of his life my father and I watched Key Largo at least four times together.

As a team Bogart and Bacall are part of my movie heritage. Naturally I followed them both outside of their team-ups. (A Cover Story thank you to Turner Classic Movies!)

The book we are talking about, Glamorous Romances #55, was just one of several romance titles published by Ace Magazines. They also produced some mighty gruesome horror books as well as some violent western titles. By 1956 the company cancelled their comic line and decided to concentrate on the success of their sister company, Ace Books.

As a mid-level company in the world of early ’50s comic books, one with little if any emotional investment in their product, they naturally did what they could to cut costs. Goodness knows where this cover painting could have come from.

The first few sites that I visited, and this includes auction houses big and small as well as established comic research sites, list the cover artist as unidentifiable. After about an hour of various word search combinations at several auction houses and then on Google, etc. I hit on something.

When I visited the Grand Comic Book Database at www.commic.org, they had the same info as almost everyone else. While this esteemed site was also unable to identify the artist, they did offer the following note, “This cover is a painting of Lauren Bacall during her years as a New York model.”

There was nothing listed to back up this claim and so far I have been unable to verify this info as well. Still, the idea that this cover image is in fact Bacall was taken seriously enough by the editors for them to list it. And that alone means something in the way of pointing us as fans in the right direction for more facts.

Look, there are times when you folks know that I am stretching a connection inside the art found on a comic book cover. As readers you are very kind and indulgent to a fault. I thank you all.

Maybe I am over-analyzing this here, but something in the way that I have learned to look at art and comic book covers over the decades that made me stop dead in my tracks when I ran across this Glamorous Romances #55. This week we looked at what a personal memory can do for a cover. And, we also found out that Rip Hunter deserves coverage from a writer with a much more focused attention span…

-Mark Squirek