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Peter Martin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 1:39am | IP Logged | 1
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QUOTE:
| Posters or wanted posters Hero bursting through the cover (though Howard the Duck famously did that one too) or "Introducing!" |
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I like how the Howard the Duck exception warrants a mention, but no famous exception for a Marvel wanted poster cover!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 2:39pm | IP Logged | 2
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Alledgedly, Carmine Infantino produce the following recipe for successful covers:Gorillas Dinosaurs Motorcycles Purple background City in flames Hero crying Direct question to the reader (What is the Shocking Secret of the Seventh Superhero?) Real? Who knows!
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Wallace Sellars
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Joined: 01 May 2004
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| Posted: 03 September 2025 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | 3
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To those of you who mentioned pronouncing the Martian Manhunter’s alien name as John Johns… I did the same until I read Darwin Cooke’s NEW FRONTIER.
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Jack Caleb Day
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Joined: 07 June 2025
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: 04 September 2025 at 10:06am | IP Logged | 4
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That's how I've always interpreted it since I was a little kid. It may not be the canon intention, but I personally always assumed that J'Onn J'Onzz was a translation equivalent in the same way that Spock and Tuvok's names were stated to be the anglicised versions of their true Vulcan names because non-Vulcan speakers cannot generally pronounce them.
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Jack Caleb Day
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| Posted: 04 September 2025 at 10:07am | IP Logged | 5
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Been re-reading that this week; absolute masterpiece.
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Brandon Carter
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
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| Posted: 04 September 2025 at 3:35pm | IP Logged | 6
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Alledgedly, Carmine Infantino produce the following recipe for successful covers:Gorillas Dinosaurs Motorcycles Purple background City in flames Hero crying Direct question to the reader (What is the Shocking Secret of the Seventh Superhero?) Real? Who knows! *****
I'm not sure if the exact same list was used, but Secret Origins #40 attempted to use all those sales-increasing gimmicks on the same cover. 
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 04 September 2025 at 4:07pm | IP Logged | 7
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Hadn’t seen that. Chris Ryall recently persuaded me to try my own hand at it. Haven’t started yet. I wonder why the artist chose palm trees instead of skyscrapers, skipping one of Infantino’s rules?
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Brandon Carter
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| Posted: 08 September 2025 at 3:13pm | IP Logged | 8
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I wonder why the artist chose palm trees instead of skyscrapers, skipping one of Infantino’s rules?
*****
The lack of a clear cut "city in flames" is what made me wonder if the items included on this cover may be from a slightly different list. My copy of this issue was destroyed years ago in a fire so I can't check the letters page for the details but here are Google's AI comments on the cover:
The cover of Secret Origins #40 The cover, illustrated by Bill Wray, was for an issue dedicated to the origins of DC's "greatest apes," including Detective Chimp, Gorilla City, and Congorilla. The cover features an array of bizarre and unrelated elements that Waid identified as classic Silver Age marketing tropes: - Apes
- Fire
- Dinosaurs
- A motorcycle
- The color purple
- A dramatic question posed to the reader
In the letter column, Waid, using the pseudonym Rusty Wells, jokingly suggests that all the cover was missing was "go-go checks" (a pattern popular during the era). |
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Peter Hicks
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Joined: 30 April 2004
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 08 September 2025 at 4:11pm | IP Logged | 9
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Concerning gorillas, publisher Martin Goodman left Marvel in 1972, confident his son Chip would continue to be integrated into Marvel’s head office staff. Unfortunately, Chip was an idiot who had only been tolerated because his father was the boss. Shortly after Martin left, someone asked Chip how them could improve a cover design that just wasn’t working. Chip said “ Have all the characters wear gorilla heads!” When asked why, Chip said “I don’t know, it will just look cool.”
Chip got fired. Martin got mad, and created Altas Seaboard Comics to try to cut into Marvel’s business. That did not work out.
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