Colossal Comic # 29: The Amos 'Ghosts'

Hart Amos was the pre-eminent cover artist on the Colossal Comic series, but he did not illustrate each and every issue. Indeed, when we think of the Amos Colossal Comic covers, we’re really thinking of the first 40-odd issues - the complexion of the last dozen is altered significantly, and I’ll address these latter issues in another blog.

In the first 41 issues there are instances in which the Amos template has been adhered to but the figures do not look like Amos at all, and Colossal Comic #29 is one such example.

It’s unlikely that Amos had ghosts for his Colossal Comics covers in the sense in which we traditionally think of ghosts in the comics industry (and just what is the collective noun for, say, Bob Kane’s ghosts – A Spectre? A Fear? Maybe a Fraid…?) but I think it’s fair to say, based on the evidence of this cover and others such as Colossal Comic #27 and #33 that the established Amos style was consciously mimicked.

I have no idea who these ‘ghosts’ are, and that seems utterly appropriate in the circumstances, as frustrating as it may be to my inner ghostbuster.

Colossal Comic #29, circa May 1964

Batman with Robin The Boy Wonder: One Ounce of Doom
Sheldon Moldoff/Charles Paris
(Detective Comics #254, April 1958)

Superman: Lois Lane, Policewoman!
Bill Finger/Wayne Boring/Stan Kaye
(Superman #84, September-October 1953)

The Man Marooned on Earth
Ruben Moreira
(House of Mystery #48, March 1956)

Green Arrow: The Rocket Raiders
George Papp
(World's Finest Comics #94, May-June 1958)

Batman with Robin The Boy Wonder: The Caveman at Large
Bill Finger/Sheldon Moldoff/Charles Paris
(Batman #102, September 1956)

Superman: The Return of Planet Krypton!
William Woolfolk/Wayne Boring/Stan Kaye
(Action Comics #182, July 1953)

Superboy The Adventures of Superman When He Was a Boy: The Super Outlaw of Smallville
Otto Binder/Curt Swan/Stan Kaye
(Adventure Comics #241, October 1957)

Space Cabby: The Anti-Gravity Man!
Otto Binder/Gil Kane/Bernard Sachs
(Mystery in Space #41, December 1957)

Aquaman: The Floating Doom
Ramona Fradon
(Adventure Comics #238, July 1957)

Tommy Tomorrow: The Academy Awards of Space
Otto Binder/Jim Mooney
(Action Comics #231, August 1957)

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Superman's Kid Brother
Otto Binder/Curt Swan/Ray Burnley
(Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #19, March 1957)

Tommy Tomorrow: The Girl Planeteer
Otto Binder/Jim Mooney
(Action Comics #227, April 1957)

Superman: The Thing from 40,000 A.D.!
Bill Finger/Wayne Boring/Stan Kaye
(Superman #87, February 1954)

The House of 100 Dreams
(Original unidentified – may have been reprinted in a previous Australian edition of My Greatest Adventure or Strange Adventures)

Superboy The Adventures of Superman When He Was a Boy: The Game of Kriss-Kross Krypton
Otto Binder/John Sikela
(Superboy #60, October 1957)

Aquaman: The Show-Off of the Sea
Ramona Fradon
(Adventure Comics #235, April 1957)

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: The Super-Brain of Jimmy Olsen
Otto Binder/Curt Swan/Ray Burnley
(Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #22, August 1957)

Superboy The Adventures of Superman When He Was a Boy: The Gaucho of Smallville!
John Sikela
(Superboy #42, July 1955)

Superman: Superman in Superman Land
Bill Finger/Wayne Boring/Stan Kaye
(Action Comics #210, November 1955)

Plus quite a rash of fillers: Peter Puptent, General Little, Jerry the Jitterbug, Professor Eureka, 2 x Casey the Cop, Lucky, and 2 x Moolah the Mystic.