And now, a full-page drawing of Captain Marvel on fire and screaming.

§ February 10th, 2011 § Filed under superman § 19 Comments


And from the same comic, the title page:


You said it, Booster.

…Man, the 1990s.

images from Action Comics Annual #4 (1992)

19 Responses to “And now, a full-page drawing of Captain Marvel on fire and screaming.”

  • Tom Cherry says:

    Why does Superman look like he should be floating in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade?

  • Zeb says:

    Eclipso: The Darkness Within was one of the best crossovers to have horrifyingly bad art in the 90s. Although, confession, before I read Wozniak’s name, I was convinced this was Bart Sears’ work.

  • KDBryan says:

    I never knew the secret to making Captain Marvel catch fire was making his fingernails and irises invisible.

    “The humiliating Venom intervention from Booster Gold of all people worked – Superman was so ashamed, he never juiced again.”

  • Joe S. Walker says:

    That Superman is worse than Rob Liefeld’s Captain America.

  • Old Bull Lee says:

    In all fairness, and I’m speaking as a fellow basher of 90s art, there is plenty of contemporary mainstream comics art that is just as bad. It’s less noticeable because of all the digital slickness and a modern acceptance of more stylistic art, but there’s some crap out there on the shelves now too.

  • Thelonious_Nick says:

    I’m less worried about Superman than I am about poor Booster, what with his ribcage nearly reaching his pelvic bone and his knees locked so hard they’re bent backwards. I am impressed by his 18 inch schlong, however.

  • g23 says:

    Joe, that’s exactly what I thought when I saw this. This is probably the worst title page I’ve ever seen in a comic book. Wow.

  • Harvey Jerkwater says:

    Even on fire, not a single hair on Captain Marvel’s head is out of place. Now that’s quality hair product.

    Also, his mouth is full of sticky saliva strands, as the nineties required. Good show.

  • MrJM says:

    @Harvey – Did Captain Marvel ever actually display his alleged “Wisdom of Solomon”?

    The “S” in SHAZAM! actually stands for “The Mane of Sasoon”!

    — MrJM

  • Augie De Blieck Jr. says:

    Chris Wozniak was a young hot shot penciled who had a bright future but, by accounts I heard, squandered it completely. Shame. He tried a comeback some years later, but I don’t think that lasted past a “What If?” issue with a new style, and then he was gone again.

    Speaking of which, whatever happened to Steve Platt?

  • Sarah says:

    Superman appears to be…missing a foot. Is he flying with crossed knees?

  • philip says:

    Maybe Superman needs to take a trip to the Super Men’s Room …

    And maybe Captain Marvel is amassing enough saliva to spit the fire out?

  • buzz says:

    @philip — My thot exactly: That is one constipated looking Superman…

  • Michael May says:

    Is Dan Vado the same guy from SLG? I didn’t know he’d written Superman comics.

  • damanoid says:

    In the Silver Age, the entire story would have been about how and why Superman turned into Walleyed Gorilla-Hunchback Superman.

  • Casie says:

    There’s just so many lovely things wrong with this, it’s overwhelming. Why does Superman’s thigh look like a blue pickle?

  • Dave-El says:

    As fairly misguided Superman completist back in the day, I may own this annual. I say “may” because I really do not recall this horrendous splash page. Perhaps my younger self had a moment of clarity and said, “You know what? I really do not need EVERY Superman title there is.” Or perhaps I did buy this and successfully blocked it from memory.

    So what the hell is going on here? Superman’s arm is turning into Swamp Thing’s and the other arm is…is that a fist or is there a finger sticking out at me? Don’t shake your finger at me, Mr. Half Your Face Is Forehead! Given the strained expression and the wierdly crossed legs, I think Kal-El needs to hit the ol’ Toilet of Solitude really bad. At least there is one moment of truth on this page: “This is NOT good!” Too true, Booster, oh too true! Even if I don’t remember this, I can’t help but believe this was, in fact, not good.

  • Mikester says:

    Augie – Last time I saw something about Stephen Platt was a “How to Draw Comics” DVD he did, and I discussed here.

    Michael May – Yeah, that’s the same Dan Vado. He wrote a bunch of DC books around this time, even as he was running his own publishing company.

  • Captain Marvel is a Dapper Dan man.