Now that is an Avengers cover! Neal Adams baby!

[steve bryant]

The choice of having the Goblin's ear in front of Iron Fist strikes me as odd, too. If it's an exaggerated "giant dream version" of the Goblin, not necessarily to any particular scale, the composition would be much stronger with the ear behind Iron Fist.

I just realized why the placement of the Goblin and Iron Fist bug me so much. The Goblin's hat (and by extension, his head) are behind the Avengers logo. Iron Fist is popping out in front of the logo, but the Goblin's ear (part of the same head that sits behind the logo) is in front of Iron Fist! It creates a look like the ear is twisting and coming forward.

This is partially a graphic gripe, but Neal is a working professional of nearly 50 years. He should know how to plan for typographic elements.

[Andrew Tom]

I just realized why the placement of the Goblin and Iron Fist bug me so much. The Goblin's hat (and by extension, his head) are behind the Avengers logo. Iron Fist is popping out in front of the logo, but the Goblin's ear (part of the same head that sits behind the logo) is in front of Iron Fist! It creates a look like the ear is twisting and coming forward.

This is partially a graphic gripe, but Neal is a working professional of nearly 50 years. He should know how to plan for typographic elements.

I thought that I heard on a podcast somewhere that Neal has some Continuity guys ghost for him sometimes and he'll sign the work.  Anyone know if this is true?  The composition just doesn't hold up compared to his other more recent stuff (like Batman Odyssey).  Maybe it's in the finishes and colors, but something seems off. 

Also, remember that Marvel has repurposed other art in the past (see the recent Simonson Thor cover that was originally an ad for his run in the early 80s). 

[steve bryant]

I thought that I heard on a podcast somewhere that Neal has some Continuity guys ghost for him sometimes and he'll sign the work.  Anyone know if this is true?  The composition just doesn't hold up compared to his other more recent stuff (like Batman Odyssey).  Maybe it's in the finishes and colors, but something seems off.  

Also, remember that Marvel has repurposed other art in the past (see the recent Simonson Thor cover that was originally an ad for his run in the early 80s).  

I'm sure he could be using one of the studio guys, or his son, Josh, to do layouts, finishes, or backgrounds.

Personally, I've always found Neal to be one of the greatest, brilliant, amazing draftsmen the medium has ever seen, but find both his cover composition and his sequential storytelling to be hit or miss.

[thefreakytiki]

Wow. I wonder if they've done a story detailing his vitiligo.

Jeebus, I have not kept up with story lines at Marvel but I didn't know they are having Cage sing opera now too.  Too much talent for one character!


The Tiki

[Andrew Tom]

I'm sure he could be using one of the studio guys, or his son, Josh, to do layouts, finishes, or backgrounds.

Personally, I've always found Neal to be one of the greatest, brilliant, amazing draftsmen the medium has ever seen, but find both his cover composition and his sequential storytelling to be hit or miss.

I know it brother.  Neal's 70s stuff looks better in draftmanship and composition than nearly anyting on the stands today.  It's kind of weird reading stories about the Superman/Batman Revenge squad and other campy stories (of the time period) and seeing Neal's art tell the story.  It's almost as if someone plucked him out of the 21st century and dropped him in the DC offices back then and said, "change the way we do things pal."

[JimN]

I just realized why the placement of the Goblin and Iron Fist bug me so much. The Goblin's hat (and by extension, his head) are behind the Avengers logo. Iron Fist is popping out in front of the logo, but the Goblin's ear (part of the same head that sits behind the logo) is in front of Iron Fist! It creates a look like the ear is twisting and coming forward.

That's definitely the problem.

This is partially a graphic gripe, but Neal is a working professional of nearly 50 years. He should know how to plan for typographic elements.

To me, the whole thing screams "bad art direction". Neal should know how to plan for typographic elements but who approved this composition in the first place? All of it's problems would have been apparent at a sketch stage so I'm guessing either there was no sketch approval stage and Mr. Adams made a few poor decisions OR he started with a better composition and was art-directed into a bad one ("We want Iron Fist leaping up this way, in front of a the Goblin's ear... oh, and can you add Ms. Marvel swooping in between Cage and the Thing? Thanks.").

[JasonF]

It looks like maybe the characters are intended to be paired off in combat (Luke/Thing, Wolverine/Ms. Marvel, and Iron Fist/Spider-Man), but with the ear in front of Iron Fist, it completely ruins the effect and composition and expands the heroes from three planes (one for each pair) to four or five (Luke and Ben are on the same plane, but the other four heroes are each on their own plane, with Wolverine maybe being on the same plane as Spider-Man).

[Nojfotra (Jonathan D. Gordon)]

the placement of Ms. Marvel is beyond awkward and pretty much destroys the composition.

Jim

That was what jumped out at me as well.

[Christopher Stark]

No, no it's not.  The best Avengers covers of recent are the Alan Davis Avengers Prime stuff.

[Tom Morris]

No, no it's not.  The best Avengers covers of recent are the Alan Davis Avengers Prime stuff.

Neal Adams is a classic Avengers penciler.  He worked on the Kree Skrull War and he drew the great Ant-Man travels inside the Vision story.  I'm a huge fan on his work during the Silver and Bronze age which were the most beloved Avengers eras.

[Christopher Stark]

Oh, I am not saying he isn't a classic and great penciler.  He can rock a page with the best of them.  But that cover is all sorts of bad.