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| Neal Adams Image Source: ComicVine.com |
Neal Adams role in the history of American comic books is without question. Beginning his career as a newspaper comic strip artist, Adams soon garnered a stellar reputation because of his realistic, mature artistic portrayals within the context of a supposedly "childish" medium. He soon enjoyed seminal runs providing dynamic and emotionally expressive artwork to such iconic characters as Deadman, Batman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the X-Men, and the Avengers. Adams also brilliantly penciled the now legendary, Superman vs. Muhammad Ali (1978) one-shot, which holds a special place for him personally. In 1984, Adams formed his own comic book company in Continuity Comics, which brought us the adventures of new heroes like Ms. Mystic, Megalith, Samuree, and Valeria the She-Bat.
Though Continuity Comics folded in 1994, Neal Adams contributions to the industry did not. Adams returned to DC in the 2010s to continue the adventures of some characters with which he is most closely associated. From 2010 to 2012, Adams wrote and penciled volumes one and two of Batman Odyssey, in 2016 he produced Superman: The Coming of the Supermen, and then he returned to his own co-creation for Deadman (2017).
For April of 2016, DC Comics commissioned Adams to create a series of variant covers for many of its current-running titles. These variants were homages to some of Adam's most famous covers of the Silver age. His cover for Deathstroke (2014) #15 was inspired by his own cover for Strange Adventures (1950) #207, featuring Deadman. The Deathstroke variant cover, the original cover that inspired it are posted below.
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| Art by Neal Adams |
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| Neal Adams' cover for Strange Adventures (1950) #207 |
I don't know if the people in the Strange Adventures cover were based upon real people that Adams knew, but the people in the Deathstroke cover certainly were. Posted below is an image of the finished artwork for Deathstroke (2014) #15 without title graphics to obstruct any of the faces. A key to the faces is provided below the image. Oddly enough, though Deathstroke co-creator Marv Wolfman is included, missing from the background headshots is Deathstroke's other co-creator, the legendary George Pérez.
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| Finished art without title graphics. Art by Neal Adams |
Background Headshot Key:
Top Row: Bob Haney, E. Nelson Bridwell, Jenette Kahn, Joe Orlando, Joe Kubert, and Marv Wolfman
Second Row: Dan DiDio, Paul Levitz, and Julius Schwartz
Third Row: Bob Kane, Jim Lee, and Jack Adler
Fourth Row: Len Wein, Dick Giordano, Carmine Infantino, and Jerry Siegel
Bottom Row: Archie Goodwin, Karen Berger, Denny O’Neil, and Joe Shuster.
