Cover Me: Frank Miller at DC

When most folks think of Frank Miller in the 1980s, they more than likely think of Daredevil, Wolverine, Ronin, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, or Elektra. How many of you remember what Frank did to pass the time while he was working on those ground-breaking masterpieces, though? One thing he did was draw covers for a handful of DC mags. Remember any of these?


No? Yes? What about the hoopla surrounding the fact that Miller was the cover artist for DC's Superman: The Secret Years mini-series?


What other comicbook work did the talented Mr. Miller do during the 80s? Come back next week for the answer!

Insert Preview Here: DC Showcase, 80s Style

Trivia Question: What do the New Teen Titans, the new Dial "H" for Hero, All-Star Squadron, Arak, Wonder Woman, Captain Carrot, Night Force, Atari Force, Amethyst, Batman and the Outsiders, and Blue Devil have in common (besides, obviously, being 80s comics)? They were all introduced via free 16 page inserts in special issues of various DC comics. You read that right. DC would bind a brand new 16 page preview of an upcoming new comic into the center of an existing title.

The preview stories were brand new, written and drawn by the upcoming book's creative team. The tricky part of these previews was making the stories relevant without making them so integral to the first issue that a reader who hadn't read the preview would feel like they'd missed something. They usually consisted of a front cover, 14 pages of story, plus a back cover that usually featured the cover of the actual first issue, all on newsprint (or Mando paper, when DC moved to that in 1983).

Sometimes the comics the previews were inserted into seemed kind of random. I often wondered why the New Teen Titans and the "new" Wonder Woman made their debuts in DC Comics Presents rather than in Justice League of America. Sometimes the previews were made lots of sense, like Arak's debut in Warlord, All-Star Squadron in Justice League of America, and Night Force in New Teen Titans (since Marv Wolfman wrote both titles).

It was an experiment that lasted for about half a decade, giving fans a bit more bang for their buck. The idea of getting what amounts to an extra half comic with no cover price increase had to boost both sales and interest in the titles featuring the previews as well as the titles being previewed. It certainly showed that DC had a lot of faith in their new titles--and that they appreciated their faithful readers.

Now, I'm concentrating on the "free previews" that served as an intro to new DC series, not the toy advertisements that ran in almost all titles in a given month (like those for Masters of the Universe, Mask, and the rest). I've scoured my collection and the Internet, wracked my brain, and consulted about every source I can think of. I think the following list is pretty comprehensive. If I've left anything out, please leave a message or send me an e-mail, okay? Oh, and I'll be covering DC's Bonus Books, which used the same format but focused on showcasing new talent rather than new comics, in a future post. Got it? Good! Now, here's a listing of the previews and their creative teams, along with the title and issue number of the comics they appeared in. If you've never seen these, you might want to try to track 'em down. Good luck!

Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman and George Perez (DC Comics Presents #26, July 1980)

Dial "H" for Hero by Marv Wolfman and Carmine Infantino (Legion of Super-Heroes #272, November 1980)

All-Star Squadron by Roy Thomas and Rich Buckler (Justice League of America #193, May 1981)

Arak, Son of Thunder by Roy Thomas, Ernie Colon and Tony DeZuniga (Warlord #48, May 1981)

Wonder Woman by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan (DC Comics Presents #41, October 1981)

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! by Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw! with Gerry Conway and Ross Andru (New Teen Titans #16, November 1981)

Night Force by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan (New Teen Titans #21, April 1982)

Atari Force by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru (DC Comics Presents #53, October 1982) is the exception to my "no toy ads" rule, because, although this preview led to the mini-comics Atari packaged with their game cartridges, a year after this preview an actual Atari Force comic was produced, picking up the threads of the mini-comics. Clear?

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld by Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, and Ernie Colon (Legion of Super-Heroes #298, January 1983)

Batman and the Outsiders by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo (Brave and the Bold #200, April 1983)

Blue Devil by Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, and Paris Cullins (Fury of Firestorm #24, March 1984)