Dec 1st 2020 Advent Calendar
It's 1970, the Summer of Love is just a memory, the hippy dream has turned into a nightmare with the combined horrors of Vietnam, Altamont and the Manson slayings. But there are surely still occasions when hundreds of youths can gather peacefully together to sit in the dark and enjoy the innocent pleasure of a rock concert.
Or can they? What's that weird looking guy doing up in that tree? And is that a girl he's hanging onto?
And what's that other guy in the long gloves and boots and tiny trunks yelling about?
Yes, it's TEEN TITANS #30, dated December 1970, the first of my 2020 Advent Calendar blogs on stand-out covers from 1970 comics. "Some call it noise" reads the caption, intended I guess to resonate very much with a readership whose parents or grandparents or teachers or whoever might utter complaints about modern music as being "just noise"! Wow, imagine how they must have felt as the decade continued and they were exposed to much "noisier" offerings...
Anyway, the cover image, rendered by artist Nicholas Cardy, shows Aqualad searching for Aquagirl and it's a great pulp image-- the guy up the tree is clearly some kind of crazed monster, and Aquagirl is the unconscious vulnerable victim, her long legs and upturned breasts catching the golden light from the concert stage in a way that highlights them against the darkness of the tree.
It's the kind of 'monster and maiden' image used time and time again on pulp magazine covers and on posters. One of the most famous versions, and a personal favourite of mine, is the movie poster for FORBIDDEN PLANET.
But the TEEN TITANS image is a complete cheat, because just like the FORBIDDEN PLANET image, no such scene actually happens in the story. And as I continue on my journey for the first time through the comics of The Bronze Age, I'm coming to understand that the 'cheat' cover is part of the appeal (or frustration, depending on your stance) of many titles. Additionally I feel that this particular example is more of an homage than an outright cheat. Although the 'monster and maiden' image is being in used to draw in a certain element of the audience, it's also knowingly part of a pulp tradition that is well-beloved by many (and of course derided by many others). So, in the comic itself we find our cute Atlantean couple indeed at a rock concert--
But the only contact Aquagirl has with the crazed guy is when he runs past her and knocks her over inadvertently.
The reason Aqualad can't find her is because she wakes up later and walks away.
And the closest we get to the 'monster and maiden' moment is when Aqualad himself carries her unconscious body to the safety of the sea.
But that's all by the by. What can't be denied surely is that it's a lovely cover. And as such I'm pleased to offer it for your appreciation as the first in my 2020 Advent Calendar of great covers from 50 years ago.
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