Superman No. 344 Cover by José Luis García-López

It’s most likely unique in the history of Superman covers. Superman, bright and happy, gets his powers from our yellow sun, at the mercy of Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster on a dark and stormy night with no Batman to help him combat their supernatural forces. And drawn with dramatic flair by García-López, coming into his own and on his way to becoming the recognisable look of DC’s licensing art.

I can only guess it was the Comics Code office that said the undead figures of the monsters had to be flesh coloured. Frankenstein’s Monster is a perfect picture of health, and Dracula looks like I do the day after when I forget to put on sun screen on a hot summer’s day.

The line art is a re-creation by Jovi Neri. Having done some of these line-for-line traces myself, I know the tedious hours of painstaking brush control it takes to do a decent job. I’ve used Jovi’s work previously, and I appreciate it very much with a scan of the original art unavailable.

So here it is with creepier colour as we approach All Hallows’ Eve for this year.

As published

Jovi Neri’s re-creation of the line art

New colour

Re-created trade dress added