The DIY Man of Steel Cover: Superman vs. Lobo Stickers

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big box of comics, colorforms, jon bogdanove, Lobo, louise simonson, man of steel 30, parasaurolophus, stickers, Superman

The 1990s were a time of gimmicky covers for comic cooks. My favorites are the X-Men Holograms from the Fatal Attractions crossovers, and the skeletal madness of Wolverine #100. But 1994’s Man of Steel #30 takes the award for the most ridicuously creative. DC polybagged this relic with a sheet of “vinyl clings”, which are like the ColorForms I played with as a kid. Through some arcane magic, they cling to the surface but are easily peeled off and re-arranged. Man of Steel‘s character-less, wraparound cover invites you to create your own fight between Superman and Lobo, who spend most of the issue hitting each other before shaking hands at the end. Enjoy this gallery of scans of the front and back of the polybag, the front and back cover, and the vinyl clings.

My scan of the “stickers” is 600 dpi resolution, because I am thinking of getting it enlarged and printed on a t-shirt. My one-of-a-kind parasaurolophus t-shirt arrived last week, printed with a scan of one of the stickers from the Dinosaurs Attack! trading cards.

My version of the cover features eight-limbed octo-versions of the characters:

For being almost thirty years old, the vinyl clings adhere okay, but not great. They were somewhat unenthused about sticking to each other when piled on in layers. And they are much thinner than I recall Colorforms being. Still, they are a bit of nostalgic geek fun. (Update: Redditor /u/bloodfist converted these scans to a web-based version you can play with! If you want something more advanced, check out their digital version at the Photopea site, which is a free alternative to Photoshop.)

Man of Steel #30 went for the gimmick-cover trifecta by also being a variant. The other edition was printed with a face-bashing cover by Jon Bogdanove, who penciled the interior pages of Louise Simonson’s story. I am sure some speculators bought this issue with a $2.50 cover price thinking it would someday pay for their kids’ college funds. Sorry, 90s Boom Buyers! I got it last week for $2.70 in Near Mint, sealed condition. And since it actually cost me nothing with some store credit I earned thanks to this blog’s readers, it deserves a place in the Big Box of Comics!

Collector’s Guide: From Superman: The Man of Steel #30; DC Comics, 1994. DC also produced a vinyl clings cover for 1994’s Worlds Collide #1, which also features Superman.

All the Stickers from Dinosaurs Attack!

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art spiegelman, dinosaur, dinosaurs attack, Herb Trimpe, parasaurolophus, Paul Mavrides, stickers, topps, trading cards

Scans of the cards from this series are on the web already, but I have yet to see anyone post a complete set of the stickers that came with them. So here they are, in all their gory glory!

In 2021, I bought a set of these vintage cards on Ebay for about $20. The set included all the cards plus all the stickers, and a few opened but well-preserved wrappers from individual packs. When read in numerical order, the backs of the cards tell the story of how some incompetent scientists screwed up a time-travel experiment and brought an onslaught of rampaging dinosaurs to the present day. Mayhem and carnage ensue, served with a generous helping of humor.

The complete Topps set includes eleven stickers, and the backs of the stickers provide more factual accounts of the dinosaurs than the main narrative. But keep in mind that these “facts” might be outdated, considering they were printed in the late 1980s. Trachodon, for example, is a species of hadrosaur that has fallen out of favor with current paleontologists, and you won’t find any feathers on this tyrannosaur.

But don’t let that stop you from enjoying these vintage beauties. Below is a gallery of my personal scans of the fronts and backs of all eleven stickers from Dinosaurs Attack!

Have you ever wondered who was the artist for the cards and stickers? Wonder no more! The informative excerpt below comes from the second issue of IDW’s five-issue Dinosaurs Attack comic book from 2013. I was shocked to learn that Herb Trimpe penciled the cards and Paul Mavrides co-created the sticker art — and even more surprised that Art Spiegelman was involved in this insanity!

dino cards: parasaurolophus

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dinosaur, parasaurolophus, postcards

Intrepid Internet adventurers may want to track down the set of cards that include these dinosaurs. We haven’t yet, and so they remain part of the mysterious collection of postcards we joyfully receive here at Martian HQ. As a bonus, the bright colors look amazing in our black light chamber. Witness today the awesomeness of Parasaurolophus!

A Gun for Dinosaur!

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dinosaur, Ernie Chua, Gun for Dinosaur, L Sprague de Camp, parasaurolophus, Roy Thomas, time travel, tyrannosaurus, Val Mayerik, Worlds Unknown

In 1973, Marvel began an eight-issue series called Worlds Unknown. It presented adaptations of science fiction stories. Today we’ll look at our favorite: A Gun for Dinosaur by L. Sprague de Camp, first published in 1956 in the magazine Galaxy Science Fiction. The plot, adapted by Roy Thomas, revolves around using time travel to hunt for dinosaurs. We’ve enjoyed that concept in Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury and Flesh by Pat Mills.

A Gun for Dinosaur is a fun romp of Cretaceous carnage and the usual tough guys working out the pecking order with their fists and weapons. We don’t pretend to be literary critics, but one thing is for sure: That’s not how you draw a Parasaurolophus! They have a tube-shaped whatchamacallit on their head, not this fan-shaped thing dreamed up by artist Val Mayerik. Also, if you’re going to use the word “Ceratopsian”, then spell it correctly! Other than these minor dino quibbles, we give A Gun for Dinosaur two claws up.

If you like this adaptation, The Groovy Agent has a few more Worlds Unknown classics for you on his site: Killdozer, Arena, and Farewell to the Master (the original Day the Earth Stood Still).

Collector’s Guide: From Worlds Unknown #2; Marvel, 1973. L. Sprague de Camp wrote eight more stories about protagonist Reginald Rivers and his time safaris, collected in the book Rivers of Time.

Dinosaurs of Turok: Complete Black and White Gallery!

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ankylosaurus, brachiosaurus, brontosaurus, compsognathus, diatryma, dimetrodon, dinornis, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, hesperornis, icthyornis, icthyosaurus, iguanodon, ornithomimus, paleoscincus, parasaurolophus, phororhacos, plesiosaurus, prehistoric birds, protoceratops, pteranodon, pterodactyl, ramphorynchus, stegosaurus, stenoterygius, Styracosaurus, trachodon, Triceratops, Turok, Turok Son of Stone, tylosaurus

No collection of pure dinosaur comics is complete without the mother of all dinosaur comics, Young Earth! Young Earth appeared in the golden age comic, Turok Son of Stone. Published first under the Dell imprint and then by Gold Key, Turok sees the light of day again in an archival reprint series by Dark Horse. We will share with you the complete original educational series of dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals, and other animals of prehistoric earth. Enjoy!

Today we share with you a complete collection of the black-and-white dinosaur features from the inside covers of Turok Son of Stone, issues #1-69. That’s fifteen, pulse-pounding dinos in your face! Heck, we’ll even throw in a full color dimetrodon feature from one of the back covers. A must-have for any serious collector of pure dinosaur comics!

Some of the mighty dinosaurs you will encounter in today’s gallery: Styracosaurus, trachodon, brontosaurus, iguanodon, ornithomimus, stegosaurus, brachiosaurus, protoceratops, ankylosaurus, triceratops, parasaurolophus, compsognathus, and paleoscincus (misspelled here as paleoscinus).

Also, the swimming reptiles (not really dinos but shared the earth with them): tylosaurus, stenoterygius, icthyosaurus, and plesiosaurus.

The flying reptiles: pteranodon, pterodactyl, and ramphorynchus.

Dimetrodon was not a dino but a pre-cursor, but he’s cool enough to make the grade here. Don’t believe the hype about him facing a T. Rex. Dimetrodon was extinct by the Cretaceous period when T. Rex lived. We’ve learned a little more about the dinos since the 1950s!

Finally, you’ll find some of the prehistoric birds, descendents of the dinos: hesperornis, icthyornis, dinornis, phororhacos, and diatryma.

Think you can handle all that?! Then enjoy our gallery!

We invite you to:
Shop for original issues of Turok.
Choose an archival edition of Turok.
Browse our galleries of Dinosaurs or Dinosaur Comics.
See all our Young Earth or Turok exhibits.
Like Young Earth? You’ll love Age of Reptiles and Prehistoric Mammals.

Rex Riders in Color?!

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dinosaur, hadrosaur, Jim Calafiore, JP Carlson, parasaurolophus, Rex Riders

Just when I thought Jim Calafiore’s Rex Riders illustrations couldn’t look any better, he sent this this preliminary color version of the opening panel from the Prologue.

That’s a parasaurolophus herd in the clearing, if you’re keeping count, with pteronadons flying overhead.

Why is it being colored? I’ve been sworn to secrecy by author JP Carlson on the possibilities of Rex Riders’ dominating the universe. Loose lips sink ships — and they might have killed the dinosaurs 165 million years ago! So sssshhhhhhh. Whatever the future holds, JP won’t mind if I share this color artwork with you for now.

I shared a few of my favorite Rex Riders moments with you this summer in a Rex Riders Gallery. Meanwhile… Ride your Rex over to Amazon and score REX RIDERS today!

You might also enjoy the ever-expanding Dinosaur Comics Gallery.