The Most Inappropriate VINTAGE Comic Book Covers Ever
Odd positions, coloring errors, and unintentional (or intentional) creative choices give these vintage comic book covers plenty of infamy even today!
Comic books have been, and continue to be, big business, requiring publishers to produce thousands of issues very quickly. As a result, unintentional (or intentional?) artistic errors sometimes managed to slip past the censors and allowed some very questionable comic book covers to hit the newsstand. Some of these covers were so inappropriate that long after the publishers went out of business, the cover images continued circulating among collectors who couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
In his SDCC presentation, Oddball Comics Not So Live, cartoonist Scott Shaw shared plenty of bizarre comic book covers with questionable content. Whether the result of a photographic error, coloring mistake, or an artist’s idea of a prank, many of these vintage comic book covers have achieved a high level of infamy over the years, introducing new readers to the hilarious content of yesterday.
The Rifleman was a popular Western TV show that ran during the 1950s and continues to be shown to this day. Ostensibly about a widowed rancher (Chuck Connors) trying to raise his son (Johnny Crawford), the success of the series inspired Dell Comics to produce a comic book based on the show, complete with covers that sported photographs of the stars. Unfortunately, the infamous placement of the log Crawford is holding in this shot makes it appear to be a phallic image. Remember, this was supposed to be a family show.
An obvious knock-off of Casper the Friendly Ghost, “Homer the Happy Ghost” originally appeared in Atlas Comics during the 1950s and was later published by Marvel in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with scripts written by Stan Lee himself. While the stories were kid-friendly, this infamous cover makes it look like Homer is being sexually assaulted by an angry robot. Shockingly, the comic is approved by the Comics Code Authority, which shows they didn’t catch every bit of questionable content…
This (hopefully) unintentional coloring error on Dell Comics comic book Funnies #48 makes “Phantasmo The Master of the World” appear to be swimming naked. Although the red lines on his body indicate the outlines of his shorts and cape, the end result looks like he enjoys wearing thongs (no judgement). In truth, Phantasmo often appeared to be naked in the actual stories as well, due to the fact that his “costume” consisted of golden shorts, boots, and a transparent cape. To top it off, the “Phantasmo” readers followed was actually the protagonist’s astral body – meaning he wasn’t wearing any real clothes at all!
Romance and teen comedy comics are full of a surprising amount of unintentional risqué content – but this cover that shows Taffy's friend essentially flashing the reader as she skates backwards seems a little bit too obvious. Taffy and her friend might be skating toward thin ice, but so were the teens who hid this comic from their mothers.
Although many may view the early years of comics as a more “innocent” time compared to the violence and adult situations found in modern comics, it’s clear artists were able to sneak in more than a little adult humor, often quite blatantly, on comic book covers. Embarrassing, yet often unintentionally hilarious, these covers have a dubiously distinctive spot in comic book lore today.
Source: YouTube