« With pen and ink, I can achieve a scratchy, foggy effect that is appropriate. It was a continual process of learning. » — Nick Cardy
While WOT? favourite Nick Cardy (1920-2013) — who would turn one hundred and four years old today! — spent a lot of time chronicling the undersea adventures of Aquaman, his lingering true love, despite his busy schedule as DC’s premier cover artist, was the Teen Titans — he contributed, either as penciller, inker… or cover artist — to all forty-three issues of the original series.
And what I loved most about editor Murray Boltinoff‘s books is that they were packaged as horror books even when they nominally featured superheroes, a welcome respite. The costumes seemed an afterthought, a most unusual and refreshing attitude. Here, then, is a gallery of Mr. Cardy’s moodiest, most sinister Teen Titans cover artwork.
-RG
Who's Out There? 
They’re covers, some jeopardy is needed to draw in readers, but that team sure looks incompetent on them. Just the first cover — Kid Flash is faster than the speed of sound, so why yell instead of dashing to the rescue? On #42, Speedy is front-and-center. Why isn’t he giving Mr. Horny McMouth-wide-open a boxing-glove arrow in the back of his throat?
Cardy is an excellent artist. The story inside may be good. (It’s been decades since I read Teen Titans. I did like them.) Whoever designed these covers was more into heroes-in-jeopardy than heroes-ready-for-anything.
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Hi Ellen! You’re right, it’s a striking pattern once noticed. Given the way things worked at DC — and they worked well, I daresay — Carmine Infantino must have designed those covers… or at least signed off on them. And the emphasis on jeopardy over heroism seems more in line with editor Boltinoff’s preferred ‘horror’ approach.
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