Personal Collection // Sal  Buscema // Sub-Mariner #53 Cover (Buscema/Giacoia) (1972)

Sept 1972, Sub-Mariner #53, Cover, Sal Buscema pencils/Frank Giacoia inks, "...And the Rising Sun Shall Fall", This cover is Part 2 of a 2-Part SUNFIRE, the Japanese mutant, story. Well, very happy is quite an understatement. I finally got my Grail Sun-Mariner cover. Sub-Mariner #53 is drawn by my favorite artist, and inked by my favorite inker. What else do you need to pull the trigger. Story: I bought the classic Sub-Mariner #52 back in 2004 on EBAY. It remains one of my favorite covers in my collection. It was drawn by Gil Kane, and inked by Joe Sinnott. Pure magic, indeed. Since that day, I was looking for the #53 cover so I can keep them on the wall next to each other. Well, here I was 16 years later and it finally showed up on Heritage last month. While the “smart money” lol was bidding 160k on a KJ page, I quietly and patiently bid and won it, for a fair price. Sunfire is a Japanese mutant, created by Roy Thomas and Don Heck. He can generate superheated plasma blasts from his hands. Sunfire was briefly a member of the X-Men but he was never really suited for teamwork due to his temperament and arrogance. Sub-Mariner #52 and #53 are actually the 2nd and 3rd appearances of Sunfire, respectively. His 1st appearance ever was X-Men 64, back in 1970. And the artist that drew that great cover… was also Sal Buscema. Sunfire or Shiro Yoshida, was born in Agarashima, Japan. His mother suffered radiation poisoning due to exposure from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima; as a result, Shiro was born as a mutant possessing his solar radiation powers. Shiro's mother died of radiation poisoning when he was young so he grew to hate the United States. Shiro's greedy uncle Tomo inspired him to become "Sunfire" and to engage in a one-man battle against the U.S. As Sunfire, he attacked the United States Capitol and battled the X-Men.

Personal Collection

» Back To Artwork List