Because of my age, Neal Adams will always mean to me the first Ra's Al Ghul storyline in "Batman" and the "Hard Travelin' Heroes" storyline in "Green Lantern/Green Arrow", even though they amount to a small fraction of the work I've seen him do. Not only have I seen him draw everything from Conan to Jerry Lewis, but he keeps showing up in oddball projects (Skateman, anybody?) but in media outside comics as well. So, I shouldn't be surprised when he draws a cover for a hair metal band. When I saw the art below, I was already aware that he had drawn jacket art for a band called the Groundhogs in the early 1970's. But this was 1990, and he put together a promo comic (of sorts), using the art from the album as the cover.
There are no formal credits or indicia of any sort in this. In the lower right hand corner of the front cover one can read Neal Adams' signature pretty clearly. Next to it there's a second signature that's not as clear; possibly Rudy Nebres? In the upper right hand corner there is, inexplicably, a price of ¥1.50 (that's one and a half yen). I can't tell you what the rate of exchange was in 1990, but that had to be pennies at most in U.S. currency. In the lower left hand corner there is a symbol for their label, Mechanic Records. Mechanic was actually manufactured and distributed by MCA and very likely was created as an imprint by them to address their paucity of metal bands when Van Halen (Warner Bros.) and Motley Crue (Elektra) began having success on MTV. Mechanic issued bands as dissimilar as Voivod, Dream Theater and Bang Tango. MCA is never mentioned in the band's origin story (below); their name only appears in small print near the spine of the inside front cover, which is mostly a B&W publicity photo of the band posing with motorcycles. Below the label's symbol are the letters "SBPFMSPL", clearly the members' initials (see back cover photos, above). Below the letters are "NJ"-- their home state-- and "63 89" which could be an inside reference to New Jersey (Turnpike exits? Do they go as high as 89?). The contents are four B&W pages:
The inside back cover is another B&W band photo and an address for their fan club. Since the label is defunct there's no point in reproducing that now. Point of interest though: last year the band apparently collaborated with Stan Lee on some sort of video game project.
There are no formal credits or indicia of any sort in this. In the lower right hand corner of the front cover one can read Neal Adams' signature pretty clearly. Next to it there's a second signature that's not as clear; possibly Rudy Nebres? In the upper right hand corner there is, inexplicably, a price of ¥1.50 (that's one and a half yen). I can't tell you what the rate of exchange was in 1990, but that had to be pennies at most in U.S. currency. In the lower left hand corner there is a symbol for their label, Mechanic Records. Mechanic was actually manufactured and distributed by MCA and very likely was created as an imprint by them to address their paucity of metal bands when Van Halen (Warner Bros.) and Motley Crue (Elektra) began having success on MTV. Mechanic issued bands as dissimilar as Voivod, Dream Theater and Bang Tango. MCA is never mentioned in the band's origin story (below); their name only appears in small print near the spine of the inside front cover, which is mostly a B&W publicity photo of the band posing with motorcycles. Below the label's symbol are the letters "SBPFMSPL", clearly the members' initials (see back cover photos, above). Below the letters are "NJ"-- their home state-- and "63 89" which could be an inside reference to New Jersey (Turnpike exits? Do they go as high as 89?). The contents are four B&W pages:
The inside back cover is another B&W band photo and an address for their fan club. Since the label is defunct there's no point in reproducing that now. Point of interest though: last year the band apparently collaborated with Stan Lee on some sort of video game project.
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