Gallery: Fricking Awesome Maps From the Silver Age of Comic Books
Jack Kirby/DC Comics01KamandiMap
*Kamandi* was a post-apocalyptic story where the world's last human fought against legions of mutant animals. Hilgart says Jack Kirby's 1974 world map only hints at some of the craziness from the comic book. "You have these mad stories where Kamandi battles with radioactive tiger people. Kirby made up a lot of crazy shit, especially in the 70s."
Sal Amendola/DC Comics02medium-KryptonNewWorldHemi
For a destroyed, fictional world, Krypton garners a lot of fan interest. This map shows the planet's eastern hemisphere, with Superman's birth city of Kryptonopolis. Compared to the geography in some other comic franchises, Krypton has remained fairly consistent.
Jim Mooney and Ray Burnley/DC Comics03Batcave1968
Batman's habitat what rearranged every couple of years. This 1968 cutaway of the Bat Cave is relatively basic, but later maps were a lot more detailed.
Dick Sprang/DC Comics04Batcave1995
This 1995 landscape view of the Bat Cave introduces a lot of new details, like the wax gallery of villains. It also rearranges the placement of staple fixtures, like the Batmobile and Batman's giant souvenir penny.
Jack Kirby/Marvel05medium-ThorAsgardMap
Jack Kirby and Stan Lee were particularly committed to expanding their creations' mythologies. This "accurate, true to scale" map from a 1965 issue of *The Mighty Thor* gave readers a "god's-eye view" of his home city of Asgard. Unfortunately, the shopping center is not pictured.
Bob Bolling/Archie Comics06medium-LArchie-MapSaps-05-06
Back before he was chasing Betty and Veronica, Archie Andrews was the pre-adolescent leader of his neighborhood gang, the West Side Warriors. He used this 1958 map from *Little Archie* #9 to devise tactics against a rival gang, the South Side Serpents.
George Tuska and Vince Colletta/DC Comics07DCEastCoast
Hilgart believes DC Comics made some unfortunate geographical choices for its cities. "Metropolis is in Delaware, and Gotham City is in south Jersey. It's just counterintuitive", he said. Metropolis, in fact, started out in the Midwest, and was originally modeled after Cleveland.
Jack Kirby/Marvel08FFNYC
Hilgart says Marvel succeeded by having its heroes live in real world cities. "When an attack happens in * The Fantastic Four*, it happens in Manhattan." In 1963, the Fantastic Four fought to free the island from Namor, half-blooded prince of the Atlantis.
Jack Kirby/Marvel09FFBaxterBuilding
Hilgart often wonders who came up with some of the crazy details in old comics, like this 1965 map of the Fantastic Four's headquarters. "Like, was there some editorial decision, or did Stan Lee just say 'Jack, draw a full-scale picture of the Baxter Building'?"
Jack Dillin and Joe Giella/DC Comics10JusticeLeagueHQsm copy
Compared to the science-and-rocket filled Baxter Building, the conference rooms and cubicles of the *Justice League of America*'s headquarters (1971) seem pretty bland. At least it's on a satellite.
Walt Kelly/Life11PogofenokeeSwamp
Walt Kelly's *Pogo* often used creative artwork to tell stories. Kelly drew this two-page map to illustrate all the different characters of the Pogofenokee Swap.
Will Eisner/Kitchen Sink12Spirit Cutaway
Will Eisner's *The Spirit* was a blue-collar detective from the early days of comics. Eisner was revolutionary for his visual devices, like this 1947 cutaway that uses a house's walls instead of panels to build suspense around a murder.
Curt Swan and George Klein/DC13Superfamily Route
Maps were also useful for telling origin stories, like this 1962 one from *Superboy* explaining the various routes Krypton's last survivors took to Earth.
