Beatty, Terry - Ms. Tree #06 cover

MS. TREE is the longest-running private eye series in American comic books. Co-created by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty in 1981, she began her adventures in Eclipse Magazine. She was soon spun-off into her own comic book, published initially by Eclipse, then A-V, followed by Renegade Press. After the publication of the 50th issue, DC Comics took over and published ten quarterly issues -- each containing a 48 page MS. TREE story (among other features). MS. TREE returned recently in the Hard Case Crime paperback, Deadly Beloved. The reprint series for Hard Case Crime continue as well.

One of the reasons that I bought Ms. Tree from the time I started doing so was because there was something unique and different about Terry Beatty’s covers that drew me into checking out the title. Once I was there, his and Max’s stories were so interesting that I never wanted to stop reading them.

I had Terry Beatty do an interview about his cover artwork for MS. TREE for the CFA-APA (Comic & Fantasy Art Amateur Press Association) #81 - 31 July 2010

Regarding this cover Terry said, "My variation on a Wally Wood EC cover design. It almost works!" The Wally Wood cover that Terry refers to is SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES #4 which can be seen in the additional images, along with this cover as printed.

This is another of my favourite covers in the series. I paid a great deal more for it than any of the other covers I have in the series because the MS. TREE covers have become so coveted amongst collectors these days.