Forty Years ago this Month

[MDG]

And while I understand why some artists hated it, for me the frames enhance the artwork rather the detract from it. ...
Lastly, artists that use the frame well ...I'm specifically thinking of Kane's habit of having the central figure break outside the frame, which gives the figure a unique 3-D quality, as though he's flying right off the cover.

...As I said, I also consider the DC design from the same era (carrying through the beginning of the 20 cent era) to be their best design period as well, so suffice it to say that 1971-72 is pretty much top of the line in cover design as far as I am concerned.

Good analysis Scott, and those Kane examples are great. Kane was always big on characters "flying" out toward the characters, but i don't know if he ever drew a 3-D comic. (Be interesting to see one of his stories adapted to 3D).

I agree about DCs covers at this time, when, I think, Infantino was doing many of the layouts. I especially like the mystery books (especially the ones with "three kids and a dog") and Kubert's war covers that often had a foreground/background suspense thing going on.

[benday-dot]

I rarely buy comics just because I love the cover, especially when I've already got the stories inside (courtesy, in this case, of Essential Sub-Mariner), but a few months ago I made an exception for this one

Everett at his best, IMHO.

I agree on the greatness of this cover Dan. Everett may only have outdone himself during his third session as Sub-Mariner artist when it came to his outstanding job on issue #57, sporting one of my favourite covers of all time.

[dan bailey]

Very much agreed.

I'm hardly the first to note this, but for a 2nd-tier title, Sub-Mariner had more than its share of great covers, whether by Everett, John Buscema or Marie Severin. And maybe others as well -- those 3 are just off the top of my head.

Something about Namor just lends itself to great graphics, I guess.

[zilch]

http://www.dcindexes.com/newsstand/r...r=1971&month=9

Bump for September 1971...

Amazing Spider-Man #103 (love the Gil Kane artwork!)

Avengers #94 (where the hell is the 25 cent size?) Kree Skrull War!!

Cap and the Falcon #144 (Falc new cool costume!)

Daredevil #82

FF #117

(When did my brother start getting Famous Monsters? Probably around this time period i would think...)

Flash #210 (more cool Silver Age goodness!!)

Hulk?

JLA #94 (damn this was good stuff...)

Marvel Spotlight #2 (Werewolf... By Night!)

Marvel Tales?

Marvel Triple Action #1

Our Fighting Forces #134

Sub-Mariner #44

Superboy #179

Superman #244

Teen Titans #36

World's Finest #207 (Golden Age Tarantula reprint!)

X-Men #73 (i know its a reprint, but i still liked it anyway)

And the best comic i didn't buy this month is....

DC Special #15 (all jack Cole stuff, i still remember sitting on the floor in front of the newstand of the Walgreens reading this... don't know why i didn't buy it, probably a big week)

[shaxper]

Super Goof had an ongoing series???

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

The comic I most remember from this month was Justice League of America no. 94--"Where Strikes Demonfang?"--with guest pages by Neal Adams.

It was and is one of my favourite comics of all time.

There was everything in this comic--the Senseii, links to Ra's al Guhl, Intergang, Merlyn the Assassin, Deadman.

On top of everything else the two Golden Age reprints in this issue were the first ever stories of Sandman and Starman.

I LOVED this comic!

[berk]

I largely stopped stopped buying comics for a few years in the early 70s. The only cover I see in the (on sale in) Sept 1971 gallery that I think I bought and read at the time was the Marvel Spotlight Werewolf by Night one. But I'd probably pick Mister Miracle#5 now as the top comic that month, depending perhaps on the contents of Creepy and Eerie.

[Brian Gravity]

I recently acquired a copy of this Sept. '71 issue of The Heap:



What attracted me to this comic was the cover, it's just awesome. I had also never heard of Skywald so I found it worth checking out. The art is actually pretty good, and the story is about a pilot who crashes his plane into an Army toxic waste plant and mutates into the Heap. He loses everything but his mind, and in despair he finds refuge in a graveyard. There he meets a fellow "freak" the Sinister Scythe, who wants the Heap to join his band of monsters. The Heap refuses, and they brawl a bit before the Scythe takes off. The story continues as the Heap begins to search for a cure...

I believe the rest of the stories in this book are reprints: "When The Sea Goes Dry", "The Curse of the Broken Balcony", "Death on the Earth-Mars Run!", and "Ballast of Gold".

[edhopper]

Over this and the previous month I went from reading only Conan and picking up one or two other Marvel books (and the occasional DC) to being a full Marvel Zombie. I bought almost all the marvel books shown, and those I didn't buy off the stands I picked up as back issues later.

I am quite disgusted with most of Marvel's output these days. But I guess 40 years in not a bad run.
(well really 35, since it has been 5 years since I read most Marvel books)

Thomas/Adams' Kree/Skrull War, Romita on Cap, Trimpe/Severin on Hulk, Ploog on Werewolf.
What a great month!

[JKCarrier]

This is still a bit before my time, but I do remember finding a copy of that Plastic Man DC Special many years later, and really loving it. A lot of Golden Age material gets by on enthusiasm more than skill, but Cole was a flat-out terrific cartoonist. It's no surprise at all that he went on to great success in magazine and newspaper strips. What a shame that he died so young.

[tolworthy]

I recently acquired a copy of this Sept. '71 issue of The Heap:



What attracted me to this comic was the cover, it's just awesome. I had also never heard of Skywald so I found it worth checking out. The art is actually pretty good, and the story is about a pilot who crashes his plane into an Army toxic waste plant and mutates into the Heap. He loses everything but his mind, and in despair he finds refuge in a graveyard. There he meets a fellow "freak" the Sinister Scythe, who wants the Heap to join his band of monsters. The Heap refuses, and they brawl a bit before the Scythe takes off. The story continues as the Heap begins to search for a cure...

I believe the rest of the stories in this book are reprints: "When The Sea Goes Dry", "The Curse of the Broken Balcony", "Death on the Earth-Mars Run!", and "Ballast of Gold".

I don't know about the stories, but even the titles make me want to buy! And all for 25c. Or $1.33 in today's money (or 2.85 using UK inflation - the figure I'll use, given that paper costs have risen in real terms).

Imagine getting five complete stories today for 2.85! I think the comics industry would be in a very different position.

[dan bailey]

Can't remember exactly when I started buying Famous Monsters, but the cover of #87 looks really familiar. Within 6 months or so, I was subbing, albeit with not-always-dependable results (in keeping, of course, with the Captain Company's dodgy reputation).

[Brian Gravity]

I don't know about the stories, but even the titles make me want to buy! And all for 25c. Or $1.33 in today's money (or 2.85 using UK inflation - the figure I'll use, given that paper costs have risen in real terms).

Imagine getting five complete stories today for 2.85! I think the comics industry would be in a very different position.

Exactly! This is pretty much why I stick to buying classics only. They have become easier to obtain because prices have come way down, and I like the art better and of course the stories are great...plus this particular issue takes like an hour to read. Compare that to the 10 minute jaunts they are putting out today for $3.99 and we have a winner, folks!

[benday-dot]

It turns out I didn't end up picking up as many comics (at the time and over over subsequent years) from this month as I did for the last, but a lot of firsts for me seemed to show up in September 1971...


First romance title (and with one of my favourite covers of the genre): Falling in Love #126

First Incredible Hulk: issue #146

First comic ever picked up at a comic store: Marvel Triple Action #1 (never knew it was a reprint, but didn't care either; I was so excited about finding this at the time. I remember it cost me 3.00)

First Vampirella: Issue #14.

[zilch]

http://www.dcindexes.com/newsstand/r...=1971&month=10

Bump for October...

Action #407
Adventure #413 (Why the heck was i buying Supergirl? Probably just for the reprints...)
Amazing Adventures #10 (from Adams to Sekowsky... what a shock for this 10 year old)
Avengers #95 (Kree-Skrull War, baby!)
Batman #237 (totally kickass Adams!)
FF #118
Flash #211?
Hulk #147
Iron Man #44 (love robots with bandaged faces!)
JLA # 95
Marvel's Greatest Comics #34
Sub-Mariner #45
Superboy #180
Superman #245 (100 pages! Dad has a fit!! Fifty Cents for a comic?)
World's Finest #208 (cool cover and a great story!!)