Forty Years ago this Month

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

I’m going to add to this thread by asking everyone to list the book they’d like to own from this month. My pick would be...
Attachment 89268

I have Wonder Woman 200--and while the interior art by Dick Giordano is lovely--I would have to say the best thing about this issue was the Jeff Jones cover (the following two issues were much better as they featured Catwoman and Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser).

I should also mention I bought Amazing Spider-Man 109 at the time--even though I hadn't been buying Spider-Man--I guess I was attracted by Dr. Strange and I just wanted to check in on webhead and see what he was up to. I didn't understand all the deep continuity in this issue, but it remains one of my favourite Spidey comics in my small collection of Peter Parker comics.

In all honesty the book from this month that I'd like to own, that I don't own yet, is Bobby Sherman no. 3 from Charlton.

[Cherokee Jack]

I’m going to add to this thread by asking everyone to list the book they’d like to own from this month. ...

Since I have, or had, the majority of the DC and Marvel super-hero/war stuff, I'd go with one of their romance comics. Mayne even a Charlton romance comic.

[zilch]

Bumper Crop Month!!!

Astonishing Tales 12
Avengers 100
Batman 241
Captain America 150
Daredevil 88
Famous Monsters of Filmland 90
Fantastic Four 123
Hero For Hire 1
Hulk 152
Iron Man 47
Justice League of America 98
Marvel Spotlight 4 (Werewolf by Night)
Marvel Tales 35
Marvel Triple Action 3
Our Fighting Forces 137
Sub-Mariner 50
Spider-Man 109
Superboy 185 (100 Pg Super-Spec!!)
Superman 251
World's Finest 211
X-Men 76

All the DC here (except for the Superboy Super-Spec) were subscriptions. The Marvel's i bought off the stands... i wouldn't start getting subs for those for a year or so...

And the book i would like to have back would be...

Hero For Hire 1... a great story with great artwork... i think i bought the first 12 or so issues. And i still have the Avengers and JLA.

[MRP]

I was still a few months away from finishing the terrible twos in March of '72, so I wasn't getting comics yet, but I have owned a handful of books listed on the page at Mike's Amazing World.

The standout book for me was Avengers #100. Avengers was my favorite book as a kid, and the first title I collected seriously. #100 was the threshold book for me, I never thought I would own anything earlier than this issue and had only read issues earlier than #100 via reprints in Son of Origins and Marvel Triple Action. So when I bought #100 it was exciting because I had reached the limit of what I thought I could get (little did I know a few months later flush with birthday money and my local store discounting Avengers back issues as their feature title of the month during the month of my birthday that I would splurge and buy Avengers #2 in VF for $90-totally blowing my theory of not ever owning issues pre-100). But it was still memorable for me.

Others I owned included Amazing Spider-Man #109 (I was collecting Dr. Strange appearances), Iron Man #47, Mr. Miracle #8, Phantom Stranger #19 (the Stranger is my favorite character in comics and one of the few series I held on to when I purged my collection during a series of moves about 10 years ago).

the cover to Hair Bear Bunch #3 looks incredibly familiar too, I know I had a bunch of Gold Key comics based on Saturday morning cartoons (I remember having Pink Panther, Speed Buggy, Hair Bear Bunch, and others) before I ever was given super-hero comics, and that may have been one of them, but I can't say for certain.

BTW, cool thread, this was the first I saw of it, it was dormant when I started here in January, so kudos on starting it, it is a cool chance to stroll down memory lane of the experiences I had with comics not just the comics themselves.

-M

[berk]

The only one I think I read at the time was Marvel Spotlight #4 with Werewolf by Night. This must have been about the time I was starting to get out of comics for awhile. I would have read Avengers#100 too if I'd found a copy anywhere, because I had read the previous issue and been impressed by Barry Smith's artwork, but 100 didn't make it to the stands in my town, or if it did I missed it.

[dan bailey]

Comic I would like to own from this month? Hmm. There are a lot of solid picks, but I guess I would have to go with Hero for Hire #1:

One of the relative handful of comics I actually bought between the dark period of mid-to-late 1970 & late '73, as it happens.

[Jolly Mon]

This was a couple of years before my "official" start of collecting (World's Finest 221), but I recently aquired Superboy 185 100 page Super-Spectacular from Ebay. Looking around at the DC Index site, I might want to start finding the Superman team up issues from World's Finest (starting in #198 through #214) Anyone have any memories of them? Were they any good?

[Cei-U!]

This was a couple of years before my "official" start of collecting (World's Finest 221), but I recently aquired Superboy 185 100 page Super-Spectacular from Ebay. Looking around at the DC Index site, I might want to start finding the Superman team up issues from World's Finest (starting in #198 through #214) Anyone have any memories of them? Were they any good?

They're not half bad, though some may feel a trifle dated, with the same basic look and feel of the later DC Comics Presents title. I like the Flash, Wonder Woman, Dr. Fate and Martian Manhunter issues best. All feature art by Dick Dillin at the very top of his form, if that's any additional incentive.

Cei-U!
I gots the team-up fevah!

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

I bought some but not all of the Superman team-up issues in WF. The one for this month was one I missed, but I've also been trying to fill in the missing issues now. Julie Schwartz took over both the Superman title and World's Finest (later he and Action Comics editor Murray Boltinoff would swap titles). So this book feels like the Superman book in some senses--and it also feels like Justice League, with Dick Dillin and Joe Giella doing artwork on both. Given that cross continuity was limited at DC in those days, there's a fair amount of bleed through of plots. You've got the Flash-Superman race (the third one) in 198-199, Superman retiring his robots (because of pollution) in 202, Green Arrow continuing his political aspirations (from GL 87) in 210, and Martian Manhunter establishing New Mars with his people in 212.

[Jolly Mon]

They're not half bad, though some may feel a trifle dated, with the same basic look and feel of the later DC Comics Presents title. I like the Flash, Wonder Woman, Dr. Fate and Martian Manhunter issues best. All feature art by Dick Dillin at the very top of his form, if that's any additional incentive.

Cei-U!
I gots the team-up fevah!

Dick Dillin at his best is definitely an incentive. And it looked like some of the covers were Neal Adams, and even some Nick Cardy, so those are pluses too.

[TAG]

The Batman comic features that amazing Neal Adams art on the cover--as was explained in a letter page, Adams had been drawing this as a piece of art for a fan, but when the folks in the DC offices saw it, they had to make it a cover.

I enjoy hearing about the behind the scenes stories like these. It brings new life to the comic book. Thanks.

The standout book for me was Avengers #100. Avengers was my favorite book as a kid, and the first title I collected seriously. #100 was the threshold book for me, I never thought I would own anything earlier than this issue and had only read issues earlier than #100 via reprints in Son of Origins and Marvel Triple Action. So when I bought #100 it was exciting because I had reached the limit of what I thought I could get (little did I know a few months later flush with birthday money and my local store discounting Avengers back issues as their feature title of the month during the month of my birthday that I would splurge and buy Avengers #2 in VF for $90-totally blowing my theory of not ever owning issues pre-100). But it was still memorable for me.
Others I owned included Amazing Spider-Man #109 (I was collecting Dr. Strange appearances), Iron Man #47, Mr. Miracle #8, Phantom Stranger #19 (the Stranger is my favorite character in comics and one of the few series I held on to when I purged my collection during a series of moves about 10 years ago).
BTW, cool thread, this was the first I saw of it, it was dormant when I started here in January, so kudos on starting it, it is a cool chance to stroll down memory lane of the experiences I had with comics not just the comics themselves. -M

A few people have mentioned the Luke Cage #1 book. For those of us who have been reading for awhile, we realize that for years the book was not worth much. However, Luke Cage’s recent popularity in the Avengers has turned the character into a hot commodity. Ebay has the book in high grade going for around $70.00. Nice George Tuska art.

The Avengers #2 in VF! I would love to own such a copy. The Iron Man #47, X-Men 76 #, Fantastic Four # 123, and quite possibly JLA #98, are all books that are bitter sweet to see the covers of, as these were but a few of the comics in the collection that I sold to help pay for my undergraduate degree.

One of the many great things about the Classics forum is the ability to reminisce with kindred souls about comic related stories from our youth.

[MRP]

Well I bought the Avengers #2 when I was a junior in high school (circa spring/summer of '86 just before I started senior year), but ended up selling it and a few others when I finished grad school in '96 to pay off a student loan. I had the first 20 issues of Avengers except the 2 major keys (1 and 4) all in F or better and sold them as a set to another collector to pay off the student loans that were crippling me-so I certainly understand the bittersweet nature of your seeing covers of books you sold off to pay for college. I did splurge with some of the money and bought the first 2 volumes of Avengers Masterworks so I could still read the issues. That $90 though still stands as the most I ever paid for a comic.
-M

[TAG]

At one point, long before the Claremont days, I was a huge X-Men fan. The X-Men were only coming out in reprints, but I was buying the early issues for less than a dollar. Those early comics gave me a sense of wonder, as I loved and bought into the whole classic phrase "sworn to protect a world that hates and fears us." After that I hunted down anything that had five original members in it.


Although I’m really starting to appreciate Gold Key covers.

[Scott Harris]

Comics I own that hit the newsstand in April, 1972:

Adventure Comics #420
Avengers #101
Captain America #151
Conan the Barbarian #16
Marvel Feature #4
Marvel Premiere #3
Secrets of Sinister House #5
Sgt. Fury #100
Star Spangled War Stories #163
Lois Lane #123
Thor #201
Weird Western #12

There are also at least two comics from this month that I used to own but no longer have, Iron Man #48 and Marvel Team-Up #3.

A lot of good comics, but my pick for the comic that means to most to me from this batch has to be Sgt. Fury #100, one of the coolest anniversary issues around. The Howlers have a reunion in 1972, emceed by Stan Lee himself. But when a sniper attacks, the Howlers have to leap into action one more time for a high speed chase through the heart of New York City. This issue has maybe the coolest artwork in the entire series (except for #67), plus a great cover by Gil Kane:




As far as which comic I don't own from this month that I would like to own, it's not really a great month in my opinion, so this is an easy call: Superman #252 with the classic Neal Adams cover:

[Scott Harris]

By the way, next month has some fantastic stuff, first issues, first appearances and classic covers. It's going to be a real toughie.