Forty Years ago this Month

[dan bailey]

My hiatus from buying spinner-rack comics was still firmly in place, but I did bring home Creepy #43, most memorably featuring an early Don McGregor story, "The Men Who Called Him Monster."

[Slam_Bradley]

Still at least 3 1/2 years before I started buying comics for myself.

And I'm not really seeing anything there that I own a floppy of.

Books I know I've read in reprints.

Amazing Spider-Man 105
Avengers 96
Tomb of Dracula 1

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

I've since bought other comics from this month--and read still more in reprints--but the ones I remember buying at the time were Batman 238, Superman 247, Detective Comics 419, and Action Comics 408. All great purchases.

[prince hal]

The DC 100-pagers, as I'm sure has been said about a million times, were the best thing that ever happened to comics during their brief existence.

Aside from the fun they provided for regular readers, they (like the beloved 80-pagers) were a great way for newer readers to immerse themselves in the history of the characters and the company. They also at least suggested, or, more cynically, fooled us, into believing that the publishers cared about the past enough to choose stories with care, and to highlight unique, interesting niches of their universe.

Now it's -- what? -- 22 pages (including four full-page pinups) at four bucks, no letters page, and instead of one, two, or three stories per issue, it's ten issues per story, er, trade paperback.

Pardon me while I dig out a few of those beauties...

[benday-dot]

Well said Prince Hal.

I have a bunch from this month, but besides that 100 Page Spectacular PH extolled I'll just mention from DC:

Superman 247 (one of the first covers of Adam's I recall recognizing as such)

And from Marvel:

Sub-Mariner #46 (I've always loved Subby and this was I believe my initiation into his great 70's title)

Other:

Good old H. R. Pufnstuf

[Shellhead]

I traded a Doc Savage book to my best friend for this issue plus several other silver age Marvel comics that he bought at a garage sale. This deal was done roughly in '77. I miss the days when almost any Marvel villain might end up fighting almost any Marvel hero, but this issue was just mediocre.



I have an uncle who is just 8 years older than me. He had this comic, which I read while visiting once. Back then, I was more of a Sgt. Fury fan, while my uncle was into the very serious Sgt. Rock comics. So I was surprised to see this one in his collection. After reading it, I could see why he got it, for the long and brutal (by silver age Marvel standards) fight scene between Fury and Strucker. The setup for these WWII soldiers to be fighting HTH was a bit contrived, but it was a great issue, overall.

[The Darknight Detective]

That Batman From the '30s to the '70s volume was a major touchstone of my childhood. Getting to see the character's whole history at once probably had a lot to do with Batman becoming my favorite superhero.

Are you talking about Batman #254, JK?

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

He's talking about the hardcover Batman from the 30s to the 70s, which came out in 1971. As did Superman from the 30s to the 70s (apparently there was a later Shazam! from the 40s to the 70s, but I've never seen it).

I also got those two books, back in the early 70s, and they were a great way to learn so much about Batman and Superman. Still two of my favourite reprint books OF ALL TIME!

[The Darknight Detective]

He's talking about the hardcover Batman from the 30s to the 70s, which came out in 1971. As did Superman from the 30s to the 70s (apparently there was a later Shazam! from the 40s to the 70s, but I've never seen it).

I also got those two books, back in the early 70s, and they were a great way to learn so much about Batman and Superman. Still two of my favourite reprint books OF ALL TIME!

I don't remember ever seeing them years ago. I certainly would have saved my pennies if I had known they were around!

[tolworthy]

I'm not a DC guy, but I LOVED that book! The best Superman book ever (acording to this non-expert).

There are several copies on eBay right now.

[OldSchoolfan]

Did anyone notice the new Marvel cover style? The shift due to a certain anniversary? THIS was the book of August 1971! Man, back then a Fantastic Four anniversary meant something. Now I'm lucky if the team's even in their own book.

I don't own much of the original run of FF any more, but this one issue was an issue I had to have back. It's one of Archie Goodwin's best scripts and John Buscema's best work on this title.

Looking through this thread is awesome. I own a lot of the books you guys are showing covers of....

I am surprised not to see January 1971 Superman #133. It was my first ever Superman comic and another that I can't part with now.

[TAG]

Like the phoenix, this thread is reborn anew to live again. In the future I’ll try to be more diligent in keeping it alive.
Mike's Amazing World http://www.dcindexes.com/timemachine...alpha&site=all

From March 1972...I remember hunting for this Barry Windsor-Smith in the 80’s. It was expense even for back then. Although I like to get my books in at least VF condition, I only managed to buy a copy in good.


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...

[Scott Harris]

My pick has to be Avengers #100 as well. My favorite title, with some truly amazing artwork inside. Not really my favorite story, but man, you could look at that BWS art for days and days and never get tired of it.




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:





Comics I own from this month:

Adventure Comics #419
Avengers #100
Captain America #150
Combat Kelly #1
Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #5
Our Fighting Forces #137
Lois Lane #122
Thor #200
Wonder Woman #200
Young Love #95

It's interesting how many big anniversary issues were this month. I always loved how Avengers, Cap and Thor shared anniversary issues at 50 issue intervals, but I didn't realize Wonder Woman (#200) and Rawhide Kid (#100) were on the same schedule, at least temporarily. Sub-Mariner #50 also came out this month as well, while Sgt. Fury was at #99 and just missed the party.

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

Although I've bought many many issues from this month subsequently, the two I best remember buying at the time were Batman 241 and Justice League of America 98--both stand out issues.

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. The cover was also stunning because it was the first to feature the new Batman logo--my third favourite Batman logo and a throw back to the best logo, the classic one.

Indeed there was a feeling of classic Batman in the book. The lead story was your basic procedural drama with Batman. The kind of thing I liked about this Batman era. The Robin back-up featured Lilith from the Teen Titans. And the golden age classic for this issue was one of the greatest Batman stories of all history--"The Case of the Honest Crook"--really stirring stuff--and clear evidence why it was a "golden age."

Other people bow down in loyalty to other issues of Batman from this era, but in my mind this was one of the greatest issues I ever bought.

But Justice League of America 98 was even more anticipated and a cause for celebration. This was the third story in the Starbreaker trilogy. I had never read the Galactus trilogy, so for me this trilogy ranks as one of the greatest epics I had read up to that point. Issue 96 had set up Starbreaker, 97 was a long stretch (flashing back to the JLA's origins), and finally the big battle for the solar system came to a head in 98, with Sargon the Sorcerer coming to the defense of the Earth (after having flirted with villainy in The Flash).

The golden age classics in that issue were a Sargon story (of course) and a Starman story.

[Slam_Bradley]

I think the only one I own is World's Finest #211. I know that we had New Terrytoons #16 when I was a kid. I remember that cover.

I've read

Amazing Spider-Man 109
Avengers 100
Hero For Hire 1
Incredible Hulk 152
Narvel Spotlight 4