Classic comics: Thirty years ago this month

[Jolly Mon]

I was reading the latest on the "40 years ago this month" thread, and it occurred to me that I, and others, didn't have a whole lot to post because we hadn't really started our obsession that long ago. So how about 30 years ago? The Bronze Age still had a few years to go, and there was still some good stuff going on:

The New Teen Titans were still fairly new and dealing with Brother Blood (#22)
The X-Men weren't "new" anymore, but were meeting up with Belasco for the first time (#160)
Moon Knight's 1st run was going strong (#22)
The Legion were starting "The Great Darkness" saga (#290)
John Byrne was on the FF (#245)
The All-Star Squadron was celebrating its 1st anniversary (#12)
Marvel was wrapping up it's first mini, Contest of Champions (#3)

So what are your memories? If you weren't around then, what have you picked up since from May 1982?

[dan bailey]

Thirty years ago this month I was nearly 3 1/2 years into my 25-year hiatus from comics.

Clearly, what's needed here is a "35 years ago this month" thread.

[Jolly Mon]

I also noticed that, now that we are in the Reagan years, there are 9 different Richie Rich comics that came out this month. Coincidence?

[Jolly Mon]

Thirty years ago this month I was nearly 3 1/2 years into my 25-year hiatus from comics.

Clearly, what's needed here is a "35 years ago this month" thread.

Maybe if you squint it will look like "Thirty-ish" years ago? Or you can just give your unique viewpoint on what was wrong with the comics those young whipper-snappers were reading then?

[dan bailey]

Or you can just give your unique viewpoint on what was wrong with the comics those young whipper-snappers were reading then?

An utter lack of Brother Power the Geek, of course.

Even worse (if that's possible), as of the fall of '81 Sgt. Fury was gone from the racks, period. Bad enough that it had been reprint-only for the previous 7 1/2 years.

Ten or so years later, the kids who grew up without these sterling characters were responsible for making *ugh* Rob Liefeld into a superstar.

2+2=4.

[Shellhead]

I was buying a lot of comics 30 years ago. I had steady income from my paper route and babysitting, and I didn't have a car yet. The titles in bold are the only ones that I still own, as I sold a large chunk of my collection back in '91.

Avengers #222: I was a big Avengers fan for 8 years, but I wasn't enjoying the new issues much and instead picked up back issues from time to time. I did buy this issue and regretted it, for the shallow story and boring artwork.

Bizarre Adventures #32: Although I was still a big Thor fan at the time, I don't remember anything about his story in this issue. Instead, I fondly remember an amusing story involving a samurai, a demon, and a drunken little deity.

Daredevil #186: I remember this cover from the Miller run, but don't remember this story. Maybe it was during that brief period when Daredevil was getting sensory overload from his superhuman senses.

Fantastic Four #245: an okay story from the Byrne run.

Iron Man #161: I wasn't enjoying Iron Man much at this point, but I bought this issue because of the Moon Knight guest appearance. I don't remember anything about the story.

Elric: the Dreaming City: I was familiar with P. Craig Russell and enjoyed his work on Killraven, but wasn't sure if I liked his new stylized work in this story. It eventually grew on me and seemed very appropriate for Elric.

Contest of Champions #3: I bought this whole mini-series and enjoyed it at the time, but don't remember much about it now.

Marvel Super Special #22: I loved Blade Runner, so I bought this magazine. The Steranko cover was great, but I vaguely remember that it was an unsatisfying adaptation of the movie.

Master of Kung Fu #115: Everybody remembers the legendary Gulacy run, but I also enjoyed Gene Day's work. Death Dealer was a neat-looking villain.

Moon Knight #22: I was a big fan of Moon Knight back then, so of course I bought this issue. I don't remember this story anymore, and I think that I was struggling to endure the new Sienkiewicz style.

New Teen Titans #22: This was a turning point in my life as a comic book fan. It was the first DC comic that I bought in nearly a decade. A friend had recently loaned me NTT #10-21, and I loved them. So this was my jumping-on point for DC comics.

Spectacular Spider-man #69: Like many people, I was fascinated by Cloak and Dagger back then. I later realized that they were fairly shallow characters that just had a neat look. I don't remember this story.

Power Man and Iron Fist #84: I was losing interest in this comic, even though I loved all the characters. The stories and the artwork were just okay. But I really enjoyed this issue, because it was a fun example of heroes switching opponents to win a fight. It was especially satisfying to see Luke easily beat down Sabretooth, and I wish I still had this issue because I hated the way Claremont pumped up Sabretooth into such a big deal later on.

X-Men #160: I was still buying X-Men, but had already lost interest. I don't remember this issue at all except for the cover.

[Scott Harris]

This is still a couple years before I discovered comic books, but I have acquired a number of these comics in the years since. Here's what I have, used to have and would like to have:

Comics I own from May, 1982:


Action Comics #534
All-Star Squadron #12
Avengers #222
Captain America #272
Ghost Rider #71
Jonah Hex #63
Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1
Contest of champions #3
Rom #33
Sgt. Rock #367
Superman Family #221
Thor #322
X-Men #160
Unknown Soldier #266
Warlord #60
Wonder Woman #294
World's Finest #282

Comics I used to own but no longer do from May, 1982:

Daredevil #186
Dazzler #19
Defenders #110
Doctor Strange #54
Fantastic Four #245
G. I. Joe #2


As far as what I would like to get from this month that i don't yet have, nothing really jumps out. Maybe the Bizarre Adventures #2 for the cool Thor cover.

Comic that means the most to me from this month: Avengers #222, part of the Fall of Yellowjacket epic:

[dan bailey]

As for comics I own from May 1982 --

All-Star Squadron #12
Avengers #222
Dazzler #19
DC Comics Presents #48
Justice League of America #205
Ka-Zar the Savage #18
Legion of Super-Heroes #290
Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1
Marvel Two-in-One #91
Master of Kung Fu #115
New Adventures of Superboy #32
New Teen Titans #22
Night Force #1
Rom #33
Superman Family #221
Tales of the New Teen Titans #3
Unknown Soldier #266
What If #34
Wonder Woman #294

[Venomous Mask]

I was minus four years old then.

[The Confessor]

Turns out that 30 years ago was a landmark month for me! I see from Mike's Marvel Index page that the comics that were on sale in May 1982 were the first proper, colour U.S. comics that I ever bought.

I've spoken many times in this forum about what a pivotal moment this was for me. Up until then, the only comics I'd read were black & white UK reprints of Marvel and DC stuff, so to stumble upon real American comics (in colour!) was a revelation to me. It also marked the moment when I stopped buying UK reprints, in favour of the real McCoy (the exception to that being the UK Marvel Star Wars comic because the U.S. version never seemed to make it over here).

The following issues are books I now own from May 1982. The ones in bold are issues that I actually bought off of the newsagents shelf at the time.



Amazing Spider-Man #231
Captain America #272
Marvel Super Special #22 (Blade Runner adaptation)
Marvel Tales #142 (reprints ASM #5)
Marvel Team-Up #120
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #69
Star Wars #62
Superman #374

[zilch]

Thirty years ago, i had just started dating my Wife (aka She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed) and was drinking my way through getting kicked out of my second college, so...

All-Star Squadron #12 (gah-ROOOV-y!!)
Amazing Spider-Man #231 (Stern n JRJR!!!)
Avengers #222
Captain America #272
Daredevil #186
DC Comics Presents #48 (Whatever Happened to... best backup series ever!!!)
Defenders #110
Doctor Strange #54 (awesome art and story!!!)
Fantastic Four #245 (Byrne!!!!)
Hulk #274
Iron Man #161
Legion of Super-Heroes #290 (Levitz and Giffen!!!)
Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1
Contest of champions #3
Rom #33
Tales of the New Teen Titans #3
X-Men #160
What If... #34 (the Humor issue!!!)

[CaptCleghorn]

Ka-Zar the Savage #18

Awesome, AWESOME book! A gem in a criminally underappreciated series.

"I guess we are going to New York"

[berk]

Master of Kung Fu #115
Legion of Super-heroes #290
Night Force #1
Sage of the Swamp Thing #4


I was reading very few Marvel comics at this point. I'd gotten tired of things like Miller's Daredevil and Thomas's Conan and SSoC, and most of my favourite writers and artists had left or been forced out by Shooter. Some of them went to DC, and I was reading more DC comics than Marvel for the first time in my life. I thought I was reading the Wolfman/Perex Teen Titans around this time as well but don't recognise the cover for this month in 1982, so maybe I didn't pick it until up later on.

MoKF #115 would be my pick for the standout comic this month, with Night Force #1 a very respectable 2nd. The Pasko/Yeates Saga of the ST run was quite good, as I recall it - might have to re-read that one of these days. LoSH I bought mainly for the Giffen artwork and the Darkseid angle. I dropped the series once the Great Darkness story was done. It was one of those things I enjoyed at the time but don't feel much interest in now - something like the Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne X-Men or the first Shooter Avengers run.

[edit:] BTW, I wonder why Mike's site lists magazines like Marvel's Epic and Crazy, but not Heavy Metal or MAD. I wasn't reading MAD at this time myself, but I was picking up the odd issue of HM.

[custodes]

This was after my time but, I still see some classics in there. The Eighties was mediocre for me with a few exceptions. It really goes from the 70s to the 2000s. In between was a good time to hibernate.

[CaptCleghorn]

Looking back, the three in bold are the top of the line. Seriously What If 34? GREAT!

All-Star Squadron #12
Avengers #222
Captain America #272
Daredevil #186
Dazzler #19
Doctor Strange #54
Fantastic Four #245
Ka-Zar the Savage #18
Legion of Super-Heroes #290
Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1
Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #3
Marvel Team-Up #120
Marvel Two-in-One #91
Moon Knight #22
New Teen Titans #22
Night Force #1
Power Man and Iron Fist #84
Uncanny X-Men #160
Warlord #60
What If #34