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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 1, 2016 21:12:43 GMT -5
In December 1976 I bought:
2001, a Space Odyssey #4: I was a big fanatic for the film, so I was eager to see what Kirby would do to continue the story. What he did was...unexpected...and not entirely satisfying to me at the time, but I love it now.
Adventure Comics #450: Aparo drawing Aquaman was an easy sell, but this run was probably the best Aquaman had been. I was very wrapped up in the ongoing continuity. It was fun to see a Martian Manhunter solo story, too.
All-Star Comics #65: Earth 2, JSA, another easy sell. Wally Wood brings Vandal Savage to the page? Terrific!
Black Panther #2: I had passed on the MacGregor Panther series, so I was able to enjoy this, but I didn't stick with it.
Champions #12: I was a sucker for new superhero teams, and I enjoyed this one, bought every issue.
DC Super Stars #13: I didn't usually buy humor comics, but I know I picked this one up. I think this was the first time that DC used a creator's name (Sergio Aragones) as a feature title!
Defenders #45: I never missed an issue of this.
Doc Savage #7: Marvel's B&W magazine was the closest thing to the pulps. Doug Moench was on his way to becoming one of the writers I could count on to enjoy.
Eternals #9: I was fascinated by Kirby's update on mythology, and the whole "Ancient Astronauts" craze.
Freedom Fighters #7: In hindsight, this was such a lousy idea for a team, but I bought 'em all.
Howard The Duck #10: And I bought all of these, even though I started getting tired of it. I never really liked Gene Colan on this.
JLA #140: These Giant issues, with Englehart scripts were astonishing! Best JLA yet!
Kobra #7: I was sticking with most of the new series that I had been able to see from the beginning. Kobra was inconsistent, but I liked it.
Logan's Run #3: In the days before video, it was fun to have a "copy" of one of my favorite movies.
Marvel Team-Up #55: I was no longer buying this routinely, but it co-starred Adam Warlock, so I picked up this issue.
Omega the Unknown #7: Another one I'd been with since #1.
Planet of the Apes #29: I was an Apes fanatic. No way I was gonna miss an issue.
Rampaging Hulk #1: I loved everything about this: the concept (set in the days between the Hulk's original 6-issue run and his Tales to Astonish series), the writing (Moench again) and the amazing Simonson/Alcala art. Well, maybe not *everything*, since the Bloodstone backup didn't really appeal to me, but I didn't care, I loved the main feature enough to make this worth every penny!
Secret Society of Super-Villains #6: Once again, I'm hanging on to one of the series I was able to follow from the first. It never lived up to my expectations, but I stuck with it.
-------------------------- Ernie Chan's gone from the DC covers now. But Earl Norem's paints over Ernie's drawing for Savage Sword of Conan #17 makes for a pretty impressive piece of art, and his cover for Rawhide Kid #138 almost looks like a crossover with Jonah Hex! -------------------------- Comic of the Month: Rampaging Hulk #1, for sure! Cover of the Month: Frazetta's Eerie #81, with a giant blonde playing the Kong role on the Empire State Building! Comic I Wish I Had But Don't: G.I. Combat #200 would be nice, with a 3-way crossover between some of DC's biggest war series: Haunted Tank, Sgt. Rock, and the Losers, drawn by Sam Glanzman.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 2, 2016 0:27:09 GMT -5
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 2, 2016 10:56:05 GMT -5
December 1976 My interests were waning around this time. While I still loved comics, I was no longer just buying everything, because many characters and stories were just the same-old, same-old. But hey, I’d been reading comics for 14 years by then, which meant that according to Mort Weisinger’s theory, I had overstayed my welcome by about nine years! At Marvel what intrigued me were Howard the Duck, for Gerber’s spot-on satire, Master of Kung Fu, which outclassed any of the hero titles in style and substance, and Omega, because it was just so different from other titles. MOKF in particular, was in the midst of a great stretch this month, the culmination of a several-issue saga that I recall as just about the best the title ever had to offer. Dc was mired in bleakness, but there were glimmerings of light. All-Star (thank you, Wally Wood) made my Silver Age heart happy; Englehart’s JLA, despite the lousy cover, was an unexpected gift; and Scalphunter (nice cover) and Jonah Hex, though they didn’t blaze new trails, were always enjoyable to read (there’s something to be said for reliable craftsmanship). ![](http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/0/00/Weird_Western_Tales_v.1_39.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/270?cb=20060519145556) I was glad that Aquaman and Aparo were getting yet another shot in Adventure, and continued to buy Batman and the Legion out of hope and loyalty. That’s why I bought Detective, too, which as of this issue was reduced from monthly status to eight issues yearly, quite a comedown for a flagship title. However, over the previous couple of months, hidden beneath a succession of generic Chua/Chan covers, something interesting had been happening. In its back pages, an actual continued story involving different heroes had been unraveling courtesy Bob Rozakis. It wasn’t all that great, though it did evoke at least a wisp of a memory of the story of Zatanna’s search for her father that wound its way through several Schwartz-edited titles in the mid-60s. It was a shot at something a little different. Anyway it culminated in Detective 468 in a showdown with the villain, the Calculator. (Talk about dated!) I don’t recall it as a great story, but it was far more colorful than anything that had been going on recently in Detective, thanks in part to the rough but decideldy refreshing artwork by some guy named Marshall Rogers. That issue provided a flicker of hope that maybe something good could happen at DC. ![](http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/f/f0/Detective_Comics_468.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080223133615) Little did I know that, like JLA, Detective was also falling into Engelhart’s (and eventually Rogers') hands. I can’t tell you how invigorating the next few months of those titles would be, especially since in those days, you never knew too much about what was going on behind the scenes and therefore had no reason to expect that naything new or exciting was on the horizon. Both titles would provide a respite – unfortunately for us, only a respite -- from the dullness of DC in the late 70s. PS: Check out the Rawhide Kid reprint cover and compare it to the original. Who is that grey-clad wide-brimmed-hat-wearing angry man? (Love the "muh" in his word balloon, too!) Think Marvel knew that Jonah Hex was a bit of a hit? ![](http://static2.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/0/4/67411-2023-100408-1-rawhide-kid.jpg)
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zilch
Full Member
Posts: 244
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Post by zilch on Dec 4, 2016 19:30:54 GMT -5
Next year i get to start posting on the 50 Years Ago This Month Thread (Yah?)
but for now...
All-Star Comics #65 (Wood art!) Avengers #157* Captain Marvel #49 (lotta Austin in this... but still not up to Starlin) Champions #12* Defenders #45* (more weirdness) Logan's Run #3 (an unusual Perez/Jansen pairing**) Marvel Triple Action #39 (and i got the original soon after this!) Nova #7 Omega the Unknown #7
* subscriptions ** and i'm surprised that after 40 years i remember this...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2017 2:23:00 GMT -5
Let's set the way back machine for... January 1977 and see what I bought off the stands... Avengers 158-Vision vs. Wonder Man back before hero fights became meh to me Captain America #208-giant Kirby lobster monsters, loved it Invaders 15 loved that cover but yet again hero fights before they became a dime a dozen for me lots more since then but those are the books that fueled my love for comics as a kid at the start of '77. -M
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,512
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Post by shaxper on Jan 1, 2017 2:30:24 GMT -5
Surprising how few of these I've ever gotten around to reading, as I own most of these because they are part of larger runs I am still working through. *indicates an issue I've read.
2001, a Space Odyssey #5* Avengers #158 Batman #286 Defenders #46 Eternals #10* Howard the Duck #11 Logan's Run #4 Marvel Spotlight #33 Master of Kung Fu #51 Rampaging Hulk #2 Teen Titans #47* X-Men #104*
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 1, 2017 13:20:13 GMT -5
Bought off the spinner racks at the time
Amazing Spider-Man 167
Avengers 158
Fantastic Four 181
Incredible Hulk 210
Marvel Tales 78
Warlord 6
Very heavy Marvel week for the time period.
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zilch
Full Member
Posts: 244
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Post by zilch on Jan 1, 2017 17:17:49 GMT -5
Avengers #158* Defenders #46* Inhumans #10* Invaders #15* Kamandi #50 Logan's Run #4 Marvel Presents #10* Metal Men #51 Rampaging Hulk #2 (B&W original X-Men!!!) Super-Team Family #10 (New Challengers and Doom Patrol reprints!!) What If? #2 (one of my favs in the series!!) X-Men #104* (this cover looks very familiar... hmmmm....)
*subscriptions
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 1, 2017 18:53:57 GMT -5
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Post by Bronze age andy on Jan 2, 2017 11:39:47 GMT -5
Daredevil 144 Defenders 46 Doctor Strange 22 Incredible Hulk 210 Iron Man 97 Marvel Premiere 35 (3D Man) Marvel Presents 10 Marvel Two in One 26 (with Nick Fury) Metal Men 51 Power Man 42 Super Team Family 10 Thor 258
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 2, 2017 14:32:09 GMT -5
I'm not going to list them all because it's A LOT. But I went through the list and counted 29 comics from the list that I read at the time. I counted one comic (Batman #286) that I bought at a used-book store a few months later, and two comics (Ghost Rider and Flash) that my brother bought. But every other comic I purchased brand new off a spinner rack the day it came out.
I have no idea when I found the time to sit around and read so much Edgar Rice Burroughs and Michael Moorcock and John Norman's Gor books.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 2, 2017 14:39:21 GMT -5
December 1976 ... PS: Check out the Rawhide Kid reprint cover and compare it to the original. Who is that grey-clad wide-brimmed-hat-wearing angry man? (Love the "muh" in his word balloon, too!) Think Marvel knew that Jonah Hex was a bit of a hit? ![](http://static2.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/0/4/67411-2023-100408-1-rawhide-kid.jpg) It seems really strange to me that Rawhide Kid (and I noticed Kid Colt on the list as well) was still around in late 1976, when I had been collecting comics for a year and a half. Even as reprint comics, it still seems strange to me. I don't ever remember noticing them at the newsstands. I guess the 1960s Marvel super-hero comics were popular enough to have their own comics. I bought a lot of them. So maybe it's not too surprising the Western reprints were still around. The monster comics reprints (Where Creatures Roam, Where Monsters Dwell) were gone by then though.
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Post by MWGallaher on Jan 3, 2017 14:49:46 GMT -5
Let's see what I bought off the stands in January, 1977...
2001: A Space Odyssey #5 I was getting a little leery of this now that Jack Kirby's formula for this comic was starting to become apparent. It wasn't what I'd been expecting, but I hung in there and enjoyed it anyway. Brave and the Bold #133 I loved Aparo, Deadman, and B&B. I used to have a page of original art from this issue. My only B&B page... Eternals #10 I really loved this series at the time, but the decades have dimmed my appreciation. I never understood why Marvel kept mining this series, putting its cast members into prominent roles in places like the Avengers. It's like they thought "This is Kirby, these must be terrific characters!" Hercules Unbound #10 I loved this at the time. I've recently reread it for the 3rd time and now I'm much more struck with the potential than with the execution. At the core is a pretty nifty concept: after atomic war devastates the earth, the gods of myth return to take control. Howard the Duck #11 I never really warmed to Gene Colan's work on this title. Conceptually, it seems like a perfect fit, since Colan was so good at depicting the "real world," but something felt off when Colan was drawing humorous scenes. Inhumans #10 I loved team books, and I kept trying to love this. Logan's Run #4 I loved the movie, and since we didn't have videotapes back then, this was a good way to preserve it. Metal Men #51 I'd enjoyed the Metal Men reprints and their appearances in B&B, but didn't really appreciate Joe Staton's art on this. It was cool to see Eclipso here, too. Plastic Man #17 I really thought this series was going to be better than it turned out. Teen Titans #47 I'd been in on the tail end of the Titans' previous run, which was now being resumed and continued. Although I bought them all, this was rough stuff, with inconsistent art teams featuring many of DC's most modest artistic talents. Green Lantern/Green Arrow #94 I liked Mike Grell's art at the time. Now I wonder why I wasn't more bothered by deficiencies that seem glaring to me today. JLA #141 These giant-sized issues written by Steve Englehart felt far more consequential than JLA had been in years. Many of the members were being better served here than in their own comics. Marvel Premiere #35 The 3-D Man was an appealing concept, so this hooked me. Marvel Presents #10 I had somehow obtained the debut appearance of the Guardians of the Galaxy, so I had a fondness for this series. Marvel Preview #9 This featured "Man-God", Roy Thomas' adaptation of Philip Wylie's novel "Gladiator". Turns out this legendary novel, supposedly inspiration for Superman and Doc Savage, was a bit of a snoozer, judging by this. I didn't much like Tony DeZuniga's art, either. Super-Team Family #10 I didn't really like the Challengers, but I bought this in support of more team-up comics. Super-Villain Team-Up #11 Red Skull instead of Sub-Mariner as Dr. Doom's co-star? It seemed like maybe this was going to turn into a "proper" team-up book with rotating guest stars, a la Brave & Bold, the Platonic ideal of the team-up comic. Tomb of Dracula #55 Never a disappointment. What If #2 I was really excited by this series! I don't remember much about this story, in which the Hulk retains Banner's mind, but it was good enough to keep my enthusiasm for the concept going. X-Men #104 There's a reason this comic became a huge success, and I was feeling it here, still early on in the run.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 4, 2017 10:32:48 GMT -5
December 1976 ... PS: Check out the Rawhide Kid reprint cover and compare it to the original. Who is that grey-clad wide-brimmed-hat-wearing angry man? (Love the "muh" in his word balloon, too!) Think Marvel knew that Jonah Hex was a bit of a hit? ![](http://static2.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/0/4/67411-2023-100408-1-rawhide-kid.jpg) It seems really strange to me that Rawhide Kid (and I noticed Kid Colt on the list as well) was still around in late 1976, when I had been collecting comics for a year and a half. Even as reprint comics, it still seems strange to me. I don't ever remember noticing them at the newsstands. I guess the 1960s Marvel super-hero comics were popular enough to have their own comics. I bought a lot of them. So maybe it's not too surprising the Western reprints were still around. The monster comics reprints (Where Creatures Roam, Where Monsters Dwell) were gone by then though. It was odd, but I'm guessing (and there are posters here who are way more conversant with this than I) that Marvel had to put out X-number of titles a month to maintain newsstand space and just followed trends to fill out available slots. For whatever reason, Jonah Hex had caught on at DC, having just been awarded his own title after a long run in Weird Western. With DC headlining Scalphunter in Weird Western, there were more new cowboy books (2!) on the stands since probably the early 60s. I'm guessing Marvel figured they'd just ride in DC's draft. The Rawhide Kid and other Western reprints were all gussied up with striking new covers in mid-1975 or so, maybe because of the generally striking covers that had adorned Weird Western, especially in its first couple of years. Again, they may have been letting DC test the waters for them and invested in cover art -- which is really very good in almost every case, btw.
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Post by brutalis on Jan 4, 2017 11:17:37 GMT -5
My freshman year in high-school and now having access to 4 Circle-K stores and 3 used bookstores within walking distance from the school and the 2 Korean convenience stores and the 1 Circle-K near my home it was the big time weekly hunt and spending summer job money and skimming from my lunch money to get whatever i could find. All from the stores: 2001 #5. Kirby greatness (or so it seemed at the time to me) in science fiction and fantasy. Amazing Spider-Man #167 Avengers #158: the glory days of Avengers with Perez. And a great issue of "brothers" fighting. Batman #268 DC Special #27: giant size issue and dinosaurs? Had to have it! Defenders #46. Giffen craziness! Eternals #10: more Kirby and one of my favorite series at the time. Fantastic four #181 Ghost Rider #23 Hercules Unbound #10: i was big time into mythology and loved this iteration of Herc. Howard the Duck #11. Gerber and mostly not understood at the time but knew it was something unique. Hulk #210 Inhumans #10 Invaders #15. Was loving the Frank Robbins art, totally different from anything else on the shelves. Iron Fist #12. the 70's and Kung Fu? A must buy. Iron Man #97 Justice League America #141 Logan's Run #4. Again Perez art, and having seen the movie had to get the comic. Marvel Premiere #35 Marvel Presents ##10. Having seen Guardians of Galaxy in MTIO and Defenders their series was must buy for me. Marvel Spotlight #33. Deathlok cyborg sci-fi fun. oh hell yes! Marvel Two in One #26 Master of Kung Fu #51: Again with 70's Kung Fu greatness! Ms. Marvel #4 Nova #8 Spectacular Spider-Man #5 Superboy/LOSH #226 Thor #258 What If #2: these were pure fun and great reads playing off Marvel History! X-Men #104. Cockrum and Claremont in the early days of the all-new? OH yes!
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