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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 7, 2018 15:35:10 GMT -5
March 1968Now we’re getting into my wheelhouse. The two newsstands I passed on my walk from the high school to Public Service Bus #29 got comics twice a week, and – talk about luck – they never carried all of the same titles. Add them to the six or so candy stores back home and I was in comic book heaven at last, stocking up on loads and loads of comics. Basically, I bought every DC and Marvel I saw on the stands and a few Gold Keys ( Boris Karloff and Ripley’s Believe It or Not) and Charltons (Westerns and The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves) here and there. Boris Karloff 22 Spider-Man 61 Avengers 52 Captain Marvel 2 Fantastic Four 75 Hulk 104 X-Men 44 (Angel) Action 363 Adventure 368 Batman 201 Beware the Creeper 1 Bomba 5 Detective 375 Doom Patrol 119 JLA 62 Our Fighting Forces 113 Showcase 74 (Anthro) Spectre 4 Superboy 147 (Legion Annual) Teen Titans 15 Tomahawk 116 Wonder Woman 176 World’s Finest 175 23 comics. Twelve cents a pop for 22 of them. One annual for a quarter. $3.01. Yikes! The hourly minimum wage in 1968 was $1.60. (It had just gone up from $1.40.) That’s $11.42 an hour, adjusted for inflation,. In 1968, those 23 comics would have cost me two hours’ work, with 19 cents left over. (I wasn’t yet working at a job. Only 13 in March of ’68.) I no longer buy comics, but I’m curious. How many could you buy for $22.84 today? (Actually, because the buying power of $1.60 in 1968 equals $11.64 today, so I’ll give you a little bigger budget: $23.28!) No way it would be 23, would it? I was lucky to have lived when I did. Here are the comics I remember particularly fondly from March 1968:        
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2018 15:38:15 GMT -5
At current prices of $2.99 to $3.99 for new comics, it would be 5-7 comics for your $22.84 (not accounting for local sales taxes)
-M
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Post by Farrar on Mar 7, 2018 15:58:37 GMT -5
Just curious, Prince Hal, on average how many comics would you buy at a time? For me, given that I still didn't have a steady stream of income (apart from leftover lunch money and grandparents' largesse) I could only buy one comic at a time in '68. It was very piecemeal and very hit or miss. But I can still picture when I bought that March 1968 Lois #83 comic and where it was situated in the wall rack in the very small, very cramped candy store just across the street from where we lived. (This particular candy store was what we neighborhood kids the "egg cream" place because well, you guessed it, they had the best egg creams here!) Anyway, at the time the bulk of my comic book reading was still done while visiting my cousins and digging into their large collection of DCs--I considered myself lucky whenever I had the spare change to pick up a comic for my very own. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 7, 2018 16:26:41 GMT -5
Just curious, Prince Hal , on average how many comics would you buy at a time? For me, given that I still didn't have a steady stream of income (apart from leftover lunch money and grandparents' largesse) I could only buy one comic at a time in '68. It was very piecemeal and very hit or miss. But I can still picture when I bought that March 1968 Lois #83 comic and where it was situated in the wall rack in the very small, very cramped candy store just across the street from where we lived. (This particular candy store was what we neighborhood kids the "egg cream" place because well, you guessed it, they had the best egg creams here!) Anyway, at the time the bulk of my comic book reading was still done while visiting my cousins and digging into their large collection of DCs--I considered myself lucky whenever I had the spare change to pick up a comic for my very own. Oh, I know that feeling of knowing just where I saw a comic when I bought it! Why so vivid when i can't always remember names of people I just met a few days ago!? See, in '68, I was a freshman in high school, so I had an extra buck or two in my pocket. By this time, I had made it into the "disposable income" category. I'd skip buying a soda at lunch, which would mean an extra 20 or 25 cents a day. Made for thirsty afternoons, but those extra two comics made up for it. I also would buy a book of student bus tickets at 15 cents per ride, instead of 18, and sneak off the bus hoping the driver wouldn't notice I had gone into the next zone. That meant 60 extra cents. Add that to the dollar my grandmother or uncle would slip me once or twice a month, toss in the "emergency" dollar in my wallet and I did pretty well most months. (My mom was good about replacing that dollar if I said I'd used it when she'd ask if I needed it.) I remember June 1968 so well: long story short (better for Comic Fan's Memories, actually), I twice was given a buck, once by my uncle, once (in four shiny quarters) by my rarely seen grandfather. I went to the store immedaitely and bought eight comics each time. JACKPOT! Until I got to college, I think they would have been my biggest one-time hauls. Usually it was at most, three or four at a time. Off topic: Isn't it funny how kids name stuff? Knowing you're from the "Greater New York metropolitan area," as they used to say, you might understand why my brother-in-law, who grew up around the corner from me, called Channel 5 (WNEW) the "dark station." It just always looked to him as if it were broadcast from a basement somewhere. When we met, a few years after we were kids, he mentioned this ot me, and I nearly fell over laughing, because it perfectly captured the look of Channel 5 as I had seen it as a kid. We still recall it that way. |
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Post by brutalis on Mar 7, 2018 16:47:54 GMT -5
I am right there a few years later in the mid 70's doing exactly like you Prince Hal and Farrar are talking about. Holding onto change whenever possible to accumulate enough for several comics. Earning those special occasion silver dollars from the grandparents and rushing off to spend it. Being given money for hot lunches while in Junior High and throughout High school and choosing to sneak snacks from home like a sandwich or apple or orange for lunch and using that $1.00 meal money each day for comics instead. To be creative and search out way as a youth unable to work a real job yet but every summer mowing and raking yards for all the neighbors that would participate. Collecting cans and bottles to turn in for change. I would use my bicycle to ride the 10 miles down the road to the nearest real grocery store with a shopping list of goods for neighbors/families instead of using the 2 cheap/cruddy Korean stores we had. It was incredible to spend your 1 dollar bill and manage to get 3-4 comics and/or candy/soda and be in heaven for the rest of the day or night. Nothing today ever compares to those times and memories of the beginnings of collecting comic books... |
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 2, 2018 9:11:24 GMT -5
April 1968MarvelSpider-Man 62 Avengers 53 Cap 103 Captain Marvel 3 Doctor Strange 170 Hulk 105 Sgt. Fury 55 Sub-Mariner 3 X-Men 45 (Cyclops) DCAction 364 Adventure 369 Atom 37 Batman 202 Brave and the Bold78 Challengers 62 Detective 376 Flash 180 GI Combat 130 Green Lantern 61 Hawkman 26 JLA 63 Metal Men 32 Secret Six 2 Showcase 75 Star Spangled War Stories 139 (Enemy Ace) Sugar and Spike 77 Superboy 148 Superman 207 (Annual) Tales of the Unexpected 107 World’s Finest 176 Gold Key
Korak 23 Tarzan 176 My special favorites from that month:             My memories of April 1968 are less of comic books, however, than of one particular day that remains scratched deeply into my memory and that was one of the first steps on my path to a new and different world. More on that very soon in the Comic Fan's Memories thread.
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Post by brutalis on Apr 2, 2018 13:55:26 GMT -5
Continuing with adding to my collection from April 1968: Avengers #53. Watta Buscema cover! Captain Marvel #3. Eerie intergalactic Colan goodness! Fantastic Four #76. Classic Kirby all the way. Hawkman #26. Very attention grabbing cover of Katar! Ahh if only 6 year old me could be buying comics! Such great stuff to be gotten  |
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Post by berkley on Apr 5, 2018 1:30:54 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #76 is the only one I'm sure I read from this month back in the day, still very early in my comics-reading life.
Was that Spectacular Spider-Man #1 an over-sized issue, like magazine or perhaps even bigger? I seem to have a memory of seeing that somewhere.
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Post by Rob Allen on Apr 5, 2018 12:04:21 GMT -5
Was that Spectacular Spider-Man #1 an over-sized issue, like magazine or perhaps even bigger? I seem to have a memory of seeing that somewhere. Yes, it was magazine size, similar to Warren's. The first issue was black & white on the inside; the second was all color. |
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Post by Farrar on Apr 9, 2018 14:59:12 GMT -5
Back in April 1968, here's what I bought off the racks part 1 DC
Adventure Comics #369: From this month onward I was usually able to find a copy of the latest Adventure in one of my neighborhood comic stores. Good thing too because I loved the Legion. In this issue Jack Abel inked Curt Swan and I remember being a bit put off because the art looked so different, as I was used to the Swan-George Klein art team. As many of us probably know now, Klein, along with some other long-time DC freelancers, had asked for benefits, rate increase, etc. and DC management refused. So Klein started to do some work--great work, IMO--for Marvel, mostly with John Buscema (example, Avengers #55, a couple of months off). Secret Six #2: I absolutely loved this series. Lots of characters and interesting characterizations; an ongoing mystery; relatively realistic missions; this series had it all. And look at that Cardy cover! World's Finest #176: Bought this because of Batgirl, who had become one of my favorite characters. Again I must admit I was put off by the Neal Adams art, it was so craggy and blotchy and messy (IMO); I far preferred how the classic Swan-Klein team had handled Batgirl, Supergirl, Superman and Batman back in World's Finest #169 (the first time the Batgirl-Supergirl "team" appeared in WF. The story itself was nothing to write home about. But I have such a strong memory of this comic. I obtained this issue when we kids were visiting my paternal grandmother and as usual, she treated me to a comic--this one. Then she took us to the playground and in between the swings and the seesaw and whatever, I devoured this comic. To this day I still associate this particular WF issue with that playground. (More Batgirl: also on sale in April 1968 was the Brave and Bold #78 which co-starred Batgirl, Batman and Wonder Woman. I bought this issue later on, maybe a year or two later, as a back issue.) |
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Post by Farrar on Apr 9, 2018 18:59:10 GMT -5
part 2 Marvel Bought off the racks back in April 1968 
Fantastic Four #76. As I've admitted, I was not much of a fan of this 4-part story (this was part 3). A lot of busy-looking panels, a lot of blathering about saving the world and everyone blah blah blah. Avengers #53. Back then we always went to my maternal grandmother's house for Easter and that's when I got this comic. While I was glad to finally find an Avengers comic, my heart sank when I saw the cover. Why? Well, the last time I had seen an Avengers comic--#50 to be precise--the corner box had looked like this:  But now, on #53 I saw this   OMG! My worst fears had come true--Wanda and Pietro were gone! There was some other dude on the cover, someone I didn't recognize. When I got over my shock and actually read the story I saw it was a new guy named T'Challa who had apparently joined the Avengers the issue before (#52, which I didn't have at the time). At the end of the story Wanda and Pietro went off into the wild blue yonder with the Toad. I was so disappointed and angry, as W & P were the chief reasons I had started reading the dang book in the first place. Also, the story in Avengers #53 was directly continued from X-Men #45 (also on sale in April 1968). I know at some point I had X #45, but I know I hadn't read it prior to the Avengers issue. So I must have picked up X-Men #45 some time after Avengers #53.  For me, it was just another less than captivating X-Men issue (great Buscema cover though). As was the case last month when the Angel was featured, the lead story again focused on one protagoinist, in this case Cyclops, never a favorite character of mine. So, overall a pretty disappointing month for me Marvel-wise. Postscript: A year or two later when I started buying back issues, I was able to buy the Medusa-showcase comics that had been on sale in April 1968 -- namely Marvel Super-Heroes #15 (loved the Colan-Colletta art on the Medusa story!) and Amazing Spider-Man #62. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2018 19:42:22 GMT -5
Avengers #53. Back then we always went to my maternal grandmother's house for Easter and that's when I got this comic. While I was glad to finally find an Avengers comic, my heart sank when I saw the cover. Why? Well, the last time I had seen an Avengers comic--#50 to be precise--the corner box had looked like this: But now, on #53 I saw this OMG! My worst fears had come true--Wanda and Pietro were gone! There was some other dude on the cover, someone I didn't recognize. When I got over my shock and actually read the story I saw it was a new guy named T'Challa who had apparently joined the Avengers the issue before (#52, which I didn't have at the time). At the end of the story Wanda and Pietro went off into the wild blue yonder with the Toad. I was so disappointed and angry, as W & P were the chief reasons I had started reading the dang book in the first place. I felt the same way, when Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver left - my heart sank to new low and I really feel that they did a huge injustice for not having them on the team. That's when I stopped reading the Avengers when #53 rolled around. It's took me several years before I started reading Avengers again and I can't recall when I did and that's the sad part of it. I read about 80 percent or more of all the Avengers issues from #1 to #53. That's pretty sums up my understanding of Wanda and Pietro appearances in the Avengers. |
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Post by Farrar on Apr 9, 2018 20:48:38 GMT -5
^^^ They were back on the team in a couple of years, with #75  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2018 1:56:34 GMT -5
^^^ Thanks for the tip ... Farrar !!! |
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Post by Farrar on May 2, 2018 14:47:33 GMT -5
On sale in May 1968
The only DC I bought off the racks in May 1968:  Adventure #370. My beloved Legion, he second part of a two issue story, and with guest-stars Lana Lang and Pete Ross. I was still trying to get used to Jack Abel's fine line inking of Curt Swan. IMO Abel's inks did not impart any sort of weight or feeling of 3-D to the pencils. Also, this was the first time I'd ever come across Pete Ross. I'd never read any previous stories with him or even seen that famous panel of him discovering Superboy's identity. To me he looked like a more handsome version of Jimmy Olsen. Here are Pete and Lana in Adventure #370, Pete's hair was (miscolored) brown in this issue. 
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