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Post by Farrar on Dec 14, 2018 17:43:10 GMT -5
December and DC: these were the only two I bought off the stands:  Adventure #377: As Prince Hal said in his post, this was a pedestrian issue. Silly (if amusing) cover and even sillier story. Detective #384: Apart from some of the LSH characters, Batgirl was my favorite DC character so I was ecstatic when she received her own feature in Detective! The story, titled "Tall, Dark, Handsome and Missing" was kind of silly (but not as silly as that Legion story) but I really didn't mind because I was so glad that Batgirl had her own series. In the story Barbara Gordon wants a guy she sees every week in the library to notice here so she gets a makeover: gets rid of her glasses, switches her hairstyle from demure side buns (she had the Princess Leia coiffure before Leia did  ) to a long swingin' '60s hairstyle, wears less dowdy clothing, etc. Then the guy doesn't show up, so she goes to his apartment, which of course leads her right into a crime mystery. Love the Gil Kane-Murphy Anderson art.  OT: about a year or so later, someone at Marvel would get a makeover and would adopt a long red hairstyle too. Always thought Babs and 'Tasha could have been sisters   |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2018 23:39:04 GMT -5
December and DC: these were the only two I bought off the stands: OT: about a year or so later, someone at Marvel would get a makeover and would adopt a long red hairstyle too. Always thought Babs and 'Tasha could have been sisters Good observations about the Black Widow and Batgirl being sisters ... pretty uncanny resemblance here. |
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Post by Farrar on Jan 5, 2019 16:13:28 GMT -5
A new year! So we're up to January 1969: Here's what I bought off the stands for Marvel that month: 
Fantastic Four #85: Second part of what would be a story that would span 4 issues. As I have mentioned I wasn't very interested in this story about the FF in Latveria. Ho hum. I preferred the FF when there was lots of personal interaction, as I'd seen back in my first FF issue #68. Nondescript cover; boring issue. X-Men #54: The first appearance of Alex Summers. Since I wasn't a long-time reader of this comic the fact that Alex was graduating college and was Cyke's younger brother didn't bother me; in subsequent letter columns readers wrote wrote in about the age issue (the X-Men were supposed to be teenagers. It's funny, but when I was first reading their series they never struck me as being teenagers, at least not in the way Johnny Storm did. The X-Men always seemed like fully-grown adults to me). The interior art by Heck, Roth and Colletta, was pretty. Ordinary cover (by Barry Smith); boring issue. Marvel Collectors' Item Classics #20: After a disappointing FF comic and an equally disappointing X-Men comic, my faith was restored when I picked up MCIC #20, the lead story of which featured--you guessed it--the FF and the X-Men This issue contained a reprint from FF #28. I loved seeing the teams interact; this story almost made up for the teams' (IMO) lackluster contemporary issues. The Kirby-Chic Stone art was perfect. Later on I would buy actual back issues and the Kirby-Stone FF issues would be among my most treasured comics. MCIC #20 also included an Iron Man reprint that featured the Black Widow and Hawkeye, from Tales of Suspense #60. Since Natasha was seemingly gone from the the Avengers comic, I enjoyed seeing her here. And btw, you'll notice I didn't buy an Avengers comic this month (or last month). Yep, couldn't find it at my neighborhood candy stores. Further proof that it wasn't easy to keep up with your favorite titles back then! |
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Post by kirby101 on Jan 6, 2019 18:28:20 GMT -5
Nothing from the stands, but a few years later I would buy every Marvel from that month through mail order.
Except for Capt. Savage and Millie the Model.
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Post by brutalis on Jan 7, 2019 7:58:43 GMT -5
Slight change with 2 additional purchases beside my regular 3 series collecting. All bought around 1980-81 if my fading memory still functions correctly.
Avengers 62
Captain Marvel 12
FF 85
Marvel Collector items Classic 20
Hanna Barbera Super TV Heroes #5
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Post by Farrar on Jan 8, 2019 23:39:06 GMT -5
Nothing from the stands, but a few years later I would buy every Marvel from that month through mail order.Was that from those little classified ads in the comics themselves? |
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Post by kirby101 on Jan 9, 2019 9:22:50 GMT -5
Nothing from the stands, but a few years later I would buy every Marvel from that month through mail order.Was that from those little classified ads in the comics themselves? Yup. Mostly Passaic, some from Rocket Blast. They mailed you a catalog and you ordered. I mostly paid 50 cents to a $1 for the books. I remember I couldn't afford some key books like Amazing Fantasy #15 because it was so expensive. I think it was $30 or $40!! |
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Post by Farrar on Jan 10, 2019 17:33:09 GMT -5
January 1969 DC
off the racks--and in the mail! Adventure #378: My parents had gotten me a subscription to Adventure for Christmas and this was the first issue that arrived via that subscription. And yes, it came in a brown wrapper and yes, it was folded  But this comic featured my absolute favorite DC team, so I didn't mind the folded condition. After several silly Legion stories, the story in #378 was a real treat. Briefly 5 Legionnaires have been poisoned and are facing imminent death, so we see how each of them chooses to spend his or her final hours. The story was just the kind I like, very character-driven. And I don't know how to explain it, but the Mortimer-Abel art here was just right, it was almost Swan-like! For example the expressions on Superboy's face, as when he's being mobbed by fans or when he realizes he's never appreciated how lovely Lana Lang was, were beautifully drawn; there were a great many emotions playing on his face. I don't think Mortimer and Abel have ever done such impressive work as they did here. The story was very well-dialogued by Shooter. In particular Shooter's favorites, Karate Kid and Princess Projectra (two of his better creations), are handled perfectly; I remember being struck by how PP and KK, though very much in love, chose to spend time apart because they didn't want to intrude upon the other one's last hours. This was such a poignant story, one of the best in Shooter's LSH IMO. And one more thing: I had a letter printed in #378! Yay me!
Detective #385: As I mentioned last time, I was now reading Detective for the new Batgirl back-up series. This issue concluded the story started last month. An okay story, nothing special; the Kane-Anderson art was--as always with that team--interesting, inventive, and eye-catching. The Adams cover was also eye-catching (one of the few Adams covers I've ever really liked!), even though it's misleading; Batgirl does not appear in the excellent, moving "Die Small--Die Big!" lead story with Batman and Robin. Yes, there's a silent, redheaded woman who appears in the first couple of panels in the Batman story who seems to be Barbara Gordon, but Barbara as Batgirl does not appear. It's still a great cover. Wonder Woman #181:This was my first issue of the new/depowered/mod Diana Prince/Sekowsky Wonder Woman. Thanks to spotty distribution back then I missed the 3 issues leading to her depowered stage (issues #178-180)--but I knew about the new direction/change thanks to the DC house ads. I couldn't get hold of a lot of DC books but those very striking house ads, plus the Direct Currents blurbs, were how I kept up with what was going on with DC, such as this change in WW and also the de-aging of Ma and Pa Kent (over in the Superboy comic), to name but two examples. So I knew what was going on even though I didn't actually read a lot of DCs. So I was thrilled to finally find a copy of the "new" WW at the candy store. I recall I bought this while on winter break from school; I was at my grandmother's house, which was conveniently around the corner from a candy store. I really loved this WW issue; it had a literate script (by O'Neil) and great art by Sekowsky-Giordano. I hadn't had much exposure to the Amazonian WW--I'd read only a couple of her comics at that time, #166 and #170--so she was still basically a blank slate to me. I had no problem buying her as a non-costumed character who fought evil by dint of her athletic ability and wits. All in all, a pretty good DC month for me.
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Post by brutalis on Feb 4, 2019 8:28:17 GMT -5
February 1969. Still a few years away from buying comics new off the stands. But 1978/1979/1980 was time well spent hanging at a new used bookstore digging and cataloging through brown paper grocery bags for an owner whose store would become THE comic shop/LCS in Phoenix. It was just a dusty little out of the way buried in an old falling apart building soon to be condemned. But any spare time I could take the bus over and dig for gold was pure joy. This is when I began finding missing issues of things I like and was building up my library. So the continuing purchase of 60's goodness 10 years later delivers to me:
Avengers 63. Hawkeye becomes Goliath under the pencils of Gene Colan.
Captain Marvel 13.
FF 86. Lee/Kirby/Sinnott and Doom.
Marvel Super-Heroes 20. I can explain in one Word. DOOM! On the cover and inside! Didn't care if it was going to be good or bad, seeing the cover made it an instant purchase when I found it.
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Post by Farrar on Feb 7, 2019 21:56:39 GMT -5
February 1969My DCs: 
Adventure #379: second issue in my subscription, and the second part of a two-issue Legion story. As was the case with many Weisinger two-parters back then, the second part of the story veered off in a different direction than the first. The story in #378 featured 5 Legionnaires dealing with their tragic fate; in #379 we get 9 more Legionnaires, some off on a mission to save their teammates' lives. And you can really see Marvel's influence in Jim Shooter's dialogue, with more use of the Legionnaires' real names. I'd been reading the LSH feature for a year and half now, and that seemed kind of forced, but the times, they were a-changin'. Superman #215: I think I couldn't find anything else at the candy stores so I picked this up as a last resort, as I normally didn't read the Superman comic; the main Superman title just wasn't a series I was interested in (though I'd read many older Superman issues at my cousins'). Wonderful Adams cover and some beautiful Swan-Abel art inside. It's funny but in hindsight I see that Jack Abel was one of the first inkers whose style I could recognize even if I didn't know his name back then. He'd become the main inker on the Weisinger books and I knew his work from the Legion stories I'd been reading. His thin, sharp line and facial work was so distinctive. The story in this issue was an Imaginary story and not one of the better ones IMO; at any rate, I think the I-stories' heyday was declining by this time. Superman #215 may have been the only issue of Superman that I ever actually owned back in the day.
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Post by berkley on Feb 8, 2019 21:26:27 GMT -5
This was still at the stage where I was reading comics very haphazardly, things that happened to be around the house or the odd occasion when my parents agreed to buy one for me. The only ones I remember from this month in 1969 are:
Captain Marvel #13 - this wasn't mu first CM comic but close to it. I liked the character from the get-go: the costume, his id as a Kree officer, and the whole SF angle .
World of Wheels #25 - I remember reading a fair number of car and racing comics back then, probably bought by my older brother. I'm pretty sure this was one of them, though I'd have to see the interior to be sure.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2019 21:36:06 GMT -5
I'm very impressed by everybody here remembered what books they read 50 years ago. I can't remember anything ...  |
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Post by berkley on Feb 8, 2019 23:58:39 GMT -5
I'm very impressed by everybody here remembered what books they read 50 years ago. I can't remember anything ... With me, it's because these were some of the earliest comics I can remember reading, so several of them made a big impression |
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Post by Farrar on Feb 9, 2019 13:01:51 GMT -5
And with me, I didn't buy many new comics every month--usually 3 Marvels and 3-4 DCs--so it's easy for me to remember the circumstances. I have very warm memories of my comics, it was always a treat for me to read and then eventually be able to buy them. It was a huge part of my childhood, and a very happy part.
Sometime in mid-late 1969 I started to buy back issues (from a collectibles store right near where I lived), and these constituted the bulk of my comics buying. I would go to this store at least once a week and usually bought 3 comics at a time. The guy charged 35 cents for back issues, and $1.05 for Giants/Annuals (such as FF Annual #3). So back then I bought many,many more back issues than new comics. I'm not including those issues in this thread, though, just recording what I bought new off the racks.
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Post by Farrar on Feb 17, 2019 17:08:37 GMT -5
And in this corner : Marvel, February 1969Some classmates recently mentioned that there was a new store in their neighborhood that carried comics. One of them said "...and it's called the Friendly Shop!" I don't know why that particular proclamation sticks in mind all these years, but there you have it. I decided that I would accompany my friends to that store to see what comics this so-called Friendly Shop had. Well, I wasn't disappointed. The store was a combo candy/stationery store that seemed to carry Marvel mags only. That was okay by me, since the stores in my immediate neighborhood had always been hit or miss when it came to my Marvels (the team books). My friends were FF fans and bought that comic; me, I greedily scooped up the latest FF, Avengers and X-Men comics. It was such a treat for me to be able to buy all three comics at one time. Look at these covers!!!  The stories in the comics themselves were...okay. But I so loved the comics-buying experience, the anticipation and then seeing the comics on the racks, buying them (along with candy and soda). That's what sticks in my mind about this month. Avengers #63: I'd missed Avengers #61 and #62 so I was very happy to finally get back on the Avengers track. Amazing cover, and I was so happy to see the return of the Black Widow in the Avengers comic. But I will admit the Gene Colan interior art struck me as strange and messy; where was the cool classicism of John Buscema? Later on I would become a huuuuge Colan fan but my initial reaction to his work was not positive. Fantastic Four #86: Oh I was still so bored with the FF-in-Latveria story that had begun with #84. The good news, for me at least, was the return of Sue to the team. It was about time. X-Men #55: Barry Windsor-Smith cover (which in retrospect reminds me of FF #67's cover), Heck/Roth interiors and nicely inked by Colletta. While I didn't mind the new Alex Summers character, I wasn't really into the Living Pharaoh story. Well, it was the calm before the storm, as next month the X-Men mag would look and feel very different! |
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) to a long swingin' '60s hairstyle, wears less dowdy clothing, etc. Then the guy doesn't show up, so she goes to his apartment, which of course leads her right into a crime mystery. Love the Gil Kane-Murphy Anderson art. 
But this comic featured my absolute favorite DC team, so I didn't mind the folded condition.
