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Post by Farrar on May 8, 2019 19:12:24 GMT -5
May 1969
My Marvels, off the racks Fantastic Four #89: I loved that Sue dominated the fight against the Mole-Man. Avengers #66: After three Colan-illustrated issues we now get--Barry Smith? (He wasn't yet going by Barry Windsor-Smith.) What a letdown! I hated that the Avengers mag was switching artists yet again. Back then I valued artistic consistency and the idea that this book, one of my favorites, didn't have a steady art team--unlike the Kirby-Sinnott FF--really bothered me. I get that established artists probably didn't like drawing all those characters and so why not give the book to a newer artist, but Smith's work was still pretty raw back then and the characters just didn't look like themselves (despite Smith's neo-Kirby Thor). Anyway, this issue was very disappointing to me. X-Men #58: If that month's Avengers issue was a disappointment, the month's X-Men comic made up for it! After 2 issues I was warming up to Adams's X-Men. What impressed me was not only the art but also the expanded cast of characters (the Sentinels were rounding up all the then-known mutants). I loved how the every few pages the story shifted between different sets of characters (Bobby and Hank; Larry Trask and Judge Chalmers; Scott, Jean and Warren; Bobby, Alex and Lorna; Warren solo; Trask and the judge again; you get the idea). I don't think I'd ever read such a fast-moving, exciting X story before. And that amazing cover! And guess what, no back-up feature; instead we got a full-length story. The X-Men book had taken major steps forward. Kudos to Messrs. Thomas, Adams and Palmer. Marvel Collectors' Item Classics #22: I was still picking up MCIC for the FF reprints. I recognized the story (the team vs. Diablo, from FF #30) from the FF cartoon series. Overall a good Marvel month for me, especially the X-Men comic.
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zilch
Full Member
Posts: 244 
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Post by zilch on May 9, 2019 17:40:46 GMT -5
See Explanation Below...
Action Comics #378
Anthro #6
Captain America #116 (Avengers crossover!)
Incredible Hulk #118 (vs Sub-Mariner!!!)
Iron Man #16 (!!!)
Marvel Collectors Item Classic #22 (Man i love these quarter books!!!)
Superboy #158 (this story freaked ME OUT!!! And I Love Brown/Wood!!!)
Tomahawk #123
X-Men #58 (I will tell the story about this comic on the X-Men From The Beginning post when they get there!)
Caveat for a couple of months/years... I was visiting a lot of flea markets at this time, so stuff i might have gotten there months or years later (probably pre-early teens) cloud my fading memories of when i originally got the books. Some of them are pretty bright in the memory, some i just didnt care that much about.
When i was ten, while playing in someone's room (i really don't want to call him a friend, just a playmate so to speak) i broke off part of one of his models. He was pretty pissed and suggested that i pay him for a new one. Where in the hell was i going to get $1.20? So i came to the idea that i could give him 10 comics to make up for it. Nope, he said. Used comics are really cheap. He would only accept 1 cent for each comic. So i trundled home and took a paper shopping bag and stuffed it with 120 pre 1971 Marvels and DCs. Carried it back down the street and gave it to him. I didn't even get the broken model (some sort of dragster). Those books floated around the neighborhood, probably being destroyed in his horse barn using them to light fires (something he enjoyed doing).
*sigh*
-z
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Post by Farrar on May 19, 2019 21:33:51 GMT -5
May 1969, My DCsHmmm, I had more DCs than usual this month! I must have gotten a raise in my allowance   Action #378: I bought this strictly for the Legion. This was the start of their (short-lived) stint in Action Comics after having been so ignominiously kicked out of Adventure Comics. The story, "Forbidden Fruit" was about Timber Wolf's addiction to the Lotus fruit (a drug story that predates the famous Spidey one). My favorite Legionnaire Light Lass was also featured, so that was a plus. But overall this story was a huge letdown; after a couple of years of epic Legion tales the team was now reduced to 10 or so pages. And I loved the idea that the Legion was a legion, with a lot of different characters each issue. Now, it seemed, these shorter stories would concentrate on only a few Legionnaires per issue. Good for the artists, I suppose, but the reduced scope bothered me. And the art here was terrible: the Mike Esposito inks made the Win Mortimer pencils look rough and amateurish. Where was then-regular Legion inker Jack Abel? (Answer: He shows up in another book I got in May 1969, keep reading.) Adventure #382: Part of my subscription, which had started when the Legion was the lead feature. Silly Supergirl story, and one that made no impression on me. The Schaffenberger art made the story a bit more palatable. Detective #389: Again, I bought this for the back-up feature, namely Batgirl. This was part two of a continued story. The plot was slight but I love Batgirl and the Kane-Anderson art. Great Adams cover. I don't recall anything about the Batman story but I re-read as an adult a few years ago and it wasn't bad. In the interior art Bob Brown was obviously inspired to add some interesting Adam-ish touches to his pencils. Wonder Woman #183: So last month Di was in London battling a crime syndicate, had her heart broken; and now she was (temporarily) back with her mother and the Amazons and was fighting Ares. I loved how peripatetic and fast-moving this series was. Mike Sekowsky's art was so detailed and strange and alive. Dick Giordano was the perfect inker for him. And look at that cover! Teen Titans #22: I have no recollection of the first story but I remember the second story (Wonder Girl's origin) very well, so I know I had this issue back when it was published. Readers (in letters) had questioned what was going to happen to Wonder Girl since Wonder Woman had renounced her powers some months earlier. This was the perfect opportunity for DC to finally come up with an origin for the Titans's Wonder Girl and she got a backstory as well as a civilian name and a new costume. It's like DC realized the characters in their books could be connected (as Marvel had done from the outset). The territorial fiefdoms were beginning to crumble or at least were becoming more elastic. And I guess it didn't hurt that WW inker Giordano was also the TT's editor Lois Lane #93: If the Teen Titans comic made a meaningful connection with what was happening in the Wonder Woman book, the same can't be said for this Lois issue. Did I just say the fiefdoms were crumbling? Well, on the Superman-family books Weisinger was still at the helm and this was a really old-fashioned story that seemed so out of place for 1969. And yes, the scene on the cover actually takes place in the story. Also in LL #93 it seems like the world at large (and not just, say, the JLA and other superhero types) knew that Diana Prince had once been Wonder Woman and that her powers were gone. I don't recall that being publicly known in the WW series itself (and later on in some lettercols a few readers commented on that too). Bonus! Here's another DC I also bought (thanks to my grandma) off the stands: Jimmy Olsen #121.  We kids were visiting our grandmother and as usual, my dear grandma gave me some money to pick up the newspaper and magazines for her and also a comic for me. I bought JO quite sporadically, usually only if had already bought the series I read regularly and couldn't find anything else. I guess that's what happened here. The cover and the story (which I re-read as an adult a few years ago) didn't ring any bells. So how do I know I had this particular issue? Based on this one single panel:  You see, Lucy's shown in a blue flight attendant outfit. In every other JO or Los Lane story I'd read (thanks to my cousins' comics stash), her flight attendant outfit was always orange. So to see her here, wearing a blue uniform, stuck out like a sore thumb. I remember sitting on my grandma's sectional sofa and reading this comic and turning to this page and being very very surprised, and also bit annoyed, that Lucy was wearing blue here instead of the familiar orange. Yes, yes, I know it's trivial and silly; but what can I say? I was a kid and dammit, I wanted visual consistency for my comic book characters   Anyway, that one panel is what triggered my remembrance that I had this JO issue. And then as now, I love the beautiful Swan-Abel art for this story.
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Post by Farrar on Jun 3, 2019 15:44:29 GMT -5
June 1969
DCFrom a personal high of a magnificent 7 DCs last month, to--well, just this one, and only due to my subscription:  Adventure #383: A nothing issue; I don't recall anything about this issue or its stories (which I re-read a couple of years ago). The only reason I know I owned this issue was because, as mentioned, it was part of my subscription. You know, the subscription that had started when the Legion was the Adventure headliner but.now.I.was.stuck.with.this And speaking of the Legion, I missed June's Action Comics so I didn't even get to read the LSH this month. As an adult I read the story ("One of Us Is An Imposter") a few years ago in the Legion Archives collection. In general, while it was usually difficult for me to find the DCs I liked back then (last month's bounty was an anomaly), there were other reasons why it was a lean DC month for me. I skipped this month's Detective Comics because I was only interested in the Batgirl stories, and this month (and next) it was Robin's turn in the back-up slot. And Wonder Woman and Teen Titans were bi-monthly mags and were not on sale this month.
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Post by kirby101 on Jun 3, 2019 16:03:17 GMT -5
Wasn't buying anything off the stands yet, but a few years away from starting my collection and getting almost all the Marvel books through mail order.
Amazing Spider-Man #76
Avengers #67
Captain America #117
Captain Marvel #16
Daredevil #55
Doctor Strange #182
Fantastic Four #90
Incredible Hulk #119
Iron Man #17
Marvel Super-Heroes #22
Marvel Tales #22
Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #14
Sgt. Fury #69
Sub-Mariner #17
Thor #167
Tower of Shadows #1
X-Men #59
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Post by Farrar on Jun 3, 2019 21:54:39 GMT -5
And here's what I got off the stands for Marvel in June 1969: my three usual suspects, plus a great reprint book.  I love the moody blues  (backgrounds/color scheme) of these covers.
Avengers #67: Strong Sal Buscema cover, but the interior art by the young Barry Smith didn't appeal to me. His depiction of the Avengers looked off IMO. And while I liked that Roy Thomas's Avengers stories spanned several issues, I was never particularly interested in Ultron so I was getting bored by this arc. Also with Thor and Iron Man being included here there was a lot of action but little character development, which is what had attracted me to Marvel back then. So, a forgettable issue for me. Fantastic Four #90: I really liked that the first half of #90 wrapped up one story--the FF vs. the Mole-Man--and segued right into another story, the Skrulls kidnapping Ben. This made the series seem like one long, continuing story. I'd learn later on when I got into back issues of the FF that this sort of pacing/storytelling (by Kirby) was not uncommon for the book (#48-50, the Galactus trilogy, is a prime example of what I'm talking about). X-Men #59: The fast-moving story; Thomas's adept way with the dialogue for the different characters (while in the Avengers book, Thomas's dialogue was coming off as less colorful to me); the more sophisticated art--yes, I was by now a Neal Adams fan; the inclusion of Wanda and Pietro (who'd left the Avengers a year earlier); the presence of Alex Summers and the idea that he would be a continuing character--wow! Hands down the X-Men was my favorite Marvel book at the time. Marvel Super-Heroes #22: I was a bit disappointed because--unlike the last MSH issue--there was no Avengers reprint (in hindsight I suppose it was due in part to the fact that next month there would be a couple of reprints in the Avengers Annual/Special). But at least MSH still included an X-Men reprint, #3 featuring the Blob's debut. So since I was reading the current X-Men book and wanted to see more of that team, MSH was a must-buy for me. <iframe width="11.100000000000023" height="16.139999999999986" style="position: absolute; width: 11.100000000000023px; height: 16.139999999999986px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none;left: 5px; top: 43px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_16520059" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="11.100000000000023" height="16.139999999999986" style="position: absolute; width: 11.1px; height: 16.14px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 497px; top: 43px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_50288581" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="11.100000000000023" height="16.139999999999986" style="position: absolute; width: 11.1px; height: 16.14px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 5px; top: 783px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_43087730" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="11.100000000000023" height="16.139999999999986" style="position: absolute; width: 11.1px; height: 16.14px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 497px; top: 783px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_78351046" scrolling="no"></iframe> It also included a Daredevil-in-his-awful-original-yellow-and-red-garb reprint. I had no interest in DD and this was well before he took off as a character, so for me the DD story was meh. I mean, I'm sure I read the darn story because it was there, but it didn't make me interested in the character or inspire me to start buying his monthly book. |
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Post by brutalis on Jun 4, 2019 7:34:09 GMT -5
June 1969
Just my usual trio of back issue purchasing later in the 80's:
Avengers 67
Captain Marvel 16
Fantastic Four 90
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Post by Prince Hal on Jun 4, 2019 15:26:05 GMT -5
See Explanation Below... Action Comics #378 Anthro #6 Captain America #116 (Avengers crossover!) Incredible Hulk #118 (vs Sub-Mariner!!!) Iron Man #16 (!!!) Marvel Collectors Item Classic #22 (Man i love these quarter books!!!) Superboy #158 (this story freaked ME OUT!!! And I Love Brown/Wood!!!) Tomahawk #123 X-Men #58 (I will tell the story about this comic on the X-Men From The Beginning post when they get there!) Caveat for a couple of months/years... I was visiting a lot of flea markets at this time, so stuff i might have gotten there months or years later (probably pre-early teens) cloud my fading memories of when i originally got the books. Some of them are pretty bright in the memory, some i just didnt care that much about. When i was ten, while playing in someone's room (i really don't want to call him a friend, just a playmate so to speak) i broke off part of one of his models. He was pretty pissed and suggested that i pay him for a new one. Where in the hell was i going to get $1.20? So i came to the idea that i could give him 10 comics to make up for it. Nope, he said. Used comics are really cheap. He would only accept 1 cent for each comic. So i trundled home and took a paper shopping bag and stuffed it with 120 pre 1971 Marvels and DCs. Carried it back down the street and gave it to him. I didn't even get the broken model (some sort of dragster). Those books floated around the neighborhood, probably being destroyed in his horse barn using them to light fires (something he enjoyed doing). *sigh* -z So, how long did you remain friends with little Teddy Bundy? |
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zilch
Full Member
Posts: 244
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Post by zilch on Jun 4, 2019 21:14:20 GMT -5
See Explanation Below... Action Comics #378 Anthro #6 Captain America #116 (Avengers crossover!) Incredible Hulk #118 (vs Sub-Mariner!!!) Iron Man #16 (!!!) Marvel Collectors Item Classic #22 (Man i love these quarter books!!!) Superboy #158 (this story freaked ME OUT!!! And I Love Brown/Wood!!!) Tomahawk #123 X-Men #58 (I will tell the story about this comic on the X-Men From The Beginning post when they get there!) Caveat for a couple of months/years... I was visiting a lot of flea markets at this time, so stuff i might have gotten there months or years later (probably pre-early teens) cloud my fading memories of when i originally got the books. Some of them are pretty bright in the memory, some i just didnt care that much about. When i was ten, while playing in someone's room (i really don't want to call him a friend, just a playmate so to speak) i broke off part of one of his models. He was pretty pissed and suggested that i pay him for a new one. Where in the hell was i going to get $1.20? So i came to the idea that i could give him 10 comics to make up for it. Nope, he said. Used comics are really cheap. He would only accept 1 cent for each comic. So i trundled home and took a paper shopping bag and stuffed it with 120 pre 1971 Marvels and DCs. Carried it back down the street and gave it to him. I didn't even get the broken model (some sort of dragster). Those books floated around the neighborhood, probably being destroyed in his horse barn using them to light fires (something he enjoyed doing). *sigh* -z So, how long did you remain friends with little Teddy Bundy? Probably until junior high... he would have been in high school and off to his drug addled future. |
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zilch
Full Member
Posts: 244
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Post by zilch on Jun 4, 2019 21:21:39 GMT -5
June 1969
Action Comics #379
Amazing Spider-Man #76?
Captain America #117 (digging the storyline, but the Colan artwork just didn't make it)
Flash #190 (!!)
Iron Man #17 (on the other hand, the story line was good enough, but dug the Tuska art!)
Metal Men #39 (with the really freaky Sekowsky art)
Showcase #84
X-Men #59 (and i probably won't see another copy of this with one exception until it starts reprinting old stories)
I really started paying attention to the stories and the artwork starting in this period. Adams blew my mind... really making me want to be an artist. I was just enthralled with Kane's Flash and the power in Tuska's work.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jun 28, 2019 12:40:04 GMT -5
This was an interesting month for me. I had just turned 15, was halfway through high school, and my political and moral universe had been shaken and shifted by the war, the civil rights movement, and music, among other influences, and I was a yin-yang of disillusion and idealism. I remember these comics fondly because I was thoroughly enjoying being a comics fan and reader, and I was particularly enamored of the directions in which DC was going: the return of science-fiction, Westerns, and horror; superheroes without uniforms; the rebirth of Green Arrow; Neal Adams’ art; an awareness of social issues; and sword and sorcery. I also remember them for another reason that I’ll share in a couple of days when I post in my long-dormant thread, “A Comics Lover’s Memories. It isn’t one of the happy ones. Atom & Hawkman #44 House of Secrets #81 Batman #214 Showcase #84 Justice League of America #73 Star Spangled War Stories #146 (purchased in July) Bat Lash #6 Brave & the Bold #85 Action Comics #379 Detective Comics #390     |
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 2, 2019 8:34:33 GMT -5
JULY 1969
  X-Men #60 Neal Adams brings a panache to the X-Men that Werner Roth just couldn't.    Atom & Hawkman #45 For the Kubert cover alone! (How big is the Atom?) Justice League of America #74 Not one of Adams' best, I thought. The two Supermen look so much alike. Detective Comics #391 Cool cover and an odd reappearance for Ginny Jenkins from Tec 380. Maybe Frank Robbins was hoping to make her a recurring character. Batman #215 Loved the old Batman logo, which would last for a few more issues. Challengers of the Unknown #70 Despite those awful uniforms with the fur collars and the ill-fated attempt to save the title by cashing in on the horror trend.  
Showcase #85 Another Kubert masterpiece. DC at its late Silver Age best. Our Army at War #s 210 and 211 Kanigher and Heath had a superb run during this period. And of course, those Kubert covers... Teen Titans #23 Yowzah! Thank you, Nick Cardy! Tomahawk #124 Relevance where you least suspected it, courtesy Kanigher and Thorne. World's Finest Comics #187 A Weisinger comic that never really grew up. Comfort food when you'd bought everything else, plus a Green Arrow reprint.
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Post by brutalis on Jul 2, 2019 13:42:55 GMT -5
July 1969. Back issue collecting in the early 80's continues. Still more of a used book store, Alan the owner is slowly trying to sort through all the yard sale purchases he has bought up in in hoping to turn the store into an LCS. Given freedom from him, I spend many a hour digging through piles of brown grocery bags stuffed with all sorts of hidden treasures and many duds. Thanks to his good graces it is through the summer of 1980 into 1984 or so that I manage to build up my FF and Avengers collection with $2-5 read issues from these bags of glory. To this day starting from issues 1 to 350 (or so) for both teams are my golden treasured memories of sweating and sorting through his little hole in the wall store.
Avengers 68
Avengers Annual 3
Captain MArvel 17
Fantastic Four 01
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Post by Farrar on Jul 2, 2019 22:54:46 GMT -5
...Thanks to his good graces it is through the summer of 1980 into 1984 or so that I manage to build up my FF and Avengers collection with $2-5 read issues from these bags of glory. To this day starting from issues 1 to 350 (or so) for both teams are my golden treasured memories of sweating and sorting through his little hole in the wall store... You have issues #1-350 of each series? I'm pea green with envy! I started buying back issues sometime that summer, or maybe it was the next summer, at a neighborhood collectibles shop. Back issues cost 35 cents, Giants/Annuals a buck five ($1.05). To this day I'm a whiz at multiples of 35. My chronicling in this thread has shown me that I bought only a few series on a regular basis; so in hindsight I see that the bulk of my comic book buying consisted of buying back issues. For Marvel, I focused on back issues of the Avengers and the FF (two of the contemporary series I was buying). So within a few years I had: Avengers #14 - Avengers #106 (except for #15 and #19). FF #34 - FF #117 (except for #35, #38, #42, and #58). |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2019 23:09:55 GMT -5
July 1969, the month I was born. I only currently own a handful of comics from this month, none of which were bought at the time (I had a bunch of Marvel issues form this month at one point before I sold off my Marvel Silver Age collection almost 20 years ago, though I have most of them in collected editions now)
Atom & Hawkman #45
Our Army at War 210, 211
Phantom Stranger #3
-M
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(backgrounds/color scheme) of these covers. 
