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Post by berkley on Nov 5, 2019 19:32:40 GMT -5
November 1979Conan the Barbarian #107Another run of the mill story, as far as I recall. The series was feeling a bit tired around now. Doctor Strange #39I was only a sporadic reader of the series by now but bought this issue because Gene Colan was the artist, though I didn't think Dan Green's inks were a good match. Can't remember a thing about the story except that I thought Claremont was not at all the right kind of writer for the character. Eerie #108Remember this for the beautiful Pablo Marcos artwork, though I don't think much Bruce Jones's story. Fantastic Four #215Was never a great fan of Blastaar. Sienkiewicz wasn't the right kind of artist for the FF, to my taste. Fantasy Masterpieces #3 Silver Surfercontinued to enjoy these Surfer reprints in spite of the missing pages. Machine Man #13Only so-so; I was never a huge fan of Machine Man, not one of Kirby's more inspired creations, for me. Marvel Premiere #52 The Black PantherI liked this short-lived Panther run, particularly the Bingham/Day art. It's funny how Gene Day's inks seemed to look good to me no matter who the penciller was, even though he had a very distinctive style that you wouldn't think would be a fit for everyone. Don't recall much about the story but I know I liked it at the time. All very different from the Kirby series, of course, which I also liked. Master of Kung Fu #85Far and away Marvel's best series at the time and this was one of the best multi-part stories. Savage Sword of Conan #48Nice cover this month. Don't recall the interior story but looking at online samples I assume it was the Buscema/Janson art that made me buy it, though I think with Janson's style it would have worked better in colour. Thor #292The Thor-Celestials epic must rank as one of Marvel's best of the time and also one of Roy Thomas's best sustained efforts. It seemed there was a startling revelation every 2 or 3 issues and they worked, dramatically - i.e they didn't feel like some crazy nonsense grabbed out of thin air for a cheap shock, everything fit together to make a convincing whole. X-Men #130Don't recall much about this issue other than not liking the Dazzler much - the whole disco angle left me cold and even the costume didn't capture my imagination. X-Men Annual #3Very nice artwork from Perez and Austin but Claremont missed the boat entirely with Arkon, failing to capture what had made that character such an impressive and memorable antagonist in Thomas's Avengers.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Nov 6, 2019 2:31:10 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #215Was never a great fan of Blastaar. Sienkiewicz wasn't the right kind of artist for the FF, to my taste. Don't necessarily disagree with you about Sienkiewicz, I'm just not sure what it has to do with this issue (the art was still being done by Byrne and Sinnott at the time; the cover is by Ron Wilson, I think).
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Post by MWGallaher on Nov 6, 2019 8:44:02 GMT -5
This month 40 years ago, I picked these up off the stands at my favorite comic book store: Brave & Bold #159: Batman and Ra's Al Ghul by Denny O'Neil and Jim Aparo. I was never really big on this villain, but team-ups with villains were an occasional and usually interesting occurrence in B&B. Defenders #80: I wasn't about to stop buying this. I kind of liked Herb Trimpe's art, and I loved the Defenders. Fantasy Masterpieces #3: Good chance to pick up the original Silver Surfer stories, back in the days when this seemed like the only opportunity there would ever be to do so. She-Hulk #1: I couldn't resist trying it. Didn't like it enough to continue. Shogun Warriors #13: Moench & Trimpe. Once again, a poor substitute for Godzilla, but I kept buying to the end. X-Men #130 and Annual #3: I think I remember liking the annual better than the debut of Dazzler. The annual had some S&S with Arkon, which was a fun diversion from the usual X-Men fare.
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Post by berkley on Nov 8, 2019 0:55:06 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #215Was never a great fan of Blastaar. Sienkiewicz wasn't the right kind of artist for the FF, to my taste. Don't necessarily disagree with you about Sienkiewicz, I'm just not sure what it has to do with this issue (the art was still being done by Byrne and Sinnott at the time; the cover is by Ron Wilson, I think). Yeah, not sure what I was thinking there, other than getting confused looking at the cover gallery from around this era to make sure I did actually buy and read this comic. Sienkiewicz's short run didn't start till several issues later, it looks like.
I didn't like the Byrne/Sinnott pairing much at the time either, from memory, though I think it would have been interesting to see what Byrne/Austin might have looked like on the FF. But I haven't seen these issues for a long time and don't have them any more. It's possible that Byrne+Sinnott would look better to me now than it did then, as I find the Perez+Sinnott FF issues have started to do these last few years.
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Post by Ozymandias on Nov 10, 2019 15:21:50 GMT -5
This cover has nothing to do with what's inside: Marvel Team-Up Vol.1 #17 and 20. Another strange cover, inside we had: The Incredible Hulk Vol.1 #173 and 174. This cover is a copy of the cover for the one in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol.1 #25. It also included #26. Something unusual for this publisher, the original cover for the main story (The Savage Sword of Conan Vol.1 #30) is used. I will always remember this two-page spread: This cover is a copy of the cover for the one in The Amazing Spider-Man Vol.1 #127. It also included #128. A cover loosely based on the one for The Defenders Vol.1 #11. It also included #12.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 4, 2019 23:47:45 GMT -5
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 5, 2019 6:42:34 GMT -5
Oh, yeah. Another great month for me; near as I can tell, I had well over 20 books that month. The highlights, of course, were from my three favorite series, X-men #131, Daredevil #163 and Iron Man #132 - both of the latter featuring the Hulk, although in terms of the story, it makes more sense that events in the DD issue took place before those in Iron Man, so before Iron Man no. 131. Anyway, after the fiasco with missing X-men #130 (I wouldn't discover my first comic book shop for well over a year later), I sent away for a subscription, which only kicked in with X-men #137. Another highlight for me was Marvel 2-in-1 #61: Even after the conclusion of the Project Pegasus arc, The title was still going strong, and I enjoyed this space opera trilogy, which was immediately followed by a three-issue Serpent Crown story. Had some stuff from DC, too, but I think this is one I recall most fondly from that month: The Special Blue Ribbon Digest was a second line of digests, after Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest was launched in the previous summer. Of course, back then I wasn't aware of the difference - I was just loving all of the digest goodies that were being published, and catching up on a ton of (mainly) Silver Age lore.
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Post by brutalis on Dec 5, 2019 7:38:21 GMT -5
December 1979
Such a wonderful plethora of comics to collect as a teenager! So much goodness it boggles the mind remembering the time spent as I ran around all of the convenience stores surrounding my high school. Comic book nerd heaven. And many a lunch break spent sitting around with friends reading and trading the newest issues. Several of us made it a point to pick up different series and carry to school so that we could read them since money was always a going concern. Where I was a Marvel fanboy religiously following Avengers, FF and X-Men and Iron Man (thank you Michelinie and Layton) along with Rom, Micronauts and Star Wars, another buddy was a big DC fan getting any Superman, many of the War stuff, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Adventure comics. Which worked out great as we could read a wider variety in keeping up with what was out on the racks.
Amazing Spider-Man 202 Avengers 193 Batman 321 Battlestar Galactica 3 Captain America 243 Cerebus 13 Defenders 18 Daredevil 163 FF 216 Fantasy Masterpieces 4 (classic reprints of Lee/Buscema Surfer! Finally see what all they hype was about) Ghost Rider 42 (starlin! oy yeah) Iron Man 132 King Conan 1 LOSH 261 Marvel Super Special 15 (ST: TMP! HELL YEAH) MTU 91 MTIO 61 MOKF 86 Micronauts 15 ROM 4 She Hulk 2 Shogun Warriors 14 Spectacular Spider-Man 40 Spider-Woman 24 Star Wars 33 Star Wars Annual 1 Warlord 31 What If 19 X-Men 131
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 5, 2019 10:23:31 GMT -5
In December, 1979, I bought these off the stands:
Brave & Bold #160 ($0.40): Batman and Supergirl by Burkett and Aparo. I don't remember really missing Bob Haney, because I was enjoying the broader variety of guest stars.
Defenders #81 ($0.40): It was good to have Namor back on the team for the most recent few issues, and I was kinda digging Herb Trimpe on the feature.
Fantasy Masterpieces #4 ($0.75): Because there was no way this was ever going to be reprinted again in the future, this was surely my only chance to catch up on the early Silver Surfer stories without paying back issue prices.
Marvel Spotlight #5 ($0.40): I must have read in The Comics Reader or somewhere that this was an altered inventory issue of Godzilla re-purposed as Dragon Lord. So I had to have it. Would have liked seeing a Ditko Godzilla for real.
Shogun Warriors #14 ($0.40): Still buying it, even with my Godzilla itch scratched by Dragon Lord this month.
Tomb of Dracula #3 ($1.25): It was good to have the full team back on TOD, but the magic was gone, somehow. Interesting to see that all the creators involved in all the features got cover credits!
What If? #19 ($0.75): I don't remember anything about this story of Spider-Man going into show biz instead of fighting crime, but I never missed an issue of this. I was a sucker for alternate histories.
X-Men #131 ($0.40): Claremont and Byrne still on a roll.
Total expenditures: $4.75. My comics purchases continued to be meager, as I was sticking with a few favorites, and was bored with most of the main titles from Marvel and DC.
Cover of the Month: I quite like Luis Dominguez' anachronistic Santa and Christmas tree cover for Jonah Hex #34.
Comic I'd Most Like to Have But Don't: For curiosity's sake, I'd like to see what was behind the covers of Gold Key's UFO & Outer Space #25. I had learned to ignore Gold Key's comics early on in my collecting days, so I doubt I ever peeked inside a copy.
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Post by dbutler69 on Dec 5, 2019 14:12:36 GMT -5
Another great month. I love 1979 in comics! X-Men at their peak, loving Micronauts (both the comic and the action figures!), Avengers at a really good point with underrated Dave Michelinie at the typerwriter (plus a lot of Byrne & Perez art though not this month), Legion going strong (though this month was not one of the better issues to be honest between Conway's script and Joe Staton's art), plus loving that digest sized DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest with the Legion of Super-Heroes! Unfortunately, Marve Wolfman closes his strong Fantastic Four run out with a whimper, but at least we've got John Byrne's pencils to help out. Another good month for Marvel Two-in-One, also. I've always found Starhawk very interesting.
Bought back in the day: Amazing Adventures #4 Avengers #193 DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #1 DC Special Series #21 Fantastic Four #216 Justice League of America #176 Legion of Super-Heroes #261 Micronauts #15 X-Men #131
Bought much more recently: Defenders #81 Marvel Two-in-One #61 Rom #4 Shogun Warriors #14
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Post by berkley on Dec 5, 2019 20:57:38 GMT -5
December 1979 Conan the Barbarian #108 - don't recall this specific issue other than that it didn't do anything to shake the series out of its doldrums; I never liked the "Conan in Africa" scenario and I don't mean just now, with the benefit of 40 years of hindsight: even by 1979 it smacked too much of the "great white hero" syndrome.
Daredevil #163 - things like DD vs Hulk were always too much of a mismatch to be interesting to me: and don't give that "against all odds, never say die, blah, blah, blah" stuff, DD would be squashed like a bug in about 3 seconds and my suspension of disbeliefdoesn't work that way.
Fantastic Four #216 - I recognise the cover but don't recall the story; from the credits I see that Marcos inked Byrne, so I'm curious to see how it compares to that combo's excellent work on the Nefaria story in the Avengers a few years earlier.
Fantasy Masterpieces #4 - more Silver Surfer reprints, was glad to have them.
Hulk #19 (mag) two Gene Colan stories, and Alcala inking one of them, so I was happy.
King Conan #1 - I remember thinking the artwork and story in this issue far superior to what was happening in Conan the Barbarian at the time: could it have been an earlier story saved for later publication?
Marvel Preview #20 - Dominic Fortune reprints: I was a big Chaykin fan and hadn't read these stores in their earlier appearance, so it was great to have them now.
Marvel Spotlight #5 - from memory, one of the more interesting things Ditko drew for Marvel around this time, though his b&w work of the time always looked better to me.
Marvel Two-in-One #61 - nice artwork from Bingham and Day and I liked the Star-Hawk character, but a brain-dead story about a female counterpart of "Him", called, you guessed it, "Her".
Master of Kung Fu #86 - didn't like the cover much but inside was another great instalment in one of the best MoKF multi-issue epics.
Savage Sword of Conan #49 - nice cover, by Nestor Redondo? But I see the inside art was all inked by Tony DeZuniga, so I probably didn't care for it much and thus I'm not 100% sure that I actually bought this issue at the time, though the cover sure does look familiar.
Thor #293 - the other long (10+ issues) epic I was enjoying from Marvel at the time, and another great instalment this month.
Tomb of Dracula #3 - unlike most fans, I don't think the Colan/Palmer art works as well in b&w as it does in colour but I was still glad to see them working on the ToD mag.
What If #19 - decent story, IIRC, and I liked Pat Broderick's style; he was starting to be a name I'd look for in the credits.
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Post by beccabear67 on Dec 5, 2019 22:05:08 GMT -5
I bought close to a third of all the 40c Marvels that month with the dark Star Trek movie ad on the back. If I didn't have it I had the issue before or after. I didn't buy Conan, Shang-Chi or Dracula ever... though I did have some Sgt Fury (it was reprints then) and King Kull from whenever that began. I liked the Byrne & Sinnott combo for the Fantastic Four. Seeing Terry Austin on everything would've been boring. I think my fave though might've been Byrne & Joe Rubinstein on Captain America. Byrne & Dan Green on Avengers was a good team as well... not Klaus Janson though, his ink style kind of buried the Byrne for me though ideal for Frank Miller (DD #163 was my first exposure to a full Miller story) and Gene Colan. The worst combo would be George Perez inked by Jason, or Steve Mitchell... I think The Beatles Story comic was like that... augh, what could've been! Where were you Pablo Marcos? I did see house ads for Shang-Chi with some great looking Gene Day and Mike Zeck art... no idea why I didn't buy the title ever, the high numbers scaring me off? Seemed to be in the middle of something very involved when I did look at it? I did have one one Marvel Team-Up he appeared in though. I had trouble finding The defenders and Power Man & Iron Fist, so perhaps it was in that category? Loved Pat Broderick's Spider-man, he seemed really suited to the character; made him look like he could stick to walls! My most regretted failure to buy would be Fantasy Masterpieces #4. I have a vivid memory of buying Amazing Adventures #4 and looking at it sitting in my brother's car in the corner shop parking lot under the street light and the red's looked really strange. Also had my first issue of The Uncanny X-Men proper (#131) and Kitty Pryde on page one draws me right in!
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 2, 2020 17:05:51 GMT -5
Nothin', not a single comic. Access was the main reason, at this point.
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Post by brutalis on Jan 2, 2020 17:17:24 GMT -5
January 1980 with 6 more months left in my Senior year of highschool. Comic purchases became a bit less and more discriminate for what I would buy since having to save dollars as much as possible for all those Senior year expenses along with an upcoming after graduation 7 day school trip which would be 1 day drive to California for 1 day at Seaworld, 1 day at Disneyland and 1 day/overnight stay for Graduation Party/Celebration on the beach of Catalina Island with 1 day ride back home. That would transpire the last week of June so I was scrambling mowing yards, painting fences and doing odd jobs at many of the junk yard shops that ran down Broadway Rd which would pay me for pulling auto parts from the abundance of smashed vehicles they acquired. Every dollar counted but I was a teenage comic book junkie and would not deny myself that small and simple joy. The Marvel Zombie in me had to be fed!
Amazing Spider-Man 203 Avengers 194 Battlestar Galactica 14 Defenders 82 FF 217 Iron Man 133 MTU 92 MTIO 62 MOKF 87 Micronauts 16 Powerman/Iron Fist 62 ROM 5 Shogun Warriors 15 Spectacular Spider-Man 41 Spider-woman 25 Star Trek 1 Star Wars 34 Time Warp 4 Warlord 32 What If 20 X-Men 132
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Post by berkley on Jan 2, 2020 22:14:32 GMT -5
January 1980Conan the Barbarian #109 - even the covers for the colour Conan book were starting to feel a little bland around this time; still, I wouldn't exactly say it was a bad series, just sort of middling, and therefore disappointing in comparison to what the same creative team had been doing with it just 2 or 3 years previously. Eerie #109 -looking at the contents, it's no trouble to remember why I bought this issue: Gulacy & MacGregor, Pablo Marcos, and Val Mayerik. The MacGregor & Gulacy story, Blood on Black Satin, was the highlight but I also really liked seeing Pablo Marcos's solo artwork Fantasy Masterpieces (Silver Surfer) #5- in a lot of these Surfer comics it was really John Buscema's artwork that was the main attraction and I'm thinking that was probably the case here since I don't remember the story much. I always thought the Stranger was never more effective than in his first X-Men appearance and once they dressed him in this rather silly-looking costume he became just another generic "cosmic" guy. Machine Man #14- this continued to be an inoffensive but only mildly interesting series for me; I wasn't too upset when it finally ran its course. Marvel Premiere #53 (Black Panther)- I see that Gene day didn't ink this issue, so I suspect I didn't like the artwork quite as much as in the other instalments because I recall the Bingham+Day team being one of the attractions of this multi-part story for me at the time, along with the presence of the Panther, always a favourite character Marvel Two-in-One #62- nice cover by Perez, and IIRC, pretty good artwork inside by Bingham and Day, although if Perez had done the interior I would have liked it even better; one of my least favourite stories, though, largely, though not solely, because of its treatment of another favourite character, Moondragon. Master of Kung Fu #87- Marvel's best series at this time, far and away. Thor #294- Marvel's second best series of the time - and again, by a wide margin. X-Men #132- I'm tempted to say Marvel's 3rd best series of the era, just to keep the streak going, and maybe it was, now I think of it. The Claremont/Cockrunm and then Claremont/Byrne X-Men occupy a kind of an anomalous position in my personal rankings because I don't really rate Claremont as a writer the way I do other 70s favourites like Gerber, Englehart, Moench, etc; OTOH, there's no denying the entertainment value of his superhero soap-opera shenanigans and the Byrne/Austin artwork at its best was out of this world, and Cockrum, at his best, was highly enjoyable himself.
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