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Post by chaykinstevens on Jun 5, 2021 14:19:21 GMT -5
Bought new: All-Star Squadron #1 Arak, Son of Thunder #1 Conan the Barbarian #126 Daredevil #175 DC Comics Presents #37 Fantastic Four #234 Justice League of America #194 Master of Kung Fu #104 Micronauts #33 Moon Knight #11 New Teen Titans #11 Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #58 Weird War Tales #103
Bought later: Amazing Spider-Man #220 Avengers #211 Bizarre Adventures #27 Captain America #261 Defenders #99 Epic Illustrated #7 Green Lantern #144 Incredible Hulk #263 Iron Man #150 Ka-Zar the Savage #7 Marvel Team-Up Annual #4 Rom #22 Star Trek #16 Thor #311 Warlord #49
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jun 5, 2021 14:28:39 GMT -5
Marvel Team-Up annual #4. If I didn't include that issue in my favourite comic-books ever, it must have been a very close runner-up. It's brilliant! The Purple Man is a villain who can make people obey him, just by asking them. After years engaging in fistfights with costumed heroes, he thought "who needs the grief?" and decided to use his talent to pursue the life of a gentleman of leisure. Not the sadistic maniac from the Alias comic or the TV series, he's just a man with no morals living the good life because he can. Unfortunately, the Kingpin is immune to his power... and therein lies the crux of the plot. Highly enjoyable and original! Script by Frank Miller (who did the cover) and art by Herb Trimpe. I liked the script and the cover, but I didn't think Mike £sposito was a good finisher for Herb Trimpe, or anyone else for that matter, and I don't think Herb ever got the hang of drawing Spider-Man.
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Post by tonebone on Jun 9, 2021 14:55:00 GMT -5
Marvel Team-Up annual #4. If I didn't include that issue in my favourite comic-books ever, it must have been a very close runner-up. It's brilliant! The Purple Man is a villain who can make people obey him, just by asking them. After years engaging in fistfights with costumed heroes, he thought "who needs the grief?" and decided to use his talent to pursue the life of a gentleman of leisure. Not the sadistic maniac from the Alias comic or the TV series, he's just a man with no morals living the good life because he can. Unfortunately, the Kingpin is immune to his power... and therein lies the crux of the plot. Highly enjoyable and original! Script by Frank Miller (who did the cover) and art by Herb Trimpe. I liked the script and the cover, but I didn't think Mike £sposito was a good finisher for Herb Trimpe, or anyone else for that matter, and I don't think Herb ever got the hang of drawing Spidetr-Man. Luke Cage, Look Out! You're being chased by the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Spider-Man balloon!
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 1, 2021 14:19:31 GMT -5
Perez JLA/JSA SSSV crossover, with gorilla-body Ultra-Humanite, X-Men vs Magneto, in Lemuria (funky Cockrum designs), X-Men & FF vs Badoon; Superboy returns to the Legion (with amnesia, though partially restored), Cap vs Red Skull & the Ameridroid, Cap annual, with Aquarius and the Cosmic Cube, and All-Star Squadron over the Los Angeles skies. Oh, and Thing meets Captain Stereotype...er, American Eagle
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Post by Graphic Autist on Jul 1, 2021 14:42:30 GMT -5
Didn't all Marvel monthly books have the "Win a Columbia 10-Speed Racer" header the month it appeared?
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 1, 2021 16:07:29 GMT -5
Didn't all Marvel monthly books have the "Win a Columbia 10-Speed Racer" header the month it appeared? Nope - that issue of Marvel 2-in-1 is the only one that month; the next month, though, there would be quite a few more, and the practice continued into the autumn of 1981. (The first wave of those loathsome banner ads, by the way, hit in the summer of 1980).
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jul 1, 2021 16:16:46 GMT -5
Cap annual, with Aquarius and the Cosmic Cube I think you're getting this one mixed up with Annual #7.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 1, 2021 16:23:47 GMT -5
Otherwise, I had a bumper crop of comics this month: over 20 based on the covers over at Mike's Newsstand, including most of the ones codystarbuck posted above. (*Love* that X-men annual in particular: it's a good follow-up to the story in annual #3). But there's one book in particular that I think I should highlight, more because of what it signified to me: Captain Victory #1 - picked it up on my first ever visit to a comic book shop (in Salem, OR). I was so stoked to have discovered a comic book shop, and to buy the first issue of the first series put out by a new comics publisher. I started regularly picking up this title, but also pretty much anything else that Pacific released, and that would soon include Grell's Starslayer and the one-and-only Groo the Wanderer.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 1, 2021 16:25:23 GMT -5
Cap annual, with Aquarius and the Cosmic Cube I think you're getting this one mixed up with Annual #7. Yep, got the cover mixed up in my head. I bought this one years later, when I was rebuilding some of my collection.
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Post by Graphic Autist on Jul 1, 2021 18:40:52 GMT -5
Nope - that issue of Marvel 2-in-1 is the only one that month; the next month, though, there would be quite a few more, and the practice continued into the autumn of 1981. (The first wave of those loathsome banner ads, by the way, hit in the summer of 1980). Thanks! I always thought the Columbia promo, and the earlier “This Marvel Comic Could Be Worth $5,000!” (Like on X-Men 137) all appeared on that month’s titles. I hated they put that crap so large on the covers.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jul 3, 2021 13:20:56 GMT -5
Bought new: All-Star Squadron #2 Arak #2 Batman #340 Brave & the Bold #179 Captain America #262 Conan the Barbarian #127 Daredevil #176 Doctor Strange #49 Green Lantern #145 House of Mystery #297 Iron Man #151 JLA #195 Master of Kung Fu #105 Micronauts #34 Moon Knight #12 Wonder Woman #284 World's Finest Comics #272
Bought later: Avengers #212 Captain America Annual #5 Captain Victory #1 Conan Annual #6 Defenders #100 Dragonslayer #1 Ghost Rider #61 Marvel Two-In-One annual #6 New Teen Titans #12 Rom #23 Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #3 Thor #312 X-Men Annual #5
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 5, 2021 8:17:25 GMT -5
Bought (or received by way of subscription) in July 1981 Avengers #212. I don't much like the mix between superheroes and sword and sorcery characters. This is the issue where The Fall of Hank Pym begins (and don't miss Icctrombone 's and Crimebuster 's review of that saga on the CCF podcast!) Poor Hank would never recover. Forty years ago, already? Man; Hank Pym was known as "the mentally unbalanced wife beater" for most of his published life, now!!! Somehow that doesn't seem fair. Conan annual #6. Another inventory script left by Roy Thomas, ably drawn by Gil Kane. Unfortunately, like many of Roy's leftover scripts, this one would have needed a little editing (that Roy himself would have provided, I'm sure, had he still been at Marvel). Conan the barbarian #127. Not a hoax, not an imaginary story: with this, Gil Kane's first issue as new regular artist, J.M. DeMatteis gives us a truly, truly good Conan yarn, worthy of Roy's classic tales. At the time I was thrilled, because I preferred Kane's Conan to Buscema's, and I believed that DeMatteis had finally hit his stride with the character. Alas, unbeknownst to me, the fates had decreed that this issue would prove to be a small moment of grace before the Bad Old Years would begin in earnest. DeMatteis would be replaced in a matter of months (after a multi-parter featuring ninjas, ugh) and be replaced by Bruce Jones, an otherwise very talented writer and artist who had apparently no idea what Conan's world was like. Plus Kane's pencils would be sabotaged, in my perhaps unkind but not dishonest opinion, by totally incompatible inking (the second time that would happen on a book I subscribed to, as a matter of fact). Fantastic Four #235. Just what was John Byrne doing to the Fantastic Four? The book felt different, as if John was trying to channel (not copy) Kirby instead of doing what he had been doing on the X-Men. Initially taken aback, I quickly grew to love it. My only gripe was that we are treated to a retcon in this issue; Ego's origin, as told in earlier issues of Thor, proved to be a hoax. (That I preferred the origin from this issue is neither here nor there; it's still a retcon). Master of Kung Fu #105. I was still hoping for Paul Gulacy's return to the book... But if we couldn't have Gulacy, Gene Day was a pretty good alternative! I knew the man mostly as an inker, but he was proving that he was one heck of a penciller too! Micronauts #34. A cover that doesn't fit the issue (who is that cowled dude supposed to be?), and an attempt to reset the storyline to bring it back to issue #1's status quo, only replacing Baron Karza by Force Commander. I mean, it's pretty much the same as replacing Darth Vader by his grandson and the Emperor by What's-his-face the gangly clone. I am a little embarassed to admit having followed Micronauts for so long... I kept hoping it would go back to its glory days, but it never quite did, and certainly not before Jackson Guice came aboard. Issues #1-12 are basically all the Micronauts we needed. Moon Knight #12. Moench and Sienkiewicz could do no wrong during their classic run on that title. To me, That was the Batman comic I wanted to read! Savage Sword of Conan #68. See my review here. It's another scrit left by Roy. Man, his drawers were just full of unpublished material! But as with Conan annual #6, those leftovers were not among Roy's best (which I have no doubt is why he didn't publish them when he edited the Conan books). Still better than a Bruce Jones Conan story, but hardly the stuff of Savage Tales. X-Men #150. The redemption of Magneto? This was the issue in which the arch-villain first realized that in his zeal to safeguard mutants, he had let himself become a monster. (Granted, that too is a bit of retconning... Mags had always been about gaining power for himself, and $#@ mutants in general... but it made for a great new take on what a super-villain can be). The issue involves some kind of dampening field for mutant powers, a concept I find extremely hard to grasp... It prevents Cyclops from shooting eyebeams or Charles from using telepathy, it prevents Storm from controlling the weather and Colossus from turning to steel, but it doesn't affect Logan's health or Nightcrawler's looks.I wonder how it would handle a mutant whose power it is to just be 25% smarter than average? What about the power of tasting six flavours instead of the usual five? Better not to overanalyze these things, I'm sure. Oh, and another thing... In this issue (and the previous one), Magneto had raised an island that really looked like R'Lyeh or some bastion of old Atlantis... I don't think we ever got to know the origin of the place, except that it had a few access points to the extra-dimensional realm of Limbo. X-Men annual #5. An exciting adventure in space against the Badoon! You remember the time when your favourite heroes just had a big done-in-one adventure without being tied to all sorts of other stuff? This is it! Nice artwork by Brent Anderson, as I recall.
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 5, 2021 10:26:37 GMT -5
Bought (or received by way of subscription) in July 1981 Avengers #212. I don't much like the mix between superheroes and sword and sorcery characters. This is the issue where The Fall of Hank Pym begins (and don't miss Icctrombone 's and Crimebuster 's review of that saga on the CCF podcast!) Poor Hank would never recover. Forty years ago, already? Man; Hank Pym was known as "the mentally unbalanced wife beater" for most of his published life, now!!! Somehow that doesn't seem fair. Fantastic Four #235. Just what was John Byrne doing to the Fantastic Four? The book felt different, as if John was trying to channel (not copy) Kirby instead of doing what he had been doing on the X-Men. Initially taken aback, I quickly grew to love it. My only gripe was that we are treated to a retcon in this issue; Ego's origin, as told in earlier issues of Thor, proved to be a hoax. (That I preferred the origin from this issue is neither here nor there; it's still a retcon). Moon Knight #12. Moench and Sienkiewicz could do no wrong during their classic run on that title. To me, That was the Batman comic I wanted to read! X-Men #150. The redemption of Magneto? This was the issue in which the arch-villain first realized that in his zeal to safeguard mutants, he had let himself become a monster. (Granted, that too is a bit of retconning... Mags had always been about gaining power for himself, and $#@ mutants in general... but it made for a great new take on what a super-villain can be). The issue involves some kind of dampening field for mutant powers, a concept I find extremely hard to grasp... It prevents Cyclops from shooting eyebeams or Charles from using telepathy, it prevents Storm from controlling the weather and Colossus from turning to steel, but it doesn't affect Logan's health or Nightcrawler's looks.I wonder how it would handle a mutant whose power it is to just be 25% smarter than average? What about the power of tasting six flavours instead of the usual five? Better not to overanalyze these things, I'm sure. Oh, and another thing... In this issue (and the previous one), Magneto had raised an island that really looked like R'Lyeh or some bastion of old Atlantis... I don't think we ever got to know the origin of the place, except that it had a few access points to the extra-dimensional realm of Limbo. Avengers 212 -Despite the artwork, the Avengers became an engrossing book from this issue on. FF 235- decent stories and the high point was 243-270. Moonknight 12- Yes. It was better than Batman with great art But, nothing lasts forever. X-men 150- This is when I started to not like the X-men. Magneto is suddenly a good guy in disguise. Nope. I never accepted it.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 2, 2021 13:03:31 GMT -5
Bought in August 1981 :
Avengers #213. Who would have thought that we'd still be passionate about the trial of Hank Pym forty years later? I wasn't a big fan of Bob Hall's art (something that would change when he'd draw Shadowman for Valiant), but the story was solid.
Avengers annual #10, with gorgeous work by Michael Golden and Armando Gil. I was stunned to learn, years later, that Golden had no idea who those Avengers were... He was there to draw Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, who are barely in the book, and ended up drawing Scarlet Witch, Beast and Wonder Man and assorted B-listers. They had never looked so good anyway!!! (Especially Hawkeye, I thought).
This issue is of course infamous for building on the Carol Danvers story from Avengers #200, and for stripping her of her powers and memories. It also introduced Rogue, a character I really disliked at first.
Conan #128 : Lovely artwork by Gil Kane, but a world-hopping story that's a bit too magical for my taste. Also... Conan having had a wizard/god for a childhood friend is just a sucky idea.
King Conan #8, in which the adulterous king saves his wife from an evil magician. Making Conan a cheat was definitely a case of "great writers' misteps".
Micronauts #35, in which the series prepares to send its stars back to Earth. I mean, it worked the first time, so why not redo it? This issue also ties into another story or series by Bill Mantlo ("the sword in the star") that I am unfamiliar with; I think it had been seen in Marvel Preview and/or other B&W mags.
Savage sword of Conan #69: Lots of pages by Buscema and Chan. Good adventure story, I guess, but hard to reconcile with what we know of Conan's world; there just cannot be an unknown huge island peopled by tiger-riding Amazons a few days sails away from Aghrapur, the capital of Turan.
X-Men #151. Guest artist James Sherman draws a new attack by the Hellfire club; part of the X-mansion gets severely damaged by sentinels. Will Kitty be forced by her parents to leave Xavier's school? And will we ever learn how Emma Frost survived the explosion in X-Men #130? (the answer is "no").
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Post by MWGallaher on Aug 2, 2021 14:25:23 GMT -5
Well, let's see what I was buying on the tenth anniversary of my comics habit:
ADVENTURE COMICS #487: Dial H for Hero was intentionally juvenile, but I got a big kick out of seeing the new characters created. I really wish I'd submitted one!
ALL-STAR SQUADRON #3: My love for the JSA had been established early, and 10 years later, I was still a sucker for anything Earth-2.
AVENGERS #213: Hank Pym was one of my favorite Marvel characters, ever since my being in on the Ant-Man revival in MARVEL FEATURE #4. You'd think I might hate this "Court Martial of Yellowjacket", but instead, I loved seeing Hank get a tragic spotlight. It was a daring thing to bring one of the earliest Marvel heroes into disgrace, and I was captivated.
BRAVE & BOLD #180: Aparo and Fleisher reunited on the Spectre? It wasn't quite the same, but I wasn't going to miss that (not that I'd skip an Aparo B&B in any case).
DAREDEVIL #177: I was all aboard the Miller bandwagon by this point. I don't remember what made this his "strangest adventure", though, but the cover says it was.
DEFENDERS #101: I never missed an issue since starting with #4. My fondness for this book grew into fondness for the work of Don Perlin, who did such a long stint on the comic.
FANTASTIC FOUR #236: I thought Byrne was doing the best FF stuff since Kirby. Always engaging.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #196: Never missed a JSA crossover, and I had also been a Secret Society fan, so I got this without question.
NEW TEEN TITANS #13: I got into the original Titans 10 years earlier, and I'd have bought this even if this wasn't a great series, especially with the tie-in to the Doom Patrol, a team I'd learned to love through reprints in the early 70's.
X-MEN #151: Another series I bought consistently since its revival. It was losing steam for me, but I'd loved this team, too, since the first year of collecting, when I enjoyed the team in MARVEL TEAM-UP #4 and some of the reprint issues that were then running.
Out of ten issues I bought, eight choices can be traced back to comics I'd loved in that first year of collecting. I had not liked Daredevil until being enticed into reading Miller's run, and I'm not quite sure why I was so sold on the Dial H revival.
Cover of the Month: George Perez drawing the Titans shining a spotlight on the remains of Robotman was powerful. Looking over the month's thumbnails, this is still my favorite.
Comic I'd Most Like to Have, but Don't: WEIRD #67. These sleazy MF Enterprises 50's remakes/remodels disturbed me in those early days of collecting. I had forgotten that they ran for as long as they did. Either I ignored them or the magazine stands in Memphis stopped stocking them. It would be fun to have a copy of one of these.
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