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Post by Rob Allen on Oct 4, 2018 15:52:40 GMT -5
Back in the 70s, I tended to divide artists into two categories - those with a distinctive, unusual style, and those who seemed to be trying to produce generic, old-fashioned superhero comics. In my mind, Sal was one of the better artists in the latter group. His work was always serviceable but never had the dynamic spark of his more creative contemporaries. Pairing him with an inker from the first group elevated his work considerably, but even at his best, I couldn't see his version of any character as definitive.
There, I said it. (whoops, wrong thread)
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Post by brutalis on Oct 15, 2018 13:51:54 GMT -5
Continuing Remember When about the beginning's of collecting. Junior High began the changes of my mother’s viewpoints of my comic book collecting. It began with an in-system school test at the start of 6th grade to evaluate academic levels. I tested low in mathematics; but in science, history and English comprehension skills I tested as college level. Yes, I am a full-blown Geek/nerd with comics and movies and television as all a part of that growth for me. My teachers all found from talking with me that it was comic book reading which sparked my development of English skills and which in turn lead into reading any or all books from our limited school library even as I devoured a encyclopedias scientific and nature based that my grandparents had bought for my family. So, my folks now knew of my “good” reading habits humble origins for enhancing my education. So begins the adventures of me in 1972 at age 10.
Comics weren’t all I read as my expansion into books through the city’s local book-mobile arrived. Now I was being delivered every 2 weeks a van full of teen and adult books in which to expand and explore new reading. Open wide the flood gates of a mind viewing science fiction, fantasy, history, science, mystery and other topics far beyond what I had dreams of. I dove head on into a life of checking out 4-6 books every 2 weeks and reading them just as quickly as my mind would absorb them. Further book-mobile stories and adventures to be discussed in the future.
Junior High is also when I began to do more than just buy whatever comics cover grabbed my eye or new issues I could find. Suddenly I was a reader of discrimination and taste. I began to recognize writer and artists. Deciphering which I preferred over others based on the style or stories. This was a new world of collecting comics opening before my eyes as I transitioned into becoming a teenager. Where before I might be in and out (without burger or animal fries ) finding an issue or 2 or 3 while just spending my nickels/dimes/quarters, now it was not unusual I could spend a half hour to 1 hour browsing through all of the issues on the rack as I searched out the best buy for me. My spending and reading habit evolved from rabid read anything to the discerning young intellectual Marvel Zombie with occasional dips into DC comics. These were the 2 major companies available here in the west outside of Archie. Sprinkled into the mix were a sporadic issue of Dell/Gold Key/Western/Charlton/Harvey. I, for the most part passed over anything other than Marvel and DC except for an occasional single issue of other publishers. Yes, very silly and stupid young me in not knowing better at the time. Young, foolish and fancy free wishing now in hindsight that I had bought more of the other companies. Such are the ways of our youth with monetary limitations and still developing reading tastes being the guidepost at that time. Humor and funny animals paled with comparison for action/adventure or super heroes and fantasy and science fiction.
Eventually mom learned to tolerate my collection if only because of my school grades combined with the teacher discussions. Being a Straight A student at the top of the class also helped and having 2 brothers and my many cousins all being in the lower bottom helped reinforce what she was being told. Amazing how having other adults telling your parents that they should be encouraging me about my “silly” hobby rather than treating it like a joke changes everything around. I was also quite a studious, eager, learning machine graduating as 3rd in class from my 8th grade. This too helped my mother to better accept her child was a comic book geek of the highest order. Here ends the tales of woe daring during my Junior High growth and expansion as I contemplate the advent of high school in our next thrilling chapter! Stay tuned true believers…
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Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 15, 2018 14:38:03 GMT -5
Yep, I can relate. As I noted in my comment in the preceding page, I initially encountered real problems in school; my reading comprehension skills in particular were really poor - much of this had to do with the fact that I grew up in a non-English-speaking household. But as I began to actually read every single word in the comic books I had (instead of just looking at the pictures and kind of skimming over the word bubbles, etc.), I went from being the worst reader in my class to one of the best by the 4th grade. And my grades in every other subject improved drastically as well. And yes, I started to read everything else as well, making abundant use of our little school's even littler library, and then the public library in the nearest town. By the way, although I was mainly a superhero guy from the start (first comic was Marvel Tales #59), I did actually have a roughly two-year phase of reading lots of non-superhero material: I started reading a bunch of funny animals, but mainly the Disney ducks being published by Gold Key/Whitman at the time, and Archies. In the latter case, I mainly liked the digests and had a huge stack of them. Even when that phase played itself out and I returned to my first love, i.e., superheroes, I would still occasionally pick up an Archie digest.
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Post by brutalis on Oct 25, 2018 8:14:21 GMT -5
I am right there with you EdoBosnar in that comic books started my reading comprehension skills and truly helped build a strong frame of reference which only grew and expanded once I started into books. I must have devoured everything from our poor school library in a few months. There was no local library close enough and once the beloved book-mobile started coming around every 2 weeks then I really began to read and grow. I devoured all the "family/children" style books from the Black Stallion on through to what was then tweenager type stuff like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew and Jack London. Once Burroughs and Howard was found I quickly left behind most of the tween stuff and delved deeply into science fiction and fantasy which were more provocative and insightful and creative. If not for comic books creativity which enthralled me then I might not have developed my advanced reading and English skills in school.
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Post by brutalis on Nov 7, 2018 9:06:23 GMT -5
I Remember When going into high school and testing proved again I had college level English skills during my Freshman year placed me into advanced college classes (was mostly composed of Seniors) my mother finally gave in. Knowing she could never prevent or slow my comic book collecting anymore, she allowed the 1 brown bag in the closet to expand and grow. I was now fully exploring my comic book addiction and bursting with pride at my collection. Lo, the monster in the closet was fully alive, growing stronger and larger and ever more threatening in consuming me. I now had 3 convenience stores within walking distance of home with a new Circle-K opening. Near my high school I discovered 4 used bookstores along with 5 more convenience stores I could walk to before, during lunch and after school they became my search engine. Each day I created a routine of visiting the different stores for digging through new comic racks and dusty piles of used/old comics and books always in search of more comic book reading.
It was again an eye-opening experience for mom in my Freshman my year. 1st week of Advanced English the teacher assigns the class in reading the 1st assigned book for a test on Friday. I had already read ALL the assigned 6 books, so I pulled out some comic books and read them in class. Of course, my teacher was surprised and asked me why I wasn’t reading the class book. So, when I explained to him how I had read all 6 he said let’s see how much I retained and handed me tests for all 6 books. I scored 100% on each one and from there I was “teacher’s pet” rest of the year. He would call on me during class discussions and the rest of the time he allowed me to sit and read my comics when everyone else performed their book assignments. Totally amazed my teacher during the parent teacher conference when he asked them how they had helped me in my education and they replied not at all, I had learned it all upon my own.
Sophomore year delivered another surprise in my next advanced English and Science and History teachers as all spoke to my parents outside of parent teacher conferences. My English teacher wished to go out and personally buy books to expand my reading growth. The Science teacher wished to do similar with buying me used college text books to prepare me for college. It was my history teacher who most surprised them as he wanted permission for utilizing my comic books in his class (specifically Invaders and Unknown Soldier and Haunted Tank) and that he was also writing a history book and he would pay me for creating hand drawn maps for the book. So here is 14-year-old Bruce exploding into full blown NERDVANA all derived from reading comic books. Who would have believed this? Certainly not me or my parents and yet it was happening. I was the 1st “nerd” in the family (still the only one) who was now no longer made fun of or being denied my nerdism from family as school showed everyone what being a nerd was accomplishing for me.
Next up will be the continuing adventures of Bruce as a Junior and Senior in high school. Embracing the nerd concept and using it for fun and introducing others to the wonderful world of being nerdy.
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Post by beccabear67 on Nov 7, 2018 14:08:04 GMT -5
I'd have to credit reading text science-fiction (although mainly preferring short stories) for any English skills as a kid. I think I did learn all kinds of things from comics though; history and geography a bit from Donald Duck, a bit of pop culture from Archie (where I learned what an ascot was when he started wearing one Veronica bought him and turned into a right toff over it), Hawaiian place names from Dennis The Menace, even a few military terms from Sad Sack!
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Post by EdoBosnar on Nov 7, 2018 14:35:19 GMT -5
Oh, man. Being allowed to read comics in class - Nerdvana and then some. I got in trouble a few times during my freshman year of HS for reading comics, tucked into a binder, during study periods.
Otherwise, though, you brought a smile to my face when you mentioned having a routine all planned out for visiting stories where you could find comics. Since I grew up in a rural area, I was dependent on going with my mom when she went grocery shopping in a nearby mid-sized town. I had mental map and schedule worked out in my head: after checking out the grocery store's spinner rack, I'd run to a nearby drugstore to check out the magazine rack, and then also a 7-11 across the street. Same thing when my mom went shopping in the nearest larger city (Salem, OR). There was a big PayLess drugstore there with an excellent magazine aisle, a great place to find treasury editions and, especially, digests, but I'd also run out to two convenience stories with spinner racks that were right on the edge of the downtown shopping district: one was a Plaid Pantry (those pretty much only exist in the Pacific NW) while the other was, yes, a Circle K.
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Post by brutalis on Jan 18, 2019 9:17:36 GMT -5
Now begins the journey into adventure as a Junior/Senior as my high school takes me into new realms of exploration and expansion with my comic book reading and embracing the inner nerd for the benefit of the outer growing teen. Fall of 1978 to summer of 1980 were my final years of high school infamy. By Junior year my local fame within school had grown with nearly the entire school (teachers and students) knowing of me as a comic book geek and artist. Wondrous what the word of mouth network can do isn’t it? Suddenly everyone wanted artwork by me or in borrowing my comics to read. Shall we Remember When I was a High School comic book nerd?
Along with this I was on the school Newspaper and Yearbook both Junior/Senior years while working on school plays doing design and painting props. My fame was spreading rapidly with students I had never met or known calling out as if they knew me personally. My science teacher asked for a wall of posters turning science stuff into superhero’s. Each year there was a school competition held for design of the Yearbook cover and I won both my Junior and Senior year. I used my comic book nerd influences with art and designs in the weekly newspaper as well inside the yearbook. I crafted cartoons and graffiti and my superhero’s anywhere and everywhere I could. My Algebra teacher wouldn’t accept my tests unless I drew upon the sides and tops of the pages with heroes, villains or monsters. I had many fellow students begging me to create mini-comics of them as a hero or villain. Any school event found teachers pulling me from classes to draw/paint/etc for banners or posters or flyers. I was given full pad of authorized hall passes from the Principal to excuse myself at any time for any reason for any event from classes. Crazy, hectic and fun artistic days and nights for me!
These final years in high school also provided me with ample time and opportunity in finally being able to find more than 1 or 2 issues of a series at a time. With so many venues accessible to me now in walking distance of school I was beginning the true addiction we get with comics of being a “completist” in search of each new monthly issue. Soon enough I followed series I knew like Avengers, FF, JLA and the like even as I began to find series like Micronauts, ROM, GI Joe. I found myself becoming hooked on the DC Weird War with the Creature Commandoes, the Unknown Soldier and House of Mystery with I, Vampire. I began to build ongoing regular runs of Superman, Batman, Flash, Spider-Man and Iron Man which were difficult to find before high school.
These were formative years in my start towards the full on geekdom of comic books. Finding issues regularly each month. Learning about the differences in writers/artists while forming my tastes for what to like or dislike. I was growing into the NERD which for lay dormant in my parent’s “dislike” of my collection. Now I found others who were similar to me where true learning, sharing and discussions began to become part of each day. Senior Year with a friend who drove gave new insights as we discovered the advent of the LCS! A place filled with everything we geeks dream of all in one place. Suddenly lots of old back issues were available to browse. In earnest began my hunt and love for comic issues from before I was born.
No longer a consumer of just odd new issues with a sprinkling of old found in yard sales I was a teenage comic book geek consumed by passion of these magical books. Seeking out and digging through a used and dusty bookstore for any old gems. Perusing through these new LCS’s with tables upon tables of long boxes filled with treasures to be discovered. Buying new each week from convenience stores or the LCS. Most of my hard-earned allowance and odd job payment is now going into building my growing collection. A mix of old and new expanding my horizons and mind with four color excitement through every comic bought. Trading up and down with neighbor kids and in school and my friends teaching the art of hustle and sales in pursuit of issues I missed out on or series I had never known of or only had seen ads within other comics for them.
I wore my comic book nerd badge of honor proudly and those were some of the most fun days and months and years in my young life at the time. Today I look back and wonder “what if” over the me of my youth and ponder over how different my life might be should I have grown up without finding comic books. Comics are a part of all that I am now as an adult. They taught me how to read, helped me to grow and develop as a person, they were friends during the sad or tough times and they help to bring out the best in me.
These yellowing comics are special and are a part of me forever. My collection has evolved, grown and aged over time and so do I. I still find a quiet simple joy and pleasure in reading my favorites or thrill from discovering new writers and artists. Comics are a spectacular hobby and recreation for which I will always find time to indulge in.
I could continue writing about comic collecting throughout the 90’s and the early 2000’s and even until today. For now, suffice to say, you can know that I am a happy child once more whenever opening the pages of a comic. The smile I wear upon the outside and inside is genuine when I travel through worlds and adventures many never dream or know of. All because I embrace the fun of comic books.
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Post by brutalis on Feb 1, 2019 11:48:34 GMT -5
Star Hunters is a short-lived science-fiction DC comic with a 7 issue run and 1 issue in DC Super-Stars #16 from then new writer David Michelinie. With a different art team for nearly every issue and yet it still managed to capture my young imagination. It was a purely fun swashbuckling outer space pirate romp of a series. The team is led by the charmingly roguish Errol Flynn wannabee (drawn as to look like Flynn even) Donovan Flint who takes the other 5 members into space. They are exiled from Earth with a virus which will mutate their genes should they ever return. Fighting to stay alive while in search of an antidote, the adventurers start a cosmic quest for the secret origin of man which will allow their returning to Earth.
Eventually the team learns that Flint is the chosen champion of the forces of light against darkness in an eternal war for control of the multiverses. Is this new and different in terms of creativity? Not so much, and yet there is something special about this comic that had me searching for them when they were fresh off the shelf. It felt like the story was being made up and changed with every issue just as fast as the artists came and went. Yet, the art was consistently gorgeous and exciting from Don Newton, to Mike Netzer, to Rich Buckler and held together with Bob Layton inks in the earlier issues before having Tom Sutton inks. These comics looked wonderful in every way with creative design and layouts giving it a special sci-fi feeling and unique look which helped it stand out from other comics at the time.
This was in no way great comics and yet it I still Remember When I was finding this on the spinner racks. It holds a place of fondness in my heart and memories. I still have all 8 issues in their well-read and dog-eared condition showing the love and adoration this series inspired within me. Star Hunters is something special for me and I don’t know if it was the time and place or memories which it evokes that helps me cherish it so much. It is one of those silly things that I keep going back to and reading every so often and has me ponder if it was just me or did others enjoy this small hidden gem? Sadly, the series never caught on and it was never granted an ending so these valiant Hunters in the cosmic vastness of space are left hanging just the same as us readers over their fate and the possibilities of what might have been. Are they still out there searching and fighting? If only a TPB collection were possible for us today. I do like to believe Flint and folks are still exploring and roaming the cosmos as a team buckling their swashes in search of new wonders...
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Post by EdoBosnar on Feb 1, 2019 12:17:13 GMT -5
Star Hunters is one of the series I'd really like to read some day. For whatever reason, I missed it back in the day (in fact, I don't even recall seeing it in the spinner racks). You're right, it would be nice to see a tpb collecting this (and, for that matter, the original run of Ragman, and Rima, and... c'mon DC, Marvel gave us Skull the Slayer, what are you waiting for?!)
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Post by brutalis on Feb 1, 2019 13:04:32 GMT -5
Star Hunters is one of the series I'd really like to read some day. For whatever reason, I missed it back in the day (in fact, I don't even recall seeing it in the spinner racks). You're right, it would be nice to see a tpb collecting this (and, for that matter, the original run of Ragman, and Rima, and... c'mon DC, Marvel gave us Skull the Slayer, what are you waiting for?!) Funny you should say never saw it on the spinner rack Edo as I never did as well. Where did I find every issue at? At the Korean grocery store in my neighborhood that didn't have a spinner rack. They instead had a long wooden magazine style shelf with all the comics on the bottom row. Spent many an hour there on my backside, sitting and sorting and deciding which comics to buy this week.
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Post by beccabear67 on Feb 1, 2019 13:10:04 GMT -5
I had most of the Star Hunters series but somehow never had the DC Super-Stars debut until recently (and now it's all I have of it). Marvel looked to try it's own original sf series with Seeker 3000 in Marvel Premiere but didn't follow it up at the time... they did around twenty years later though in a four issue mini-series.
Ragman and Rima were unique and had some great artwork! Ragman also appears in Batman Family #20.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 1, 2019 13:30:56 GMT -5
Star Hunters is a short-lived science-fiction DC comic with a 7 issue run and 1 issue in DC Super-Stars #16 from then new writer David Michelinie. With a different art team for nearly every issue and yet it still managed to capture my young imagination. It was a purely fun swashbuckling outer space pirate romp of a series. The team is led by the charmingly roguish Errol Flynn wannabee (drawn as to look like Flynn even) Donovan Flint who takes the other 5 members into space. They are exiled from Earth with a virus which will mutate their genes should they ever return. Fighting to stay alive while in search of an antidote, the adventurers start a cosmic quest for the secret origin of man which will allow their returning to Earth. I have a soft spot for that issue of DC Super-Stars and the first issue of Star Hunters because it is amonng Don Newton's early DC work. But I have zero memory of the stories.
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Post by brutalis on Feb 1, 2019 13:38:51 GMT -5
Star Hunters is a short-lived science-fiction DC comic with a 7 issue run and 1 issue in DC Super-Stars #16 from then new writer David Michelinie. With a different art team for nearly every issue and yet it still managed to capture my young imagination. It was a purely fun swashbuckling outer space pirate romp of a series. The team is led by the charmingly roguish Errol Flynn wannabee (drawn as to look like Flynn even) Donovan Flint who takes the other 5 members into space. They are exiled from Earth with a virus which will mutate their genes should they ever return. Fighting to stay alive while in search of an antidote, the adventurers start a cosmic quest for the secret origin of man which will allow their returning to Earth. I have a soft spot for that issue of DC Super-Stars and the first issue of Star Hunters because it is amonng Don Newton's early DC work. But I have zero memory of the stories. My memories of the series are seriously more of the artwork over the story. I remember a few points of the story like their virus infection and Flint being an Avatar of "Light" but beyond that I can't tell you more or even names of any of the other characters. Which means whenever drag those tired old yellow issues out to read every few years it feels fresh. Still finding and reading this over and over as a teen is a strong memory.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Feb 1, 2019 15:50:19 GMT -5
I had most of the Star Hunters series but somehow never had the DC Super-Stars debut until recently (and now it's all I have of it). Marvel looked to try it's own original sf series with Seeker 3000 in Marvel Premiere but didn't follow it up at the time... they did around twenty years later though in a four issue mini-series. Ragman and Rima were unique and had some great artwork! Ragman also appears in Batman Family #20. Marvel really didn't seem to produce much original SF in the 1970s in its four-color books; in fact, outside of Deathlok, I can't think of any others that weren't licensed properties or based, however peripherally, on SF books or movies. That's not to say that the licensed properties were bad; Star Wars was apparently the company's cash cow, and I'm quite fond of Warlord of Mars, Logan's Run and Battlestar Galactica. In one form or another, I have the complete runs of the latter three. BSG in particular got pretty good in the last third, when Simonson came on as the more-or-less regular artist and then starting writing the stories as well.
As for Ragman, my ideal tpb would collect the 5-issue series plus his appearances in Batman Family and Brave & the Bold (#196).
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