|
Post by tarkintino on Jun 20, 2019 10:03:13 GMT -5
For Christmas one year (1978, 1977, 1976?) I received one of the thick collected Gold Key Star Trek comics (only it said Golden press on it). I got another one later. I remember one had that space pirates with striped shirts and fishbowl helmets story in it. Later I read about how the Italian artists hadn't even seen the show at first and were working from stills sent to them. I guess I liked it anyway, it was Star Trek, and it was a real thick comic-sized item. I wonder why that format wasn't used as much as the digests, or the even more shrunken and awkward paperback? Here's the first one, they were titled 'The Enterprise Logs'... The Enterprise Logs were great; being Gold Key's biggest property, it made sense that they would (briefly) walk the trade paperback/reprint path already explored by DC and Marvel. What was unique about the Logs was that it capitalized on the Star Trek mythos by adding original (to the TPBs), illustrated character backgrounds, and a history of spaceflight raging from the early NASA days, the DY class ships (like the Botany Bay from TOS' "Space Seed") to the Enterprise, with its crew from many worlds. Gold Key's adaptations were not always screen-accurate, but they did tap into the growing Star Trek phenomenon of the 70s, and for a fan, the Logs books were a great gift, especially if you could not afford the original issues. That, and the great Alberto Giolitti's art was the kind of action/realism a Star Trek comic needed.
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Jun 20, 2019 10:55:03 GMT -5
Gold Key's adaptations were not always screen-accurate, but they did tap into the growing Star Trek phenomenon of the 70s, and for a fan, the Logs books were a great gift, especially if you could not afford the original issues. That, and the great Alberto Giolitti's art was the kind of action/realism a Star Trek comic needed. Totally agree that somehow the Gold Key Trek comic just felt like it captured the "essence" of the times which translated to the comic invoking the spirit if not necessarily the specifics of Trek.
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Jul 19, 2019 16:46:43 GMT -5
Remember When there was no Internet to spoil your reading pleasure of new comics? All you ever knew at most, was perhaps a cover image or that it was part 2 of 3 or such? There were no dagnabbit comic coverage sites that literally will tell you the entire story before it is published. There was no annoying pop ups everywhere to put the big ending or mysterious character right there in the pop up header/headline to ruin everything. I so miss the golden days of yesteryear when I was surprised and excited to finding the newest issues with little or no fanfare! Boy were those the days...
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2019 18:13:50 GMT -5
I so miss the golden days of yesteryear when I was surprised and excited to finding the newest issues with little or no fanfare! Boy were those the days... Spoken with truth and clarity and I truly understand everything that you said here.
|
|
|
Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 20, 2019 2:46:46 GMT -5
Hm, since I don't read any ongoing comics, I'm usually not bothered by the potential spoilers at certain comics sites - which I rarely visit in any case. I guess the same complaint can apply to movies, which I do find annoying (just like the teaser trailers that are released well over a year before the movie is). But yeah, it was cool back in the day when you could be totally excited about the installments in a continuing story arc (or walk in to see a movie) and all of it is new to you - in the sense that there hasn't been a ton of commentary/speculation posted online, lengthy interviews with the creators, or even non-spoiler negative reviews (i.e., 'It sucked!'), etc. which sort of takes away from the fun of it all.
On the flip side, the internet has been a boon to me, living far from the US now, in that I'm able to interact with like-minded comics fans on a daily basis at sites like this, and also find good deals on the comics I'm interested in buying.
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on Jul 20, 2019 6:16:52 GMT -5
I don't buy many new comics these days, so I'm not really concerned with spoilerage. I rather like looking up something and getting full explanations in places like wikipedia.
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Jul 22, 2019 7:49:18 GMT -5
I don't buy many new comics these days, so I'm not really concerned with spoilerage. I rather like looking up something and getting full explanations in places like wikipedia. I don't mind the spoilage AFTER the fact in as much as I detest all the "pre-hype" and spoiling that seems to go on endlessly for months before something comes out, which I feel at times can shoot down the actual comic at times before it is ever seen.
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on Jul 22, 2019 8:51:25 GMT -5
Remember When there was no Internet to spoil your reading pleasure of new comics? All you ever knew at most, was perhaps a cover image or that it was part 2 of 3 or such? There were no dagnabbit comic coverage sites that literally will tell you the entire story before it is published. There was no annoying pop ups everywhere to put the big ending or mysterious character right there in the pop up header/headline to ruin everything. I so miss the golden days of yesteryear when I was surprised and excited to finding the newest issues with little or no fanfare! Boy were those the days... That's one reason I'm glad I don't read new comics anymore.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 22, 2019 9:17:56 GMT -5
It takes literally no effort whatsoever to avoid spoilers for new comics. While I'll admit that I don't read very many new comics I do read a few. And I spend exactly zero time having to avoid spoilers for them. I got more info on upcoming comics from the "coming attractions" in DC books and "Bullpen Bulletins" back in the day. And infinitely more from Amazing Heroes and the various handouts that the companies put out to comic shops back in the late 80s-early 90s.
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Aug 28, 2019 9:04:36 GMT -5
A quick Remember When thought from me as the last few weeks of this dog day hotter than Hades summer has my tired old brain totally in slow motion. Over the weekend during the hottest portion of the afternoon when thinking becomes too involved I retired in the bedroom under the air-conditioner and dug into some old well loved comics which take little effort in reading. Westerns and War comics from DC, Marvel and Charlton. It reminded me of those times in my earliest youth before actually having the "collecting" bug when I only had a small smattering of comics in my possession. Remembering how I would read those few comic books over and over again every week without caring that I had just read them already. This was how I began to deciphering the differences in artists and how to recognize them by the way they posed or constructed a panel. This was how I began to appreciating different writers styles. This was how I began figuring out what I liked or disliked in comic books. All of this influenced my eventual collecting habits as to what comic series and writers and artists I would follow and search for. To this day there are still favorites I fondly remember from those long ago days of childhood that I will dig out and read again and sometimes remember a specific day or moment spent with that comic.
I can remember time spent at my grandparent house out in the White Mountains desert west of Phoenix reading the few Two Gun Kid and Kid Colt comics I had. After doing chores around their place like feeding the chickens, pulling weeds and washing dishes all day it was my time in the evening reading those comics each night before bed on those warm summer nights. Going over to my Great Aunt's house in the summer to stay with her for a week and having some Avengers and Fantastic Four's taken along to read while she would watch her favorite soap opera's. I can still taste and smell her house and the food cooking each day when I read an old FF. There was a couple of cover-less Marvel Super Heroes I kept at my mother's Grandparents who lived 3 blocks away which I would read nearly every weekend when I slept over on Friday's after school and would help them around the house on Saturdays.
Comic book memories stored forever within my thoughts and emotions all invoked from reading over and over again those few small and precious issues I owned. Sweet times of childhood that can never be forgotten or replaced...
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Oct 25, 2019 13:45:52 GMT -5
Do you Remember When you would find yourself owning a single issue of a series? No matter the reason for having end up with just a singular issue, having JUST ONE ISSUE and that issue either driving you crazy in wishing for more or it was so horrible you were glad to only have the one? During my spinner rack days in the limited distribution system in Phoenix (to this day I still wonder what the heck was going on?) back in the 70's, there were many series that would magically appear and/or disappear. I can only remember finding 1 issue of Karate Kid back in the day. I found or traded for an issue of Kaluta's Shadow comic and never recall it being on the racks new. I had only one issue of Where Creatures Roam and craved more of those giant beasties. There was a single issue of Superfriends the comic that I had where I hoped to see more but never ever found new. Same occurred with Charlton comic books quite a bit as it seemed I could only find them in collector packs at K-Mart, so I had single issues of Star Trek, The Space Family Robinson, Space: 1999, Six Million Dollar man, Bionic Woman and Magnus Robot Fighter. Spectacular stuff that I longed for reading more of, yet was always denied enjoying. Do you have memories of single issues you read over and over until they were falling apart?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2019 13:56:09 GMT -5
For me this happened mostly with Dell/Gold Key titles. Distribution was hit or miss in my area. Charlton Comics were more consistent.
|
|
|
Post by beccabear67 on Oct 25, 2019 14:55:29 GMT -5
Phoenix (to this day I still wonder what the heck was going on?) She eats a sun that melts some asparagus people and then dies. But seriously, distribution in North America was really variable... the regular comics were just generic bundles to the distributors, as in "Hey Chawlee, throw me another bundle of comics." I seemed to have a bunch of titles that were there one month and would look for the next one and finally see the one after the one I had been watching for, and I had at least two places close by I could check the racks of almost daily. Comics were just too cheap. Maybe some newsstand owners could make sure they got a specific title that they saw demand for, but for many it was really impossible. They got what bundles they got that week of simply 'comics' and took the stuff off from four weeks earlier that hadn't sold (those color codes printed at the top of all the pages told them, this week the old blues get pulled). I had the last Super-Villain Team-Up. Not sure if I kept looking for the next one... also Invaders #40 all on it's own... I never did get an #41 (have one on order now though all this time later, but no longer the #40).
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 25, 2019 15:12:24 GMT -5
Do you Remember When you would find yourself owning a single issue of a series? No matter the reason for having end up with just a singular issue, having JUST ONE ISSUE and that issue either driving you crazy in wishing for more or it was so horrible you were glad to only have the one? During my spinner rack days in the limited distribution system in Phoenix (to this day I still wonder what the heck was going on?) back in the 70's, there were many series that would magically appear and/or disappear. I can only remember finding 1 issue of Karate Kid back in the day. I found or traded for an issue of Kaluta's Shadow comic and never recall it being on the racks new. I had only one issue of Where Creatures Roam and craved more of those giant beasties. There was a single issue of Superfriends the comic that I had where I hoped to see more but never ever found new. Same occurred with Charlton comic books quite a bit as it seemed I could only find them in collector packs at K-Mart, so I had single issues of Star Trek, The Space Family Robinson, Space: 1999, Six Million Dollar man, Bionic Woman and Magnus Robot Fighter. Spectacular stuff that I longed for reading more of, yet was always denied enjoying. Do you have memories of single issues you read over and over until they were falling apart? While that did happen occasionally (I bought a LOT of comics from garage/yard sales in the late 70s), for me it was more about multiple copies of books I'd never buy from a spinner rack. Many issues of Action and Superman. More than one issue of Gold Key books like Little Monsters and Cracky.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2019 15:33:08 GMT -5
Do you have memories of single issues you read over and over until they were falling apart? I have bought 5 issues of this comic book from 1972 to Present and I have worn out 4 of them because it's contains the story the Last Angry God that dealt with a monstrous Korge seen here towering over Manhunter from Mars and others shown here.
|
|