Jonah Hex is another favorite character despite whatever title or imprint they thrust him into.

If there's a character I follow, he's one of the very few, including Doc Savage, the Shadow, the Rocketeer, and a handful of others I can't think of at the moment.

It's funny you say that as I'd read just about any book with Doc Savage, the Shadow and the Rocketeer too.

Day 3  No. 10

Savage Tales #1
Marvel, cover date May 1971
various writers and artists





Yeah, it' s a cool comic. You've got an early Roy Thomas/Barry Smith Conan story. You've got the first appearance of Man-Thing. You've got a Ka-Zar story, which . . . okay, I never really got into Ka-Zar. I liked the original 3 pulp stories better than any Ka-Zar comic I ever read. And you've got 2 other stories meant to be the start of new series, but which didn't continue. (Though the Femizons later turned up in the Fantastic Four, IIRC. Don't think Black Brother was ever seen again.) It was Marvel's attempt to go 'mature' with edgier material and semi-nudity. (Hey, a dominant woman and a black guy heading their own stories was edgy back then.) But that's not why this book made my list.

I was buying everything Conan I could find back then, and I flipped when I saw this magazine on the shelf. But I didn't have any money, so I freaked. I ran home and got the money, but it was too late to go back to the store. So I determined that I would walk there after school the next day.

Now you have to understand, I went to Catholic school from 1st grade through my first year of college. I'd had the whole sin/hell/eternal punishment thing hammered into me steadily from an early age. So I was a little nervous about buying the book to begin with, what with the violence, cussing and naked women (however discreetly posed). But that day, with two quarters burning their way out of my pocket, our biology class had a guest speaker. One of the older priests came in to talk to us about how hard it was to be good Catholics in a world of sin and depravity, and how we had to be sure to avoid movies and books that could lead us into sin. Talk about timing; it felt like that priest must've read my mind. I seriously wondered if it might have been a sign from God himself, telling me to shape up and not buy that sleazy magazine. It haunted me through the rest of my classes. What should I do?

Oh, come on. Barry Smith. Gray Morrow. Conan. Sorta nekkid ladies. What do you think I did? God was just gonna have to understand.

Ok, so my family lived out in the country and we were at the tail end of the bus route; a long hour home.

One of our neighbors one day had a couple of Hulk comics and some really nice art.  Ernie Chua anyone ?

Everything was still newsstand.  I asked this guy a year older than me if he'd bring those Hulk comics back and I'm buy them from him.

After being really persistent, finally one day he did and I bought em.  I don't think he really wanted to part with em.

There was one I didn't remember seeing and didn't realize til a little while later what I really had.



How incredibly cool was that ?

I held on to it for years until I got to doing some trading.  I knew of course this was worth money but ended up trading it to a dealer in Lincoln for $ 40.  It was probably in good condition.

I traded it thinking I could get the reprint and that was fine.  As an adult I've never really held on to a comic because of rarity; more a reader than a collector.

Quickly I regretted trading it but of course the dealer says no way and it's gone.

There was something really cool about having the first full appearance of one of the most popular superheroes ever.  Who would've thought.

#10: Star Wars #50 (Marvel, 1981)



This issue came out approximately a year after The Empire Strikes Back. It was a time when I was still in awe of Empire and  anticipating RoTJ. This was also the first Star Wars comic I owned. I had gone into the store wanting a Spider-man ish, but the sleek Tom Palmer cover featuring all of the main characters seduced me over to the dark side of the rack.

Turns out I was in for a treat. This issue marked the end of a run by Archie Goodwin, and he went out with a bang, by giving fans a self-contained story with artwork by a team of Al Williamson, Tom Palmer and Walt Simonson. The artwork in this one is purely fantastic, and wrapped an illusion around the story that felt like I was watching a Star Wars movie.

And then there was Goodwin's story, "The Crimson Forever". Goodwin expertly crafted a tale that expanded the Star Wars universe while weaving all of the main characters into the plot's course throughout.

After encountering an Imperial Star Destroyer that does not engage, Luke Skywalker boards the ship and discovers the entire crew is dead. They had succumbed to a deadly alien virus, and now Luke has caught it. Leia summons Lando and Chewbacca for help, who are busy in the Falcon searching for Han Solo (still in carbonite).


Leia remembers Han mentioning two mystical rubies that, when separated, resulted in a similar illness, and implores Chewbacca (via C-3PO) to tell her more about them. The book dives into a flashback tale about a Han and Chewie escapade where they are caught by a slaver named Klysk, who was after two jewels in the heart of the Red Nebula.


Leia, Hando and Chewie head off for the Red Nebula in the Falcon, but receive a distress signal by a mercenary ship. They board the ship to find everyone dead from the virus. They are then ambushed and captured by IG-88 (my favorite bounty hunter, great surprise moment) and taken to Domina Tagge. Turns out Tagge is behind the virus all along, and wanted revenge for her dead brother. She had separated the jewels which in turn caused the virus.

Lando pretends he has the virus, which allows Leia to open the airlock so they can escape. In a surprise twist, IG-88 (unaffected by the virus as he's a droid) re-unites the separated jewels, ending the threat the virus had imposed.

When my parents wanted to hit the road, I always brought this comic. It provided the perfect Star Wars fix. There is so much more to the story then the book I just wrote above, such as a battle between Luke and Vader in a hallucinogenic red haze, a giant jewel guardian who mistakes Chewie for a cub, an apologetic stun droid, and more.

I want to "like" this post twice.

You're right, this is an excellent issue. I total get what you mean when you say that reading it made you feel "like [you were] watching a Star Wars movie." The story's length and the fact that it's drawn by Al Williamson, just like the earlier adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back was, gives the story an "official" vibe, which makes it almost seem like you're watching Star Wars: Episode V½.

It's also a very skillfully woven tale that cleverly lets us see Luke crossing lightsabers with Darth Vader, Han Solo out of carbonite and back in action again, and also ties into the Carmine Infantino era Marvel continuity with the appearance of Domina Tagge. It's quite a feat to do all that and still not mess anything up character-wise, with regards to the then-forthcoming 3rd movie installment.

Here in the UK, this came out at Christmas 1982 in a hardcover, magazine-sized annual and I must've literally read that book a hundred times as a kid. Like you it was almost always my Star Wars comic of choice for long road journeys with my parents.

I had this comic on my Classic Comics Xmas shortlist too, but I could've filled all 12 days up with issues of Marvel's Star Wars comic to be honest. I already have two issues from the series in my top 12, so I had to cull this one for the sake of variety, but I'm glad that somebody else has picked it.