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Post by berkley on Dec 22, 2014 4:24:41 GMT -5
Howard the Duck Treasury Edition, (# 12) January, 1976.  Whaugh. Yesterday I talked about how much I like big comics depth-wise, today we got a big comic leeeeength-and- height wise. The lead story is a fun "two worlds collide" story as the characters from Steve Gerber's funny book (The Defenders) and his more serious examination-of-the-human-condition-book (Howard the Duck.) ... But it's not the lead feature that earns this book a place on my list, although I did enjoy the vacuum-powered villain with the er.. memorable battle cry "I Am the Black Hole! And the Black Hole....Sucks!" It was the (new-to-ME!) reprints of the first few Howard the Duck stories reprinted, oversize and beautiful. These were the Frank Brunner Howard the Duck stories, and his phsychadelic realism (which shouldn't even make sense!) worked better for me on Howard than even Gene Colan. And I lo-o--o-ove Gene Colan. There was less of Gerber's trademark social criticism here, but who needs criticism when you have a giant frog, an evil accountent/wizard, and a COW who is also a VAMPIRE. Surprisingly dark stuff, this, which choreogaphed the next wave of "literary" funny animals, from Maus to Shhh! to Sammy the Mouse. I think this is where I first read those HtD back-ups from Man-Thing too. Brunner should have been an artist on Man-Thing at some point - the few covers he did still inform my visual impressions of that series to a large extent, even though I don't believe he ever drew a full story for the series, did he?, apart from those Howard shorts. But I have to say, I thought Colan was perfect for the street-realism of the middle and later HtD series. The big editorial mistake for me was when they replaced Steve Leialoha with Klaus Janson, otherwise an excellent inker, and a personal favourite, but ill-suited for Colan's style on that book, and a huge drop-off from leialoha, who I rate as Colan's best inker, even ahead of Tom Palmer. I have to laugh at some readers I see today dismissing Gerber's stuff as "dated" and not much different from anything else from that era. What have they read? Do they read at all - outside comics? |
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107 
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Post by Polar Bear on Dec 22, 2014 7:58:00 GMT -5
I had no idea there were so many of us DeMatteis/Buscema fans out there! I worked at a comics store during that run ... and it sure wasn't selling that well!  Funny what gets fondly remembered! Re. that HtD/Defenders Treasury, I've always wanted that one, but it was $20 at a convention, and I wasn't willing to pay that much for just one story... I'm cheap... |
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Post by berkley on Dec 23, 2014 10:03:20 GMT -5
#8 Marvel Treasury Edition #10A last Silver Age pick for me. While this oversized measure of grandeur actually came out as part of a wonderful Bronze Age experiment in format, and I do own all four of the issues reprinted here, there was no way I was only going to chose but one chapter in this extraordinary epic. This is an oversize saga as truly befits an oversize comic. I loved this Treasury to death as a kid. My original copy has much masking tape (I know!?) to thank for it's survival these days. Here was a tale more epic, more explicitly mythic, more awe-inspiring I felt than even the Galactus trilogy which would roughly be the equivalent of the tale in Thor's sister mag the Fantastic Four. This book was my gateway to Norse mythology, and I can still trace in my memory panel by panel the road of the gods from early hint of peril to catastrophic ruin just short of Ragnarok. Now thee is word to chill. Kirby's art in this issue reached an apex that lent the saga an authenticity that seemed to place it (as Mangog among the Jotunn or the wolf Fenrir) in scale and and craft and credibility alongside the original Norse myths themselves. Until 1968 when the story was first told it must have seemed as if comics were hardly capable of such epic storytelling. It was a revelation worthy of the gods. One of the individual issues reprinted here will be appearing on my list. The Treasury Edition came out at a time when I had long lost my copy of that issue, so it was incredibly exciting to be able to read it again here, along with - for the first time, for me - the other 3 issues. This larger than life story was perfect for the over-size Treasury Edition format. My only quibble would be that they should have used a couple of the original issues' covers for the TE reprint: two in particular would have been just right for the front and back (157 & 156, respectively), and the style more in tune with the interior artwork than the new one Kirby came up with, serviceable though it was.   |
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 23, 2014 16:43:11 GMT -5
#8: The Defenders #4, by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema with Frank McLaughlin This was probably where I really began to "get" the Marvel magic. I hadn't much liked the Avengers issues I'd read, FF was ok, but this team really pulled my trigger. I would continue to buy this comic throughout the rest of its 152 issue run, that's how much I loved these guys. Sal's art was conventional but powerful, with personality and coiled power. This "Valkyrie" was a heroine unlike any I'd expected to encounter. I was fascinated. Doc, Subby, and the Hulk hadn't done much for me on their own, in my very limited sampling, but here, as the infamous "non-team", their interactions were priceless. Throw in a cameo appearance by the Black Knight, one of the best costume designs that I forgot last Christmas, a little time travel, exotic locations...this one had what it takes to stick with me, and make me want to stick with the Defenders (who, of course, I'd be rooting for a few months down the road in the Avengers-Defenders War!)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2014 21:43:18 GMT -5
8. Captain America #112 "Lest We Forget!" April 1969 cover date Script by Stan Lee; pencils by Jack Kirby Inks by Frank Giacoia Yep -- I rank this one above its justly celebrated immediate predecessor by Steranko (who also did #s 110 & 113 before presumably concluding that an entire 3 issues were all he was going to expend his godlike genius on). As truly excellent as that one is, #112 belongs in an entirely different category ... & I thought that before I learned here, or rather on CBR, just a few years ago that Kirby churned it out in a weekend because Steranko (whose name must be Hungarian, I guess, for "deadlines are for lesser mortals") couldn't actually produce a 3rd consecutive monthly issue on time. So the King showed him how it was done. And in so doing, produced an issue that awed me then, & still awes me now, with its evocation of the sweep & majesty, the grandeur, that Captain America embodies, for me, more than any other superhero. And he did it in a weekend. Wow. Wow. |
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Post by berkley on Dec 24, 2014 16:10:26 GMT -5
Man-Thing #22July 1975 (cover date Oct 1975)  I'd been a fan of this series before getting out of comics, more or less, a few years earlier, so when I started to get back into them Man-Thing was one of several series I was initially looking out for. Wouldn't you know it, the first issue I managed to find turned out to be not only the last part of a multi-issue epic, but the very last issue of the entire bloody series. Having several years later, after a slow process of tracking down back issues in the days before the internet, read the entire thing from start to finish, I rate this series - I mean Steve Gerber's run that started in "[Adventure into] Fear" and then continued in the Man-Thing book - as one of the very greatest of the medium, and this issue is in every way its culmination. I only wish it could have been double or triple the length. BTW, not the greatest cover, I know, but Jim Mooney's interior art is much more impressive:  If the image above and/or anything you've ever heard about this series has piqued or renewed anyone's interest I strongly recommend hunting down all the Steve Gerber issues and reading them in order, if you haven't already.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2014 23:12:33 GMT -5
On the fifth day of Christmas Dick Giordano gave to me....  Watchmen #1... I think I have told this story before but..in '86 when this came out, new comic day was Friday not Wednesday. That Friday, our lcs brought in a friend to do an appearance, some guy named Dick Giordano who happened to be the Exec Editor and VP of DC comics at the time. I was super-hyped for the upcoming Legends series to come out and Man of Steel, but all Giordano could talk about that day was Watchmen #1 (aside form you know stories of his Charlton days, upcoming plans DC had, etc.), which was new on the stands that week. I was skeptical-I hadn't discovered Moore yet, but I had gotten DKR and indies so I was discovering new horizons in comic. Giordano guaranteed I would like Watchmen #1 or he would personally buy it back form me, and signed my copy of it as his promise. I bought it, read, and the rest is history. But it is a testament to my first exposure to a comic pro, and what a positive experience that was for me. -M |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2014 11:32:53 GMT -5
I seem to be on a roll of last issues here, and this is almost another one - this time it's the penultimate Alan Moore Swamp Thing issue. I could easily have picked a number of others (eg Anatomy Lesson and Annual 2, as a number of others have), but while the others may be better stories, I like this one more. Behind the fairly crappy coverm it's a wrap up to a long series of issues which saw Swampy banished from Earth before coming back to wreak revenge on his enemies and reveal his return to the joy of his friends. Saga of the Swamp Thing 63 |
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Post by berkley on Dec 27, 2014 6:57:15 GMT -5
On the fifth day of Christmas Dick Giordano gave to me.... Watchmen #1... I think I have told this story before but..in '86 when this came out, new comic day was Friday not Wednesday. That Friday, our lcs brought in a friend to do an appearance, some guy named Dick Giordano who happened to be the Exec Editor and VP of DC comics at the time. I was super-hyped for the upcoming Legends series to come out and Man of Steel, but all Giordano could talk about that day was Watchmen #1 (aside form you know stories of his Charlton days, upcoming plans DC had, etc.), which was new on the stands that week. I was skeptical-I hadn't discovered Moore yet, but I had gotten DKR and indies so I was discovering new horizons in comic. Giordano guaranteed I would like Watchmen #1 or he would personally buy it back form me, and signed my copy of it as his promise. I bought it, read, and the rest is history. But it is a testament to my first exposure to a comic pro, and what a positive experience that was for me. -M I'm impressed that Giordano recognised that it was something special even before it was released and the sales figures came in. Wathcmen #2 was my first intro to the series - I followed it to the end after that, but it wasn't until several years later that I managed to read the first instalment. |
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Dec 27, 2014 17:33:56 GMT -5
On the fifth day of Christmas, my collection gave to me...The Joker's Five Way Revenge!
Need I say more? Neal Adams. Batman. Joker. It is a thing of beauty and scoring it on ebay for a few bucks in a lot of beat up Batman books (and this was the nicest one, in VG/Fine shape) was a true online score for me. I cherish this issue for so many reasons, it represents a combined joy of art, storytelling, a favourite character, scoring on a key issue. It's why I love collecting! |
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Post by Pól Rua on Dec 28, 2014 10:53:09 GMT -5
#8: Detective Comics #622 This was the first Batman comic I ever read. I stumbled upon it at in a quarter bin at my first comic convention, Comicpalooza in Houston,TX. The flashy cover by the legendary Dick Sprang caught my eye immediately and made me want to read it. The story involves a serial killer who is using the guise of Batman to commit his murders. At the same time, a comic is being published about Batman that inspires the killer. The story is very meta and has a story within a story, which was really cool. Batman actually does detective work in this, an aspect of the character that I feel is often forgotten. The scene in the final part of this three-parter where Batman finally tracks down the killer STILL gives me chills. The delusional slasher is about to kill a young couple in Gotham Park at night and one of his victims says, "Oh my god, why are you doing this?" The slasher hoves into view, a Bat Symbol painted across his face (almost a Frank Millerish touch) and says, "I'm Batman." A voice bubble comes from the top of the panel... "Wrong..." The next shot is an upshot which shows little more than a distinctive silhouette framed against the night sky, "I'm Batman." Like I say... chills. |
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Post by Pól Rua on Dec 28, 2014 11:20:09 GMT -5
And now... 'Sandman' #9 (September, 1989) I was a callow youth still, and still addicted to tights and fights superheroes to the exclusion of almost everything else when I picked up 'Sandman' #1 and... "enh." I read it and it was... okay, I guess... still... nothing to get excited about. So I didn't bother with any further issues. However, people kept talking it up, so when the first trade collection came out, which was, oddly enough Volume 2 - The Doll's House, I grabbed it. The first story was REALLY not what I expected - 'The Sound of her Wings' - featuring our protagonist chatting with his sister. It was fun but I really had no idea what ANY of this was all about. Then I read #9, 'Tales in the Sand'. Oh Shit... THAT'S what this is all about.  The story in this issue features a young African tribesman being told a story by his father about a young woman, the queen of an ancient city of glass, who had the misfortune of attracting the attention of the King of Dreams. The writing had the feel of a classic folk tale, with a sense of genuine-ness that gave it real emotional and narrative weight. Plus, the bittersweet sting at the issue's end. This was a series about stories, and it had me now. |
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Polar Bear
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Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Dec 29, 2014 11:58:07 GMT -5
Good call Pól. That story was truly affecting for me, too--I've re-read it many times.
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Post by spoon on Dec 30, 2014 20:08:52 GMT -5
#8 - New Mutants #63 I think this one may have made my list in the original CCC. This is a curious. It semes to be a fill-in issue. The timing is funky, because it's a flashback within a flashback. Published just after The Fall of the Mutants, when the X-Men had just supposed died, Magik reflects in the caption (time period 1) on somewhat earlier time period that forms a framing sequence (time period 2) in which she tells Kitty Pryde about what happened between the pages of New Mutants #21 (time period 3). Basically, it explains a minor detail from New Mutants #21 in a way that's interesting rather than nitpicky. Magik gets to team up with Lockheed (despite the painted cover depicting Kitty). There's the Brood, and the X-Men in throwback uniforms, and a story that somewhat melancholy and bit creepy, but with a hopeful ending.
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Post by badwolf on Dec 30, 2014 21:56:39 GMT -5
#8 - New Mutants #63I think this one may have made my list in the original CCC. This is a curious. It semes to be a fill-in issue. The timing is funky, because it's a flashback within a flashback. Published just after The Fall of the Mutants, when the X-Men had just supposed died, Magik reflects in the caption (time period 1) on somewhat earlier time period that forms a framing sequence (time period 2) in which she tells Kitty Pryde about what happened between the pages of New Mutants #21 (time period 3). Basically, it explains a minor detail from New Mutants #21 in a way that's interesting rather than nitpicky. Magik gets to team up with Lockheed (despite the painted cover depicting Kitty). There's the Brood, and the X-Men in throwback uniforms, and a story that somewhat melancholy and bit creepy, but with a hopeful ending. What was the minor detail? |
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