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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 8, 2024 11:23:51 GMT -8
Amazing Spider-man #113 on Newsstands, July of 1972.I read mostly Archie Comics as a young kid, but slowly began to find an attraction toward the occasional Superhero Comic around the age of 9. These are some of the earliest one's I remember, from when they were NEW... ASM #113 was one of the first Spidey's I ever remember having. We didn't have a place that sold comics anywhere near us, so I'm not even sure where these books would pop up from... just that I tended to hang on to them when I found them. What a great Romita cover... talk about drawing you into the story inside. The tale is sort-of a one shot, with a continuation around it... it would be years before I'd read #112 or #114. But I sure did like THIS issue. And because of nostalgia, I guess... I still have a liking for Gerry Conway's run on this book. Well... MOST of the run. I knew of Spider-man from the reruns of the 1966-67 Cartoon that I'd seen on TV and I guess, it just made sense I'd pick up the comic when I see it. 
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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 8, 2024 11:32:27 GMT -8
Avengers #105 on Newsstands, August of 1972.This just appeared around or house about this time, and I'm not sure if I had a coverless copy of this, or of the splash page just made such an impact on me that it's what I remember most. For anyone who WASN'T 9 years old in 1972 - we didn't have the Internet, or smart phones, or even Cable TV yet. No HBO or Skinamax or... ANYTHING. So a splash page of the Scarlet Witch like that could make a pretty memorable impression on a 9 year old male... I was never a big fan of the Avengers or even team books in particular, though I guess the covers would pull me in to TRY. Nothing about it ever held my interest. Even in the movies, the idea that Hawkeye or Black Widow (other than her outward sexuality) are interesting heroes or characters just makes me sort of roll my eyes. I always thought the Vision was cool. But I thought the movie version of him was, eh.  
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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 8, 2024 11:41:50 GMT -8
Kamandi #1 on Newsstands, August of 1972.
My first Kirby! Again, this just sort of appeared one day and... how could a kid NOT be pulled in my this? Even though it'd be years before I'd read this series, or even another issue of it, it made a heck of an impression me. I remember a few years earlier being fascinated by the Planet of the Apes movie ads and just the year before, my Uncle had taken me to see 'Escape from the Planet of the Apes', so I already had an interest in this apocalyptic future of the world concept... 
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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 8, 2024 11:55:10 GMT -8
Superman #258 on newsstands October 1972I love the idea that, as someone who really wasn't all that in to Superman EVER, I instinctively was attracted to this NICK CARDY cover as a kid. I mean... I didn't KNOW it was Nick Cardy, I just KNEW the cover looked cool. And NOW, I really wish that DC would do a Hardcover Book of Cardy's covers. The guy was just an under rated great... But this STORY is a one-shot and actually pretty entertaining as such. Written by Len Wein with Curt Swan art (exceptionally embellished by Murphy Anderson... another under appreciated great), I probably THOUGHT at the time, 'hey, Superman's alright...' Kind of a creepy ending though... 
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Post by kav on Apr 8, 2024 12:55:23 GMT -8
My first marvel comic. someone gave it to me. As a DC reader it seemed strange to me.  |
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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 11, 2024 3:43:28 GMT -8
Captain America #158 on Newsstands, November of 1972Some of these are just so random, but these would shape much of what I felt about certain comics, very early on. It's weird to think I'd be so pulled in on this issue with a Sal Buscema cover - no offense to fans of Sal, I never was one - BUT, I think a lot of that had to do with Marvel usually pairing him with a lame inker. When someone GOOD inked him, his work really stands out. HERE, the gcd says Frank Giacoia, as sourced by John Verpoorten (who'd ink the interior story). I'm not completely sold on John's answer here... to me, at least some of that looks like Romita's brush work... 
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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 11, 2024 3:52:16 GMT -8
My first marvel comic. someone gave it to me. As a DC reader it seemed strange to me. That's part one of a three part story... sort of... it's really just a three issue slug fest that ends in #90 with Captain Stacey's death. THAT story I read (#90) in the 1st Marvel Treasury Edition (which I'lll get to). It took me years to track down #88 and #89. Doc Ock dies in the issue you have there at the end of the story in a plane explosion and... I'm not sure how they ever explained how he survived... |
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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 11, 2024 4:06:10 GMT -8
Captain America #158 on Newsstands, November of 1972Man, I must have been an obnoxious little 9 year old... I remember reading this page and thinking how stupid it was. My uncle had some great paperback books by Isaac Asimov and Edgar Rice Burroughs that I'd already started reading by this time, so maybe I had too high of standards but... well I just wasn't impressed with THIS. What 9 year old thinks like THAT? It never changed. I still think all of those Marvel writers from the 70's are WAY over rated (other than Jim Starlin, plus that ART), especially in their own eyes. I'm trying to think if there were any other writers from the 70's I liked from Comics... 
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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 11, 2024 4:14:31 GMT -8
Amazing Spider-man #119 on Newsstands, January of 1973Now THAT is a comic book cover. John Romita would go on to be my favorite Spider-man artist... most of my Kirby group peers are at odds with that - we owe everything to Ditko for what Spider-man became - and I AGREE - but I can't help it... I loved Romita's smooth lines and beautiful brush work... when he inked his own stuff... SUPERB! And when he inked Gil Kane, THANK GOD! Actually whenever he inked anyone, it just made it better... This story would sum up part of why I got caught up in Spidey's book... it's a mystery that continues from issue to issue with great supporting characters that would change over time while some who remain the same... some who would return, etc. 
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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 11, 2024 4:22:53 GMT -8
Daredevil #99 on Newsstands, February of 1973I have no idea where this comic came from, but one day I had it. Maybe I was a 9 year old klepto maniac and went sleep walking thru the neighborhood at night, walking in people's houses and taking their random comic books laying around. See, now even THAT's more interesting than what some of these 70's Marvel writers came up with. One guy I forgot I KIND OF liked, is Gerry Conway. I mean, I grew up reading his Spider-man run and... even though that Clone ending in ASM #149 is TERRIBLE, most of his run I really enjoyed. Most of the rest of what he did... eh. This issue is a perfect example though of something they would do regularly that would annoy me. And eventually drive me away... Here we have another perfect Romita pencil/ink cover... 
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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 11, 2024 4:31:23 GMT -8
Daredevil #99 on Newsstands, February of 1973...and here is what we'd get on the inside. Not sure who Sam Kweskin is, listed as 'designer', but Syd Shores, a Golden Age Great, was the embellisher. I didn't know who any of them were at the time, I just knew it wasn't as good (to me at the time) as the cover art and I felt cheated. I wasn't too excited about the whole issue fighting over a GIRL... what 9 year old wants to read THAT? But the Avengers show up at the end and... ya know, it's not too bad of an issue really... 
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Post by kav on Apr 11, 2024 10:09:41 GMT -8
My first marvel comic. someone gave it to me. As a DC reader it seemed strange to me. That's part one of a three part story... sort of... it's really just a three issue slug fest that ends in #90 with Captain Stacey's death. THAT story I read (#90) in the 1st Marvel Treasury Edition (which I'lll get to). It took me years to track down #88 and #89. Doc Ock dies in the issue you have there at the end of the story in a plane explosion and... I'm not sure how they ever explained how he survived... I actually was given this and the next issue. I liked it but I never bought Marvel because it was always continuing stories and I rarely was able to buy comics. I think thats one reason DC dominated the market. |
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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 13, 2024 5:06:25 GMT -8
Amazing Adventures #18 on Newsstands, February of 1973One of the things that I loved about comic books was, of course, the art. But one of the things that bothered me, was the incomplete stories. At the age of 9, way out in the suburbs of St. Louis, I had no way to know how to get the next issue of anything... so I was constantly disappointed whenever I'd get to the end of one of these comics... And I had, at 9 years of age, already read War of the Worlds, and... I thought it was kinda cool how they adapted parts of the story for this... 
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Post by Prince Namor on Apr 13, 2024 5:19:34 GMT -8
Flash #221 on Newsstands, February of 1973I had a friend who lived close to our school, and occasionally I'd go over there to hang out or spend the night on weekends. There was a family across the street who's dad worked for Worldcolor Press, who printed Marvel and DC's comics and we'd occasionally knock on his door and he'd give us some of the samples he'd bring home. I suspect that's where this came from... cool cover - I was a Nick Candy fan before I even knew who he was! I remember very little about this issue and haven't actually looked at a copy of it in... has to be over 40 years. 
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Post by Prince Namor on Jul 5, 2024 15:37:42 GMT -8
Superboy #195 on Newsstands, March of 1973THIS was a big one. From a kids perspective, this is probably would've my favorite comic books of all time. The Superboy story is pretty good and memorable for its rock 'n' roll on the transistor radio to the blind kid playing a part in the outcome... 
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