I'm taking a break from the month-by-month posts this week. I'm on vacation at the beach, so instead I will be posting beach/ocean/vacation-themed covers this week. And you know I'm going to start with Bob Oksner.
The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis #19, cover art by Bob Oksner.
I love all the people and characters Arthur snuck into the crowd. Plastic Man is there, the Thing (in his trenchcoat, scarf, and fedora disguise) along with the rest of the FF, Longshot, Stephen Strange, Angel and the Ape, Sam and Max (for his old buddy Steve Purcell)...
I just wish the series would have been as good as the art. If you are wanting an awesome Spectre get the 1992 series (John Ostrander). The art was great in the in the one from the 80s ( early mignola, and I guess late Gray Morrow) but the story was just bad
Mignola did a few covers, but not interiors. Gene Colan drew the first several issues, and Gray Morrow had a longish run as well. Mike Kaluta and Charles Vess did some great covers for the series too. But, yeah, the stories never lived up to the cover art.
Mignola did a few covers, but not interiors. Gene Colan drew the first several issues, and Gray Morrow had a longish run as well. Mike Kaluta and Charles Vess did some great covers for the series too. But, yeah, the stories never lived up to the cover art.
I could have sworn Mike Mignola drew 2/3 issues in the teens. It's been 5/6 years since I read those issues. I remember the Morrow issues being good/creepy. Didn't he draw the Xandu/Spectre coupling issue?
Mignola only drew three covers. I got the first 20 issues or so cheap, mainly for the art and the covers. I don't remember the stories very well, but Morrow drew issues #9-15, and I seem to recall them being the best of the bunch.
I have to admit...As a kid, I was never really into GI Joe or Transformers (I watched the cartoons, but never really had the toys). I was a He-Man & the Masters of the Universe kid.
I forgot George Tuska had drawn those. He could make anything look good, even He-Man. ;) He-Man was a little after my time. My younger brother watched it, but I didn't care for it.
I love all the people and characters Arthur snuck into the crowd. Plastic Man is there, the Thing (in his trenchcoat, scarf, and fedora disguise) along with the rest of the FF, Longshot, Stephen Strange, Angel and the Ape, Sam and Max (for his old buddy Steve Purcell)...
It cleared up this afternoon, so I went for a walk on the beach. There must have been a school of Aquamen going by during the storms, because a bunch of them had washed up on shore.
Aquaman #45 (May-June 1969), cover art by Nick Cardy.
Superboy #171 (Jan. 1970), pencils by Carmine Infantino and inks by Murphy Anderson.
World’s Finest Comics #203 (June 1971), cover art by Neal Adams
Been enjoying the beach posts, @nweathington , especially all those washed up Aquamans! :smiley:
My #11 oldest comic (that was bought off the stands for me before the age of 5)...
I bought a replacement copy for this one about a year ago, and made it part of my custom calendar for this year...I think I posted this one before, so my apologies, but trying to be complete in my inane countdown. ;)
Where Monsters Dwell #4, on stands 4/7/70 Pencils: Marie Severin Inks: Tom Palmer
This is another one that proves the adults buying comics for me at age 4 hardly glanced at them. The monster in the basement story, pictured on the cover and with interior story art by Reed Crandall, scared the crap out of me when I read it. IIRC, the monster comes to life because of the main character's imagination. So, yeah, I avoided the basement in the dark for a while and had to watch out for basement monsters for a bit after this--since my imagination could clearly create one!
Also includes stories with art by Don Heck, Paul Reinman, and a scary story about a Medusa-type character drawn by Steve Ditko.
{Awesome Kirby Thor above -- IIRC, also used for a Series B "puzzle" Marvel Value Stamp...}
My #10 oldest comic (that was bought off the stands for me before the age of 5)...
Amazing Spider-Man #85, on stands 3/17/70 Pencils & Inks: John Romita, Sr.
Still not my earliest Spider-man. As this is my original copy, you can see it shows a ton of wear-and-tear from childhood re-reads. This was one of the rare times I had the second part of a two-issue story off the newstands, and the showdown between the Schemer and the Kingpin, and the reveal of the Schemer's identity, were very exciting to a 4-year-old!
My #9 oldest comic (that was bought off the stands for me before the age of 5)...
Ripley's Believe It or Not! #19, on stands 2/26/1970. "Photo" cover
OK, now we're getting into some old, oddball stuff. I think (maybe?) Ripley's was running a strip in the Sunday newspaper at this time, so that and the "true" monsters would have caught my eye. I also loved reading books on Bigfoot, Loch Ness Sea Monster, Abominable Snowman not long after this.
My copy of this one is long gone...and totally forgotten until I starting going through Mike's Amazing World chronologically...
Jan. 1955: There are a lot of covers this month with interesting backstories—the first appearance of Krypto in Adventure Comics #210 for instance. But the big story this month doesn’t involve one particular cover, but rather every cover, for this is the month where most of the comic book publishers—DC, Marvel, Archie, Harvey, and Charlton, among several others—began putting the infamous Comics Code Authority seal of approval on their covers. There were two notable exceptions to this: Dell and EC. There were others which chose not to comply, but the vast majority of them would close their doors within the next two or three years.
The Comics Code Authority was put together in late 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America, which itself was formed in May 1947 back when all the kerfuffle over possible links between comics and juvenile delinquency began rearing its head. The group was made up of some of the leaders in the publishing field (including Bill Gaines of EC and George Delacorte Jr, founder of Dell Publishing) as well as a couple of distributors. The CMAA had already released a “Publishers Code” in 1948, but after the release of Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent and the congressional hearings on juvenile delinquency, the group felt more visible action was necessary, and thus the CCA, along with its seal of approval, was born.
Gaines refused to carry the stamp on his New Direction books, which also launched this month, because of the obvious targeting his company received from the CCA. That targeting came in the form of the Authority’s ban on the words horror, crime, terror, and weird on the cover of comic books—words that were in the titles of EC’s best selling books. Dell, on the other hand, refused to carry the stamp on its covers simply because the company felt it had no reason to do so. Dell had always prided itself on being wholesome entertainment and assumed (correctly, as it turned out) they were above reproach in these matters.
So here’s Jack Kamen’s cover for Psychoanalysis #1, an appropriate image given that a psychiatrist played a large role in the birth of the New Direction line. And after all, what’s more respectable than a psychiatrist?
Comments
The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis #19, cover art by Bob Oksner.
Yes, I know they're in reverse order.
Aquaman #45 (May-June 1969), cover art by Nick Cardy.
Superboy #171 (Jan. 1970), pencils by Carmine Infantino and inks by Murphy Anderson.
World’s Finest Comics #203 (June 1971), cover art by Neal Adams
My #11 oldest comic (that was bought off the stands for me before the age of 5)...
I bought a replacement copy for this one about a year ago, and made it part of my custom calendar for this year...I think I posted this one before, so my apologies, but trying to be complete in my inane countdown. ;)
Where Monsters Dwell #4, on stands 4/7/70
Pencils: Marie Severin
Inks: Tom Palmer
This is another one that proves the adults buying comics for me at age 4 hardly glanced at them. The monster in the basement story, pictured on the cover and with interior story art by Reed Crandall, scared the crap out of me when I read it. IIRC, the monster comes to life because of the main character's imagination. So, yeah, I avoided the basement in the dark for a while and had to watch out for basement monsters for a bit after this--since my imagination could clearly create one!
Also includes stories with art by Don Heck, Paul Reinman, and a scary story about a Medusa-type character drawn by Steve Ditko.
{Awesome Kirby Thor above -- IIRC, also used for a Series B "puzzle" Marvel Value Stamp...}
My #10 oldest comic (that was bought off the stands for me before the age of 5)...
Amazing Spider-Man #85, on stands 3/17/70
Pencils & Inks: John Romita, Sr.
Still not my earliest Spider-man. As this is my original copy, you can see it shows a ton of wear-and-tear from childhood re-reads. This was one of the rare times I had the second part of a two-issue story off the newstands, and the showdown between the Schemer and the Kingpin, and the reveal of the Schemer's identity, were very exciting to a 4-year-old!
My #9 oldest comic (that was bought off the stands for me before the age of 5)...
Ripley's Believe It or Not! #19, on stands 2/26/1970.
"Photo" cover
OK, now we're getting into some old, oddball stuff. I think (maybe?) Ripley's was running a strip in the Sunday newspaper at this time, so that and the "true" monsters would have caught my eye. I also loved reading books on Bigfoot, Loch Ness Sea Monster, Abominable Snowman not long after this.
My copy of this one is long gone...and totally forgotten until I starting going through Mike's Amazing World chronologically...
The Comics Code Authority was put together in late 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America, which itself was formed in May 1947 back when all the kerfuffle over possible links between comics and juvenile delinquency began rearing its head. The group was made up of some of the leaders in the publishing field (including Bill Gaines of EC and George Delacorte Jr, founder of Dell Publishing) as well as a couple of distributors. The CMAA had already released a “Publishers Code” in 1948, but after the release of Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent and the congressional hearings on juvenile delinquency, the group felt more visible action was necessary, and thus the CCA, along with its seal of approval, was born.
Gaines refused to carry the stamp on his New Direction books, which also launched this month, because of the obvious targeting his company received from the CCA. That targeting came in the form of the Authority’s ban on the words horror, crime, terror, and weird on the cover of comic books—words that were in the titles of EC’s best selling books. Dell, on the other hand, refused to carry the stamp on its covers simply because the company felt it had no reason to do so. Dell had always prided itself on being wholesome entertainment and assumed (correctly, as it turned out) they were above reproach in these matters.
So here’s Jack Kamen’s cover for Psychoanalysis #1, an appropriate image given that a psychiatrist played a large role in the birth of the New Direction line. And after all, what’s more respectable than a psychiatrist?