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Post by Ozymandias on Dec 2, 2020 10:58:44 GMT -5
Not a great month, quality-wise. I was going to say something to the contrary, but after checking Marvel offerings, this is all I found:
- Amazing Spider-Man #214. Writer: Dennis O'Neil. Penciler: John Romita Jr.
- Daredevil #169. Frank Miller.
- King Conan #5. Writer: Roy Thomas (based on the novel by Bjorn Nyberg and L. Sprague De Camp). Penciler: John Buscema.
- Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #52. Writer: Roger Stern. Penciler: Rick Leonardi.
- Uncanny X-Men #143. Chris Claremont & John Byrne.
A pity Bendis had to screw up Hector's retirement, after all the work Stern pulled on that one.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 2, 2020 12:40:38 GMT -5
Not a great month, quality-wise. I was going to say something to the contrary, but after checking Marvel offerings, this is all I found:
- Amazing Spider-Man #214. Writer: Dennis O'Neil. Penciler: John Romita Jr.
- Daredevil #169. Frank Miller.
- King Conan #5. Writer: Roy Thomas (based on the novel by Bjorn Nyberg and L. Sprague De Camp). Penciler: John Buscema.
- Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #52. Writer: Roger Stern. Penciler: Rick Leonardi.
- Uncanny X-Men #143. Chris Claremont & John Byrne.
A pity Bendis had to screw up Hector's retirement, after all the work Stern pulled on that one. I'm referring to the books I picked up that month, with my limited funds. There were far better books out there.
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Post by Ozymandias on Dec 2, 2020 12:57:28 GMT -5
DC? I ask because Teen Titans was the only one I was reading back then, and that month Perez took a sabbatical.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 2, 2020 13:35:12 GMT -5
DC? I ask because Teen Titans was the only one I was reading back then, and that month Perez took a sabbatical. The books to read were New Teen Titans and Warlord. Warlord was in the middle of a storyline where Travis Morgan is trying to rescue Tara, though it got sidetracked a bit. His daughter Jennifer (now an adult due to how time progresses in Skartaris) has crashed a sailing yacht and will soon end up there, where she becomes a sorceress, as they build to the 50th issue, where he faces and defeats Deimos, again; but, puts and end to him. Marv Wolfman & Irv Novick were doing Batman, which was average stuff, though I always liekd Novick's Batman. Detective celebrated its 500th issue (after Action comics, since it was bi-monthly, for a time), with a lot of the former back-up features from the book returning, such as Elongated Man. DC Comics Present has Superman teamed with Robin, with Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (PBHN) on art, plus the Whatever Happened to...feature, which had the original Robotman, as its subject. This was before he would be revived in All-Star Squadron Gerry Conway is writing both JLA and Legion, which are okay, but not spectacular. Legion got a shot in the arm when Paul Levitz took over, in the near future. Superman Family is still a Dollar Comic, but without a priority on creative teams. Still, the Mr and Mrs Superman tales were usually entertaining (E Nelson Bridwell & Kurt Schaffenberger, covering the Earth-2 husband and wife) and this issue had Harlequin, the Green Lantern villainess (though she was in love with GL and mostly just trying to get his attention). Sgt Rock and Unknown Soldier are still going and usually good for solid stories. Rock still has Kanigher writing, but most of the art is coming from rookies, especially Kubert School grads, like Jan Duursema. Dick Ayers is the artist on Unknown soldier, with a US story from Bob Haney, and a M'lle Marie story from Kanigher. GI Combat is also a Dollar Comic, with Dick Ayer, Sam Glanzman and Jerry Grandenetti art. Glanzman did great stuff on The Haunted Tank. Conway and Jose Delbo are doing Wonder Woman, which was occasionally good, but usually pretty mediocre to average. The real draw was the Huntress, who was appearing in back-up stories, by Levitz and Staton. House of Mystery began the I, Vampire feature in issue #290, this month. That was JM DeMatteis and Tom Sutton. DC is still rebuilding, as they are recovering from the Implosion and Jenette Kahn is trying to implement the changes that will draw talent. New Teen Titans was the first to result from those changes, but more will follow in the next year or two, as Roy Thomas comes over and begins All-Star Squadron and takes over Wonder Woman (and starts Arak) and Firestorm will be revived, with Pat Broderick on art. Levitz will take over writing LSH and Giffen will turn up on art, leading to the Great Darkness Saga.
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Post by beccabear67 on Dec 2, 2020 13:49:55 GMT -5
I had about a dozen offerings from the spinner rack this month. Looking at the covers over at Mike's Newsstand, these two really struck a chord: Both perfectly fine issues - with the Cap containing a very well written and beautifully redrawn retelling of his origin - but they were bittersweet for me, because they were the last issues with John Byrne as penciler (and Roger Stern also stepped away from Cap -thus ending what I consider the finest run of issues in that title). Byrne's departure from X-men in particular was devastating for me back then. Remembering vividly buying those two, Ka-Zar #1 and that crazy Bullseye issue of Daredevil around the Christmas holiday! Four ten stars out of ten comics for sure, I might add Spider-Woman #36 (third by Claremont & Leialoha), and Iron Man #144 (Michelinie & Layton in outer space).
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 2, 2020 14:04:17 GMT -5
Remembering vividly buying those two, Ka-Zar #1 and that crazy Bullseye issue of Daredevil around the Christmas holiday! Four ten stars out of ten comics for sure, I might add Spider-Woman #36 (third by Claremont & Leialoha), and Iron Man #144 (Michelinie & Layton in outer space). On Ka-Zar, I didn't start reading the series until the third issue (and then later got the first two as back issues - one of the advantages of also discovering a comic book shop at around that time).
Otherwise, though: yeah, some really top-notch comics came out that month.
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Post by Ozymandias on Dec 2, 2020 17:47:20 GMT -5
DC? I ask because Teen Titans was the only one I was reading back then, and that month Perez took a sabbatical. The books to read were New Teen Titans and Warlord. Warlord was in the middle of a storyline where Travis Morgan is trying to rescue Tara, though it got sidetracked a bit. His daughter Jennifer (now an adult due to how time progresses in Skartaris) has crashed a sailing yacht and will soon end up there, where she becomes a sorceress, as they build to the 50th issue, where he faces and defeats Deimos, again; but, puts and end to him. Marv Wolfman & Irv Novick were doing Batman, which was average stuff, though I always liekd Novick's Batman. Detective celebrated its 500th issue (after Action comics, since it was bi-monthly, for a time), with a lot of the former back-up features from the book returning, such as Elongated Man. DC Comics Present has Superman teamed with Robin, with Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (PBHN) on art, plus the Whatever Happened to...feature, which had the original Robotman, as its subject. This was before he would be revived in All-Star Squadron Gerry Conway is writing both JLA and Legion, which are okay, but not spectacular. Legion got a shot in the arm when Paul Levitz took over, in the near future. Superman Family is still a Dollar Comic, but without a priority on creative teams. Still, the Mr and Mrs Superman tales were usually entertaining (E Nelson Bridwell & Kurt Schaffenberger, covering the Earth-2 husband and wife) and this issue had Harlequin, the Green Lantern villainess (though she was in love with GL and mostly just trying to get his attention). Sgt Rock and Unknown Soldier are still going and usually good for solid stories. Rock still has Kanigher writing, but most of the art is coming from rookies, especially Kubert School grads, like Jan Duursema. Dick Ayers is the artist on Unknown soldier, with a US story from Bob Haney, and a M'lle Marie story from Kanigher. GI Combat is also a Dollar Comic, with Dick Ayer, Sam Glanzman and Jerry Grandenetti art. Glanzman did great stuff on The Haunted Tank. Conway and Jose Delbo are doing Wonder Woman, which was occasionally good, but usually pretty mediocre to average. The real draw was the Huntress, who was appearing in back-up stories, by Levitz and Staton. House of Mystery began the I, Vampire feature in issue #290, this month. That was JM DeMatteis and Tom Sutton. DC is still rebuilding, as they are recovering from the Implosion and Jenette Kahn is trying to implement the changes that will draw talent. New Teen Titans was the first to result from those changes, but more will follow in the next year or two, as Roy Thomas comes over and begins All-Star Squadron and takes over Wonder Woman (and starts Arak) and Firestorm will be revived, with Pat Broderick on art. Levitz will take over writing LSH and Giffen will turn up on art, leading to the Great Darkness Saga. The biggest recommendation I'm getting from this would be Mike Grell. I'm mainly familiar with his work from the second half of the 80's (Green Arrow). I've never tried Warlord, would you say that's better?
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Roquefort Raider
CCF Mod Squad
Modus omnibus in rebus
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 2, 2020 18:15:42 GMT -5
Bought in January 1980
Conan the barbarian #120, in which the Cimmerian dumps Jenna once again (but not in a cesspool, this time).
King Conan #5, beginning the adaptation of the pastiche novel "Conan the Avenger". It was material left over by Roy Thomas when he left for DC, and the original story wasn't that good to begin with.
Man-Thing #9 : Is that the one that was drawn by Larry Hama? A good comic, in the tradition of Gerber's Manny.
Micronauts #27 : still didn't like the way Broderick drew Rann's helmet, but the art was much better than under Chaykin. Plus, Baron Karza.
Savage Sword of Conan #61 : first post-Roy Thomas issue, fully drawn (pencils and inks) by John Buscema. At least it's pretty to look at.
X-Men #143. Little did I know that this would be the final issue of the Claremont-Byrne-Austin trio! The Beatles were about to disband!!!
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 2, 2020 23:05:28 GMT -5
The books to read were New Teen Titans and Warlord. Warlord was in the middle of a storyline where Travis Morgan is trying to rescue Tara, though it got sidetracked a bit. His daughter Jennifer (now an adult due to how time progresses in Skartaris) has crashed a sailing yacht and will soon end up there, where she becomes a sorceress, as they build to the 50th issue, where he faces and defeats Deimos, again; but, puts and end to him. Marv Wolfman & Irv Novick were doing Batman, which was average stuff, though I always liekd Novick's Batman. Detective celebrated its 500th issue (after Action comics, since it was bi-monthly, for a time), with a lot of the former back-up features from the book returning, such as Elongated Man. DC Comics Present has Superman teamed with Robin, with Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (PBHN) on art, plus the Whatever Happened to...feature, which had the original Robotman, as its subject. This was before he would be revived in All-Star Squadron Gerry Conway is writing both JLA and Legion, which are okay, but not spectacular. Legion got a shot in the arm when Paul Levitz took over, in the near future. Superman Family is still a Dollar Comic, but without a priority on creative teams. Still, the Mr and Mrs Superman tales were usually entertaining (E Nelson Bridwell & Kurt Schaffenberger, covering the Earth-2 husband and wife) and this issue had Harlequin, the Green Lantern villainess (though she was in love with GL and mostly just trying to get his attention). Sgt Rock and Unknown Soldier are still going and usually good for solid stories. Rock still has Kanigher writing, but most of the art is coming from rookies, especially Kubert School grads, like Jan Duursema. Dick Ayers is the artist on Unknown soldier, with a US story from Bob Haney, and a M'lle Marie story from Kanigher. GI Combat is also a Dollar Comic, with Dick Ayer, Sam Glanzman and Jerry Grandenetti art. Glanzman did great stuff on The Haunted Tank. Conway and Jose Delbo are doing Wonder Woman, which was occasionally good, but usually pretty mediocre to average. The real draw was the Huntress, who was appearing in back-up stories, by Levitz and Staton. House of Mystery began the I, Vampire feature in issue #290, this month. That was JM DeMatteis and Tom Sutton. DC is still rebuilding, as they are recovering from the Implosion and Jenette Kahn is trying to implement the changes that will draw talent. New Teen Titans was the first to result from those changes, but more will follow in the next year or two, as Roy Thomas comes over and begins All-Star Squadron and takes over Wonder Woman (and starts Arak) and Firestorm will be revived, with Pat Broderick on art. Levitz will take over writing LSH and Giffen will turn up on art, leading to the Great Darkness Saga. The biggest recommendation I'm getting from this would be Mike Grell. I'm mainly familiar with his work from the second half of the 80's (Green Arrow). I've never tried Warlord, would you say that's better? Green Arrow was better written; but, this is Grell drawing whatever Grell wants to draw. Dinosaurs, sexy ladies in skimpy fur outfits and silks, adventure heroes in less clothing than the women, advanced science that gives the effect of sorcery, homages to great adventure fiction and movies...you name it. Grell slowly found his way, as a writer, and really developed his drawing skills. Some sequences are better than others; but, it was one of the best books DC had, artistically, in the 70s and one of their bestsellers. Now, his plots swiped a lot from Burroughs (ER, not William S), a little Moorcock, some film (the helmet was inspired by Kirk Douglas', in the Vikings) and some other literature. He gives it some style and wit, which helped differentiate it from some of the other sword & sorcery attempts, after Conan. Then-wife Sharon was an uncredited writer on the book, for a time. Starslayer was actually developed for DC; but, the Implosion put a halt to it, allowing him to take it to Pacific, when they started up. I would say Warlord is one of the most fun reads of this kind of material you will find; though, as I say, it takes him a bit of time to gain confidence, as a writer, and he would get sidetracked a bit, from time to time; but, it's an entertaining read, especially when it gets into the really good stories and extended plots. His two-page spreads should have been sold as posters!
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Post by tonebone on Dec 3, 2020 13:17:22 GMT -5
Yeah, but will anybody own up to buying any one of the THIRTEEN Richie Rich titles offered that month?
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Post by beccabear67 on Dec 3, 2020 14:07:01 GMT -5
Warlord was a comic I really liked. I lucked into the first couple and it was the stuff I liked in ERB without the stuff I don't so much or being too much a knock-off, and it just looked good visually. Travis was definitely cool (great helmet too), and I could relate to Tara and their later family life. I mostly read it new when it was Dan Jurgens drawing it with Grell only drawing the covers, but I did buy back issues when I could find them. Right now I only have the '70s debut and #1-3. I never could find #2 or 3 back in the day. It seemed to have more life than any comic I ever saw with John Carter (although Kaluta's earlier Carson Of Venus was definitely quality). Later I tried DC's Arak and Arion but neither kept be past the first few issues. Starslayer I also tried from #1 but eventually lost interest in that (a little after Grell stopped drawing it), whereas I bought Jon Sable Freelance for around two years!
Ka-Zar written by Bruce Jones was a strange comic, pretty much the relationship between Kevin Plunder and Shanna with rivals and misunderstandings coming between them; great domestic soap material! Zabu was comic relief, or a sort of child in the 'family'. Throw in winged people, monkey tailed people with their own language, and an abandoned Atlantian amusement park area... fun fun fun!
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 3, 2020 23:09:29 GMT -5
Yeah, but will anybody own up to buying any one of the THIRTEEN Richie Rich titles offered that month? In 1980? No. I had some Richie Rich comics, but from when I was a bit younger. The regular comic was usually pretty good, for what it was. The others were usually partly reprints and part new stories, depending on the title. Used to read the odd Sad Sack and Sad Sack & Sarge, too. Now, Casper was dull; as his sheet.
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Post by Ozymandias on Dec 4, 2020 10:23:31 GMT -5
Ka-Zar written by Bruce Jones was a strange comic, pretty much the relationship between Kevin Plunder and Shanna with rivals and misunderstandings coming between them; great domestic soap material! I liked the part were Peter Parker almost became the third in a love triangle .
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Post by dbutler69 on Dec 5, 2020 13:57:02 GMT -5
Avengers #205 Detective Comics #500 Fantastic Four #228 Justice League of America #188 Legion of Super-Heroes #273 Marvel Tales #125 Marvel Two-in-One #73 Micronauts #27 New Teen Titans #5 Rom #16 Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes #3 Uncanny X-Men #143
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Post by dbutler69 on Dec 5, 2020 13:58:36 GMT -5
Battle of the Planets was the first issue I saw of that comic. It was also the last issue published. That was Western for you. Not a great month, quality-wise. Dazzler #1 was only in comic shops; so, I missed it, but issue 2 was on newsstands. Didn't exactly knock my socks off. Marvel Spotlight was the last of the Captain Universe stories, which proved to be a disappointment, for me. I had missed the Captain Universe issue of Micronauts, but knew he had beaten off Baron Karza; so, I expected something big; but, instead, got a bunch of people temporarily gaining superpowers, with Ditko art that was fine, but not at the level of his earlier stuff. Wow, I never even knew there was a Battle of the Planets comic! I'll have to check it out.
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