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Post by Batflunkie on May 20, 2022 18:33:50 GMT -5
I am more likely nowadays, when I can afford it, to buy the Judge Dredd Megazine (which began in 1990) than 2000 AD, which features Dredd among a lot of other strips. I've read early Megazine and it was pretty damn stellar. Loved Chopper: Earth Wind & Fire the most
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2022 20:29:27 GMT -5
While it may seem somewhat odd to compare a "junior readers" title to a regular series, I can honestly say I probably prefer the Super Friends to the regular JLA title back in the 70's.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2022 7:10:35 GMT -5
While it may seem somewhat odd to compare a "junior readers" title to a regular series, I can honestly say I probably prefer the Super Friends to the regular JLA title back in the 70's. I find that comics based on cartoons aren’t bound by continuity like the mainstream books are, allowing more scope for stories. That’s probably more apt today. While a Batman issue is tied into Ultimate Final Definitive Crisis #345, a comic based on a Batman cartoon can ignore that nonsense.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,051
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Post by Confessor on May 21, 2022 8:40:56 GMT -5
I too had no idea that Marvel Tales was re-printing 20 year old comics when I began regularly buying it in the early '80s. At that point, MT was reprinting the classic Lee and Ditko stories, so it's little wonder that it was often my favourite Spider-Man comic over the likes of Amazing Spider-Man or Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man back then.
In addition, I'd say that, while it's not a widely-held opinion, I think the Bill Mantlo/Ed Hannigan/Al Milgrom team was excellent on Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man in the early '80s.* I feel as if PP:TSSM was often a better and more consistent read than Amazing Spider-Man during this period. Not that ASM was really any slouch either -- the original Hobgoblin saga was raging in its pages at that time -- but PP:TSSM was really, really good during this period with Spidey and Black Cat's romance in full flight, the Cat having gotten bad luck superpowers from the Kingpin behind Spidey's back, plus the whole Jean DeWolff and Debrah Whitman things in the background. I liked ASM a lot, but yeah...Marvel Tales or PP:TSSM often had first dibs on my pocket money back then.
* = Just to add to the controversy, I'll just say that I think Al Milgrom pencils with Jim Mooney inks is a very underrated combo.
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Post by Cei-U! on May 21, 2022 9:30:47 GMT -5
Batman Adventures was the best Bat Book of the 90s, in my opinion. Prior to that, it was Legends of the Dark Knight. The regular books didn't interest me too much. Actually, I think Batman Adventures (and its successor Batman and Robin Adventures) may be the best Bat Book, period (and I say this as a HUGE fan of the Finger, Robinson, Sprang, O'Neil, Adams, Cardy, Robbins, Haney, Aparo, Wein, Conway, Newton, Colan, Moench et al versions).
Cei-U! I summon the cream of the crop!
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Post by jason on May 21, 2022 10:11:31 GMT -5
It probably doesn't count, but for a long time Classic X-Men was my second favorite X-book. On a side note, I'm kind of upset the book ended when it did, as they were getting to the point where they would be reprinting the Fall of the Mutants storyline. Of course, once they abandoned the back-up stories, you could tell the book was no longer a major priority anyway, surprised it even lasted into 1994.
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Post by spoon on May 21, 2022 10:36:31 GMT -5
I discussed the interplay between flagship and other titles in my thread on heroes with multiple titles (shameless plud). I'm not a huge fan of Marvel Team-Up compared the Spider-Man's non-team-up book. Most of what I've read is from the first Essential TPB (#1-24), but I've read a smattering of later issues. I feel like the team sometimes required too much of the story be used in set-up, which can be a lot during the period when stories were just 17 or 18 pages. Also, one of the strengths of Spidey's stories is his supporting cast and they often weren't too prominent in the issues I read. When I got into Uncanny X-Men, Classic X-Men was being published. It was a treat to get hints of the past from the current run, and then be able to check it out at an affordable price. Because Claremont had been writing X-Men for over a decade at that point, there was an interconnectedness that you might not find if a reprint book was published some past run ignored by the current writer. Also, Classic X-Men had covers and frontispiece art from some pretty good artists, like Art Adams and Steve Lightle. The new back-up stories were usually pretty high quality.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 21, 2022 15:48:14 GMT -5
The covers were the reason i bought my first X-Men Classic. It was a Mike Mignola cover of one of the original Brood issues. Like it better than the original issue cover I bought later.
Edit: Issue #69 (Nice. Sorry my boys wouldnt forgive me otherwise.)
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Post by Prince Hal on May 21, 2022 15:58:57 GMT -5
Can't say that DC Comics Presents had a greater ratio of good stories than the regular titles, though there undoubtedly are some classics in there - Brave and the Bold however... Considering the fact that if anyone is the Curt Swan of Batman it's Jim Aparo, it's surprising to me how long it took for him to actually become the regular artist on Batman. His connection to Batman goes back to what, 1970? '71? How is it that he didn't get promoted to the head title until 1987? I didn't usually buy Batman in the '75-'80 time frame, so I thought I'd take a look at who was handling the title after Irv Novick. I was surprised to find significant runs by Ernie Chan and John Calnan before Irv returned to the book. Calnan seems like he's been almost totally forgotten now!He swings, and... for good reason. I could see that Calnan pitch coming right down the middle. I would've mentioned poor Ernie, too, but I'v criticized him enough.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2022 16:18:06 GMT -5
Great thread to loop back in! Lot of related discussion, and it's interesting we both had Spidey top of mind as our starting point The covers were the reason i bought my first X-Men Classic. It was a Mike Mignola cover of one of the original Brood issues. Like it better than the original issue cover I bought later. Edit: Issue #69 (Nice. Sorry my boys wouldnt forgive me otherwise.) For sure, the covers were gorgeous on that series! I find that comics based on cartoons aren’t bound by continuity like the mainstream books are, allowing more scope for stories. That’s probably more apt today. While a Batman issue is tied into Ultimate Final Definitive Crisis #345, a comic based on a Batman cartoon can ignore that nonsense. Yeah, I think that's a great point and so true! Back before there were a million X-titles, I remember the Claremont/Sienkiewicz run on New Mutants kind of stealing Uncanny X-Men's thunder. I've never been quite able to rekindle my love for that era, but at the time, it was definitely THE mutant title I couldn't wait to read each month. Also, completely agree on Batman Adventures, just an outstanding series.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 21, 2022 19:32:58 GMT -5
It probably doesn't count, but for a long time Classic X-Men was my second favorite X-book. On a side note, I'm kind of upset the book ended when it did, as they were getting to the point where they would be reprinting the Fall of the Mutants storyline. Of course, once they abandoned the back-up stories, you could tell the book was no longer a major priority anyway, surprised it even lasted into 1994. I'm amazed it lasted as long as it did; but, am glad it did. X-Men back issues went for premiums and it was a nice way to be able to collect those stories, in color. Masterworks stopped short and it was a while before The Essentials came along, with the black & white reprints. My only quibble was they left out the Warhawk issue, from early in the series. I collected it from the beginning, until it caught up to the point where I was regularly collecting the X-Men, during Cockrum Pt 2 and into Paul Smith (Brood into Madeline Pryor and the return of Mastermind). I couldn't be bother with the then-current X-books; but, this stuff was gold! Also liked the back-up tales, in the earlier issues, filling in some of the gaps, like the one that chronicled the earliest Wolverine/Nightcrawler game of tag and why Kurt gave up the image device that let him appear human. Some nice work in those stories.
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Post by badwolf on May 21, 2022 20:25:44 GMT -5
I bought Classic X-Men up until the point at which I had started buying the "current" X-Men book, which was some time in the middle of the Dark Phoenix saga.
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Post by spoon on May 21, 2022 22:19:23 GMT -5
I bought Classic X-Men up until the point at which I had started buying the "current" X-Men book, which was some time in the middle of the Dark Phoenix saga. I bought Uncanny X-Men #195 when it came out (probably within the first few months I started collecting comics), but I didn't buy another issue of X-Men new off the racks until well into the 200s, beyond the coverage of Classic X-Men. So when I was collecting older X-Men stories, whether I bought the original or a Classic reprint really depended on which I came across at the right price. I didn't buy Classic every month; I picked it up sporadically. The result is my funky hybrid collection. Until the #150s, it's almost all Classic rather than Uncanny. The mix gradually gets more Uncanny than Classic as the series progresses, although I do have the last issue of the Classic run (rather than the original Uncanny issue).
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Post by tartanphantom on May 23, 2022 17:29:07 GMT -5
For what it's worth, my Aunt Petunia always enjoyed Marvel Two-in-One more than The Fantastic Four during the mid-late '70s.
Fun stories without the usual baggage of perpetual world-threatening melodrama.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2022 19:29:22 GMT -5
For what it's worth, my Aunt Petunia always enjoyed Marvel Two-in-One more than The Fantastic Four during the mid-late '70s.
Fun stories without the usual baggage of perpetual world-threatening melodrama. Yeah, another great callout on a team-up title, I think I agree with this one as well during that era. You've actually reminded me of something else FF related. I'm not sure if it surpasses the actual FF title, but I've been spending a lot more time with Strange Tales between 1962-1965. You've got the Human Torch run of course, but I also always liked the issues where the Thing shows up in particular. Add to that Doctor Strange's original run was in this title during that time, I've increasingly found enjoyment of the title during that period. Plus my favorite part of the actual FF title was starting more like 1965 around when Sinnott became the regular inker, so again, definitely some appreciation for Strange Tales prior to that.
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