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Post by dbutler69 on Oct 12, 2022 15:51:05 GMT -5
It seems like the 70's had a lot of interesting concepts, which had some promise that didn't quite get lived up to. Most of the ones that popped into my head were DC titles, perhaps because of the DC Explosion followed by the DC Implosion?
Freedom Fighters - I thought it got off to a good start, but petered out. I'm not sure they shouldn't have stayed on earth-x. I think the deal with them being wanted as criminals on earth-1 wore thin.
The Joker - Another one that I thought started out strong but got progressively worse. I suspect that this series (and the next two on the list) were limited by the fact that the Comics Code Authority basically required criminals to get punished, so you basically have to have your title character either get caught or punished in some way, or have his scheme fail.
Secret Society of Super-Villains - I enjoyed this one but I wonder is making Captain Comet the regular opponent was th best move. Also, if memory serves me correctly, this series had a rotating cast of creators. This will be a recurring theme here.
Marvel Super-Villain Team-Up. Again, maybe the Comics Code Authority made this one tough.
The Champions: Again, a rotating cast of creators hurt this one. Probably also a lack of direction.
Karate Kid: I love me some Karate Kid, but I think this series was seriously confused as to whether it should be a martial arts comic or a superhero comic.
Ragman: Cool look, interesting concept, but something seemed lacking
I didn't include Omega the Unknown, for example, because I don't think it underachieved - I just think it was cancelled too soon. Same goes for Black Lightning. Maybe you could make the same arguments about some of the ones I did include in the poll
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2022 16:07:29 GMT -5
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Post by Prince Hal on Oct 12, 2022 18:14:48 GMT -5
Yes, the Freedom Fighters should have stayed on Earth-X. Many possibilities for them. The Axis had won World War II, after all, which would have made for great stories of the FF's resistance during the war and after the Fascists had prevailed as well as a world (no pun intended) of possibilities in what would have been quite a different post-war period.
Never saw the lure of the villains comics. The SSoSV was portrayed as a bunch of has-been losers, no matter who was in it. And the Joker was still on his cartoony phase in that title. Not even meh.
Karate Kid was all about cashing in on the kung fu craze, and way, way too late and awful to even do that. And thus, classic DC.
I voted for Ragman, which would have been a nice mix of Batman, the Spirit and the Golem legend, if only they'd let it breathe a little. I loved the Kubert issues. He should have been left alone to write and draw it. It would have been like an early version of one of his later graphic novels, "Jew Gangster."
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2022 19:20:37 GMT -5
I have two, and they were related by initial writer and the fact that he (Michelinie) envisioned both protagonists as aspects of Moorcock's Eternal Champion cycle. Starfire and Starhunters... -M
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2022 19:22:14 GMT -5
Honorable mention on the Marvel side to Skull the Slayer, which had so many cool concepts but got undercut because of rotating creative teams that kept it from settling in on and developing any of those cool concepts... -M
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 12, 2022 19:50:16 GMT -5
I chose other, for Black Goliath. never a great title, for its short existence; but, I had a soft spot for Bill Foster and it tried.
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Post by tarkintino on Oct 12, 2022 20:09:24 GMT -5
I picked "Other": DC's Super-Team Family (fifteen issues running from 1975-78) was a random collection of new stories and choice reprints. There was no theme, or framework for the title, so it was a grab bag collection of often great one-shot stories. I've always believed it was the kind of title that should have lasted far longer than two years.
About the other choices: Villain comics were not appealing at all, and next to no effort was put into the deeper motivations behind their chosen life.
The Karate Kid only worked as an outlier of sorts--much in the way he was introduced in Adventure Comics, but being an outlier means he has to be around others for the contrast to work. In other words, no solo title.
The Champions felt like a gimmicky rip on a model which worked for The Defenders, but lacked the stories to justify its existence.
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Post by berkley on Oct 12, 2022 20:42:11 GMT -5
I piked "Other" but haven't yet settled on which particular title I'll vote for. Marvel's Skull the Slayer is a possibility, for much the same the reasons mrp mentioned above. I was thinking Ulysses Bloodstone but he never had his own ongoing series so that's more of a character/concept than a title. I'm waiting to see what else comes to mind before declaring my vote.
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Post by Prince Hal on Oct 12, 2022 21:43:20 GMT -5
@mrp, good choices, particularly Skull and Star Hunters. The latter was derivative of Star Wars, but so much was then. The thing was it didn't take itself too seriously and the writer and the inking half of the artist team (Michelinie and Bob Layton) was there for the entire (short) run. I liked the nods to Errol Flynn and old pirate movies, too. If only Don newton had remained as the penciller.
Skull had tons of potential, drawing on the then faddish interest in the Bermuda Triangle, courtesy of a book by Charles Berlitz, but like so many other ideas from Marvel, the first issue was the best and there was a steady drop-off, for reasons you mentioned.
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 13, 2022 4:02:22 GMT -5
I'd already decided on Ragman before I even saw the poll options. It was a great-looking series with a unique premise (costumed champion of Gotham's poorest) hampered by Bob Kanigher's evident disinterest in actually doing something with the character instead of rehashing the same plot every issue. (And Hal, Ragman was originally Irish, not Jewish, and had no connection, even an impicit one, to the Golem legend. That was imposed on the character by Keith Giffen years later.)
Cei-U! I summon the tattered tatterdemalion!
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 13, 2022 5:50:27 GMT -5
I love this Warlock series. I voted "other" for this great series with Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, John Buscema, Bob Brown as principal creators. He was the cosmic Jesus for counter earth. I read this 10 issue gem ( Counting the 2 Marvel premiere issues) every year.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
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Post by shaxper on Oct 13, 2022 6:11:02 GMT -5
Planet of Vampires was such an exciting premise, and so much had progressed/changed in just a matter of two issues. I would have LOVED to have been able to see where this was all going. Definitely my favorite title out of Atlas/Seaboard, an entire company that underarchieved in the 1970s. Haunt of Horror is, by far, my favorite Marvel Magazine of the 1970s (I love Epic Illustrated even more in the 1980s), and yet it only made it to issue #5. Doug Moench's Gabriel-Devil Hunter, combined with some truly memorable back up stories, was so utterly thrilling and memorable. One of my favorite horror stories of all time, Gran'ma Died Last Year was a back-up story in issue #2. I also wanted to see more from the Whitman Magnus Robot Fighter reboot that showed up as backup stories in Doctor Solar but never made it to its own planned title. And I'll agree with Icctrombone that Warlock's Counter-Earth saga had serious potential at first, but it fell apart fast.
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Post by commond on Oct 13, 2022 6:29:02 GMT -5
I liked Son of Satan a lot both in Marvel Spotlight and his own series. With the right creative team, it could have lasted as long as Werewolf by Night or Tomb of Dracula.
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Post by Prince Hal on Oct 13, 2022 8:35:49 GMT -5
I'd already decided on Ragman before I even saw the poll options. It was a great-looking series with a unique premise (costumed champion of Gotham's poorest) hampered by Bob Kanigher's evident disinterest in actually doing something with the character instead of rehashing the same plot every issue. (And Hal, Ragman was originally Irish, not Jewish, and had no connection, even an impicit one, to the Golem legend. That was imposed on the character by Keith Giffen years later.) Cei-U! I summon the tattered tatterdemalion! Yeah, yeah, I know his name was Rory Regan in the Kanigher-Kubert series. I also never read the Giffen version. Wa-a-ay past my time of reading almost anything new. I guess I imposed his Jewishness on him because of the circumstances and milieu of the story and the characters, some of which reminded me of aspects of the Golem legend. (Is that what they mean by "head-canon"?) Just like some aspects of the Superman legend remind me of the Golem even though Siegel and Shuster never mentioned it. I surmised that the higher-ups at DC wouldn't have taken to a Jewish protagonist, even in the 70s.
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Post by MDG on Oct 13, 2022 8:44:42 GMT -5
I voted "Other," meaning DC's The Shadow. DC put out lots of interesting "experiments" from the late 60s (Bat Lash, Secret Six) into the early 70s, but the shadow was generally well-done, and sometimes excellent.
When I was tossing around ideas for a comics podcast to do with a friend, one idea was called "18 and Under," talking about short-lived series.
(I recently picked up a cheap copy of the Secret Society of Super Villains TPB Vol 1 and found it virtually unreadable.)
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