Monday 3 December 2012

December 1972 - forty years ago today!

The Four Seasons may have once sung of late December 1963 but it's December 1972 that catches the eye of Steve Does Comics. In what state of mind do we find our favourite Marvel heroes? Will they walk like a man or simply plunge into the Frankie Valli of despair?

Amazing Spider-Man #115, Dr Octopus, Aunt May points a gun at our hero

Spider-Man comes up against his deadliest foe yet - Aunt May, as the wacky widow proves just how completely clueless she really is.
Avengers #106, the Space Phantom

I seem to remember this being the return of the Space Phantom.

I can't recall exactly what his scheme was but I'm sure it was suitably nefarious.

I do always wonder who'd win a fight between the Space Phantom and the Living Eraser but that probably says more about me than anything else.
Captain America #156, Cap vs Captain America

I don't think I've ever read this tale.

Is this the 1950s Captain America who's fighting the "real" one, or is that another story altogether?
Conan the Barbarian #21, Barry Smith

Much as I love Barry Smith, I've never liked this cover. Conan's legs look too long for the rest of him, his sword and axe don't seem to be pointing in quite the right directions and the man he's resting his foot on doesn't seem to have a thick enough body. I prefer the similar Smith picture where our hero's stood in a pool of water.

But who cares about that? It would appear that Conan's the first comic book to ever win an Oscar.
Daredevil and the Black Widow #94, the Indestructible Man

More trouble for our heroes.
Fantastic Four #129, Medusa and Thundra

Poor old Ben Grimm. It can't be easy being made of rocks and having to fight off all those women all the time.

Then again, seeing disembodied heads looking down at you must be quite disturbing too.
Iron Man #53, Raga

I genuinely have no clue what's going on here.
Thor #206, the return of the Absorbing Man

The Absorbing Man. All that power, and still he can't beat anyone.
X-Men #79, Cobalt Man

Before he goes mad and harasses the Hulk, the Cobalt Man goes mad and tries to make ex-men of the X-Men.
Incredible Hulk #158, the Rhino and Counter Earth

It's another of my Hulk faves as he and the Rhino get a lovely trip to Counter-Earth.

7 comments:

Ant Master said...

Some great covers there, especially love the Cap A one, do need to get those missing issues from 100-199

Comicsfan said...

Count yourself fortunate for not having to wade through the Black Lama's tedious "war of the super-villains." I'm going to make a wild guess and predict that it won't go down as a classic.

Anonymous said...

Ah memories I vividly remember picking up the Avengers (106) and X-Men (79) comics. I loved the Avengers issue as it had lots of other hero references and I think it may have been the first time I saw the Vision in a US comic (it also had a Cap America , Bucky and Hydra flashback along with Rick Jones becoming Capt Marvel in one panel - again the first time I remember seeing Marvels version of Capt Marvel ) great fanboy stuff - the villains were indeed the Space Phantom and Grim Reaper (think there was another villian lurking also_ The X-Men comic I remember buying for the cover but from memory Im pretty sure it was reprint from the 60s - McSCOTTY

Gey Blabby said...

If someone can confirm that The Avengers cover was by Rich Buckler, I'll be very happy, as it will be one of the few times when I've been able to recognise the artists on all the covers shown. Although, admittedly, that isn't too difficult when those artists - Romita, Kane, Smith and the Buscema brothers - have such distinctive styles.

Anonymous said...

That is certainly R Buckler's work....the Hydra/Bucky "flashback" Anonymous mentioned (actually Rick Jones, and depicting events supposedly taking place immediately after the end of CA #113) was an oddity, pencilled by George Tuska and inked by Dave Cockrum! Can't help wondering if it was some kind of inventory that had been lying around and worked into the story by Englehart, or...?

cheers
B Smith

Can I just say I find the "50 years ago" covers quite interesting, and the "40 years ago" ones a bit depressing - it was 40 years ago!! And a lot of them are sitting in boxes in the shed.

Boston Bill said...

I seem to recall something about the Spidey issue. Was this the one when Doc Oc Returns and they share a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken - until the ghost of Hammerhead shows up?

Steve W. said...

That was a later issue - #157, I think. This is one where Aunt May goes to work as Doc Ock's housekeeper and thinks Spider-Man's a burglar.