Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
It's here!
As seen on TV! mentioned on this site, mere weeks ago, the launch of a brand new feature in which I take a look at a random selection of DC comics which boasted this month as their cover date.
What magical treats await us from the company that Marvel could never quite kill?
How long can it be before he's bumping into Shang-Chi, Iron Fist and the Sons of the Tiger?
Quite a long while, I suspect, but I could be wrong.
Meanwhile, Orion visits Earth, in search of Darkseid - but finds just Kalibak and Granny Goodness!
It's not the most memorable cover for a man who's had plenty of memorable covers.
And, in truth, I know little of this one's insides, beyond them being labelled The Solomon Plague and being the handiwork of both David Michelinie and Nestor Redondo.
This month, Marvel brought us the distinctly retro Liberty Legion and, clearly not to be outdone, DC offers us The Freedom Fighters who move from Earth-X to Earth-1, in order to fight crime.
It would appear the Silver Ghost turns Doll Man, Black Condor and Phantom Lady into statues - and Phantom Lady begins to turn into a real phantom!
This time, being one devoted to reprints.
Within it, two Xelthunians secretly replace Ma and Pa Kent, to carry out a secret mission, without knowing the duo are Superboy's foster parents.
Then, Wonder Woman takes someone called Bobby to a zoo where they discover one of the lions can speak, which takes our heroine and Steve Trevor to Cairo for an entanglement with spies.
Speaking of the ancient land of Kemet, when Hawkgirl's teleported out of a museum, Hawkman traces the radiation to the Egyptian lair of the Criminal Alliance of the World!
And, at the annual meeting of The Liar's Club, Jay Garrick relates the unlikely tale of the Flash and his battle with sand!
Another reprint mag makes its debut when DC Super-Stars brings us Monster Bait and Skis of Death! Both reprinted from the 1960s.
But that's not all.
We're also treated to a brand new feature. One known as Introducing the Teen Titans.
Drama smashes us in the eyeballs when we have to survive a thriller titled The Real Batman Dies Next!
As far as I can recall, someone's killed while dressed as Batman, leading our hero to try and find the killer.
I think tattoos may be involved.
As if that wasn't enough, we also encounter Man-Bat in Peal of the Devil-Bell!
Posts
12 comments:
A DC "snack" - what I've been thinking about exactly - then Steve provides it!
That final Batman's reminiscent of 50s Cap's death, at a robot's hands!
Phillip
Steve! I heartily endorse this! Truth was, I think for most of us, at the spinner rack probably $.90 of every dollar was spent on Marvel. Another eight cents was probably spent on DC. And then the remaining two cents was spread among Charlton, Gold Key, Archie, etc.
Point being that, though I am familiar probably with 99% of the DC covers, I read very few. Now, with your expert insight there is a high probability I will be inspired to go out and buy yet more comics at some random comic convention, lol.
Cheers, CH
I had most of these comics ( still have a few of them) including Karate Kid, Swamp Thing, New Gods, and Detective Comics. They were all pretty good except Karate Kid. From memory Detective featured some lovely Garcia Lopez art with Pablo Marcos on the Man-Bat back up. However, the art gem was Nester Redondo's Swamp Thing art on the "Solomon Plague" tale.
Charlie my comic book spending split at this time was more 50% DC, 45% Marvel and 5% Charlton/Warren etc.as my local newsagents mostly stocked DC comics .
Ola McScotty! Fair enough. I always thought the DC were well written but just didn’t have as much dynamic smash-em up a la Kirby, Buscema, Colan, et al. Clearly Adams and Aparo were excellent, albeit similar, but relatively, Marvel just seemd more exciting.
My fav example is comparing Gil “Nostrils” Kane’s DC Green Lantern to say his Spidey stuff. It’s like going to Marvel supercharged his drawing, making it really exciting.
Adios Amigo!
Ch
Ola indeed Charlie (or as we say up here "how's it going big man") I agree Marvel at this time we're in a different league but I always had a soft spot for DC and in amongst the less than dynamic tales they had some great books like Swamp Thing.
Woo-hoo, new feature here at SC! I dig it. I had begun buying more DC books around this time (and Charltons too), so, it’s perfect timing.
Of these, I know I had KARATE KID, BATMAN and 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL, and would have bought the SWAMP THING and FREEDOM FIGHTERS too if I’d seen them for sale, but alas. I did pick them up years later though.
That wild DETECTIVE logo with the giant Batman head really leapt out at you from the spinner rack back in the day. I guess it worked — I started buying it pretty regularly for the next year or so. Paul is correct, very nice Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez art on the Batman story here, marred slightly by Ernie Chan’s inks (next issue, JLGL does the inks himself and it makes a big difference). Also, I was digging the short-lived MAN-BAT comic when it was abruptly cancelled, so I was happy to see Pasko and Marcos doing the Man-Bat back-up strip (though that didnt last long either).
More later!
b.t.
Sadly, it seems Gerry Conway has passed on. The man wrote some of my favorite Spider-Man stories. Rest easy, Ger.
Steve, glad to see this look at DC offerings! Of this batch, I had Detective and New Gods. As to the reprint collections, one wonders if they were inspired by Marvel's abundant rerun books. "DC's Greatest Comics", "DCTales"..."DC Triple Action"?
Redartz - Terrible news about Gerry Conway. All those fantastic Daredevils (Colan & Palmer), the Avengers (Tyrak/Private War of Dr.Doom), Captain Marvel vs Human Torch, etc - and plenty of others.
Phillip
Sad News indeed about Gerry Conway. He was one of my very favorite writers when I first began collecting comics. SUB-MARINER 49, DAREDEVIL 78, THOR 218, GIANT-SIZE SUPER-STARS 1 (I know Redartz loves that one almost as much as I do), and practically the entirety of his AMAZING SPIDER-MAN run with Ross Andru — these are all comics that impressed the hell out of me in my formative fan days, that I’ve read and re-read , that I never get tired of re-visiting. RIP, Gerry!
b.t.
Another of the true comic book legends gone. My favourite work of Mr Conway was his Daredevil run and although I was gutted that he killed off Gwen Stacey in Amazing Spider-Man it was a beautifully written and iconic comic .
On to happier things…
I’d have to check, but I wanna say KARATE KID 1 was Joe Staton’s first work for DC (and certainly not his last). Also, it’s one of three DC books that Ric Estrada laid out or pencilled that month (the other two being FREEDOM FIGHTERS 1 and KUNG FU FIGHTER 7). Even though I bought the first few issues of KARATE KID, it never really clicked with me.
Other DC books that I bought that month:
BATMAN 274
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 126
HERCULES UNBOUND 4
KAMANDI 40 (Kirby’s last issue)
KOBRA 2
PLASTIC MAN 12
SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES 216 (Tyroc!)
And just for gits and shiggles, one Charlton that I bought all those decades ago:
CREEPY THINGS 5 (I was quite taken with Rich Larsen’s cartoony but still spooky style)
b.t.
I also had ( still have) a few of the books on your list b.t. including Kobra #2 ,LSH 216 and Plastic Man issue 12. Actually apart from Creepy Things #5 I may have had them all - just how many comics did I buy back in the day?!!!
Post a Comment