Doug: Last week I showed some pix of my calendars from 1976-78. Today I move ahead to the next two years -- which concludes my Bronze Age calendar collection, and even better yet -- we got a new camera! Now, lest you get big heads and think, "Gee, this guy is really in our corner! Talk about above and beyond!", I have to tell you that this has been a long time coming. My wife does a great job of scrapbooking our sons' adventures. Lately that's not been so easy due to the nature of our old camera's oft-blurry output. You have only to check out
last Sunday's post to see what I mean. So, this week I'm still showing off .jpg files (again, my scanner simply isn't large enough to do the calendar images the full-frame justice they deserve), but I hope you'll find the overall quality much higher than last week. My old eyes think so, at least.
Be on the look-out this time 'round for such Bronze Age stalwarts as Johnny Romita, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, John Buscema, and Herb Trimpe. But also keep an eyeball on George Perez, Jim Starlin, Walter Simonson, Frank Miller, John Byrne, Keith Pollard, and Ron Wilson -- you won't be disappointed!
I'd forgotten about Tom Sutton's run on Dr. Strange. That calendar page exhibits his style and take on the character wonderfully.
ReplyDeleteI do believe I need to pick up that Strange calendar. Mega-Thanks to Doug for his research.
ReplyDeleteThose Hulk images are INCREDIBLE. I'll be hunting that one down next.
Wouldn't they look gorgeous matted and framed..?
(Not to mention great computer wallpaper..)
I had a vague memory of a Dr. Strange calendar! The Avengers page is a joy but the Dracula image is stunning.
ReplyDeleteWho needs a Rembrandt when you got these totally awesome Marvel calendars drawn by some of the greatest artists of the Bronze Age baby!
ReplyDelete- Mike 'Big John Buscema shoulda painted the Mona Lisa' from Trinidad & Tobago
I do have that 1979 Hulk Calendar-- it's hangin' down in the ol' comic book room. And like a dim-bulb I used it, at the time, as a normal calendar-- putting schedule things and important dates on it. Never thinking of it as a collectible, of course. Although I have to say that it does serve as a profound piece of personal memorabilia from my senior year of high school/freshman semester of college. . . so it may be worth more to me than it would to a strictly acquisitive collector anyhow.
ReplyDelete(Hmm. I see I did a HECK of a lot of ski-ing the first three months of that year-!)
HB
I love the fact that these images are re-drawn but for the nerdmungous amongst us (i.e. all of us) there is great fun to be had from identifying the images. I love the Strange mash up from the initial Brunner issues, though unclear why he’s riding Aragorn, the Drac pic from the Englehart/Colan crossover, the Defenders pic has Yandroth’s lighthouse, and the Avengers crossover complete with the ‘Stephen Sanders’ look. On the Hulk ones, the Starlin mash up is two different visits to counter Earth, and that riff on Avengers #1 looks much more Sal Buscema than Big John.
ReplyDeleteSee, told you it was nerdmungous.
HB – your post made me smile. First I thought ‘this guy has a comic room? Wow. We are not worthy.’ Then I read that you spent your last year in high school mainly skiing and it fell into place. It’s actually the ‘comic wing’ of HB Towers, right? You have an Alfred/Jarvis/Hobson style Comic Butler who brings the latest Batman in on a silver tray as you luxuriate in a vast bath with a Martini train circling round and a top hat on, right? In fact, you’re sitting there even as you read this, aren’t you?
Must remember to buy a lottery ticket this week :0)
Richard
HB, is what Richard suggest really true..??
ReplyDeleteTell us you're wearing your satin smoking jacket, puffing away at your fireplace mantel, looking all stoic and all. Kat Denning making frequent visits, ushered in by your butler.
I'm coming over for cognac and Steranko discussion tonight, sir.
"I GOT DIBS ON THE COUCH..!!"
Don't forget, kids, that Karen and I have pix of our own comic rooms posted elsewhere on this very blog. Check 'em out if you've never done so!
ReplyDeleteNo couch in mine, but there is a recliner!
Doug
OK, that tears it. I’m having a comic room. I don’t care if I have to sleep in the bath.
ReplyDelete(At this point you can faintly hear my gf saying ‘what do you mean comic ROOM? Open any bloody cupboard in this house and it’s filled to the brim with comics. Stand outside sometime, Sunshine, it’s not an accident that our house is nine inches lower than the rest of the street!’)
R
I really need to post new photos of my comics room (the Sanctum). It has changed quite a bit. Perhaps that can be a holiday project for me, photographing and posting. And yes, Richard, every real fan needs one!
ReplyDeleteOh.
ReplyDeleteWow.
One does so hate to puncture the hyperbolic balloon that can quickly elevate a few simple, off-hand phrases into the creation of a seeming legend with such astonishing speed. . .
. . . and yet, holding onto the ideals of honesty, integrity, and forthrightness (uh. . .if that's a real word) is an action that DEMANDS that the truth be properly re-aligned. Peter Parker, of course, would do no less.
No, no--- no HB Towers, personal valet (although Wodehouse's JEEVES would have completely been my first and only choice-!), martini train, top hat, smoking jacket, or visits from ol' Kat Denning. *sigh*
Although I will say right out that my lovely wife COMPLETELY trumps Kat D, because the comic book room (a basement bedroom that was already finished when we bought our house) was HER SUGGESTION! It honestly had not even crossed your mind, until she mentioned shortly after we had looked at the place, "that room in the basement would be perfect to be your comic book room." I had no idea I could love her more than I already did. . .
Ha! The ski-ing? National Ski Patrol for a little ski area in Southwestern Michigan (Swiss Valley). "Policemen of the Slopes", yes--- but keep in mind that there's an awful lot of traffic-copping, crowd control, nuisance-management, and all number of mundane duties that make up the bulk of the job. Plus things like being on slope duty on minus 50 degree wind chill days. On a temperamental chairlift. Ohhhhh, you know what life' about, on those days. . .
But, okay, yes it is very, very cool to have a comic book room, I freely admit. It's also become the main Christmas present hiding and wrapping room, as well as a dumping ground for our bazillion family instruments. . .
HB (more than you ever wanted to know!)
I still have my 79' Hulk Calender. It's on my wall this year. 79' matches all the days of this year 2012. I only wish I had a perpetual calender so I could re-use a lot of my old hero calenders.
ReplyDeleteThe old Marvel calenders were the best and there has never been anything near the quality they had before. It makes me want to step back in time.
Loving these pics!
ReplyDeleteOne question, though: how the heck did Hulk end up on the Surfer's board?
--Joseph
@Joseph:
ReplyDeleteTales to Astonish #93. The Surfer realized he could siphon off the Hulk's intense gamma-radiation energy (field? power? pretty serious lack of physics going on in general), and use it to augment his own cosmic power, and thus break through the barrier that Galactus had placed around the earth.
Boost up to make a prison break, in other words. But he needed to maintain physical contact (more or less) to succeed.
It worked, but the Hulk changed back to Banner, and then fell off the board. Surfy couldn't let him die that way, so he re-entered the barrier to save Banner, re-infused him w/ the gamma energy to save his life, and went on his melancholy way--- trapped once more.
HB