4-15-20: NOTE - In refreshing this post, I inadvertently chose cover images in the "on sale" category at Mike's. All other links in this post point to the original direction originally intended. Thanks for your understanding.
Doug: It's a 40-year trip back in time today, amigos (and amigas). Unless this is your maiden voyage on the BAB, you know the drill: peruse the books cover dated October 1976 over at Mike's Amazing World of Comics, and then head back here to comment on that month's offerings. The date below links you to the Comic Book Database with additional information. Thanks for your feedback today and every day!
I had 23 books in my hot little hands this month. That boggles my mind... Looking over the offerings, the prize that stands out is Limited Collector's Edition C-49 featuring this wonderful Superboy/Legion tale. Also, lots of Annuals this month!
Wow, there was some great stuff on the spinner racks and magazine stands that month. I can see a number of things I picked up later, but there's only two of these I remember having at the time: Amazing Spider-man Annual #10 and DC's Limited Collectors' Edition C-48 (Superman vs. the Flash). I also recall seeing the Legion treasury edition on the stands and really wanting it, but I vaguely recall that my mom was only willing to buy me one of those two, so Superman vs. Flash carried the day. ASM Annual #10 is a particular nostalgic favorite of mine. I read the hell out of that book back in the day, and then I cut it up because I liked so many of those action-packed panels and poses by Gil Kane (yep, I was still in that phase at the time). But I re-acquired it a few years ago (thanks eBay).
ReplyDeleteThere's a few others I think I had at the time, like that month's issue of Marvel Adventure with the Daredevil reprint, but I'm not entirely sure.
Oh, yeah: this month's Richie Rich count goes to 11.
Hah. I was about to make my choices when I got down the bottom and found Xmen #101, which is pretty much Great Comics 101.
ReplyDeleteSpidey Annual 10 I seem to remember is Kane. ( Ah…just read Edo’s post as I was writing this! I certainly didn’t cut mine up, Edo, and I would have banished you to the Negative Zone if your scissors came anywhere near it).
Champions 8 – I loved the Champions. I also thought that ish where the Russians blew up Rampage was really nasty. You immediately knew you were dealing with a different league of villains.
FF 175. A friend of a friend had that issue. I was, like, wow, oh my God, Galactus versus the High Evolutionary! Seriously!
But I have to pick Marvel Chillers 7, for the simple reason that I bought every other issue at the time, did not know there was a number 7 (it was never imported into the UK) and it took me literally 40 years to get it ( I got it about 6 weeks ago).
Richard
Wow, what a great mass of comics that month! All those annuals: Hulk, Daredevil, Spider-Man; had them all. This may be my highest monthly tally to date: 28 books! Heaven only knows how I accomplished that. They must have gotten sick of seeing me all over the racks at the Anderson News Center. The highlights:
ReplyDelete2001 Treasury Edition- huge fan of the film, and grabbed this Kirby classic immediately...
Spider-Man 161- very good issue with Nightcrawler and Punisher.
Marvel Preview with the Legion of Monsters- fun stuff, wish I recalled it better.
Spirit 16- more Will Eisner goodness
Plus X-Men, Avengers, Daredevil, Defenders...oh heck; it was a great month all over. Oh, and by the way, those books would have been on sale in July 1976, making this the U.S. Bicentennial month! Maybe that explains all the four-color fireworks...
Wow! A lot of awesome stuff here! The Bronze Age was truly the greatest time to be a comic book reader. This looks like it was just a few months before I really ramped up my comic reading habits, to where I started buying certain titles every month without missing an issue.
ReplyDeleteStill a year before my collecting started so seven of these books were obtained as back issues. Love the Defenders cover. My introduction to the X-Men came the following month with issue 102. My cousin bought it and it was in a pile of comic books kept at my grandparents house.
ReplyDeleteAh, Adventures On The Planet Of The Apes. For anybody who doesn't know, this comic lasted for 11 issues and contained the colorized adaptations of the first two apes films which had originally appeared in black & white in the POTA magazine and in the Marvel UK POTA weekly for us British apes fans (in fact, the UK weekly had sometimes printed POTA material BEFORE the U.S. magazine). Meanwhile, the POTA magazine reaches #25 in this month - only 4 issues from cancellation so the apes phenomenon was nearly over.
ReplyDeleteThis was a slim month for me: SLSH, Super-Team Family and Action. None of those Marvel mags were on sale in my area, as was often the case in the mid-late 70s. I longed for X-Men 101 then got it in '78 along with Monark Starstalker, Ka-Zar and others in three-comic "grab bags". That was during the summer holidays in Morecambe, Lancs. I've still never read the Man-Tiger issue of Conan!
ReplyDeleteI was a big time Marvelite at this point. What strikes me when I look at Mike's Newsstand page is the sheer volume of books. Filtering on just Marvel lists 56 mags. If you go back 10 years to 1966, Marvel had only 17. That's more than triple the output. Wow.
ReplyDeleteTom
This is a bit early for me, so I didn't have any of these back in the day. I've gotten quite a few since then, though. I even have that issue of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, though I got it some time in the late 80s.
ReplyDeleteMike Wilson
Oooh, good month for Marvel, with some real all-time faves -
ReplyDeleteMarvel Premiere 32, featuring Monark Starstalker by the mighty Howard Victor Chaykin. Richie Rich it wasn't! (C'mon Edo, where were you on that one?)
Doctor Strange Annual 1. Doc's regular title got a bit messed up in late '76 while Marvel blew off Englehart, but the annual was great thanks to the distinctive work of P. Craig Russell.
2001 treasury by Jack Kirby. Awesome, of course. Would love to have seen Jack do a Clockwork Orange treasury...
Drawing a blank on DC... they did not have a good month.
-sean
"Time is relative." Or so we have heard. We can all agree that thirty years ago today was indeed October 1976. The the issues that were cover dated Oct would have been on sale.....in JULY!?! The Spinner rack in October of 76 would have carried January cover dates.
ReplyDeleteDoes it make a difference? In the long run, nope. In the short run, for me, could be a world of difference. July of 76 was pre ten speed. Still pretty much limited to what was in walking distance. October 76 was TEN SPEED ME!!! I could go EVERYWHERE!!!! The world was my oyster. But anywho.......that's not why I called. I bought Avengers but not Spider-Man. Marvel Double Feature, Marvel Adventures and Marvel Tales..... mmmmm, weird me. Drawn to the reprints.
(Outside the rain begins
And it may never end
So cry no more
On the shore, a dream
Will take us out to sea
Forever more, forever more
Close your eyes and dream
And you can be with me
'Neath the waves
Through the caves of ours
Long forgotten now
We're all alone, we're all alone
Close the window, calm the light
And it will be all right
No need to bother now
Let it out, let it all begin
Learn how to pretend).
Could go robot for the right woman........or two wrong ones......
Sean, note I said in my first comment that I picked up a bunch of these issues later, so no worries, I eventually got around to reading the super-awesome debut of Monark Starstalker (and I have that issue now as well). At the time (i.e., summer of 1976), though, I had just turned 8 and Chaykin was not yet on my radar (probably a good thing, too, because if I had picked up that issue of Marvel Premiere, I probably would have ending up taking my scissors to it anyway).
ReplyDeleteI had 27 of these books back in the day (all gone now I might add, except for a couple I re-purchased). My purchases were almost evenly split between DC and Marvel (15 and 12).
ReplyDeleteSome HUGE milestones in this pile for me including the LOSH and Superman/Flash Treasury editions! I always felt that Flash should win any are against Superman, since speed is really his only gig so it kind of marginalizes him is Supes is faster than he.
Another giant impact book is Warlord #3, with that sweet irresistible cover!! This is one of my favorite comic books ever made! I was really confused though when it proved impossible to find issues 1 and 2, which had been produced quite some time earlier. Nova #2 was a must buy as I adored that character and felt like a real insider to be in on "ground floor" of a major new Marvel characters .... errr... at least that is what was in my mind at age 11.
I remember Hulk Annual #5 being awesome ... may need to pick that on up again!
I loved the plethora of covers by the team of Kane and Janson that appeared during this period. Klaus Janson brought such a beauty and depth to the anatomical power of Gil Kane's pencils with his finishes. Often the covers were the best of the comic (such as the otherwise bland Daredevil Annual #4a). I count their output to be among the most valued parts of my collection.
ReplyDelete