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I imagine that when people realise their time is running out, they start tying up all the loose ends in their lives and completing things they started but never finished years before. Consequently, I wonder if my subconscious is trying to tell me something, as I've recently found myself trying to complete comics collections begun more than 30 or 40 years ago.
One such title is DC's WANTED: The WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS VILLAINS, the first regular issue of which I bought back around 1973. I had a few issues of the comic, but not the full nine in the series, and in fact, it was only in the last few years that I discovered there had only ever been nine, and that it hadn't gone on for years after. I have specific memories connected to the ones I owned at the time, and re-acquired the first three a good few years ago.
It's a comic that I associate with the house I was then (and now) living in, which is only natural as this was my abode when I first read however many issues I had of the series. I was therefore surprised to learn that the title had first appeared as two DC SPECIALS in 1970 and '71 while I was living in another house in a different neighbourhood. So associated is the name and logo with my present domicile that I find it difficult to even imagine the comic originating while I was yet living in my previous abode.
Not that any such trivial musings on my part will be of any interest or concern to you. However, I recently managed to obtain the remaining issues in the run, plus the two Specials. (In fact, the first Special - #8 - only arrived on Friday, as it came from America and therefore had further to travel.) I wanted them and I finally got them, so mission accomplished - at least as far as this particular mag is concerned.
That's all the excuse I need to hit you with yet another cover gallery, so here are all eleven of them for your viewing pleasure. Wanted - the world's most interesting comments, so get typing.
12 comments:
I loved the Wanted! series when I was growing up, especially all of the Golden Age stories. They were entertaining and it was a great opportunity for a young guy to catch up on the history of DC. I wish Marvel had done the same thing during that time. I missed out on their earlier efforts to do so in the late 60's.
Had 1 and 3. Loved them! But I got them on holiday our local newsagent never got DC comics. I would love to see a Vigilante Meskin collection .
There just didn't seem to be enough interest in Marvel's Fantasy Masterpieces to sustain its publication, G - and I guess, with only 9 issues, there wasn't enough interest in DC's Wanted either. Shame really.
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I'm aiming on sitting down with my Wanted mags and working my way through them from beginning to end, PS. Vigilante confused me when I was a teenager, as in some strips he rode a horse and in others it was some kind of motorcycle. I was never quite sure which era he was supposed to be set in.
Along with Secret Origins (DCs first run) this was my favourite reprint title. I have all but issues 1 and 6. For me the main reason for collecting was the brilliant covers all by (I think) Nick Cardy. Would love the 1st 2 DC Specials issues as my late brother had these when he was a kid and they were favs of his. Congrats on getting them all whats your favourite.
This is a new one to me and I love it already. Got to say though, Dr Clever us the most average-achievement level villain Doctor name ever.
The two Specials are available on eBay at this very moment, PM. I'd say that #1 of the regular title is my favourite, cover-wise, because it made an impression on me in 1973. Because it's inked by Murphy Anderson it's hard to determine the penciller, but it could be Curt Swan. Nick Cardy seems right for most of the others.
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Just shows what a humble chap he is, OD. One of his pals had suggested Doctor Genius, but his modesty ruled against it.
I had DC Special #14 (bought new while on vacation in Florida), and Wanted #1, #4, and #6 (bought in a comic shop in the 1980s; they were on sale in the quarter bins).
I think there was another Starman vs. the Mist story reprinted in a DC 100-page Super Spectacular in the early 1970s.
IIUC, the Vigilante was set in the present time. In the Golden Age, he was also a member of the 7 Soldiers of Victory, along with Green Arrow, Star-Spangled Kid, and some other super heroes. I think he was a singer in his civilian identity, and there may have been some influence from movie cowboy heroes like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.
And, yes, it's a shame that DC and Marvel didn't do more Golden Age reprints, but evidently there was just not enough demand for it at the time.
I remember him being a singer, TC. Perhaps he was an actor/singer who made movies set in the old west and it's that which confused me? I don't think I've read one of his tales in years.
I have never heard of this one..Was it monthly ? It must have slipped by me unnoticed. Comics at that time were at saturation level so I guess with only 9 issues it wouldn't be hard to miss.
The first two Specials came out about a year apart, LH, then the first ish of the regular title came out around a year later. It was bi-monthly, but switched to monthly status with #2, only to switch back to bi-monthly for the last three issues.
This was the sort of collection that was only possible in the day by a fan totally devoted to comic-book history-- i.e., E. Nelson Bridwell. Who, but a hardcore fan, would bother trying to recall whether or not short-lived hero Hourman ever had a super-villain in his rogue's gallery?
E.N.B. was definitely a hardcore comics fan, GP, who certainly knew his onions. I loved his intros to the 'From the '30s to the '70s' books. So how short-lived was Hourman? Around 60 minutes?
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