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Okay, here's a question for all you Crivvies, which will hopefully inspire you to apply your mighty brains in search of a revealing answer. What's the one comics issue that's made the most lasting impression on you (story or art-wise) since you first started reading, and why? Failing that (in case it's too difficult to pick just one), what's the one single regular title (as in Superman, Spider-Man, or whatever) that's your favourite series in your longstanding term as a comics reader?
Never mind that 'answers on a postcard' nonsense. It'll save you the price of a stamp if you use the comments section.
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No responses yet. Either the question's too hard or too boring. Say which you think it is - maybe it's both.
OK I'll give it a go ignoring UK weeklies as so many of them . The single comic that made the most lasting impression was probably The Mighty Crusaders issue 4 "Too many superheroes" not the best comic by a long shot it's actually a bit daft but it was the comic that ignited my love of the genre. Granted I was only about 7 years old when I bought this in 1967 and I still like it.
ReplyDeleteFavourite comic title The Incredible Hulk from around issue 125 to 150 great stories and art. Alternatively Mighty World of Marvel UK weekly from issue 1 till 50 great reprints.
Good answers, McS, but can I push a little further? Which single comic made you go "Wow! That was amazing!" and has never been surpassed in the impression it had on you as a story? You know, something like FF #51 - "This Man... This Monster!" That sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteThat would probably be Avengers issue 93 "This Beach Head Earth" by Roy Thomas and Neal Adams. The double page spread alone where Ant Man enters the Vision ( behave!) to see what's wrong with him is sublime and is so e of Adams' best ever art . Actually Avengers issue 88 to 100 is pretty perfect as well
ReplyDelete...FF issue 51 is pretty much a classic as well .
ReplyDeleteI'll have to re-read that Avengers tale, McS. I know the one you mean, but my failing memory needs a refresher course. I remember being stunned at just how gripping Frank Miller's Born Again Daredevil series was, and it's one I feel compelled to re-read all the way through whenever I pick it up in one of my collected editions.
ReplyDeleteAvengers 93 also had appearances by the FF ( well the Skrulls) and Captain Marvel, lovely stuff. Yeah Born again was very good as was Batman Year one by Miller and Mazzucchelli .
ReplyDeleteMister Miracle #25 . Golden art , Gerber story . Mister Miracle decides to a God . Isn’t that the basic idea of all superhero’s . Forty some odd years ago this issue blew my mind . It stands the test of time .
ReplyDeleteForced to pick just one comic, I'd have to say E-Man #6 from Charlton by Nick Cuti and Joe Staton with a back up Rog-2000 story by Cuti and John Byrne. I'd been a fan of the Giordano era at Charlton but this book tipped me into a whole new appreciation of the company during one of its brightest points and changed my comic reading habits utterly. I'd been a fan of Marvel and DC both, but despite my ardor for the Avengers and the Justice League, I needed something fresh. I was just heading to college and soon enough I'd be married and perhaps that makes this book stand out. Cuti and Staton did remarkable things together during this time and their insistence on keeping the E-Man flame lit over the years, if just barely, is admirable. E-Man is now gone for good with the death of Nick Cuti but those stories and especially my first one will always be special.
ReplyDeleteAvengers 93 is a good shout.
ReplyDeleteFF 51 used to be a favourite, but I re-read it some years ago and was a littl disappointed.
Some fond memories of ( at least until I next re-read them)
FF 6 ( Doom and Subby team up, and Marvel's first real silver age super-hero story)
Spidey 6 ( First Lizard)
Spidey 12 (unmasked by Dock Ock)
Avengers 4 (Return of Cap)
Spidey Annual 1 ( a Ditko tour de force, all the way)
Creepy 1 ( Frazetta, Crandall, Morrow but most of all the Success Story by Goodwin & Williamson)
Silver Surfer 3 ( the one before the Thor issue, introducing Mephisto; amazing Busceme)
Tower of Shadows 1 ( Steranko's best, pity they replaced the cover)
X-Men 56 ( I couldn't believe the beauty of the Adams/ Palmer art)
Conan 24 ( Song of Red Sonja)
Conan 37 ( Adams has never been better)
Marvel Treasury 4 ( Red Nails coloured by Windsor Smith plus out of this world cover)
Warlock 11 ( Strange Death of Adam Warlock)
Avengers Annual 7 ( more Warlock!)
X-Men 141 (Days of Future Past, although any X-issue by Claremont & Byrne is wonderful)
V for Vendetta (in Warrior)
Swamp Thing 21 ( The Anatomy Lesson)
The Incal by Jodorowsky and Moebius
Blueberry (any) by Charlier and Giraud
Daily Mirror Book of Garth (1975)
and many more.....unfortunately can't pinpoint any one....
As for favourite ever title...it has to be the FF...for the first 102 issues, For me Kirby plus Sinnott is the best ever comic art combination.
Spirit of 54
I first read those tales in b&w, McS, when they were reprinted either in Avengers weekly or MWOM. I've now got colour reprints of them.
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Don't think I've ever read that ish, E8, so it's one I'll look out for.
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Ah, you can't go wrong with E-Man, can you, RJ. I still recall buying the first issue from a Glasgow newsagent's on a rainy Saturday evening in the early '70s, though the one I have now is a replacement. I've also got the First reprint issues.
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Apart from The Incal and Blueberry, I've got a mix of original issues and reprints of all the other titles you list, S64. Every one a winner. I like Sinnott's inks on the FF issues he did, but there's part of me that would've loved to see the FF inked by Wally Wood (and Thor by John Severin). Incidentally, you've made yourself 10 years older in your sign-off.
Two stories come to mind.....Batman 251 ("The Joker's Five-Way Revenge") was quite an eye opener for me. It was my first real exposure to the Joker as a homicidal maniac and the gritty Adams/Giordano artwork really made him come to life.
ReplyDeleteThe other one would be Roy Thomas and Barry Smith's adaptation of Red Nails, which I first read in Marvel Treasury Edition #4......just a masterpiece of story and art.
May 1955 I was was almost eight years old when in Eagle comic the Dan Dare strip by Frank Hampson began THE MAN FROM NOWHERE the first of three story cycles that would define the strip at it's peak.
ReplyDeleteIn February 1971 I was working for an advertising agency and we needed a comic book 'pop art' reference I went to a newsagent and bought a Captain America for the reference and Conan with art by Barry Smith. That Conan started my return to reading comics.
I had that Batman ish when it first came out, G, but never kept it. Luckily, DC relatively recently did a facsimile edition of it (though I already had reprints of the tale in collected editions), so I've now got it again in more or less its original form. I also had the Conan Treasury Edition at the time, bought a replacement for it a couple of years or so back. Happy as a pig in sh*t.
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Smith at his best is a force to be reckoned with, eh, T47? Are you buying the Rebellion volumes of The Trigan Empire? I'd imagine they'd be right up your street. Or did you consider yourself too old for comics in the mid-'60s?
Right, I'm off to my scratcher - will answer any further comments from anyone in a few hours.
I would defer to one of the first superhero comics I ever bought (not counting the funny animal kid-comic Mighty Mouse): the Marvel Tales reprint of SPIDER MAN #16, "Duel with Daredevil." Even putting aside the amazing energy of Ditko's fight scenes-- between Spidey and the newly debuted Daredevil, and the both of them against the Circus of Crime-- it was for me an early doorway into Marvel's persistent self-referentiality, like when the Ringmaster comments on how he regrouped his circus after being defeated by the Hulk. And of course Stan's humorous byplay was at its apogee back then.
ReplyDeleteFantastic Four No.40 when reprinted in MWOM struck me massively as a 9 Year Old. All the FF have lost their powers and when Doctor Doom turns up Reed has to return Ben Grimm to his Thing persona. Kirby has a 3 panel page which catches Ben’s pain and brooding fury. Classic!
ReplyDeleteI've got that Marvel Tales reprint, GP, as well as a reprint in an issue of MWOM or SMCW (can't remember which offhand) with a redrawn cover by another hand. Of course, Marvel Tales reprinted ASM #16 at least twice - once in the '60s or '70s and again in the '80s (got that too). A little corker of a tale, and Daredevil's red and yellow costume fits right in to the circus location.
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First read that tale in a couple of issues of Wham! back in the '60s, CN. I was in the CO-OP, one of those old stores which had the 'tube' delivery system between departments and floors. Whenever I see the picture of the transformed Ben Grimm looking up from the floor as The Thing, I'm right back in that long-gone store. Also got the original Marvel mag, plus a reprint of it in Collectors' Item Classics/Marvel's Greatest Comics (as well as MWOM). Another belter - and inked by Vince Colletta (and Wally Wood on Daredevil).
I have a couple of Trigan Empire reprints as I had seen it in the 60's but while some of the art is great, the story line wasn't. I have to say I look at the art rather than read the text.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't too impressed by the storylines to begin with - the scripting was a bit dry I thought. However, after a while, one gets used to it. It's a bit like with a Jack Kirby scripted comic - his writing is odd, but after a few pages, one adapts to it to a certain extent. Having said that, I think Dan Dare had the same sort of dry style as Trigan. I suspect because you read it as a child, it encapsulates your youth, which sometimes makes it difficult to be totally objective. There's a sort of plodding quality to a lot of comic strips of the '50s and '60s I think.
ReplyDeleteS64 hit the bullseye.... FF #1-102!!!!!!plus 6 annuals and what annuals they were! Highlights besides the usual..... #21 Sgt Fury turns up... #29 It started on Yancy St.... 39 and 40 the best 2 parter ever?.. #45 the best cover ever.... #64's cover a personal favourite.... The high water mark in art consistency from #29-90...the stories faltered after #77 but the Kirby artwork was amazing... Thing holding up the building in my all time favourite issue#95(strange but true) ... #100 Beautiful cover and guest starring EVERYBODY.... Never in any Marvel or DC title was their a run of quality like this. The summit. Best wishes and stay well everybody. Great post Kid.
ReplyDeleteTa, Triple F. I've got those first 6 FF Annuals and they were great. Funnily enough, I think I prefer the early FF tales in the regular mag before the series went all 'cosmic'. Having said that, Doom stealing the Surfer's power and the Thing on the Skrull's planet were high watermarks in comicbook storytelling.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that my liking of Dan Dare is because of the impression it made when I was a kid reading it.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't written to be read as a graphic novel but as a weekly cliff hanger over many months. Reading the Hawk or later reprints as an adult it's necessary to limit myself to two or three weeks of the story at a time.
The pacing was nothing like US comics in the 50's, Blackhawk, Batman, Superman, all were just a dozen or less pages per story.
The story that sold me was in 1966 aged 8 Smash Legend Testers..The Flask of Eterno. I bought comic 22 and then went crazy hunting down all the back issues to no 9 when it all started. I was very annoyed when the series ceased at I think comic 75... Great memories.
ReplyDeleteThe same goes for The Trigan Empire I suppose, T47. Probably best to read the Rebellion reprints in two page instalments at one sitting, rather than complete adventures.
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Hopefully Rebellion will do a collected edition one day, LH. You should email them and suggest it to them, as well as mention any other strips you'd like to see again.
I don't really need to contact Rebellion. I have made up my own book of the Legend Testers. I still only need the pages from Smash 37 and 42 then I have the lot. Annuals as well.
ReplyDeleteThe Rebellion books are great though, LH, and printed on good quality paper. I actually have the two issues you're looking for in my bound Odhams volumes, but I can't open them wide enough to scan without damaging the books. I'll maybe have another look to see if it's possible when I remember where I put them all. Can't recall offhand whether I've got loose copies of the two numbers, but I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteIf you contacted Rebellion, at least they'd know that people were interested in seeing such strips again.
Marvel Tales 190. (reprint of Amazing Spider-Man 50).
ReplyDeleteExciting and emotionally strong issue that, I'd like to think, became a lesson in morals for me. And it's set in New York on a rainy night, and really, has any dramatic story set in New York on a rainy night NOT been great?
Yeah, I've got that issue (190) myself, DS, plus other reprints of it (50) elsewhere I think. That's from a time when comics were entertaining without trying to push some minority agenda or something. Those were the days.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the most memorable comic purchase was Batman #234 - "Half An Evil". The splash page of Batman high in a tree in a Swamp....Batman saying "Boo!" to DA Arthur Reeves.......the flashback to the origin of Two-Face.......Batman clenching his teeth and his fist as he susses out the mystery....the Batmobile as a sports-car...all those images have stayed with me. This was the comic that got me started when I was twelve.
ReplyDeleteI had that comic at the time, I'm sure, but only have it reprinted in a couple or so collected editions now, B. In fact, I'm going to dig it out and re-read it.
ReplyDeleteThe one comic that sticks in my memory is Silver Surfer issue 5 (SS vs the Stranger). I founbd it in a second hand book store and it has travelled through time with me to this very day, complete with it's retailer stamp on the inside cover.
ReplyDeleteThe art by big John Buscema, and inked by his brother Sal, just seemed so fluid and dynamic that I never tired of reading that issue who knows how many times.
I've got the full run of the original US SS series as you know, PC, and that issue is a belter. I first read it when it was reprinted in The Super-Heroes (a UK weekly) in the mid-'70s and I also have my original run of that comic too. (All 50 issues.) The French, for some reason (according to John Buscema), were mad about the Surfer mag and hailed it as a masterpiece. I think it's been reprinted several times over there. Has the Epic Collection of the original Surfers been published yet?
ReplyDeleteNope - still no sign of the Buscema run on the SS in Epic - for reasons unknown, I find those volumes too expensive for me, the only one I have is fantastic Four volume 2, found in another used book store at a reduced price.
ReplyDeleteIn fact so much of what I collected is steadily rising in price, be it the item iteself or the shipping of said item, that I am scaleing back what I collect the days - because it's too bloody expensive, which is both frustrating and disheartening.
I have even stopped checking out various blogs and sites related to collecting because it frustrates me to learn about new books, comics or the like that I don't have the dosh to acquire.
Sometimes a lot of stuff which has a high price can pop up at vastly lower sums, PC. Take the recent FF #1 Panel By Panel book for example. In Britain it's supposed to be around £28, yet I only paid £20, and I've seen it go for around £14 or so. I imagine that might be because it'd be hard to sell otherwise as the book has (sort of) been done before, and it was really a bad idea to enlarge panels from a grubby, dirty, soiled copy of FF #1. Dunno what Chip Kidd was thinking.
ReplyDeletePoint being though, that some books are popping up well below their official price. You may well get lucky so don't give up hope.
Jules N
ReplyDeleteA belated & somewhat rambling response… Have only just discovered this blog following research on Robt. Williams’s influences cited by him in ‘Visual Addiction’; specifically EC’s Wally Wood. Great stuff! Aaaaanyway, which tangent should l follow…? One strip from 2000 AD which blew me away was ‘Nemesis the Warlock’. Kevin O’Neill’s stunning art combined with a pretty amoral protagonist. Interesting stuff!
My folks moved to and from Australia a few times, and while I was in Devon aged between 9 and 12 l had a best friend Paul T. We were scifi crazy, and would fill up the kitchen sink with boiling water so that our Eagle Transporter and Freighter could ‘rise majestically’ through the steam etc. etc. Paul would also play the Space 1999 theme on his Stylophone - kool huh?! His dad was an aluminium machinist, who knocked together a Commlock and Star Trek phaser for us. All bases covered :)
Incidentally, we drew comic strips featuring Paul’s ‘Worms’ vs. my ‘ Bees’
On a vaguely related topic, another visual and influential punch-to-the-head was seeing friend James’s Tri-fold LP Brain Salad Surgery’ (ELP) with art by - wait for it - HR Giger! Many years later l would collect independent comics such as ‘RAW’ etc. I could go on, believe me!
Feel entirely free to 'go on', JN - this blog needs as many interesting comments as it can get. Why did your parents move to and from Australia a few times? Sounds like there's a fascinating story there.
ReplyDeleteHey again.
ReplyDeleteOoh it’s pretty fascinating all right! And since you asked for it… l’ll tell you a little about my wild, wild upbringing.
Imagine, for instance, driving overland in a Pug 404 wagon across Oz and then travelling to the UK via Sri Lanka, then Southern India and then ‘just keeping going’ (Afghanistan/Iran/Iraq anyone?) til getting, after four months, to Ol’ Blighty. In terms of art, it undoubtedly influenced my later sculptural work enormously. In addition, though born in London I spent my early childhood in Tanzania learning to speak Swahili. Dad was what they then called a ‘Jungle doctor’, fresh out of medical school (Ngorongoro Crater / Serengeti etc.) again, camping under the Acacias trying to avoid being eaten by animals: ‘Crunch…crunch…crunch… “What was that??!! Mum was a born adventurer.
Back to the overland journey, which simply became known as ‘The Trip’. It was utterly mind-bending as we camped all the way with another family, spending time with local families, in temples, in wildlife parks. I compare my childhood to growing up in a kaleidoscope - a melange of sounds, sights, smells and tastes… 9 schools in all, and always the New Boy. In time, l’d have to work through the sh*t of making sense of such over-stimulating & ever-changing environments (e.g. the varied natural landscapes, and fauna and flora of the Canary Islands every year visiting my grandparents). I managed via art production, hangin’ in my early 20s with 25 like-minded, down-to-earth creative humans in a Melbourne sculptural cooperative, and then later finding deeply satisfying and challenging community development project management and related work, much of it in a culturally diverse or Aboriginal context.
Re ‘art’, one of the things that l now love most is helping young people tap into their creativity and getting it out and exhibited, whatever the media. It was something that l NEEDED to do when young myself.
So that’s a bit of an overly-hyphenated (and unnecessarily parenthesised) hotch-potch of history. It probably sounds pretty grandiose, but sometimes helps to see it stepped-out. Thanks :)
And thanks for taking the time to share it with us Crivvies, JN. I haven't travelled much (if at all, really) in my life, but I once knew what it was like to always be the new boy, as by the time I was 13 (and a half) I'd lived in 5 different houses, so it sometimes feels like I had 5 different childhoods. Anyway, thanks again.
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