So, previously I detailed comics from my formative early
childhood but they were exclusively Marvel UK weeklies (I never bought the war
titles or humour fare like the Beano, Dandy or Whizzer and Chips). However, I
was exposed to a few US comics too, details of which were burned deep into my
brain...
The first US comic I recall was when I was 4 or 5 and off
school sick. I was sleeping in my mum’s bed when my dad came in (I think on his
lunch break) and brought me a copy of Justice League of America. I still can’t
picture the cover but remember the heroes’ heads along the top of the cover and
seem to recall a scene with the Elongated Man catching a falling Atom in an
alleyway. I’d love to peruse JLA issues from 1974-76 so pinpoint that issue.
My dad also bought me further comics sporadically: I
remember being wowed by a Six Million Dollar Man comic (the issue above) and I
still have no idea where this Charlton comic came from, I don’t know if they
were distributed here. I also recall an issue of Plop, which I didn’t like
because of the freaky cover and the title meaning “Poo”, and an issue of Jungle
Action featuring the Black Panther with some excellent Billy Graham art. (I
picked up this issue a few years ago, cover also below). Unable to read at this point, I had to just look at the art
but the power of these issues was pretty strong: the first time I saw the Klu
Klux Klan, I remembered them from the Jungle Action issue.
And I recall poring
over the advert below: I knew Tarzan and Super Friends from TV but the many
Shazam covers and the Flash reproduction somehow made those characters epic in
my mind and they still feel like the most primal and perfect of superheroes to
me.
The Ghosts cover chilled me
though...
Those were the only issues my dad got me but somewhere along
the way, I remember my granddad (Grampy) giving me a Batman treasury comic, the
one below I think. This had many Golden Age reprints and (IIRC) featured the
Scarecrow, Joker and Two-Face. The art looked like the Batman TV show title sequence
but I remember being smitten by (what I know now to be) a classic Batman and
Robin image by Infantino and Giella.
Those were really the only American comics I recall until
1979...
2 comments:
Can't say I remember any of those. Don't think I bought a DC comic until the mid-80s when I finally gave in and started reading the Wolfman / Perez New Teen Titans.
Ah, the New Teen Titans: the most Marvelish DC title at the time and the one that injected characterisation and brought DC dragging into the modern age at last. Forget Green lantern/Green Arrow, this is the title that had real lasting effects :)
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