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jkcarrierPlaying catch-up here. As always, you can follow the discussion threads at:
http://classiccomics.boards.net/board/21/days-classic-comics-christmas-2014
6) American Flagg! #1 (1983)
In 1983, I was in my senior year of high school, and getting a little bored with a lot of what Marvel and DC were offering. Luckily, I had access to a small but well-stocked comics shop (R.I.P., Phantasy Emporium), and started seeing all these interesting new books from publishers like Eclipse, Pacific, and First. They superficially resembled Big Two books (and often featured Marvel and DC creators), but were told with a little more maturity and a lot more personal style. These were my "gateway books", leading me away from being just a superhero fanboy into the wider world of comics. And none moreso than Howard Chaykin's American Flagg!, stylish, sexy, and smart. Washed-up actor Reuben Flagg finds himself in the unlikely role of a "Plexus Ranger", trying to bring some law and sanity back to a thoroughly-corrupted future Chicago. But Reuben's no saint, and the compromises he makes along the way leave you wondering if he's really all that different than the regime he's trying to topple. Chaykin's layered, complex scripts and densely-packed pages really drove home to me how lazy and dumb a lot of the mainstream fare was. Or maybe I just liked all the girls in garters.
7) Fantastic Four Annual #10 (1973)
I was still pretty new to the Marvel Universe in 1973. This issue, a reprint of the classic Reed & Sue wedding story, turned out to be a perfect introduction. The plot itself is pretty slim: Dr. Doom uses a gizmo to send out mental rays that compel an army of supervillains to crash the wedding, and the superhero guests fight them off until the Watcher finally hands Reed a literal Deus Ex Machina to put an end to it. But Stan and Jack manage to give each hero a chance to shine, showing off a bit of their powers and personalities in the midst of the big free-for-all. I especially like the sequence with Daredevil, who not only manages to fight off a group of Hydra thugs, but then proceeds to use their own bomb to torpedo the Atlantean hordes coming up out of the ocean. It's also fun seeing the heroes fighting villains other than their usual ones: Iron Man takes on the Mad Thinker, Doctor Strange makes short work of the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes, and Quicksilver outraces the Human Top. The one disappointing note is Spider-Man's one-panel cameo, which features recycled Steve Ditko art awkwardly pasted onto the page. The last-page gag (which I won't spoil for the one or two people who haven't read it) is a classic bit of meta-commentary, which perfectly encapsulates the wild 'n crazy, anything goes feel of early Marvel.
8) Epic Illustrated #4 (1980)
Having grown up on nothing but traditional 4-color comics on newsprint, this slick package completely blew my mind. Comics where every single panel was a full-color painting? It was breathtaking. From Michael Kaluta's insanely-detailed cover, to Craig Russell's hallucinogenic Elric, to Tim Conrad's sombre and grungy Almuric, to Starlin's trippy Metamorphosis Odyssey, it was a smorgasbord of beautiful illustration. The story content was generally strong as well, if not quite as edgy and experimental as their rival mag Heavy Metal (which I discovered soon after). We take comics with high production values for granted now, but this was a real revelation to me, and a big step towards the realization that yes, comics could be ART.
9) Batman #256 (1974)
Batman is, hands down, my favorite fictional hero, and the 100 Page Super-Spectaculars of the '70s are a big reason why. I loved this format, because it meant a whole day of great reading. Seeing Irv Novick's modern Batman side-by-side with classic renditions by Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, and Sheldon Moldoff somehow made perfect sense to me, and I think it opened my mind to different styles of art. This issue is themed around "Batman's Trophy Room", and reprints the original appearances of such iconic items as the Giant Penny and the Robot Dinosaur. A big part of Batman's appeal is that he's the kid with all the best toys, and this issue certainly demonstrates that! The other great thing about Batman is that he can fit into just about any kind of story, from the sci-fi hijinks of "Dinosaur Island" to the gritty and tragic "Brothers in Crime". Then or now, you can't beat that for a measly 60 cents.
http://classiccomics.boards.net/board/21/days-classic-comics-christmas-2014
6) American Flagg! #1 (1983)
In 1983, I was in my senior year of high school, and getting a little bored with a lot of what Marvel and DC were offering. Luckily, I had access to a small but well-stocked comics shop (R.I.P., Phantasy Emporium), and started seeing all these interesting new books from publishers like Eclipse, Pacific, and First. They superficially resembled Big Two books (and often featured Marvel and DC creators), but were told with a little more maturity and a lot more personal style. These were my "gateway books", leading me away from being just a superhero fanboy into the wider world of comics. And none moreso than Howard Chaykin's American Flagg!, stylish, sexy, and smart. Washed-up actor Reuben Flagg finds himself in the unlikely role of a "Plexus Ranger", trying to bring some law and sanity back to a thoroughly-corrupted future Chicago. But Reuben's no saint, and the compromises he makes along the way leave you wondering if he's really all that different than the regime he's trying to topple. Chaykin's layered, complex scripts and densely-packed pages really drove home to me how lazy and dumb a lot of the mainstream fare was. Or maybe I just liked all the girls in garters.
7) Fantastic Four Annual #10 (1973)
I was still pretty new to the Marvel Universe in 1973. This issue, a reprint of the classic Reed & Sue wedding story, turned out to be a perfect introduction. The plot itself is pretty slim: Dr. Doom uses a gizmo to send out mental rays that compel an army of supervillains to crash the wedding, and the superhero guests fight them off until the Watcher finally hands Reed a literal Deus Ex Machina to put an end to it. But Stan and Jack manage to give each hero a chance to shine, showing off a bit of their powers and personalities in the midst of the big free-for-all. I especially like the sequence with Daredevil, who not only manages to fight off a group of Hydra thugs, but then proceeds to use their own bomb to torpedo the Atlantean hordes coming up out of the ocean. It's also fun seeing the heroes fighting villains other than their usual ones: Iron Man takes on the Mad Thinker, Doctor Strange makes short work of the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes, and Quicksilver outraces the Human Top. The one disappointing note is Spider-Man's one-panel cameo, which features recycled Steve Ditko art awkwardly pasted onto the page. The last-page gag (which I won't spoil for the one or two people who haven't read it) is a classic bit of meta-commentary, which perfectly encapsulates the wild 'n crazy, anything goes feel of early Marvel.
8) Epic Illustrated #4 (1980)
Having grown up on nothing but traditional 4-color comics on newsprint, this slick package completely blew my mind. Comics where every single panel was a full-color painting? It was breathtaking. From Michael Kaluta's insanely-detailed cover, to Craig Russell's hallucinogenic Elric, to Tim Conrad's sombre and grungy Almuric, to Starlin's trippy Metamorphosis Odyssey, it was a smorgasbord of beautiful illustration. The story content was generally strong as well, if not quite as edgy and experimental as their rival mag Heavy Metal (which I discovered soon after). We take comics with high production values for granted now, but this was a real revelation to me, and a big step towards the realization that yes, comics could be ART.
9) Batman #256 (1974)
Batman is, hands down, my favorite fictional hero, and the 100 Page Super-Spectaculars of the '70s are a big reason why. I loved this format, because it meant a whole day of great reading. Seeing Irv Novick's modern Batman side-by-side with classic renditions by Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, and Sheldon Moldoff somehow made perfect sense to me, and I think it opened my mind to different styles of art. This issue is themed around "Batman's Trophy Room", and reprints the original appearances of such iconic items as the Giant Penny and the Robot Dinosaur. A big part of Batman's appeal is that he's the kid with all the best toys, and this issue certainly demonstrates that! The other great thing about Batman is that he can fit into just about any kind of story, from the sci-fi hijinks of "Dinosaur Island" to the gritty and tragic "Brothers in Crime". Then or now, you can't beat that for a measly 60 cents.
