Trevor

Ok, so I have a thread idea that might be fun, blatantly stealing from the classic comics forum.

There is at least one website that lets you easily see the covers of every comic released at any month in comic history.
http://www.dcindexes.com/features/ne...975&sort=alpha

That link, for example, should show you every comic released 40 years ago this month.

The classic comics from has a 30 year thread, where posters reminisce each month about what books they bought 30 years previously.

I'm not sure how old most of us are, but thought it might be a fun topic. I guess we could even have a couple different threads, one for 20 and 30, or even less/more.

What do you all think?

I'm 48 btw, and have been buying comics for about 42 years.

Timber

Too old for me. 30-20 year would be my wheel house.

Neitzl

Thanks for that link. I just looked and It seems I started reading/collecting since March 1983, according to ASM #242. I do believe that was the very first one I bought for myself. I don't buy much any longer, but I still do have my collection.
So to your thread topic:
20-years ago: I bought nothing
30-years ago: (Marvel) Alpha Flight 26, ASM #268, Avengers #259, FF #282, Longshot #1, The Alladin Effect, New Mutants #32, Peter Parker #106, Secret Wars II #3, Squadron Supreme #2, Uncanny X-Men #197, Web of Spider-Man #7, and West Coast Avengers #1. (DC) Crisis in Infinite Earths #6, Tales of the Teen Titans #57.

Yeah, I was mainly a Marvel reader.

PhantomStranger

It appears to be April 1983 for myself, though I only have vague memories of a few covers. I distinctly remember the Flash cover from that month, the Green Lantern cover, and the Legion of Superheroes cover. I don't have any recollection of the Batman and Superman covers from that month, which is strange since I would have definitely known those two heroes from other media. I would bet those issues had sold out at my local drug store.

They would have been purchased directly from the newsstand. I still have the Flash issue in my collection. I generally love the busier covers from that era, even today. Too many modern covers feel like empty pin-up art in comparison.

http://www.dcindexes.com/features/ne...983&sort=alpha

Hokeyboy

30 Years ago in June... I was just starting to get into *collecting* comics. Up until then I had read but my Mom generally threw them out over time. Back then I didn't care all that much, but around 1985/DC Crisis era, I was keeping everything. As best as I could, anyhow.

Probably the most important comic I bought in June 1985 was this little number right here:



This was a DC Digest containing six Legion of Super-Heroes stories from the late 50s/early 60s, or the "corny" Silver Age Mort Weisenger era of DC Comics. I loved these stories. They really introduced me to the Legion, their "classic" characters, their reason for existing, and the wealth of imagination that went into the entire 30th-Century DCU. That same month I bought an issue of "Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes", and was surprised to see that, 25 years later, many of the same characters were still featured, in their classic costumes. Awesome stuff.

Also bought that month were:

Action Comics #571
Ambush Bug #4
Avengers #259
Batman and the Outsiders #25
Batman and the Outsiders Annual #2
Crisis on Infinite Earths #6
Detective Comics #554 (I collected anything with Green Arrow in it)
Fantastic Four #282
Iron Man #198
New Teen Titans #12
New Teen Titans Annual #1
Squadron Supreme #2
Super Powers #1 (Kirby art!)
Superman Annual #11 (Alan Moore story "For The Man Who Has Everything")
Tales of the Legion #327
Tales of the Teen Titans #57
West Coast Avengers #1

I was mostly a DC guy, but my favorite Marvels were anything Fantastic Four or Avengers-related. I really wasn't much of an X-Men fan (although I got into them about a year later when Marvel started reprinting the classic Claremont/Byrne/Cockrum run) and I didn't really care for Spider-Man at all.

PhantomStranger

I am not seeing whatever image you posted, Hokeyboy.

Hokeyboy

Aye, guess they don't care for hotlinking... Let me try to find it elsewhere.

madcougar

Very cool... makes me feel hella old, too.

Forgot to mention my first comic! Marvel Tales #84 a reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #105 where Spidey battles the Spider-Slayer. It was published around October 1997. My dad bought it for me during a road trip. I don't have the comic anymore, and I didn't start buying comic books regularly for many years, but this was the first of the occasional comic that spurred my interest in the hobby later in life.

mrhan

June 1973
Batman 251
Flash 223
JLA 107
Superboy LSH 197
Lois Lane 131
World's Finest 21
Ghost Rider 1
Spiderman 124
Daredevil 103

I was 8 and I had some extra change burning a hole in my pocket from my b-day. My friend next door got into comics and followed his lead.

Solid Snake

Hokeyboy w/ 1985, eh? I wasn't born till 1986.

Hokeyboy

Pissant...

fujishig

My mom collected comics for as long as I can remember, so I actually have no idea when my collecting started, because I'd read and re-read her collection (which eventually ended up being stacks of comics, no bags or boards, in paper bags outside of the house).

For instance, I recognize several of the Gold Key, Harvey, and Marvel comics from that link, and they all came out before I was born...

The Valeyard

Thanks for reminding me of this, Trevor. HAPPY 40th ANNIVERSARY to me!! I did this whole exercise about 4 years ago and determined that based on the amount of comics I remembered owning (some I still own) that I started collecting on a regular basis in June of 1975. Since then, I've remembered the year but forgot the month.

I do have a couple of pictures of me holding a few "kid" comics in 1972 (Disney, Bugs Bunny, etc) but I definitely wasn't "collecting" back then. Probably an issue every 4 or 5 months to shut me up. I have 1 Superman comic from '73 that would fall into that category.



That's Walt Disney Comics #376 which I re-bought a few years ago.


Looking at what was released in June of '75 and after, my regular habit definitely started then.


Here's what I picked up back then:

World's Finest Comics #232 (re-bought)
Fantastic Four #162 (still own)
Marvel Team-Up #37 (still own)
Shazam #20 (re-bought)


July 1975 really kicks into gear due to the super-cool Treasury Size comics:

Limited Collectors' Edition C-38 (still own)
Limited Collectors' Edition C-39 (still own)
Super-Team Family #1 (re-bought)
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #212 (re-bought)
Brave and the Bold #122 (still own)
World's Finest Comics #233 (re-bought)
Superman #292 (still own)
Detective Comics #452 (re-bought)


Now the oddballs of the group are the May 1975 released Detective Comics #450 and the February released Amazing Spider-Man #144 which I remember owning (and recently re-bought). I figure they were both still on the racks when I grabbed my June books because, nothing else pops up earlier than June.

Bronkster

Although I think I bought a few random comics (Archie?) before, this is the comic that I know started me on collecting:



For as long ago as that was (get off my lawn!), I couldn't possibly recall exactly what else I got that month. But I started into Superman and most of everything associated with him from there. Cool website!

davidh777

Looks like I'm around the summer of '74.

Here's the interesting thing about that link. When I was doing the Avengers challenge, I didn't know why I knew a few issues of the Don Heck era of Cap/Hawkeye/Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch (Avengers [1963] #19-22) but very little before and after. The answer is reprints!



So apparently I wasn't reading the main Avengers title, but this reprint line, which makes sense because I remember starting to read the Avengers during their war with the Defenders, which was around #116-#118. Those character bursts are the worst attempt to shoehorn four names into the "Triple Action" title.

Also interesting from the link: I haven't thought about this Beowulf title in 40 years, but those familiar covers have such a Grell vibe that I really want to read it:



I loved the DC digests, and the Legion, but never got that digest. I bet I've read all the stories, though.

Of course now I want the digest anyway.

Hokeyboy

This was my first comic. A treasury-sized collection of Superman v. Flash stories, plus some puzzles and a map of the Fortress of Solitude. I so loved this thing. Read it cover to cover a zillion times. Eventually it got tossed but I managed to snag a copy off eBay a few years back. Instant nostalgia trip



This has a cover date of November 1976 so I must have been about 5 or 6 when I had it. Changed my life forever, it did

mrhan

That's a really clean pic. You can see the defunct Fox Photo logo on it. Most of the pics I have from back then are really faded.

PhantomStranger

I always wondered as a kid who the other heroes rooted for in those races. For some reason I always believed Batman and Wonder Woman rooted for Superman and Green Lantern was rooting for the Flash.

Hokeyboy

And this was 1976; why was Green Arrow wearing his Golden/Silver Age outfit? Neal Adams had long since redesigned him...

Still... great cover. Awesome comic. I miss fun DC...

mrhan

Maybe, because both stories took place before Brave and the Bold #85. If they didn't chintz out with this reprint they could of added WF 198-199 which took place after BB 85.

davidh777

Looks like they're taking sides in that pic. I don't know about Wonder Woman, but I'm sure Batman and Robin were specifically put on Superman's side, at the very least.

Timber

If Superman is faster than The Flash what is the point of The Flash as a character? If he's not the best at his one attribute than what's the point.

PhantomStranger

Remember that Superman had been the most popular comic book character for decades by that point. It was a much different world where the rest of the DC heroes were considered widely inferior to Superman. They finally allowed the Flash to win for how you said it- it's his one power.

fujishig

What's the point of Hawkman?

I do think that's one of the reasons they pulled Superman (and WW and Batman) out of the JL founders post Crisis, though (though there are many other versions and it's been retconned to death even before the new52, I always liked Waid and Kitson's JL Year One mini)

Dimension X

Not really related to this thread, but thanks for that link! Last year, I was trying to identify some of the comics on the rack in these screenshots.



Car 54, Where Are You? #3 was easy enough to identify, which led to a few others, but I soon gave up. That site made it easier. Looks to be a mix of comics from May-June '62 (too bad the rack didn't get turned around in the scene so I could see more).