Friday, January 4, 2013

Making a Splash: DC Comics 40 Years Ago this Month

What DC mags were we reading back in January, 1973? A LOT of 'em from the looks of it! Keep in mind that a lot of DC's mags at the time were bi-monthly (which is why you don't see splashes for Batman, JLA, Superboy, and a few other usual suspects), or this post would be a lot longer! Check 'em out!






































See what I mean, Groove-ophiles?
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5 comments:

  1. RichardJanuary 4, 2013 at 12:57 AM

    Kudos for putting in the work to assemble these! Very enlightening. The main thing I've learned is that DC seemed reluctant to do single panel splashes at the time, with a few striking exceptions. No surprise that Kirby understood the power one strong opening image could have in hooking a reader; the others seem pretty dull by comparison. (I'm especially partial to the Kamandi page, as that's the source of the image which has served as my online avatar for many years now.)

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  2. Gary WareJanuary 4, 2013 at 7:30 AM

    Don Heck and Murphy Anderson.
    That seems an unlikely combo.

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  3. DougJanuary 4, 2013 at 12:29 PM

    My first impression is that I cannot believe that if Marvel's assemblage of material were to be laid side-by-side with what you've displayed above we wouldn't just explode with musings like, "How in God's name was the House of Ideas not just killing DC in market share in January 1973?!?" However, at second glance I'm impressed with the diversity of DC's offerings, and equally impressed with some of the linework from what I guess I would consider (in a few cases here) "obscure" pencillers.

    Thanks for the history lesson, Groove!

    Doug

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  4. John SmallJanuary 4, 2013 at 12:53 PM

    "The Borrowed Brain" was one of my favorite Supergirl stories of that period; but alas it's one of a handful of books I lost in various moves over the years. Sure would like to see you post that one in its entirety some time so I could have the pleasure of re-reading it again after so many years. ("The Skyscraper That Screamed For Its Life" was a fav as well!)

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  5. Johnny BacardiJanuary 6, 2013 at 11:37 AM

    Boy, Alfredo Alcala was busy that month, wasn't he?

    The art on "They Walk by Night", by someone named William Payne, reminds me a lot of what Bissette and Totleben got up to on Swamp Thing a few years later...of course, that's not the case since neither was even on DC's radar that year. Still..

    Nice to see some Grandenetti art at the end.

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.

As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!