Friday, January 3, 2014

Making a Splash: DC Comics 40 Years Ago This Month: January, 1974

January, 1974! DC Comics was promising  that they were "Taking a GIANT Step Forward in '74", and if they were talking formats, they delivered! Many of their mags went all-in or at least every-other-ish in the 100 Page format, plus they started delivering at least two tabloid-sized comics per months. Of course that meant that many mags went bi-monthly, so we didn't get as many mags a month, but we still got tons o'comics. Check it out!

Brave and Bold #112

Detective Comics #440










Our Army At War #267

Rima #1

 Sandman #1



Superman Family #164

Tarzan #230

Phantom Stranger #30







Witching Hour #41



Wonder Woman #211

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4 comments:

  1. Rip JaggerJanuary 3, 2014 at 4:30 AM

    Oh yeah. This was prime time for me and DC. I agree that they seemed to be really trying all sorts of things to make impact on the stands. 100-pagers were like treasure chests of comic book gems. I realize now they were desperate to make an impact after Marvel had caught and surpassed them, but it didn't seem that way then.

    Rip Off

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  2. Geoff GroganJanuary 3, 2014 at 10:37 AM

    So funny-I was just thinking about this period-sort of in my sleep this morning. I was in 8th grade. Used to run up to the drugstore to buy comics during lunch hour at Junior High. My favorite year for comics, really. Every issue of Detective, with Archie Goodwin editing and running "Manhunter"-plus Kaluta on "The Shadow"! Wow! I still go back to those comics regularly. Thanks, Groove!

    ReplyDelete
  3. hobbyfanJanuary 3, 2014 at 12:39 PM

    Ah, but the format change hadn't yet gone into effect.

    I actually owned copies of Witching Hour & Shadow, obtained through flea markets and trades, in years past. I believe that the 100 pg. Super Spectaculars wouldn't start until later in '74.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Groovy AgentJanuary 3, 2014 at 10:52 PM

      Actually the changes started in late '73. Many of the mags I posted are 100 pagers (I just didn't post splashes of reprints). All DC books didn't go the 100 page route, just the bigger sellers like Superman, Batman, Detective, JLA, Superboy, etc. And yes, some of them didn't change format until a bit later (Superboy, f'rinstance) but yeah, the changes kept a'rollin--actually until the end of '74 when many of the 100 pagers shrank down to 68 pages and 50 cents (to match Marvel's Giant-Size offerings).

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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!


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