Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays galore, Groove-ophiles! Well, today we're looking back at 1975. Kid Groove and family have moved once again, this time to Knox County where my mom grew up (don't worry, it's the last big move--I actually live just over a mile from where we moved to in the spring of 1975). When we first moved, there was nowhere that sold comics in the whole county. Believe, me, I looked. If I wanted comics, I had to wait for a visit to Harlan County and the ever-faithful Mack's. Fortunately, after a few months, a Convenient store went up that (thank heavens!) sold comics. Soon, a local grocery store got a spinner rack full of beautiful comics, and the bigger town we grocery shopped at most every Saturday got a bookstore, and the shopping center that housed the bookstore had a Roses and a drugstore that started selling comics. Whew! That crisis was over. So I had nearly a half-dozen places to buy comics, and I'd have to go to all of 'em to get everything I wanted. But it was fun, the hunt made the comics I got seem even sweeter when I peeled back the pages. And oh, did Kid Groove get some goodies in December 1975...
DC had some pretty cool debuts in December 1975, huh?
The infamous two issue fill in (an unpublished Giant Size Avengers issue edited to two regular issues) that signaled the shake-up to come in the Avengers creative team...
Man, those Doug Moench-scribed super-length Doc Savage graphic novel-ettes were solid b&w comicbook gold!
The most highly anticipated December debut (at least by Young Groove)!
See ya tomorrow for the Christmas Spirit of '76!
The standout for me was the Doc Savage mag. I loved how the old pulps heroes were making a comeback in those days.
ReplyDeleteSuperb! I remember picking up that Invaders issue as the cover was so awesome and there were few US titles distributed in my hometown in the UK at the time. I've since picked up 7 issues of the B&W Doc Savage run and they are stunning pieces of work!
ReplyDeleteThat First Issue Special version of Starman is such a deep cut, I was baffled when he showed up in the 90s.
ReplyDeleteI think at this time cover dates were synched up with us in Scotland. By which I mean I bought Omega and that Invaders- my first. But I don't associate them with Xmas at all. I think they were on sale in March.
ReplyDeleteStill haven't read that Starman debut yet but it sounds very like a DC take-off of Mar-Vell.
Loved Jack Kirby's 70s return to Captain America.
ReplyDeleteDystopian science-fiction, conspiracy theories, infrasound weapons - it was as if the world that is coming from OMAC had crashed into the present, like a William Burroughs novel reworked for kids!
-sean
Lots of duds this time around. Starman (1st Issue Special was no Showcase. I think only Warlord and Return of the New Gods graduated to their own series), Omega, Skull, Don Heck's ghastly 2 issue fill-in of the Avengers and Jack Kirby's continuing silliness on Captain America. At least we had FF, Spirit and the ever Amazing Spider-Man to add some quality to the racks.
ReplyDeleteKirby's continuing silliness...?
DeletePshaww - he was one of the great comic book writers of 70s.
Better than whoever it was - Roy Thomas or Gerry Conway, I can't remember which - that came up with that Thing exo-skeleton nonsense over in the FF;)...
-sean
Stilted dialogue. Inability to flesh out characters he created, yet continuing to add new ones on top of them. No respect for precedence. He took CA and the Falcon from the carefully laid out characterization built up for years by Steve Englehart and turned them into a juvenile 40s running plotline. His "with it" jive talk for the Falcon was embarrassing. He did a similar devolution on McGregor's Black Panther. Kirby was one of the greatest artists of all time (second only to Neal Adams) and his plotting and character co-creation are what built Marvel. But as a one man show he was a disaster. He left behind a trail of failed titles as proof.
DeleteHave to agree on Marvel 70s Kirby. As an actual kid comic book purchaser/reader at this time I wasnt real impressed with his books. Stories, dialogue were terrible, especially when following the Steve Englehart/Sal Buscema work on CA.
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