50 years ago, Li'l Groove was actually too little to read comics, but I picked up a few here and there and grew to love them passionately. I had no idea of the changes that the comicbook industry was going through, mostly because Marvel got a new distributor and was going to be allowed to publish as many books as their publisher, Martin Goodman, saw fit. This also meant that DC was going to have to up their game so as not to lose rack space. Marvel's "split books" (books that featured two Marvel heroes) split into their own titles.
Tales of Suspense begat
Captain America and
Iron Man.
Tales to Astonish split into
Incredible Hulk and
Sub-Mariner.
Strange Tales birthed
Dr. Strange and
S.H.I.E.L.D. The
Silver Surfer got his own mag. Marvel even gave us some new heroes in 1968:
Captain Marvel, debuting in
Marvel Super-Heroes in 1967, got his own mag in 1968.
Guardians of the Galaxy came to be, also in
Marvel Super-Heroes.
The Vision and
Yellowjacket were introduced in
The Avengers. Over at DC,
Wonder Woman chucked her costume and powers to become a "mod" spy-type of heroine.
Aquaman was taken over by the immortal S.A.G. creative team of Steve Skeates, Jim Aparo, and Dick Giordano. But more than that, brand new concepts saw the light of day in DC's venerable
Showcase mag (with a couple going straight to debuting in their own comics), and many of the best of them got their own (sadly usually short-lived) mags. The "new kids" of 1968 are the focus of today's cover-fest. Enjoy!
