The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Summer of 1977, DC Style
We're back in 1977, Groove-ophiles, checking out what's shakin' at the summertime spinner rack. Yesterday we marveled at Marvel's heat wave of offerings, today let's dig what DC is dishing out!
You brought up a LOT of memories with this post! I used to have a BUNCH of these comics back in the day. It's a shame for what we've lost over the decades. :(
Oh I bought so many of these. In Australia the main titles (super, bat, ww, flash, jla) weren't distributed due to the rights of the domestic reprinters, but Adventure, All Star, Aquaman, Black Lightning, the Swamp Thing reprint, DC Super Stars (with sweet Grell and Staton/Layton art), Freedom Fighters, GL/GA, Kamandi, Karate Kid, Men of War, Metal Men, Mister Miracle, New Gods, Plastic Man, Richard Dragon, SSOSV, SOHH, Sgt Rock, Shade, Shazam, Showcase, Star Hunters (I think, No 1s were hard to come by), Starfire, Super Friends, Super Team Family, Teen Titans, Unknown Soldier, Warlord, Weird War Tales and Weird Western all made their way home. Good times.
More "Grooviness" from '77...cool! Debut of the Huntress,Marshall Rogers on Mr.Miracle & Detective,Super Team Family,5 Star SuperHero Spec, Secret Soc.of Super-Villains coStarring Capt.Comet/Kid Flash, JSA in All-Star comics,Batman Family...all personnel favorites!
Some of those Superman covers are pure magic ... a world of wonder for 35 cents! I was much more a DC kid than a Marvel-ite. I poured over many of these ... and still remember grabbing the comic with Lex and the Joker and Riddler over Batman's grave. Yikes!
I know lots of people will argue that comics are 'better' today, but I don't buy it. Just look at the great diversity coming from a major publisher: war comics, funny books, horror tales, war comics and superheros. It was a different comics-world -- and I sure miss it.
On the strength of that classic Neal Adams cover I bought SUPERMAN #317 right off the 7-Eleven spinner rack when it was new. Unfortunately the interior was a thinly disguised reprint of a Curt Swan story which was printed in the early '70s (and with a few different pages added here to change the storyline - strange, eh?). I also bought Wrightson's SWAMP THING #1 reprint with that brand new wraparound cover. The interior was murky (as expected, as comics printed on plastic plates looked awful), but I already had issues #1 - 10 (and HOUSE OF SECRETS #92). Wrightson's HOUSE OF MYSTERY #255 cover is a strange composite of a drawing he did in 1971 with some background elements (animal, mansion, and flying saucer) which may not even been his artwork. Most of the other stuff (Kubert excepted) didn't really excite me, but at age 12 I was very surprised and happy to see Adams and Wrightson making a brief return to DC.
I had officially stopped reading DC by then. The last one might have been, because of Ditko, Shade #1. The best covers are on the reprint material (and the Grell is cool). The rest tell you why I'd left DC. So many comic-y ones!
I was in my comic shop today and came across the Brave and the Bold issue with Bats and Mister Miracle. They wanted $9 for it. I'd rather pay cover price :)
Anonymous - you're confusing Superman #317 with Action Comics #485, which came out in spring 1978 and was mostly a reprint of Superman #233, by Denny O'Neil, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. The new, framing pages were done by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Joe Rubinstein, and the new Neal Adams cover was another version of Adams' original cover to Superman #233. Superman #317 was all-new with a story by Martin Pasko, Curt Swan and Dan Adkins.
Thanks for posting these, Groove! I had several of them, and recall seeing many more on the racks/shelves back in my 11th year! And how about the three offerings from Mr. Neal Adams? Wow...
I had a lot of these...I was a big DC collector, slowly moving into Marvel. The Five Star Spectacular was pretty good. I wondered how it came about, but it was loaded with great stories and art....one of the first Staton GL stories, I think, and a wrap-up of the Kobra story in the Batman story (with great art by Nasser).
Gary Ware: >Oh I bought so many of these.In Australia the main titles (super, bat, ww, flash, jla) weren't distributed due to the rights of the domestic reprinters>
True - the Australian B&W reprint anthologies still had a few years' life left in them at this point - I have a few of these covers (Flash, Superman Family, JLA) on Aussie reprints from around this time.
>but Adventure, All Star, Aquaman, Black Lightning, the Swamp Thing reprint, DC Super Stars (with sweet Grell and Staton/Layton art), Freedom Fighters, GL/GA, Kamandi, Karate Kid, Men of War, Metal Men, Mister Miracle, New Gods, Plastic Man, Richard Dragon, SSOSV, SOHH, Sgt Rock, Shade, Shazam, Showcase, Star Hunters (I think, No 1s were hard to come by)>>.
Yeah, for some reason, the first couple of issues of new DC and Marvel titles would rarely make it here. No idea why - just one more distribution mystery.....
>Good times.>
Indeed! I was more of a Marvel reader in those days, but I still bought a _lot_ of these comics. Even if I did have to do the rounds of several newsagents each week in order to get them.....
You brought up a LOT of memories with this post! I used to have a BUNCH of these comics back in the day. It's a shame for what we've lost over the decades. :(
ReplyDeleteOh I bought so many of these.
ReplyDeleteIn Australia the main titles (super, bat, ww, flash, jla) weren't distributed due to the rights of the domestic reprinters, but Adventure, All Star, Aquaman, Black Lightning, the Swamp Thing reprint, DC Super Stars (with sweet Grell and Staton/Layton art), Freedom Fighters, GL/GA, Kamandi, Karate Kid, Men of War, Metal Men, Mister Miracle, New Gods, Plastic Man, Richard Dragon, SSOSV, SOHH, Sgt Rock, Shade, Shazam, Showcase, Star Hunters (I think, No 1s were hard to come by), Starfire, Super Friends, Super Team Family, Teen Titans, Unknown Soldier, Warlord, Weird War Tales and Weird Western all made their way home.
Good times.
Yesterday I saw the Human Fly comic I had, today I see the Plastic Man comic I had. Love this site!
ReplyDeleteMore "Grooviness" from '77...cool! Debut of the Huntress,Marshall Rogers on Mr.Miracle & Detective,Super Team Family,5 Star SuperHero Spec, Secret Soc.of Super-Villains coStarring Capt.Comet/Kid Flash, JSA in All-Star comics,Batman Family...all personnel favorites!
ReplyDeleteSome of those Superman covers are pure magic ... a world of wonder for 35 cents! I was much more a DC kid than a Marvel-ite. I poured over many of these ... and still remember grabbing the comic with Lex and the Joker and Riddler over Batman's grave. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteI know lots of people will argue that comics are 'better' today, but I don't buy it. Just look at the great diversity coming from a major publisher: war comics, funny books, horror tales, war comics and superheros. It was a different comics-world -- and I sure miss it.
On the strength of that classic Neal Adams cover I bought SUPERMAN #317 right off the 7-Eleven spinner rack when it was new. Unfortunately the interior was a thinly disguised reprint of a Curt Swan story which was printed in the early '70s (and with a few different pages added here to change the storyline - strange, eh?). I also bought Wrightson's SWAMP THING #1 reprint with that brand new wraparound cover. The interior was murky (as expected, as comics printed on plastic plates looked awful), but I already had issues #1 - 10 (and HOUSE OF SECRETS #92). Wrightson's HOUSE OF MYSTERY #255 cover is a strange composite of a drawing he did in 1971 with some background elements (animal, mansion, and flying saucer) which may not even been his artwork. Most of the other stuff (Kubert excepted) didn't really excite me, but at age 12 I was very surprised and happy to see Adams and Wrightson making a brief return to DC.
ReplyDeleteChris A.
Wow! What a wonderful batch of books. DC had some great material back then!
ReplyDeletethat brought back fond memories...thanks groove
ReplyDeleteSo many good comics! I've got a lot of these, but the ones I don't have just serve to remind me of the gaps in my collection that I'd like to fill.
ReplyDeleteGuess I wasn't reading much DC during summer '77. The only books I had were the Batman and Shade issues. Still brings back lots of memories.
ReplyDeleteI had officially stopped reading DC by then. The last one might have been, because of Ditko, Shade #1. The best covers are on the reprint material (and the Grell is cool). The rest tell you why I'd left DC. So many comic-y ones!
ReplyDeleteI was in my comic shop today and came across the Brave and the Bold issue with Bats and Mister Miracle. They wanted $9 for it. I'd rather pay cover price :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't have any of these comics back in the day, but i have some of them now from mining the 50 cent and quarter bins in the last few years.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - you're confusing Superman #317 with Action Comics #485, which came out in spring 1978 and was mostly a reprint of Superman #233, by Denny O'Neil, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. The new, framing pages were done by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Joe Rubinstein, and the new Neal Adams cover was another version of Adams' original cover to Superman #233. Superman #317 was all-new with a story by Martin Pasko, Curt Swan and Dan Adkins.
ReplyDeleteCould be, Jeff. This is a page from the story I was talking about:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/3v44wk3
Chris A.
Thanks for posting these, Groove! I had several of them, and recall seeing many more on the racks/shelves back in my 11th year! And how about the three offerings from Mr. Neal Adams? Wow...
ReplyDeleteDoug
I had a lot of these...I was a big DC collector, slowly moving into Marvel. The Five Star Spectacular was pretty good. I wondered how it came about, but it was loaded with great stories and art....one of the first Staton GL stories, I think, and a wrap-up of the Kobra story in the Batman story (with great art by Nasser).
ReplyDeleteDarpy
I came home with many of those books from the neighborhood 7-11! That Neal Adams Superman #317 cover ranks in my all-time top 10 best list.
ReplyDeleteAll sorts of greatness that summer. But one thing I didn't notice at the time: it was a great time to be Jim Aparo.
ReplyDeleteGary Ware:
ReplyDelete>Oh I bought so many of these.In Australia the main titles (super, bat, ww, flash, jla) weren't distributed due to the rights of the domestic reprinters>
True - the Australian B&W reprint anthologies still had a few years' life left in them at this point - I have a few of these covers (Flash, Superman Family, JLA) on Aussie reprints from around this time.
>but Adventure, All Star, Aquaman, Black Lightning, the Swamp Thing reprint, DC Super Stars (with sweet Grell and Staton/Layton art), Freedom Fighters, GL/GA, Kamandi, Karate Kid, Men of War, Metal Men, Mister Miracle, New Gods, Plastic Man, Richard Dragon, SSOSV, SOHH, Sgt Rock, Shade, Shazam, Showcase, Star Hunters (I think, No 1s were hard to come by)>>.
Yeah, for some reason, the first couple of issues of new DC and Marvel titles would rarely make it here. No idea why - just one more distribution mystery.....
>Good times.>
Indeed! I was more of a Marvel reader in those days, but I still bought a _lot_ of these comics. Even if I did have to do the rounds of several newsagents each week in order to get them.....
MarkC
With the Australian five cent mark-up price and return date written on the front covers in chinograph pencil?
Delete