June 1978!
Grease was the word, my high school freshman years was behind me, and The DC Explosion was underway! Outside it was hot, but the comics were hotter, and boy, was it a great month to be a comics fan! Now, Teen Groove didn't buy every comic that came out that fateful month, but he sure gave it a try! Got these either from the spinner racks at the Rexall, Mitchell's Market, or Bookland, or off the bottom rack of the magazine shelf at Convenient FoodMart. Like a big game hunter, Teen Groove tracked 'em all down--and weren't there some doozies in this bunch?
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| Got this one at Bookland the evening we saw Grease! |
Great selection, love the early version of Moon Knight in the Spider Man. I remember the TV show promoted on the cover. Too much Peter Parker not enough Spidey.
ReplyDelete17 of these were or still may be in my collection.
ReplyDeleteI know I still have a full run of Human Fly, and the All Star Comics.
You want to talk about hot. Try Kansas City, Missouri in June. Ah well, that's why I hide out now in temperate Seattle. This is an interesting collection of titles. While the Rogers' Detective and Wolfman's Nova were winding down, the Claremont/Byrne/Austin X-Men was coming into full flower. Charlton was wheezing along with reprints before finally departing this mortal coil. Star Wars under Goodwin/Infantino was producing work equal to the movie. Iron Man was on the cusp of the great Michelinie/Romita, Jr/Layton run. And that Captain America cover with its one time pairing of Frank Robbins with Terry Austin produced the cleanest, most desirable work ever seen from the idiosyncratic Mr. Robbins. How I wish they had collaborated on a story somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI was very unhappy with comics in 1978. Even at age 13 (and with a collection of 1,000 comics & mags) I hated the flexographic plastic plates they were printing on (which ruined interior artwork detail) & the candy colors. Just five years earlier the books looked SO much better. Solid black ink & much richer hues.
ReplyDeleteDo a comparison test. I did---even back then.
The only new titles I was buying in '78 were the Warren mags & Heavy Metal.
Regards,
Chris A.
Groove - for the first time, I think I had every one of those comics whose cover you posted. An incredible time. I was 15 and probably spent every spare cent I had at the bookstore downtown.
ReplyDeleteThanks. This made my day
Wow, I bought a lot of these. I must've had more money as a 13-year-old than I thought.
ReplyDeleteDr Doom cracks me up: "The only way you'll enter my inner sanctum is DEAD!" And how would that work, exactly?
Also, Nova's unmasking loses a lot of "umph" given that at this stage, every face Infantino drew looked exactly the same. Oh look, Nova's secret identity is...umm...Generic Man with Brown Hair! Darn, my money was on Blond.