The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Summer of 1978--The DC Explosion Implodes!

The DC Explosion imploded beginning in August, 1978. Compare the drop-off in the number of titles published in August to June and July! 31 titles in June, 27 titles in July...21 in August...and this was just the beginning. Oh, the bittersweet memories that follow...

Thankfully, while the 44 page format and many (many!) of DC's titles bit the dust, the quality kept up and even improved in the short run, allowing DC to bounce back. When DC tried the 44 page, 50 cent mag format for a second time in 1981, t'was much more successful. Dont'cha just love a happy ending?

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Summer of 1978--the DC Explosion Continues!

Here's a look at the second round of the DC Explosion from July 1978, Groove-ophiles! Teen Groove was out of the fandom loop at the time, so I had no idea how short-lived this super-experiment in comicbookery would last, but I sure was diggin' the ride! Remember these...?

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Summer of 1978--the DC Explosion Begins!

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! 35 years ago this month, DC tried one of it's boldest experiments ever, reformatting their entire line of comics from 36 page 35 cent mags with 17 pages of story to 44 page 50 cent mags with 25 story pages*. They called it the DC Explosion**, and man, did it thrill kids like Teen Groove. Those eight extra pages promised brand new back-up features starring old favorite characters--and a few new ones. These ads teased and pleased us during the Spring of 78...

Then during the first week of June the first wave rolled out. DC was doing their doggondest to produce comics that were actually worth the extra fifteen cents they were asking us to shell out. And doggoned if they weren't pulling it off--at least to my 14-going-on-15 year old eyes! Wouldn't you have been jumping for joy based on this collection of cooler-than-cool covers?

Bought this one before watching the premiere of GREASE!

*That's not exactly, wholly true. A few mags--Justice League and Superboy and the Legion, f'rinstance, were actually reformatted down from 52 page-with-34-story-pages-for-60 cents. For those mags the Explosion was a slight let-down. Oh, and the Dollar Comics went from 80 pages with 62 or 63 pages of story to 68 pages with no ads, which made them even cooler!

**Yeah, Ol' Groove knows about the dread "DC Implosion"--and we'll get around to that in August (which is exactly 35 years after I found out--the hard way--that the party was already over, since I had no access to fanzines at the time). If you want a head-start on all the doom and gloom, visit Christopher Elam's OWARI for the absolute best article I've ever read on the subject. Next month we'll look at how DC exploded in July, 1978. 'Til then, enjoy!