Tag: Bronze Age

Ghosts (1971)

Posted on by EHT Comics

Each issue of Ghosts carried multiple stories of the supernatural. The stories were prefaced by a short description introducing the premise and ended with a summation of how a mysterious justice was dealt to the evildoers of the tale. The first issue of this series carried the singular title Ghost in its indicia, but everywhere else, including advance promotional house ads and even on its own cover, it was the plural Ghosts, as even the indicia would read from #2 on.  Limited Collectors’ Edition #C–32 (Dec. 1974–Jan. 1975) reprinted stories from Ghosts #1, 3–6 and featured new material by Leo Dorfman and artists Gerry Talaoc, E. R. Cruz, and Frank Redondo.

DC Treasury Editions (1970’s)

Posted on by EHT Comics

Limited Collectors’ Edition was launched with a collection of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stories which went on sale October 24, 1972. DC Comics vice president Sol Harrison had suggested the format stating that “We could create a tabloid size comic that would stand out on the newsstand.” Limited Collectors’ Edition shared its numbering with two other treasury format series, Famous First Edition and All-New Collectors’ Edition. The final issues of the latter two series were tie-ins to the release of Superman: The Movie. DC later published treasuries as part of DC Special Series in 1981 and as a number of one-shots from 1999 to 2003 primarily produced by Paul Dini and Alex Ross.

The Tomb of Dracula V1 (1970’s)

Posted on by EHT Comics

The Tomb of Dracula was published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. The 70-issue series featured a group of vampire hunters who fought Count Dracula and other supernatural menaces. On rare occasions, Dracula would work with these vampire hunters against a common threat or battle other supernatural threats on his own, but more often than not, he was the antagonist rather than protagonist. In addition to his supernatural battles in this series, Marvel’s Dracula often served as a supervillain to other characters in the Marvel Universe, battling the likes of Blade, Spider-Man, Werewolf by Night, the X-Men, and the licensed Robert E. Howard character Solomon Kane.

E-Man (1983) First Comics

Posted on by EHT Comics

When Staton became art director at First Comics, the publisher acquired the rights to the character from Charlton and launched a series. Cuti was asked to write the title, but his obligations to DC Comics prevented him from accepting. The series was initially written by Martin Pasko, who had previously worked with Staton on Plastic Man and Metal Men. After Pasko’s run, Staton and Paul Kupperberg wrote the series until Cuti took over as writer with issue #24.

As a direct-market publisher not distributed to newsstands, the First series was not obligated to seek Comics Code Authority approval and could address more mature topics than Code-approved comics. Where the Charlton series featured broad whimsical themes, the First Comics series engaged in more specific satire directed at targets including the X-Men, Steven Spielberg, and Scientology.

The first 10 issues each contained a one-page parody of the Hostess snack advertisements that ran in comics through the 1970s and 1980s. These parodies were written and drawn by different creators and featured characters from across the independent comics industry.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1970’s)

Posted on by EHT Comics

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen is a series published by DC Comics from September–October 1954 until March 1974, spanning a total of 163 issues. Featuring the adventures of Superman supporting character Jimmy Olsen, it contains stories often of humorous nature.

The 1952 television series Adventures of Superman co-starred actor Jack Larson, who appeared regularly as Jimmy Olsen. Largely because of the popularity of Larson and his portrayal of the character, National Comics Publications (DC Comics) decided to create a regular title featuring Jimmy as the leading character. Curt Swan was the main artist on the series for its first decade.

Many of the issues include Jimmy undergoing a transformation of some form.

Shogun Warriors (1979)

Posted on by EHT Comics

The Shogun Warriors characters were licensed by Marvel Comics to create a comic book series written by Doug Moench and drawn by Herb Trimpe. The series was composed of 20 issues that were published from February 1979 to September 1980. In the comic book series, the Shogun Warriors were created by a mysterious group called the Followers of the Light, and human operators were chosen from all around the world to operate the massive robots in order to battle evil.

Giant Size Chillers V2 (1975)

Posted on by EHT Comics

Giant Size Chillers V2 was publish in 1975 and lasted only 3 issues. They contained new Stories combined with 1950’s Atlas reprints. Some of the artists included, G.Kane, B.Everett, D.Heck, B.Wrightson, J.Kirby,  G.Colan, BWSmith, A.Alcala & M.Severin.

Strange Adventures (1970’s)

Posted on by EHT Comics

Strange Adventures ran for 244 issues and was DC Comics’ first science fiction title. It began with an adaptation of the film Destination Moon. The sales success of the gorilla cover-featured story in Strange Adventures #8 (May 1951) led DC to produce numerous comic book covers with depictions of gorillas.

With issue #217, the title gained another new logo and began reprinting stories of Adam Strange and the Atomic Knights, among other stories. Several Strange Adventure stories were also reprinted in some of DC Comics’ later anthologies such as From Beyond the Unknown.

In 1978, DC Comics intended to revive Strange Adventures. These plans were put on hold that year due to the DC Implosion, a line-wide scaling back of the company’s publishing output. When the project was revived a year later, the title was changed to Time Warp and the series was in the Dollar Comics format.

Amazing Spider-Man (1970’s)

Posted on by EHT Comics

An early 1970s Spider-Man story led to the revision of the Comics Code. Previously, the Code forbade the depiction of the use of illegal drugs, even negatively. However, in 1970, the Nixon administration’s Department of Health, Education, and Welfare asked Stan Lee to publish an anti-drug message in one of Marvel’s top-selling titles. Lee chose the top-selling The Amazing Spider-Man; issues #96–98 (May–July 1971) feature a story arc depicting the negative effects of drug use. In the story, Peter Parker’s friend Harry Osborn becomes addicted to pills. When Spider-Man fights the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn, Harry’s father), Spider-Man defeats the Green Goblin, by revealing Harry’s drug addiction. While the story had a clear anti-drug message, the Comics Code Authority refused to issue its seal of approval. Marvel nevertheless published the three issues without the Comics Code Authority’s approval or seal. The issues sold so well that the industry’s self-censorship was undercut and the Code was subsequently revised.

Ka-Zar the Savage (1981)

Posted on by EHT Comics

Ka-Zar is having a midlife crisis. He’s wondering if he should give up the jungle life and head to the comforts of modern civilization. He parts ways from Shanna for a bit to try and find Zabu, who has uncharacteristically wandered off.

The trail leads him to a vast new section of the Savage Land. We’ll eventually learn that it’s called Pangea,. He meets a woman called Leanne who owns a femal pet saber-tooth . He rescues her from some savages, but it turns out that she is the queen of a a large medieval city called Lemuria. They have a brief affair, but she leaves him because he’s too uncivilized.