I began my comic book existence as a budding "Marvel Zombie" in those halcyon days before that term was applied to diehard fans of the House that Stan and Jack and Steve built. I dabbled in Gold Key and Harvey and even Archie from time to time. I was a big devotee of mostly defunct Charlton comics, and I always seemed to try to keep up with what was happening at DC. But for a brief time, a year maybe two, I officially made DC my number one as I was enthralled with their books and the ways they were marketing them. Having to try harder during the 70's, DC always seemed to have more imagination with comic book packaging than did Marvel. And on the strength of their delightful quarter books, their massive fifty cent books, and later still their dollar books, I found they were getting my attention more and more and more.
Now all of this really came to smash in the years of 1977 and 1978 when on the heels of an announced expansion dubbed a "Comic Explosion", but the exact opposite occurred and a cascade of comics were summarily cancelled. It happened everywhere but was more noticed at DC because of their push to create more titles just before they pulled the plug on so many.
Comic Book Implosion - An Oral History of DC Comics Circa 1978 is a Twomorrows book that tracks the rise and fall of that time and uses the journalism and gossip and such of the day to showcase how and why it happened. A good read for fans of the era and a wonderful time machine for me to take a trip back to a time when DC was my number one.
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I remember one halcyon summer as a kid that my sister and I somehow came into possession of a couple of huge boxes of comics. I was about 9 or 10 and it was my first exposure to superhero, mystery and horror titles. There was also a ton of Archie and Harvey "funny books" which I had already enjoyed reading along with Classics Illustrated. Needless to say, we spent countless hours in the coolness of the garage reading comics!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy an embarrassment of riches as an adult, a glut really. As a kid comics were precious and any comic I found I ached to read, to hold, to have. My grandmother gave me a few old Charltons with Judomasters among them and I've adored the character ever since. I hauled my few Marvels to my other grandparents when they took care of us for a week as my folks went to Georgia to visit. I checked out The Great Comic Book Heroes by Jules Fieffer as often as the local library would let me. Comics were pages of great price indeed. I adore the very idea of them.
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