Redartz: It's the height of summertime, and for any true Bronze ager, that means Annuals! Or, if you prefer, King-Size Specials, or Summer Specials. Featuring...
Pin-Ups!
Special Features!
Extra length Stories!
The summer just wasn't complete without a goodly array of giant size comics for whiling away those hazy afternoons. And while Marvel had the monopoly on the Annuals during our Bronze age, DC did put some out on the spinners (and actually had some all-reprint annuals in the Silver Age). And perennial teen Archie sported an Annual edition each year, albeit one that changed format to a digest after 1975. Anyway, they always were lots of fun, with generally special stories and often extra features. Guest stars were frequent. Different artists were used at times, as were unusual writers (Steve Gerber on the Iron Man Annual below was one of my favorite examples of this). Obviously the Summer Specials had a lot of appeal. Hence their longevity (some still have appeared in recent years; with varying degrees of success, imho). No doubt you all have your personal faves, and I'm sure you'll share them with us shortly. A couple that top my list: Spider-Man Annual 15 (fooled you, bet you thought I was going to name ASM Annual 1). A truly great story by Denny O'Neal , Frank Miller and Klaus Janson; with the Punisher and my number one Spidey villain: Doc Ock. And the book rounds out with some of those special features as mentioned above; a fine Summer package. X-Men Annual 7- Another great issue, with an incredibly fun tale starring the Impossible Man. Terrific art by Michael Golden, some amusing guest appearances, and one of the greatest appearances of 'Galactus' ever. So as not to hog the conversation, I'll leave further Annual assessments up to you. But to stoke the memory, here's an appropriately King-Size assemblage of Annual covers. Enjoy!
Redartz: Hello fellow riders, welcome aboard for another trip back. Back, in this case, to that U.S.Bicentennial year 1976! The Viking lander is on the surface of Mars, the Olympics are in Montreal, and Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter are in competition for the White House (speaking of the Presidential campaign- I ordered my "Howard the Duck for President" button, even though I'm too young to vote).
Winning the (somewhat less momentous than those above) competition for Number 1 on the US Billboard Pop Chart this week: Elton John and Kiki Dee, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"
Rounding out the top five: 2. Bee Gees, "You Should Be Dancing" 3. Wings, "Let em In" 4. Lou Rawls, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" 5. Beach Boys, "Rock and Roll Music"
I
can take or leave Elton and Kiki (although many would differ- they top
the British chart this week too). I'm more impressed by a cool new song
from Cliff Richard, "Devil Woman" debuting on the top 40.
I also like War- "Summer"; a perfect hit for summer (obviously). Oh, and it seems almost like the 60's are back; the Beatles just dropped out of the top 10 with "Got to Get You Into My Life" (reissued by Capitol Records), and the Beach Boys are in the top 5! Tops in the UK: Elton John and Kiki Dee, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart".
Turning our attention to tonight's tv offerings, I must admit to having seen few. This summer I'm working for the first time: yes, flipping burgers at McDonald's. So tv viewing is less an option.
US Television Schedule:
Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman
ABC: Wonder Woman, Baretta. Starsky and Hutch
The Jacksons
CBS: The Blue Knight, The Jacksons, The Kelly Monteith Show, Kate McShane
NBC: Little House on the Prairie, Best of Sanford and Son, Chico and the Man, Hawk
BBC1: Nationwide, Man and Boy, It's A Knockout, Are You Being Served?, Explorers, Band Beat, The War Lords
BBC2: Gardener's World, The Sandpipers, Look Stranger, Festival 40: The Wednesday Play- Cathy Come Home, Beauty is in the Eye
I would watch Wonder Woman, but our tv is usually tuned to "Little House". No Lynda Carter for me,alas. Baretta is good, and has a great theme song. And a bird! Oh, and the variety show continues to attract audiences- Kelly Monteith and the Jacksons are hosting shows on Wednesday nights...
Although my tv viewing is down this summer, my comic reading is up! Just look at some of the great stuff on the stands right now:
I've a lot to pick up this month. That Amazing Spider-Man with Nightcrawler and Punisher- what a free-for-all, and a Romita cover too! And Conan guest starring in Red Sonja; it just doesn't get better than this. Wait, yes it does! Marvel is showering us with their King Size Annuals this summer, and there's some excellent reading to be had! I'm grabbing all of them I can find, including all three of these pictured here. So who needs tv? Oh, and check out the cover to the Warren Spirit magazine. That book is fantastic, Eisner's art and stories are incredible. I even like the black/white reproduction (of course they feature one story in color each issue).
Looking at all those terrific comics has me ready to go grab a stack. And so, we pile back on the bus and return to wherever it is we are, Annuals clutched in our sweaty little hands. Who knows what finds await us on the next Retro Metro? Time will tell...
