Rank and File: Best of the Bronze, Part 3- Archie, Charlton, Gold Key, Pacific, Comico, First, etc.!

 

Redartz:  Welcome one and all! We've arrived at the conclusion of our thrilling threesome of Bronze age comic rankings. Week one was Marvel, last week was DC. Now we cover, well. basically....everyone else. In one sense, this week has been the most difficult to address. Unlike with the 'big two', generally there weren't many comics from other publishers that I followed so devotedly. Of course, there were exceptions. 

Incidentally, one challenge for this topic was that some of my favorites failed to qualify (curses, foiled by my own restrictions). There were numerous Disney books from Gold Key, for instance, that I really liked; but they were reprint collections of classic Carl Barks duck stories. Then there were those excellent Warren Spirit magazines. Again, not included as they were reprints. However in that case, you'll see below one semi-exception there that I did sneak in. And with that , let's get started; there's a lot of potential ground to cover!

 

My  Five Favorite Non-Marvel/DC Bronze Age Comics (that was a mouthful):

 

 Archie Giant Series  #182 (The World of Archie) - This book sort of acts as a representative of my whole 'Archie' period. Published in 1971, it was one of the earliest Archie books I remember buying. It was a 'giant' comic, with all those extra pages; and I always loved that. This book had many funny stories, and the concluding one was "Teaser for Ceasar": one of those historical tales with
Archie and the gang in ancient Rome. Probably my first exposure to that trope, which became a favorite (especially 'Caveman Archie'). All told, a pretty good early Bronze comic; and a fine visit with the Riverdale crew.

 

The Spirit (Kitchen Sink Comix) #30- Yep, here's the exception I sneaked in. After Warren ceased publishing the Spirit mags, they were continued (even continuing the numbering) by Kitchen Sink. Still reprints, except for this issue. Issue 30 was the monumental "Spirit Jam", with a new Spirit story written by Eisner. The art included Eisner of course, but also featured. the most spectacular array of creators I'd seen to that point (both artists and other writers contributed to the final product). This book is worth a post of it's own, and I  might just do that one of these days. But to whet your interest for it, here's the list of contributors to the book:

Leslie Cabarba, Milton Caniff, Richard Corben, Will Eisner, Denis Kitchen, Pete Poplaski, John Pound, Brent Anderson, Terry Austin, Mike W. Barr, Terry Beatty, Fershid Bharucha, Brian Bolland, John Byrne, Chris Claremont, Max Allan Collins, Ernie Colon, Howard Cruse, Jim Engel, Chuck Fiala, Michael T Gilbert, Archie Goodwin, Fred Hembeck, Todd Klein, Alan Kupperberg, Harvey Kurtzman, Steve Leialoha, Denis McFarling, Frank Miller, Dean Motter, Mike Newhall, Dennis O'Neal, Tom Orzechowski, George Pratt, Sharon Rappaport, Trina Robbins, Marshall Rogers, Don Rosa, Josef Rubenstein, Peter Sanderson, Bill Seinkewicz, Bob Smith, Joe Staton, Ken Steacy, Roger Stern, Mike Tiefenbacher, Len Wein, Alan Weiss, Bob Wiacek, and Cat Yronwode, Whew...

 

 Journey  # 6- One of the best features of the late Bronze age was the rise of the "Indie" publishers with all the subsequent creator-owned content. Perhaps my favorite of the 'indies' was "Journey" by William Messner-Loebs. And this issue was my favorite of the series; an enchanting tale with frontiersmen, British "Redcoats", magic, an ancient French mage and formerly dead Spanish conquistadors. Oh, and a sort of crossover with another indie fave, "Neal the Horse" (see number five below). Yes, this issue truly had it all.

 

Doomsday +1 #1 -There weren't many Charlton books I followed, but this was one. It was quite enjoyable, and was my introduction to the work of John Byrne. And also to Rog 2000.

 

Charlton Bullseye #2- This was an anthology series, which I sampled occasionally. This particular issue was a biggie; it introduced me to Arn Saba's "Neal the Horse". Not long after this book was out, "Neal" began running in his own charming series published by Aardvark-Vanaheim. The new series was a black and white publication, so this Charlton issue was the only opportunity I had to read "Neal" in color!

Yes, my list is pretty eclectic. And it could easily have been much more so. I'd lay odds that you will have some rather esoteric entries as well. Hope you've been thinking ahead, and are ready to share some Bronze age goodness with the rest of us!

 

 

 

Follow the Leader: Episode 101: Not from the Big Two...

Redartz:  Greetings, all; and welcome to another weekly dose of bountiful Bronze age badinage! You all know the routine; the first commenter names the topic of the day. But before we get to the action, here's a little personal tidbit. Recently my wife and I have been nosing around flea markets and  antique malls , all part of holiday shopping (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). One one such visit recently, in a small town antique shop, I happened to come across a small wicker basket. In said basket lay a stack of bronze age comics! Notable in that they were in pretty nice condition, I leafed through them; most were nothing of interest. But I did pick out two comics from the long-defunct Atlas/Seaboard line, an issue of Iron Jaw and the first issue of Howard Chaykin's Scorpion. I've never read any of those Atlas books, so a dollar each seemed a safe price for the experiment. I'll let you know how it comes out...

And now, the mike is yours! What shall we discuss today...

Chew the Fat: Heroes from 'the Other Guys'...

Redartz:  Greetings, comics fans! We talk frequently and at length here at BitBA about our favorite heroes, titles, and companies. And mainly those discussions center around The Big Two, Marvel and DC. But those guys certainly don't have a total lock on heroic comics. In the Golden age, of course, there were many companies churning out comics with heroes and heroines, costumed and otherwise.  Indeed, some of those vintage characters ended up being absorbed by Marvel or (more likely) DC, such as Blackhawk and Captain Marvel. 

But we're talking Bronze age, so I'm going to narrow the focus to the Silver and Bronze (I doubt many of us were buying Doll Man or Lady Luck off the stands).  Even with that limitation,there are still many many characters whose adventures were told in beautiful newsprint over those fine eras. Charlton (Hong Kong Phooey, E-Man), Gold Key (Dr. Solar), and even Archie Comics (The Shield, Superteen and Pureheart the Powerful) offered numerous heroic titles. Some of those you will see in our cover cavalcade below. And not to ignore the 80's, when the indies started making some noise: several fine examples from those producers are represented as well (Joshua Quagmire's "Cutey Bunny" was a guilty pleasure of mine). Actually, pretty much every company making comics dipped a toe into the adventure hero pond (with the possible exception of Harvey Comics, unless you count Casper). 

So here's some familiar and not-so-familiar books from 'the other guys'. How many others can you come up with? Did you actually read / collect any of these? Which would you recommend, and which were best left for the dime bin (not even good enough for Marti's Quarter box)?  Have at it, all!

Animation Congregation / $1 Challenge: Saturday Morning Comic Books!

Martinex1:  Hey BitBA  fans, today we have a special mix of two of our favorite topics - Saturday morning cartoons and comic books!   It is like chocolate and peanut butter, two great concepts that go great together.  So we have also combined our blog features The Quarter Bin $1 Challenge and the Animation Congregation for this post.

You may think it is rare for your favorite Saturday cartoons to leap to the comic spinner rack, but I disagree.  It seems that back in the bronze age, it was quite common for the stars of animated series to jump to the comic medium.  Dell, Charlton, and Gold Key particularly took advantage of the synergy. From super-heroes to funny animals to adventurers, we've got them all.

Take a look at the myriad books we have assembled and pick your four favorites.  Hopefully this selection brings back some warm memories of carefree weekends, television consoles, a big bowl of cereal, and warm pajamas. 

Share your thoughts on these and other favorite series and comics.  We'd like to know which books you would buy if these showed up on the spinner rack. Cheers!