Martinex1: July is winding down for 2017, and for those of us with younger kids (and those that work as teachers), school is just around the corner. So what better way to get back in the swing of things than to study a little history. Today we will be traveling back to one of my earliest guest posts at Doug and Karen's BAB site featuring a neophyte version of the Quarter Bin $1 Challenge It is interesting to see how even our features evolve over a couple of years.
Before we get back to that though, if you skipped any of our posts this week you may have missed some fun conversation along the way. If offbeat villains, music listening methods, Saturday morning cartoon bands, comic writer Roger Stern, or daredevil Evel Knievel grab your interest, than take a look at the recent posts. Coming this week we have everything from little green men to rockets to the moon (and they are hardly related at all).
Without further ado, enjoy this BitBA Classic from June of 2015:
(BAB 6.13.15) Martinex1: I am back with my game of riches, “If I Had A Buck…” A little reminder on how it works: you visit my other worldly comic shop and on the spinner rack sit nine comics. These comics may be from different eras and at different price points. You have a choice to make with the single dollar you have in your hand, so choose wisely and share your opinions.
Last time, we explored the artwork on the Ms. Marvel series from the late 1970s. The challenge was choosing amongst nine cover creators for the same character and title. Today I have a little twist, there will be nine different team titles but with one cover creator.
George Perez is considered by many to be a modern comic art legend. He is ranked up there with all of the greats in the field; and perhaps he is most known for his prolific output, detailed layouts and backgrounds, and handling of multiple characters and teams. I dare say he has drawn nearly every Marvel and DC character over the years, and sometimes they all appeared in a single panel, cover, or poster. In my purchasing history, his comic covers always drew my eye. There was a level of excitement in the artwork that few matched.
So here is the challenge. I have assembled nine comics, with nine teams and titles, with all nine covers drawn by George Perez. Note that the interiors may have been handled by other artists. Enter the store with only one dollar and make you choices (just as we sometimes had to do as kids by considering the covers closely). Share your decisions, thoughts about Perez, your memories, the cover dynamics, and his handling of the teams. So without further ado, have at it…
Avengers #149; Cover Price $0.25 (Still Only…)
X Men # 128; Cover Price $0.40
Fantastic Four #184; Cover Price $0.30
New Teen Titans #19; Cover Price $0.60
Justice League of America #192: Cover Price $0.50
Legion of Super Heroes #268; Cover Price $0.50
Star Trek #1; Cover Price $0.75
Defenders #53; Cover Price $0.35
Adventure Comics presents "Dial “H” For Hero" #485; Cover Price $0.50
Martinex1: A couple added comments here today - Perez is known for drawing an inordinate amount of characters, and in these nine covers I cannot even get a firm count of how many Marvel, DC, and other iconic characters he depicted (from Spock to Cyclops to Kid Flash). It is about forty easily identified heroes.
I always wondered why George Perez and John Byrne traded off on Avengers covers later in the Bronze Age. The X-Men cover above was also during the height of Byrne's run.
On the other hand, when Perez drew a cover and the interior art was by a fill-in or lesser known artist, it was highly disappointing.
I hope you enjoy looking back at some old posts. If you have any suggestions for BitBA columns, please contact us at backinthebronzeage@gmail.com. Cheers all!
6 comments:
I'll take Defenders #53 (which I had back in the day), Avengers #149 and X-Men #128. All for a buck!
In this era, if you'd asked me I would have said "DC SUCKS!" ;)
I think Defenders #53, the interior, was drawn by Carmine Infantino. I could be mistaken.
I loved Perez on the Avengers and F.F.
Gorr the Gorilla 2020! Lets elect a golden ape who cares.
M.P.
The interior art in Defenders #53 is by Keith Giffen and Terry Austin. There was a back-up story featuring Clea; the art for that is by Sandy Plunkett.
I stand corrected. It was #55 and 56 that Infantino drew. I'm not sure about what came later.
I'm a bit aghast that I missed a Giffen issue of the Defenders. I'm an enormous fan of his run on the title. I may have to hunt that down. Thanks, Marty!
Research!
M.P.
Heck, give me Teen Titans and the X-Men (I think I'm missing that issue in it's original form. . . ).
And I'm gonna toss in a late observation that the Perez/Colletta pairing during that particular run of the FF is, IMO, a completely overlooked artistic triumph. The art is so consistently good and on-model and dynamically "house"-style that it completely fools you into becoming quite engaged with a series of stories and arcs that are, at times, completely out in the weeds, plot-wise. I remember at the time thinking how much I loved the book, never realizing how goofy the stories. (Though in their defense, I believe they may still have been scripted pretty well-)
But I would practically look around bedroom, wishing there were other readers on-hand so I could say, "does NO ONE else see how great the art is in this book right now??"
HB
Heck, yeah! The Thing duking it out with the Destroyer on an asteroid 250 million miles from Earth! Even if Ben Grimm was just wearing a Thing suit and had to keep his mouth shut the whole time. I assume he was wearing decompression-proof contact lenses. As far as the Avengers go, the Starhawk/Korvac battle was a high point.
M.P.
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