Redartz: Good day, everyone, and welcome to another ranking and filing of the best comic stories. Today we shall look back to some fine comics, vintage 1977. Once again, I've rifled through the comics published that year, cover dated Apr. 77 through Mar. 78. The selected issues represent the very best of comics entertainment, in my humble opinion. Oh, and if you think this is a simple task: by no means; I had to leave many excellent books out. But then again, that's where you all come in. You may well have other 'bests'; so after you've seen my picks, make your case for your own lists!
And now, let's see what 1977 had to offer, randomly listed...
Daredevil 151- "Crisis" by Jim Shooter, Roger McKenzie, Gil Kane and Klaus Janson. A very dramatic tale, DD's identity discovered, with some fine artwork by Kane and Janson. Just goes to show you that this book was solid, months before the reknowned Miller run began.
Detective Comics 475- "The Laughing Fish" by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin. One of the best Joker stories EVER. A classic in every sense of the word.
X-Men 109- "Home are the Heroes" by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin. Enter Vindicator, in the course of another magnificent effort by the mutant heroes' top notch creative team. And a dynamite cover, too.
DC Super Stars 17- "From Each Ending...A Beginning" by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton and Bob Layton. We get introduced, in a powerful fashion, to Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle's daughter Helena, aka the Huntress. She quickly became a favorite of this reader.
Avengers Annual 7- "The Final Threat" by Jim Starlin and Josef Rubinstein. Starlin threw everything he had into this tale, and came up with near perfection. Warlock, Thanos, Mar-vell, stunning art, a gut-wrenching finale; what more could you ask for?
Marvel Team-Up 60- "A Matter of Love...and Death" by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Dave Hunt. Another great issue in the title's best run, by one of the premier creative teams in the industry.
DC Special 29- "The Untold Origin of the Justice Society" by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton and Bob Layton. A phenomenal story, set in the world shaking events of 1941. And that Neal Adams cover is icing on the cake.
Justice League of America 144- "The Origin of the Justice League- Minus One", by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin. Another big book, with a big story, and a big cast. Kind of seeing a pattern here...
Avengers 161- "Beware the Ant -Man" by Jim Shooter, George Perez and Pablo Marcos. An imaginative use of the Ant-man as antagonist, along with a certain pesky robot. There were many issues of Avengers that could have made this list; this one is a personal favorite.
Defenders 46- "Who Remembers Scorpio" , by Roger Slifer, Keith Giffen and Klaus Janson. The start of a terrific story for everyone's favorite non-team. And the Giffen/Janson art is fantastic, some of the best the title was blessed with.
Okay, there you have it. Does this list convince you, or have you some better suggestions? Give it your best, and give us your best nominations...
11 comments:
Oh the sweet spot of sweet spots. This is my Golden Bronze Age.
The Iron Man issue recemtly referenced as a favorite by both Marti and myself - #108 - just gets into this timeframe. The year in question also showcases an exceptionally strong Avengers run including #159, which for narrative drive is one of the best comics I have ever read. Jim Shooter and Sal Buscema hit the Marvel Method out of the park with that issue.
I also adore X-Men #109 as highlighted - that one issue helped build the foundations for a number of characters and stories in the 1980s and beyond.
It's incredible that during this period comics were experiencing a sales slump. What in 1977 could have possibly been more interesting than comics? Ah yes, that's right. Star Wars. But I hear there was a comic for that too...
Love those Avengers, X-Men and Daredevil comics. We even had that Secret Origins, a rare DC purchase. I think pretty much any Marvel comic you show from this year will give me nostalgic warm fuzzies.
I think Fantastic Four were in the midst of some fun George Perez adventures around this time (Salem Seven, etc.). The aforementioned Iron Man issues were good too.
A good year. And yeah, we got those Star Wars treasury editions too, so all the better.
-david p.
1977 was my key comic collecting year. I enjoy everything about ‘77. But I have to go with some different choices as my “must haves” rather than those shown.
While I truly admire the Ant-Man and previous Grim Reaper and Graviton stories in The Avengers, I have to go with the 3-part Nefaria arc in #164 thru 166. Pure gold in my opinion. Everything came together with Shooter, Perez, and Byrne for those issues and it set up an Avengers team dynamic that has been a standard of family, friendship, bickering, power hierarchy and teamwork ever since. More crammed into this me three issues than I can believe.
For FF, I really gravitate toward the Wolfman/ Perez Salem 7 and Molecule Man / Klaw issues.
In MTU, I nominate the Spidey/Captain Britain 2 parter by Claremont and Byrne.
And over at DC I really liked the Huntress intro in All Star Comics / JSA #69 and 70.
Hmmm, I just reviewed a bunch of 1977 comics at my blog. Some good, some ... not so much. I think DC was in a bit of a slump at that point. The only ones I might add are some of the early Warlord issues; great art and stories by Grell.
It's hard to argue with these choices ... some great origin stories that year.
Avengers 161 and Defenders 46 are great issues.
What I bought new during this block of time are Wonder Woman 234 and Fantastic Four 195. Sentimental attachment to both issues. Nothing earth shattering about them. Just solid stories from that time.
Sniff, sniff... Poor Charlie only read the Avengers Annual and I can't remember it, lol.
From Terry in Virginia:
I was primarily a DC kinda guy, but Marvel totally dominated in quality writing for most of the 1970s, especially the latter half of the decade.
You’ve posted some great stuff here, with Starlin’s Avengers Annual #7 being the grand-slam of the bunch -- a fantastic end to the Warlock vs. Thanos saga. And most, if not all, of the Avengers issues from 1977 were good and sometimes great. I think the Ant-Man issue you chose ranks among the best of that period.
The entire X-Men run by Claremont, Cockrum, and Byrne was terrific -- sustained quality storytelling for the entire decade. So, sure, anything X-Men from 1977 would count as a winner.
As for DC, they’d gotten so bad that I actually quit comics in the middle of 1977, not returning to the hobby until about 1983. That said, the JSA origin is worthwhile -- I’ve always loved the concept of the team, although their best stories didn’t really happen until the 1999 series began.
The Englehart/Rogers run on Detective was great, one of the few remaining good offerings from DC, although I would’ve picked the Hugo Strange issues -- #471-472. But still, good stuff on that Joker story.
Other stuff from the period? As Mike mentioned above, Mike Grell’s Warlord was a highlight over at DC. And finally, the Aquaman stories in Adventure from 1977 were better than you might expect -- Jim Aparo art and pretty decent writing, intriguing plots, and characterization. I’m thinking of #447-450, among others…
I have that Justice League #144, which I actually read less than a year ago. It’s OK, and I always liked Dick Dillin’s art, but the writing over at DC -- even when it was Marvel stalwarts like Englehart of Conway -- mostly left me feeling kinda -- “meh.”
Colin B- Avengers 159 is a fine choice indeed. And yes, there was some Star movie in 1977...
David p- those FF issues were good; I nearly included those Molecule Man/ Klaw issues. Its surprising that run doesn't get more notice.
Marti- can't argue with any of your choices! Avengers and Marvel Team-up, in particular, have many 'best of year'candidates.
Mike W.and Terry- thanks for bringing up Warlord. That's one DC book I overlooked. Based upon your comments, I erred in passing it up.
Eric- good point about the sentimental attachment to those books. Many of the era's comics, even if they were less prominent books, still hold a lot of fond appeal.
Charlie- ah, look at it this way buddy- you have so much good stuff to discover!
Terry- Thanks for the viewpoint of a DC devotee! Adventure was often solid. I really enjoyed it when it took on the dollar anthology format...
Even though I wasn't buying on a regular basis that year, I had several of these and they were all good, but the DC Special was, and still is a favorite. I still have the original at my parents' house in storage, but a while back I found the old Justice Society digest from the early 80's that reprinted it, so I've had a couple of opportunities to read it again. Again.....a lot of favorites on that list with the Englehart/Rogers Detective, X-Men, the Avengers Annual, etc....., but that DC Special really was the one I loved the most.
Yes, 1977 was a good year, and I can't argue with the choices made in the original post or in the comments (although I have to ask, since Avengers Annual #7 is getting so much love, why is everyone neglecting to mention the conclusion in Marvel 2-in-1 Annual #2? It's all one story anyway...)
Here's a few other '77 stories/books that I think belong in any best-of list:
What If? #3 - possibly my favorite issue of the entire series; a really well-done if downbeat Avengers story written by Shooter, with art by Kane and Janson.
Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-man #s 9-10 - in which Spidey faces off with, but then befriends, the White Tiger.
DC Special Series #1, better known as the "5-star Superhero Spectacular," with individual stories featuring Aquaman, Batman, the Atom, Green Lantern and the Flash, and a lovely cover by Neal Adams.
Marvel Team-up #s 63-64: Spidey joins Iron Fist and then the Daughters of the Dragon to tie up some loose ends from IF's cancelled series, which leads to...
Power Man #s 48-49: Danny, Misty and Colleen show up in Luke's title to tie up some more loose ends from the IF series, which eventually leads to the best era's best super-hero buddy series (I would have included Power Man & Iron Fist #50, but the title was still bi-monthly then, so it was on sale in 1978).
Incredible Hulk #212: Hulk fights the Constrictor; sentimental pick for me, as I just liked this issue a lot. A nice little done-in-one by the wonderful Len Wein (yet again, I have to say RIP), with art by Sal Buscema and Ernie Chan.
As for other stuff, I agree with Terry above about the X-men: too hard to pick just one issue or story; we also had the tail-end of their confrontation with Magneto in 1977, plus the outstanding Firelord/Imperial Guard dust-ups. I'd say the same thing about that spectacular run of Batman stories in Detective.
In fact, while I can't pick any individual stand-out stories, in 1977 we were just past the halfway point in Len Wein's often overlooked but quite good run on Amazing Spider-man, the low-key but intriguing Omega the Unknown was hitting the newsstands and spinner racks, while DC was giving us Black Lightning, which I thought was solid series, and the revived Metal Men, with the stories by Martin Pasko and art by Joe Staton at that point - this one kind of slipped under everyone's radar (and indeed, was on the verge of cancellation), but I really enjoyed it.
Even though my main collecting ended around '75, this was indeed a strong year. I did pick up that Avengers issue, and agree that this new Perez artist was pretty good (having missed his couple dozen weaker-drawn issues before this..). I also picked up the Byrne YJ/Wasp team-up, which was also impressively presented.
Some great covers. I did pickup that DD issue mentioned. Nice story, but a lousy cover.
I suspect if I had started collecting in '77, I would have been nearly-as-keen on Marvel as I was back in it's earlier Bronze pinnacle year, circa 1973.
(But with the Avengers/Defenders summer clash, CA&F's Secret Empire saga, Reed/Sue's separation AND Gwen's death..? I mean, c'mon....)
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