Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Follow the Leader: Episode 111: Oldest Comic and I Can’t Get Into It!


Redartz:  Hi all, time again to reach out to all you fine folks for a titanic topic for creative conversation! And today we'll do a 'twofer', because I have a quickie question too. I recently saw this question posed on a Facebook group, and thought it was quite interesting and worth repeating here:

What is your oldest comic? And by oldest, I don't mean oldest in terms of publishing date. What book have you actually possessed the longest? Do you have any actual copies remaining from your youthful stacks? My short answer: is two books. First is the Warren Spirit number 1; bought off the rack in the Spring of 1974. And about the same time, my copy of Not Brand Echh 5. The first back issue I ever bought, and one of the very few comics I didn't part with during the big sell-off in the 90's. That comic has resided with me for 45 years now...

Okay, back to you. Give us a subject for the day, we'll follow the leader, and while you're at it let us know about your most vintage book. Salutations!

21 comments:

Doug said...

Great question, Redartz, and if I still had my collection, I'd answer it! I think, if memory serves, the comic I had the longest was probably Avengers 119. I seem to recall having that one for a very long time.

My question for today: Name a series or arc, highly regarded (almost a "classic"), but that you either can't get into or have tried and didn't find it all that great.

Mine? The 1960s Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD series. I have the Lee/Kirby and Steranko SHIELD trades. I made it through the first one, and about 1/3 of the way through the second and wasn't moved at all. The whole series, to me at least, seemed like one Hydra invasion of the Helicarrier after another. There really wasn't any spying or international intrigue. I found it rather dull. I remarked about this on Twitter several weeks ago and a few friends encouraged me to hang in there - once Steranko fully took the reins, the series would excel. I'll get back into it later, but I'm really in no hurry.

How about you?

Doug

Edo Bosnar said...

My problem is the same as Doug's - I don't have my original collection any more, as it was unloaded hastily in mid-1986 before my family made an out-of-state move. The first comic I ever had was Marvel Tales #59, but I'm dead certain that one didn't survive my penchant - back when I was 6/7 yrs old and just starting out as a comics fan - for cutting up my comic books. And I'm not totally sure which of my very first comics survived my early massacres of them to remain the 'oldest' I had. Possibly Marvel Team-up #38...

As to Doug's question, first I have to say I only have the Steranko SHIELD material, i.e., the tpb collecting the stories from Strange Tales, and the special edition reprint issues from 1983 that collect the four issues of the Nick Fury series done by Steranko. I have to say, while it didn't set my world on fire, I rather enjoyed them as fun comics trying to cash in on the 1960s superspy craze.
My own entry will go into the realm of underground comics: the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. I'd heard about them for years and then in the mid-'00s I found a few (reprint) issues of it, as well as a few issues of Fat Freddy's Cat, and - I was really underwhelmed once I read them. I love the concept, I love Gilbert Shelton's art, but I never found them more than mildly amusing and usually not even that. I guess they just didn't age well, but I see that they're still widely loved in some circles of comics fans, and have been extensively reprinted ever since the 1970s, including an omnibus edition. Honestly, I think if you want to read good humor comics from that era, you're probably better off just getting old issues of Mad, Crazy or Cracked.
Anyway, I read them all the way through once and never had the desire to go back and read them, so that a few years ago I ended up selling the issues I had to another comics fan over here.

Steve Does Comics said...

The "comic" I've had the longest is the British 1972 Fleetway Marvel annual which reprinted a whole bunch of very early Hulk, FF and Spidey tales, plus a slightly out of place Barry Smith Conan story. Admittedly, it's technically a book, rather than a comic but it's full of comic strips, so I'm happy to call it a comic.

The proper comic I've had the longest is issue #3 of the Jim Lee X-Men comic which I got in December 1991, making it almost 30 years old (eek!), even thought I still think of it as new.

Highly regarded strips I've never got into? Deathlok. Also, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, which I only ever liked when Death was in it.

I'm also with Doug; Agent of SHIELD has never held appeal for me. Not even the Steranko stories.

Humanbelly said...

"Comic I have possessed the longest"-- that's a good way to phrase it, yep?

It HAS to be Dell's OUTER LIMITS #1, which would have been published in the spring of '64-(!).
Man, I would've only been three years old, but I remember coming home from the grocery store with it. 'Course in those days, the stores would keep old issues on the racks for months, so it may have been clear into the summer. In retrospect, I am stunned that my Mom let me get it, 'cause even the tame sci-fi alien images presented on the cover are something she would react to with indignant horror and a shrill "Oh no-- that's UGLY! NO ONE would want to read something like that!!!". Hmm-- possibly it was a trip with my Dad that day. . .

It's a great issue (in hilariously destroyed shape at this point), w/ stylized art, and a solid story that I was still a year or two away from being able to read at the time. . .

For me, when the entire comics industry went Dark&Gritty in the late 80's through the 90's, I found myself NOT enjoying a ton of things that the mainstream fans considered Hot and Awesome and Etc. I would be just fine if Venom had never come into being, f'rinstance. And the Wolverine saturation wore me out 'WAY early on. Loved him in Uncanny X-Men and in that first early mini-series. But by the time he got his own book, I was just done. . .

HB

Humanbelly said...

Ooh-- one other series that everyone loves, but that just leaves me flat after a few pages: Gerber's MAN-THING run. Does not flip any switches for me at all, I'm afraid. . . (sorry teammates!).

HB again--

Mike Wilson said...

Without going through everything, I'd say the comic I've had longest might be Marvel Team-Up #89, with a cover date of January 1980 (so I probably got it in late 1979, when I was seven); I remember certain comics from before that time, but those all got thrown away (and later replaced) years ago.

I found myself slightly underwhelmed by Watchmen; it was good, but it wasn't the mind-blowing, transcendent experience I was expecting from the hype. Maybe my expectations were just unrealistically high.

Humanbelly said...

Mike, I was JUST talking/reminiscing about WATCHMEN a couple of days ago with a couple of castmates--- and it occurred to me that possibly part of its original mystique was the fact that it came out in monthly installments (naturally). That pace seemed to work for that story-- enough to digest it, and possibly get some aesthetic distance from a lot of what was ugly about it, before moving on to the next chapter. I imagine it's overwhelming to take in as a binge-read.

The drawback, of course, is that you'd tend to UTTERLY lose track of the zillion threads over the course of a month. I always found myself in a state of feeling slightly lost with every new issue. . .

HB

Edo Bosnar said...

Hm, the first time I read Watchmen I more or less binge-read it: someone in the dorms loaned me the first-edition tpb back in 1988, I read it over the course of about 3 nights when I should have been studying or writing a term paper or something like that. It was a lot to take in, but it didn't necessarily overwhelm me. Nor did it disappoint. I've read it several times since and always come out with a new appreciation for it.

Anonymous said...


Oldest comic that I called my own? (after I got it, my brother revealed he had TONS of comics lying around):

Nova #12

I got it because Spider-Man was on the cover, so I thought it was a Spider-Man comic (hey, crossovers work!).

For the classic run question, I'll risk a public stoning and call Lee/Kirby FF!!

A few years ago I got Essential FF vol. 3 with the express purpose of enjoying the classic stories that introduced the Inhumans, Black Panther, Galactus, the Silver Surfer (who in the same volume famously gets his powers swiped by Dr. Doom!).

I tried to suspend my modern-day jadedness, but it was still too hokey to not be a slog. The only story I thought lived up to the hype was "This Man, This Monster" (relatively speaking, it was still hokey).

I find the problem with going back as an adult to "see what the fuss was about" is that so many early comics have a "you had to be there" vibe (I know a few of my childhood favourites would take a shellacking by many neutral observers).

Thing is, I do like a lot of Stan Lee comics, but I've realized that most of my favourites don't involve Jack Kirby. I like some Ditko Spider-Man/Dr. Strange or some Buscema Silver Surfer, for example.

But I still do get excited at the sight of some Kirby dots and Kirby crackle, so go figure.

-david p.







Charlie Horse 47 said...

It's late… is anyone still out there??? LOL.

Earliest, longest-owned comic would be either Avengers 56, FF 83, or Spidey 86. I was gifted the first two and bought the third. I do recall buying the third from the local pharmacy b/c my grandmother spontaneously gave me the money and nothing really grabbed me from a cover perspective. So I picked Spidey b/c he was “the big kahuna” and been in the cartoon.


“Famous” series that never caught on with me…

Simonson’s Thor

Watchman in the graphic novel (interestingly, see HB’s remarks!)

Miller’s Batman work (Just don’t “get” the art)

Kirby’s Fourth World, Forever People, Miracle Man… just “too Kirby” for me. Though I did enjoy Kamandi and The Losers.

Oddly, I enjoy Kirby's Losers far more than I did 45 years ago.

But like Edo alludes to, many of the things we like is often do to the context in which we are enjoying them. I was listening to Chicago's greatest chefs on a broadcast and they said the one variable they cannot control, but which has a disproportionately HUGE impact on the quality of a restaurant meal, is the people you are with. Good people = better meal. Bad people = worse meal.

Redartz said...

Never fear, Charlie; some of us are still out here lurking!

I still need to answer Doug's question for today. Therefore, I'll echo Charlie: Kirby's DC titles never grabbed me. And to be honest, his Bronze age stories at Marvel didn't really do much for me either. Love his artwork, just not his writing so much...

Anonymous said...

Great questions guys! Sorry I’m late to the parties lately.

1) The comic I’ve had the longest is probably Invaders #15. I had comics before that - both purchased and received as a gift, but most of those were lost or destroyed over time when I was young. I’ve rebuilt my collection and reacquired many of them, but I think that issue may be the one I’ve had the longest.

2) I am a huge Hank Pym fan but his run as Giant Man in Tales to Astonish never did anything for me. It’s telling that despite his large stature (heh heh) in the Avengers, he never cut it as a solo act like Cap, Iron Man or Thor. It is a shame.

-Martinex1

Edo Bosnar said...

Hm, interesting to see that so many people share what's essentially also my opinion of Kirby's 1970s output (both at DC and Marvel), i.e., not as great as it's hyped up to be. Very unusual for most online comics communities I've seen and/or in which I've participated.

Humanbelly said...

@ edo--- I feel like 70's/DC Kirby might be a tangential topic, y'know? Doesn't quite fit into the parameters of the question? 'Cause yeah, I totally agree that MUCH of that output was not held in high esteem at the time, and was not regarded as Great Arc material. For Pete's sake, the original issues of OMAC wouldn't move out of the 5 for $1.00 bin for years & years & years--- and with darned good reason, IMO--- the concept and its realization were shallow as a mud-puddle, there was no memorable or distinctive characterization, and every issue looked like it was drawn and inked (very capably, no question) in about a day.

The hype for all of that work came decades after the fact--- more of a buried-treasure situation.

HB

Edo Bosnar said...

HB, good points. That's in fact why I didn't even mention them in my first comment - I started litigating the spirit of Doug's question in my head and concluded that it's just too broad a topic that would take the whole thing into a different tangent.

Doug said...

Good morning, everyone -

I'll go on record as saying I've not read much of Kirby's DC output at all, and I think that's due mostly to my disdain of him as a writer. All that landed on the spinners before I was a comics reader, but as an adult I'd seen his 70s Marvel output and decided I'd just take a pass on the DC stuff. Prejudice? Yep. Maybe I'll get to it some day. And I'll agree with the posit that the Fourth World, et al. has taken on new life in the last 20 years. I don't recall in the 80s-90s that its star shone very brightly at all.

True confession #2 - I've also never read Simonson's Thor. I've long said his style in that series is not my cup of tea (also prevalent in his X-Factor run, etc.). I just don't care for it. His earlier run on Thor, inked by Tony DeZuniga? Like it. His Manhunter series in Detective Comics? Like it. But the vaunted Thor run's look doesn't grab me.

Doug

Barney said...

There's a kind of prehistory of comic ownership for some of us, I think. That time when you actually technically possessed comic books but were too young to really understand what they were. I remember my dad bringing me back a copy of Amazing Spider Man from the US in 1969 ("Mission: crush the Kingpin" - I was 6) - and being utterly entranced by the aesthetics of the cover. A much re-read Hulk/Abomination in space yarn ("Daddy - those shooting stars look like two men falling to earth". )Then a Fantastic Four 'album' which misprinted the Thing as purple and the costumes a dapper shade of red. That thoroughly confused me. Steve's Fleetway Annuals (above) ring a distinct bell too.

Then I reached 10 years old, Marvel UK started up and the tsunami began.

Oldest comic I still possess - some early British Avengers reprints. The Kingpin Spider Man is sadly long-gone.

I abandoned comics after Des Skinn, Secret Wars and all that, and - aside from reading Maus, Watchmen and a few other high profile works, never really got back into them.

Now I'm trapped in the Bronze Age, like some version of a sleepy Sickness patient of Dr.Sacks in Awakenings.

Never got into DC at all. None of it. My loss, I know.

J.A. Morris said...

Comic I've had the longest was something from Harvey Comics, either Little Dot, Casper, or Richie Rich. I've still got those in a box of miscellaneous comics.

"Name a series or arc, highly regarded (almost a "classic"), but that you either can't get into or have tried and didn't find it all that great.":

I've never gotten into Conan, Red Sonja, Kull, etc. I own a handful of issues (including the 1982 'Red Nails' special edition) and I love the art that John Buscema and Barry Windsor-Smith contributed to that universe. But I just never got into it that much and likely never will.

I never cared much for war/military comics. A childhood friend had tons of them, so I read lots of Joe Kubert Sgt. Rock stories. Great art, but I never found them interesting. However, I appreciate the ridiculousness of the Haunted Tank and the Creature Commandos.

I share Doug's feelings about the SHIELD series, but I love the Steranko issues. You're right Doug, it's just a series of attacks by faceless Hydra flunkies.

Big Murr said...

My oldest DC comic was well before I could read. Adventure Comics #312 with the resurrection of Lightning Lad. My mom bought it for me, I know not why. The many sci-fi images captivated me.

In my time during the Silver Age, a guy cut his baby teeth on DC stories and, with age, graduated to Marvel. I followed that path.

My oldest Marvel comic, purchased with my own money, was Thor #182. I was a fan of Norse Mythology and was startled to see a comic with the thunder god's name on the cover. The first issue drawn by John Buscema and my mind was blown.

The much-trumpeted comic that never fired my engine? The X-Men. I loved the reboot, but as the issues went by, I realize it was only John Byrne's art that kept me buying each month. Claremont's style was wearing on me. When Byrne left, I had no tears at dropping the title. And the while the mutants made Marvel a fortune for years upon years, I never could stomach the whiny soap opera.

Graham said...

My oldest comic, I'm pretty sure, is Detective Comics 381. My mom got it for me when she went to the grocery store one day. I really liked the Batman/Superman/Aquaman Saturday morning show, so I loved it. I still have it somewhere, somewhat dog-eared as it is.

The series I never got into was The Defenders. I wasn't that enthusiastic about any of the team members at the time and I was never able to find a real "starting off" point with it.

Redartz said...

Barney- great point about our comics 'prehistory'. Most likely we all had a few books early on that we sort of lost track of. My first was a Casper, at age 7 the thought of keeping such things over the long term would have been totally alien. But a few years later, things really changed and the obsessive collector arose. Oh, and that Spidey issue "Crush the Kingpin"- a terrific story, part of that memorable 'stone tablet' arc...

Big Murr- you're right; many of us started out with DC (often, as J.A. noted, after a stint with Harvey/Disney/Gold Key), and moved on up to Marvel. You had a fine intro to DC; the Legion was arguably the best book they had going at the time...

Graham- you bring up another facet to our introduction to the world of comics. In the 60's and 70's, Saturday mornings were full of comics characters. No doubt those cartoons inspired many to take the leap into newsprint. In my case it was the Archie tv show; led me to pick up the first issue of "Archie's TV Laugh-Out". I wonder who else had a fire lit underneath them by those Saturdays in front of the tv. If anyone is still out there, chime on in...

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