Redartz: Hello gang! It's been quite a year so far, and we're only at the halfway mark. With that in mind, it seemed a good idea to bring back one of Marti's pet posts. Specifically, to look over a selection of Just Plain Fun covers! Some old, some new. Some probably familiar to you, some revealed to your eyes for the first time (I certainly disovered many new ones while researching this post, and only barely scratched the surface). So take your dollar and pick your fave four. Or sneak an extra buck and grab a few more; hey, we're easy here. The main thing is just to have a bit of fun, and maybe evoke a smile or two. By the way, I absolutely love that Strange Adventures snowman cover. I was considering buying a copy off ebay for the cover alone, until I saw the prices. Cheers!
23 comments:
I'll stick to the original rules, i.e., only a dollar to spend and paying the original cover price. So here are my picks, a mix of stuff I'd really like and my tendency to get as much bang for my buck:
Spirit 1 - a quarter is a hefty sum, but I can't pass up some Spirit reprints.
Batman 39 - a dime for an old Batman comic? Heck, yeah!
Archie's Mad House - there's gotta be some Harry Lucey art in that one.
House of Mystery 41 & Mystery in Space 30 - can't beat the price, and there's sure to be at least a few goods stories in these.
Sugar & Spike 23 - very underrated comics, I think.
Jughead 132 - hopefully the heroes appear inside the comic as well.
Inferior Five 6 - can't pass up these guys.
Leaves me with a penny in change...
...oh, by the way, happy birthday, Red!
Holy cats-- great selection-- and I already HAVE eight of the offered issues-- so I'll happily jump down the list to less-familiar fare, eh?
(And wow-- JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 in the Quarter-bin? Even though it would be a double, I would slowly, non-nonchalantly pull it out, put it in the middle of my purchase-stack, whisper to my wife, "Don't draw any attention, but you need to go and start the car NOW!", calm the tremors in my hand, and with studied-yet-casual deliberation "amble" over to the register to make the transaction. . . )
INFERIOR FIVE
SUGAR & SPIKE
THE SPIRIT
ANGLE AND THE APE
(If a couple of JERRY LEWIS books ended up in there, I certainly wouldn't sneeze at them either!)
HB
And hey, yeah!
FB also just told me it Red's b-day!
Have a safely-socially-distanced-but-still-with-TONS-of-desserts one, chum!
HB
I'll choose:
The Fantastic Four Doc Doom cover because that's the only one of today's featured comics that I actually owned.
The Snowmen cover because I agree it looks terrific - I'd love to read that story :D
The delusional alien dreaming about Earth and Eisenhower cover - those were the days when the US president was "The Leader Of The Western World" rather than an international laughing stock.
The Brontosaurus cover because...dinosaurs of course!!
Happy birthday, Red - and not just any old birthday - your 60th I believe?
By the way, you mentioned Martinex - whatever happened to him? Do you still hear from your BiTBA partner?
Thanks for the comments and birthday greetings, guys! Much appreciated.
A quick lunchtime answer to Colin- yes, Marti and I keep in touch. He manages the BitBA Twitter action, while I work the weekly. Sort of a Marvel Teamup, if you will...
Oooo-- wait Colin--- maybe Marti is, like, a Vizier or Viceroy or Regent-protector. . . silently working behind the curtain or the throne, pulling all the strings that poor Red is forced to dance to. . . until that moment when the puppet gets hold of some scissors, and can cut those cords, regaining his rightful autonomy--!!
(Is it something like that, Red?)
(ha!)
HB
Wow, this brings back memories. I'll go with the bwa-ha-ha Justice League, MTU 148, Kitty's Fairy Tale in X-Men 153, and for the last one ... I'm tempted to check out that Superman/Asterix issue, but it might be a bit too goofy for me. Much as I like the Enforcers, it's hard to go for a Brand New Day title, so I'll pick the Batman issue with Riddler. He's always pretty good.
Happy Birthday, Red!
Gimme all the funny books for a buck! Take it or leave it! (You can keep all those Marvels and DCs!)
Red - Am I just a bit surprised that there are not Harveys? I know, I know... you can't post everything, LOL!
And the Snowman cover really is a compelling cover. I mean it's down right sinister. Reminds of the end of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers when Donald Sutherland has clearly become a body snatcher. I must say I hope the innards lived up to expectations!
HB- yeah, I love that Justice League issue too. What a great run. And you got to see Guy Gardner ko'd by Batman!
Colin J- yes, 60 years today. Strange adventures indeed! And yes, that snowman story just has to be a winner. How could it fail with such a cover?
Mike- good choices! That Superman/ Asterix tale wasn't bad, if memory serves. Especially if you like visual puns...
Charlie- yes, we have no Harveys today! But there are SOOOO MANY fun covers out there, don't be surprised if this topic pops up again...
BATMAN 179 : I’m getting it just for the cover. The heavy Murphy Anderson inks, the Go-Go checks, the Ira Schapp lettering, the color — everything about this SCREAMS “1966” at me. As a freshly-minted Batman Fan because of the TV show, I would see Batman comics at the grocery store or the gas station and covet them SO hard...
To me, those Infantino-Anderson covers are as strongly evocative of the Bat-Mania era as the Topps card set. Beautiful little Time Travel Triggers! Incredibly, I never owned a single one of them back in the day (money was tight). The only Batman comic I had was an 80-page Giant that I acquired in a schoolyard swap, full of Dick Sprang reprints — whose work I did NOT like when I was little (but totally adore now— Bat Hombre rules!)
THE SPIRIT 1: Maybe not the best ever Eisner Spirit cover, but pretty nice — iconic. I think I might actually have this one...
ARRGH! 2 : Tom Sutton, Alfredo Alcala, Bill Everett — ‘NUFF SAID.
PEANUTS : Because it’s just ADORABLE. Plus, that “Baby &#!+ Brown” background color is a really odd choice for a comic cover — but it’s BRILLIANT. Stylish as hell.
-b.t.
There was a Peanuts comic?! Wow, how’d I miss that?
Anyway, choosing just four will be really tough, but here goes…
X-Men. This issue was a lot of fun, as I recall.
Micronauts. I LOVED this series back in the day! Just a good plain old action series.
Scooby-Doo Team-Up. This is just about the most fun series ever! This wasn’t my favorite ever issue of it, but still fun.
Justice League just barely beats out Bullwinkle & Rocky and Peanuts for my last quarter. That Giffen/DeMatties Justice League was so good (and need I say, fun) the first few years and that first issue is a classic. Bullwinkle & Rocky actually captures the feel of the classic cartoon quite well. It should have lasted longer.
There are some fun looking Superman and Fantastic Four related titles here, plus of course those Archie titles and Mystery in Space, but that how I’ve chosen to spend my dollar!
Oh, and Happy Birthday, Redartz :)
b.t.
Another fun cover is the issue of Marvel Team-Up featuring Aunt May & Franklin Richards which I mentioned a few weeks back - Aunt May is The Golden Oldie, the new herald of Galactus :D
Or what about the cover of Amazing Spider-Man featuring Spidey and Barack Obama at the time of Obama's inauguration in 2009. Only Obama was cool enough to get his own inauguration issue!
Hey Red, Happy belated Birthday!
Thanks for putting this together weekly!
For my 8 bits;
Strange Adventures, yes Red that cover is mind blowing!
What If
Arrgh!, Universal Monsters? I'm all in!
Action Comics #421, Superman vs. Popeye, gotta see that.
I re-read that FF #176 recently, and finally found out who the 1 bullpenner was I couldn't name over the years.
Happy belated birthday, Redartz!
As a present, I'm here to terrorize your site. Lol. I promise to be very kind.
Wish I would've seen that Scooby Doo book. I was a big fan of Frankenstein Jr.
I believe I had a Gold Key Frankenstein Jr. Comic as a kid. It featured a solo adventure of Coil-Man, who was my fav member of the Impossibles.
Also I had a couple Gold Key Digests, that featured Franky & Space Ghost.
When I dig in the "junk" boxes for something to read, I'll pull beat-up horror titles, Marvel westerns/war, odd interesting superhero stuff, and Atlas/Seaboard.
b.t.- indeed, that Batman Riddler cover is a beaut. Clear, sharp, great lettering, just great. Actually it's a pretty good tale,too. Also, I'd agree with you on that Peanuts cover; odd color choice but it works. Dell seemed often to go with some unusual color schemes...
dbutler- sounds like you're familiar with "Scooby Doo Team Up". Great title, and great book, don't you think? What issues were your favorites? I rather liked the Jonny Quest issue, also the one where the Scooby gang met Angel and the Ape, Stanley and His Monster, and a certain pair of incorrigible tiny tots.
Colin J- good call on the Obama cover. Indeed, the other cover for that issue is pretty fun too (features Peter Parker escorting a couple older women, saying "Face it Cougars, You Just Hit the Jackpot".
Killraven- thanks for the well wishes! And putting this post together each week is truly a labor of love. Only thing better than talking about comics, tv, and pop culture is doing so with a terrific group of fine friends such as you all.
Oh, and that Superman/Popeye issue is cool. I have the second meeting of the two from some years later, which also features a parallel version of Olive Oyl and Wimpy. BTW, the 'Popeye' character is known as "Captain Strong"; gets his strength from eating cans of some substance called "Sauncha"...
KD- hey, thanks for the Birthday present; glad you stopped by! Loved those old Gold Key Digests; both the Golden Comics Digests and the Disney Digests. Lots of reading for your buck. And if you like your Hanna Barbera hits, check out the title Killraven mentioned; those Scooby Doo Team ups are absolutely among the best comics being published today.
Redartz, there are so many, and really not a bad one in the lot, that it's tough to chose favorites.
However, I liked the Batman ones, the ones with the Teen Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes, the one with Johnny Quest was great, I like the Hong Kong Phooey one. As far as Angel and the Ape and Stanley and His Monster, I don't know anything about them, especially Stanley and His Monster, so those ones didn't resonate as much with me. I did enjoy Angel and the Ape, though, but I was sort of lost with the Stanley one a bit.
Hey everybody! I used to be on Bronze Age Babies as BobC and didn't even know this forum existed! Is Doug still on here? I want to contact him--I have a story I think he'll want to know.
BobC- Hi, thanks for stopping by! Hope you like what you see and return for more often. Doug frequently comments here; I'm certain he'd love to hear from you! If you send me an email (redartz60@gmail.com)with your address, I'll pass it on to Doug.
Sent!
Happy Birthday Redartz!!!!
- Mike from Trinidad & Tobago.
Thanks Mike!
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