Chew the Fat: Adventures in Biking!

 

 Redartz:  As we prepare to undertake another week's discussion, once again some thank you credits are due. In this case, the kudos go to HB, for prompting the idea for this topic in a recent comment. Well done, sir; it sure helps to have so many sources for inspiration when it comes to ideas for a post! And now, onward...

In the past, we've discussed bikes, and we've discussed road trips. But we haven't discussed that mainstay  of kid gang movies, the bike trip. Think of "The Sandlot", "It", "Stranger Things"; what is one thing they have in common? The group of friends and their faithful two-wheeled steeds. Even "E.T." had Elliot and crew riding in style (in the sky, actually).

I'd bet  a cold Dr. Pepper that most every one of us had some similar experiences, cruising the streets and trails on our Shwinn's and Huffy's in search of adventure, comics, or bottles to cash in. So now we get to revisit those heady days of speed, comradeship, and the occasional mean, chasing dog..

My adventuring days began once my parents finally lifted my range restrictions. For seeming eons, I was limited to riding from one end our our (rather lengthy) suburban street to the  other end. But when they released me to the streets, I was off. My friends and I would ride to the drug store (for the obvious usuals: comics, baseball cards, candy bars or a Coke). We'd  ride from one kid's house to another to another. We'd ride to school every now and then, passing on the normal daily bus ride. 

In our neighborhood we had access to a great patch of woods along a river, winding to a gravel pit in one direction and downtown in the other. We would drag our bikes down to that trail along the river and ride over roots and rocks. 

Our trail (on foot here, but you get the idea)

And this was years before anyone heard about 'mountain bikes'. It was especially cool to ride towards downtown, as you'd pass by a city park along the river; a perfect place to park the bikes for a rest and go hit the swings. It was even better if you'd packed a lunch ; that made for an epic summer afternoon. lying by the river, watching the sun glisten off the ripples (and off your shiny handlebars), enjoying the breeze, and 'shooting the breeze' with your pals. 

 

My longest ride was with a good friend who lived in the next town. One Saturday morning we took off riding (his Dad was kind enough to cram my bike in their trunk when he picked me up for an overnight visit). We rode out of town, out into the country, and down one County road after another; just exploring, talking, and following nothing in particular. Eventually we made our way back into town, but only after my little mileage meter showed about 25 miles had expired. Looking back, I realize that there's really no better way to wander than on two wheels. Fast enough to actually get somewhere, but slow enough that you genuinely see your surroundings, feel the roadway and the grass, hear the birds. A road trip in a car takes you much farther, but keeps you insulated from that whole world out there. 

But enough mental meanderings from me. What tales do you have of a bike, a buddy and a bit of road?

  

TV Guided: The Golden Age of Sitcoms?

 

 Redartz: It wasn't too long ago that some folks claimed the sitcom to be dead. Turns out they were wrong; there are quite a few comedies on network tv worth the viewing in 2021. But as this is "Back in the Bronze Age" and not "Here in the Netflix Age", we're looking at some earlier programming (so as not to give the impression that I'm totally lost in the past, I think one could make a good argument that we are currently in a Golden Age of television drama, but that's another tale for another day).

Back to the sitcoms (or Situation Comedies, for those sticklers among us). Our title above mentions a Golden age; to what does that refer? Well, in my  humble opinion, to the 1970's. Granted, every decade has had it's share of enjoyable, popular, even classic comedies. You might well choose to argue that my claim for the 70's misses the mark. Well, that is the crux for our topic this week. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Consider the decade that opened with "The Brady Bunch", "The Partridge Family", and "The Odd Couple". 

 

 Basically played for laughs, and those were found in abundance. But as the decade progressed, the comedies got more...socially conscious. More introspective. More biting. Think of "All in the Family" and "Maude". 

 

 And the comedies got more diverse; with "The Jeffersons" and "Chico and the Man". 

 

But the world of 70's sitcoms also had it's lighter fare. Nostalgia was a big draw, with "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley". 

 

 So were 'urban comedies' such as "Taxi" and "Barney Miller". 

 

 And of course the decade ended with the sheer wackiness of Robin Williams in "Mork and Mindy".  Obviously the decade offered a wide choice of comic material...

 

As further evidence, I bring your attention to the CBS schedule for Saturday nights in the 1973 season. "All in the Family", "M*A*S*H", "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "The Bob Newhart Show", and "The Carol Burnett Show" . Even granting that that last program was technically a variety show, that still must qualify as the greatest single night of televised comedy in broadcast history. Whatta lineup...

Anyway, the sheer abundance of strong comedies (and I have only scratched the surface here) in the 70's pretty much settles my case. Golden Age of Sitcoms? I'm going with the decade of Hawkeye Pierce, Rhoda Morganstern and the Fonz. 

You still disagree? Excellent; that's where our topic gets juicy. What decade, or era, would you say qualifies as a 'Golden Age' of comedy? If you agree with me, fine; why? And if you've other thoughts, then by all means convince us otherwise! 

And for our UK contingent: certainly don't intend to leave you out. Your BBC and ITV certainly offered some comic viewing, what were the best schedules? The best shows? Was there a particular era that stood out for you, programming-wise? The table is wide open to discuss the Greatest Eras of Comedy...

Follow the Leader : Sci Fi in Black and White!

 

Redartz:  Okay, it's about time once again to open up the agenda; to throw the gates wide open, to call upon BitBA assembled to provide the parameters for the next week's discussion! As you know, the first commenter to submit a topic wins the honor of guiding us forward into an invigorating investigation of some Bronze-y banter. So, have a go at it!

Chew the Fat: Pop Culture, Automotive Style

 

Redartz:  Recently our friend and frequent commenter Charlie Horse 47 passed along to me a suggestion for a topic. It was a good one, and hence we have our subject for discussion this week. Thanks CH!

Charlie was pondering the influence that cars, and related automotive miscellany, had on our Bronze age culture. It got me to thinking. Cars surely have been present in films, books, and magazines since Henry Ford was active. But when you look back at the 60's, 70's and 80's, you find many examples of rather specific 'Auto' philia. OK, that doesn't really sound right, but you know what I mean! The automobile was, and is, much more than merely a form of convenient transportation.

 In previous discussions, we've looked at "Odd Rods" stickers from the early 70's, and "Hot Wheels" cars from , well, everywhen. That's just a toe in the water of this lake. Here's a few examples of popular culture's love affair with the automobile. I'm betting you can come up with quite a few more. So buckle your seat belts and lower your visors, here we go...

 

 The animated "Hot Wheels" cartoon

 This show was a favorite of mine when it debuted in the 1969-1970 season. Fairly standard animation, but it sure held my attention (doubtlessly the intent of the producers, as I also frequently pestered my parents for a new "Hot Wheels" car or two).

Hanna Barbera's "Wacky Races"

 This was another 'never miss' show on those great pre-teen Saturday mornings. I always rooted for the "Arkansas Chugabug", although it would have been fun to see Dick Dastardly actually win a race, just for a change.

 Hanna Barbera's "Speed Buggy"

 Sort of  "Scooby Doo" with a car replacing the iconic dog. Rather formulaic, but weren't most Saturday morning offerings?  And it boasted the brilliant vocal talents of Mel Blanc!

 Mattel's "Hot Wheels" toys

Between the cars and the tracks, these were my toy of choice from the ages of 8-10. Countless hours were spent racing them with friends and with my brother. One of the very few toys I managed to hold on to, after all these years: the "Red Baron"...

Ronny and the Daytonas, "Little GTO"

This blast of vintage 60's racing pop is representative of the whole slew of racing songs that filled the music charts of the day. The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, the Rip Chords; so many practitioners of the genre. A close sibling to Surf Rock, and just as cool.

HO- scale Racing

Another toy that found a lot of use at our house. No fun like accelarating down the straightaway and flying off the track at the curve. And the best racing was in the dark, if your cars had working headlights...

"Odd Rods" stickers

Yet another element of our collective youth. Combining cars and monsters; what could be better? My school notebook was covered with these.

AHRA Racing cards, 1971

Not a far jump from collecting baseball cards, these cards depicted some of the hottest, fastest, and most popular racers of the early 70's. This card had the "Mongoose" and "Snake" as featured in the Mattel "Hot Wheels" collection mentioned earlier...

DC's "Hot Wheels" comic

You knew we'd get to a few comics eventually, didn't you? Based on the cartoon we covered above, and with art by the likes of Alex Toth and Neal Adams, it was a great (albeit short-lived) series.

Charlton's "Drag 'n' Wheels"

Never actually had a copy of this title, but it serves as an example of the generic 'racing' comics found on the spinners of our Bronze age. It seemed most publishers (notably excepting Marvel) took a shot at this style of comic; there were many.

All right, I've filled the tank for you. Take the wheel and let's cruise into a high-octane discussion of automotive fun...

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!

 

 

 

Rank and File: Best of the Bronze Part 2- DC!

 

Redartz: Welcome to the second part of our Bronze Age Triple-header! Last week we counted down our favorites from Marvel; this week, we give some love to those DC books we treasured. Again, our time frame (for the sake of our discussion; not an ironclad Bronze age definition) is 1970 - 1985. And again, the choices can be difficult. Mine were; leaving out many many beloved comics. But if held captive by the Secret Society of Super Villains and forced to make a list, I suppose this would be pretty close. And so, without any further delay, let's get started. Here are...

 My Top Five Favorite Bronze Age DC's:

 

 

Detective Comics 475- Possibly my favorite single DC book. Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin. Batman and the Joker. All at their best. Certainly my favorite Joker tale, even over Neal Adams' classic Batman 251. To each their own, right?

 

Showcase 100- years before "Crisis on Infinite Earths", this terrific book brought a huge assortment of characters together to face a spaceborn threat. It actually was my first introduction to many of those characters, such as Bat Lash, Enemy Ace and the Challengers of the Unknown. Paul Kupperberg, Paul Levitz and Joe Staton gave us this enjoyable romp through a hundred issues worth of Showcased features. One of my favorite anniversary issues.

 

Justice League of America 200- And speaking of anniversary issues, this one may be the best ever. Hearkening back to vintage JLA adventures, with a spectacular team of artists, well written by Gerry Conway, and framed with art sequences by George Perez. A wraparound cover, tons of characters and tons of fun.

Legion of Super-Heroes 289- The issue that cemented the Legion as my favorite DC book at the time (even over the red hot Teen Titans). A great characterization issue, with a lot of focus on the Legionnaires and their relationships (perhaps unavoidably, as a number of them were stranded together). The issue that led into the classic "Great Darkness" saga; and an issue with stellar art and a fantastic cover. Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen really had it going here. 

 

DC Blue Ribbon Digest 41- Yes, I know that reprint formats are verboten. But this issue was all-new, so I get a technicality here! 100 pages of new Sugar and Spike stories by the great Sheldon Mayer. Perhaps not an Eisner Award winning book, granted, but this was aces in my eyes. And to that I can only add, "Glx Sphtzl Glaaah"...

With that, I leave the post in your capable hands. What are the five DC books you love the most? And be sure to start thinking ahead to next week, when we finish our trio of lists with: your top five from 'everyone else'...

 

Rank and File: Best of the Bronze, Part 1- Marvel!

 

Redartz: Credit where credit is due dept.: this past week I saw a post on the "Back Issue" page of Facebook, by Gary Ceballos, that asked a great question. I'm going to shamelessly borrow his question, with one minor variation. Hope you don't mind, Gary!

The original question was: What do you consider the top five single comics of the Bronze age, i.e. 1970-1985?  For our discussion this week, we'll break it into three categories, spread over the next couple of weeks (so you have plenty of time to carefully compose your lists, of course!).  What are your top five Bronze age  Marvel single issues? Next week, we will look at your top five DC single Bronze age comics. And week three: what are your top Non-Big-Two books from the Bronze (could be Disney, Archie, Charlton, Indie, Underground, whatever).

 Reprints are excluded, but magazines (such as Savage Sword of Conan) are acceptable. And this series of questions specifically refers to a single issue, not an arc or series. That said, you may certainly pick an issue from a given continued storyline as representative of that arc, but still standing as a single book. And you may choose your list based upon whatever criteria you see fit. Aaaaand, of course this won't be easy; limiting it to five comics forces us to leave out a lot. Everything clear? Cool. And as you might expect, I'll start things off with my Marvel list. These are 'favorites', not necessarily what I'd pick as the 'best' five books (although these books would surely be among the nominees for such a list).

My Top Five Bronze Age Marvels:

 

1.Giant Size Avengers 2: I love this book. One of the first Avengers arcs I ever read, with a great team, gorgeous art, a fantastic tale, cool drama, and a Celestial Madonna. My introduction to Kang, and what an impression he made. A lot of personal fondness puts this book at number one.

 

 

2. Amazing Spider-man 248: If these were ranked by quantity of rereadings, this book would be far and away number one. "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man" is the crown of Roger Stern and Ron Frenz' stint on ASM. It's probably my absolute favorite Spidey story, and gets me every time. 3. 

 

3. Marvel Two-in-One Annual 2: It was a toss-up; choosing this or Avengers Annual 7. Both books are the bookends of one of the finest Bronze age Avengers stories ever. Comics don't get much better. That said, MTIO Annual 2 gets the nod at number 3 due to the presence of two characters dear to my heart: Ben Grimm and Peter Parker.

 

4. Savage Tales 2: This magazine gets the fourth spot due to the first installment of Roy Thomas and Barry Smith's epic "Red Nails". One of the pinnacles of Bronze age comic art. A fine Conan tale. It's in glorious black and white. And there's a Stegosaurus. Nuff Said. 

 

5. Dr. Strange 2: The number five spot was the hardest to fill, with soooo many contenders. And if you asked on another day the answer might be different. But Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner wove magic (sorry) in this story. This was my first Dr. Strange story ever, and so it has that personal importance. I could have easily chosen any of the five issues in the "Silver Dagger" arc, but issue 2 gets the pick for the inclusion of the Defenders. And the Hulk at a tea  party.

Okay, that's my list and I'm sticking to it (for today, anyway). Now, while I start analyzing the choices for next week's DC list, you get to chime in with your well-considered lists. Hope you have an easier time picking than I did. Thanks in advance for participating!