RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Why I Hate Most Modern Comics.

I agree with your picks, Beardguy.

I'm very partial to the 60's and 70's stuff too, and like yourself, I also largely stopped buying new books around 1989-1990.




Although I earlier listed some that I still buy and enjoy:

SOJOURN,
HELLBOY,
LEAVE IT TO CHANCE,
CONAN (Busiek and Nord),
GROO (when published),
HIP FLASK by Ladronn,
and the occasional single issue, special,
and Elseworlds.
( What the heck happened to the DC Elseworlds line, anyway? )




Like yourself, I enjoy a lot of the hardcovers, DC archives, Marvel Masterworks, plus Millenium Editions, and other reprint editions, that with the better printing, arguably make some of the 60's and 70's material more enjoyable than when it was first published.

I got the Marvel Masterworks collection, reprinting AVENGERS 1-10, from Bud Plant a year ago for $20.00 !!
And the printing is so much better, I really appreciated those stories for the first time. Despite many reprintings in a less than stellar form over the last few decades.
So I got to enjoy these stories in the most enjoyable form possible, for like 2 dollars an issue.




I got the Batman Archive reprinting DETECTIVE 27-50 for 25.00. It was such a wild experience to read a complete run from 1939-1940, and to think about what was occurring in the world at the time these were written and illustrated (Hitler invading Czechoslavokia, Hitler invading Poland, Hitler beginning the air-war on Britain, the U.S. strugging to emerge from the Great Depression, the era of Al Capone, Italian Mafia and gangsters...)

Again, it was great to read these earliest DETECTIVE COMICS issues at a great price, and in a nicer form than the originals.
It was the fulfillment of a childhood dream, to be able to read the entire first two years of Batman stories.




Beardguy, if you haven't already read them, there's a nice new trade out of Kirby's JIMMY OLSEN run (the first half, anyway) in issues 133-139, and 141, in a 20.00 collected trade, just out about two months ago.

I think it's wild to see what Kirby did with Superman in 1970-1972, right after he left Marvel. A lot of humor mixed in with the adventure. One of my favorite series.




I share your love for the Lee/Kirby collaborations ( I especially like their pre-Marvel monster stories, Western, and romance stories, from 1959-1963).
And share your enthusiasm for seeing these later Marvel series in collected Marvel Masterworks form, so you can see the progression of these series, as they evolved into the Marvel Universe.

Kirby's THOR and FANTASTIC FOUR, Ditko's SPIDERMAN, and Ditko's Dr. Strange in STRANGE TALES are also great. Among my favorites.




Ditko's BEWARE THE CREEPER series (and first appearance in SHOWCASE # 73) also rank high on my list of favorites.

I also love the Fox/Sekowsky JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA.

And the Fox/Broome/Infantino MYSTERY IN SPACE, FLASH, and DETECTIVE COMICS.




There's a new Zatanna trade that's like 13 dollars, JLA: ZATANNA'S SEARCH, that collects all the early 1960's Zatanna stories from DETECTIVE, THE ATOM, JLA, HAWKMAN and other titles, collecting them in one book. With a nostalgic introduction by Steven Utley, who posts here and on the DC Archive boards.





I also agree with you on the Legion stories in ADVENTURE COMICS and SUPERBOY.

I'm a little younger than you (but not much, I'm 40) and began reading Legion in 1973, during the Cockrum issues. My first was SUPERBOY 197.

And then Grell came along, in issue 202 !!
Man, I love these issues! From like 197-224 when Grell left the series.

I also love the later Levitz/Giffen run ( LSH 285-306) from 1982-1984.





All these are prime examples of the difference in storytelling style back then, as compared to now.

To me the stories were more character driven, much more likeable characters, who had strong ideals. And their personalities were the focus, that everything else in the stories reflected on.




The current books are much more dark and cynical, the characters much more belligerent and tough-posturing, in many cases, outright sadistic.
Unheroic.
Unlikeable.
( THE GOLDEN AGE, ULTIMATES, THE AUTHORITY, PREACHER, JLA:EARTH 2, THE FILTH, INVISIBLES, THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, FLASH:IRON HEIGHTS, PUNISHER, WOLVERINE, X-MEN, and even many of the SUPERMAN and BATMAN titles I've sampled. Who is this sadistic jerk who calls himself Batman now? He's sure not the same methodical, controlled, relentless detective that I used to love reading about.)





I'll take Batman by O'Neil/Adams/Novick/Giordano or Robbins/Adams/Novick/Giordano ( BATMAN 216-266, and DETECTIVE 395-450) or Haney/Adams/Cardy/Aparo (BRAVE & THE BOLD 79-200), or Englehart/Rogers (DETECTIVE 471-476) any day of the week over the last 15 years of Batman stories.

I like the Moench/Kelley Jones BATMAN (issues 515-552) from the mid-1990's though, although the art made me more interested than the stories.
But still, like every other character, I much prefer the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's runs on the vaious bat-books. Pretty much coming to a stop around 1990.



Give me back my heroes !



But fortunately, the era I love will live on in trades, hardcovers, and the occasional 100-page-facsimile or Millenium Edition-type reprint series.

And I'll cling to the hope that the Dark Age will eventually come to a close, and I can then once again read 25 or 40 titles a month, instead of 3 or 4.

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"This Man, This Wonder Boy..."