Sunday, February 18, 2007

Best Of DC Digest #26

This is probably my favorite digest. Not only does it have a beautiful Jim Aparo cover, but it gave me my first look at the classic Brave And Bold adventure hero strips from the 50's. This issue featured "Three Arrows Against Doom" a gorgeous Robin Hood story from B&B #9 by Bob Haney and Russ Heath, "Threat Of The Ice King" a Viking Prince masterpiece by Kanigher and Kubert from B&B #18, "The Sword In The Lake" a Silent Knight tale from Haney and Irv Novick from B&B #21, "The Secret Beneath The Earth" featuring Cave Carson from B&B #31 by France Herron and Bruno Premiani, "Menace Of The Mirage People" by Kanigher and Ross Andru featuring The Suicide Squad from B&B #38, and "You Can't Hide From A Deadman", a Batman/Deadman team-up from B&B #86 by Bob Haney and Neal Adams. If you can only pick up one digest, then this classic is definitely the one. Great stories and art make for a great afternoon of comic reading!

Best Of DC Digest #21

From February, 1982 comes this beauty reprinting three adventures of the first super hero team, the legendary Justice Society Of America. I always enjoyed the JSA from their yearly team ups with the Justice League but I had never at that time read any of their 1940's adventures. This issue reprinted "The Day That Dropped Out Of Time" from All Star Comics #35 with art by such greats as Joe Kubert, Irwin Hasen, Lee Elias, Paul Reinman, and Frank Harry. I loved the story and wanted to read more Golden Age JSA stories. This issue also reprinted the more recent "The Untold Origin Of The Justice Society" from DC Special #29 by Paul Levitz and Joe Station, and "The Big Super Hero Hunt" featuring Starman and Black Canary from The Brave And The Bold #62 by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson. All this plus a beautiful George Perez cover! What more could you ask for?

Best Of DC Digest #3

In addition to my love of treasury sized comics growing up, I also had a deep affection for their polar opposite, the Best Of DC digest sized comics. A lot of digests offered my first exposure to reprints of Golden and Silver Age strips that I had never seen before. They were also very easy to cart around on car trips and were easy to stick in my desk at school while the teacher wasn't looking. This issue, from February, 1980, was one of the first digests I ever bought. I really love the cover by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez. It had a different vibe than the normal comic cover. It was great, as most covers by Lopez were. This particular issue reprinted "The Cosmic Hit Man" from Super Friends #3 by E. Nelson Bridwell and Ramona Fradon, "Man, Thy Name Is Brother" from Justice League #57 by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, "Riddles And Rockets" from Super Friends #4 by Bridwell and Fradon, "Eye Of The Beholder" from Teen Titans #18 by Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, and Bill Draut, and "The Monster Menace" from Super Friends #10 once again by the great team of Bridwell and Fradon. I'll post a couple more covers of my favorite digests soon.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Justice League #160

One of my favorite comics growing up was Justice League Of America. In fact, many times during the late '70's when my dad said I could only get one comic (that .35-.50 price was just so expensive you know!) I would often pick the JLA. I think the appeal of the book for my 8 year old mind was that a multitude of heroes was in every issue. I could get my fix of Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, and the rest in one fell swoop. This particular issue, cover dated November, 1978, was a big favorite. It gave me my first exposure to the annual team ups between the JLA and the Justice Society. I was blown away by these stories. I was giddy with excitement every year afterwards when I saw that they were teaming up again. A big reason I liked JLA was the art. The vastly underrated team of Dick Dillin (pencils) and Frank McLaughlin (inks) were consistently great month in and month out. Dillin drew the book for over ten years. That's impressive by itself. What's even more impressive is that the quality of the art never diminished. I got to meet McLaughlin once and was able to thank him for his great work. Unfortunately, Dillin died in 1980 while he was still drawing the book. If you like superhero teams, you can't get much better than '70's Justice League!

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Happy Super Bowl Sunday

As I'm sitting here waiting patiently for the big game to start, I thought I'd post this great Golden Age cover featuring three of the greatest heroes of the time playing America's favorite sport. You can have your Peyton Mannings and Rex Grossmans. I'll take Jay Garrick and Alan Scott any day!! I bet Wonder Woman could outplay any of those wimpy Bears or Colts! Enjoy the game. If you're not into football, then read some comics. In fact, I think I'll do both!

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