Finding that jumping on point in collecting comics.....so many choices!

Okay, I am the first to admit, its hard to choose a point to jump onto an established comic book. I collect mostly bronze and silver age books, so I am naturally biased; the point being I will not promote a book I  have not read, and I have read a lot more comics than I currently own. So I am gonna stick to what I know is good.

Avengers 16 : a great silver age turning point for the book and the characters as its the first time the group brought in new characters to fill its ranks. In this case, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch. The angle? A group of upstart heroes led by Captain America and a radical change in the power structure. The original Avengers team was over powered, both with and without the Hulk, so now any one of their old villains could pose a greater threat.

Fantastic Four 44 : With the addition of Joe Sinnott's inking Jack Kirby, the book sustains a new, polished look starting with this issue, the introduction of the Inhumans. The issues that follow are incredible, as the art is crisp and storylines great. Following the Inhumans is the added attraction of the first Galactus-Silver Surfer saga, and the introduction of The Black Panther.

Spider-man 39 : The new artistry of John Romita ushers in a new, more streamlined look to Spidey, taking the book in different, if not better, direction from the Steve Ditko era.
This issue also begins the long awaited reveal of The Green Goblin as the father of Peter Parker's friend, Harry Osborn.

Thor 130: The beginning of a truly cosmic saga for the thunder god. It introduces the Colonizers of Rigel , followed by Ego, the Living Planet, and The High Evolutionary. The art is by Jack Kirby, this time inked by Vince Colletta, in a bold, mythic style.

There are more jumping on points to catalog, but I will stop here today, and follow up with more posts later.

What my Dad gave me and why I cannot let it go! SPIDER-MAN TREASURY NUMBER ONE!

Its true. I lived in a different world, in a different time.... But my parents were alive back then, and they had introduced me into the world of comics in hopes I would learn to read a little better. It worked, too well for their frugal tastes. So when we moved into Bristol, Tennessee, on a block facing my school,  I was pretty happy as a kid. Then the day came at the 7-11 that I begged my dad  for a really big, over-sized comic book; the first Spider-man treasury edition.....

It was worth all the begging. I was so happy Dad got it for me. It reprinted stories that were expensive to buy in the adult world of comic books, and the scale... well it was huge. 

Dad and Mom suggested, no doubt from this encounter, that I find  some ways to earn my comics, this of course led to me pilfering for change in couches and chairs, and to loading up bottle after glass bottle of Pepsi cola to turn into comic book gold. I could get a fair exchange at the 

7-11 by loading up my bottles into my sturdy red wagon and pulling it to the store, about six blocks away. I stayed outta trouble a lot so I could get an extra book now and then, just for being less of a problem than my siblings. It was an adventure that paid off, well worth the walk. Candy was not my friend anymore, just comic books. I learned the value of a dollar, plus tax. 

My daughter pointed out to me a year or so ago, that I really did love comic books, and she was right. I do not think she fully understands why. Comic Books were not just a tool to improving my reading, it was a way to get out of a world  I did not always comprehend, into a world where the lines were a little more defined by good and evil. Aside from Dad, I needed all the heroes I could get. I am forever grateful for Dad and Mom relenting and putting up with my pastime. As an adult and a teen, I had the comic book bug very bad.  Video games were on the horizon, but really good consoles were far off from my childhood. 

And so my life was enriched by comic books. Spider-man and Peter Parker both had more problems than I did, and yes, it did make me feel better.  Even my sister indulged me occassionally, as she sweet and was really the first person to realize how much   I needed them in my life. My brother never got it, but then, a lot of older brothers never got it, so that was okay i guess. So, if you run across this book, as well as its giant cousins, indulge yourself in some oversized fun.  I still have my copy. One day I will put it in a frame, though not a slab. I couldn't re-read it now and then if I decided to slab it.

MARVEL TREASURY EDITION 1

THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN

REPRINTS  The Amazing Spider-man #8, 14, 42, and 90 and Marvel Superheroes #14 and with excerpts from The Amazing Spider-Man #72 and The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1.

Collecting the FANTASTIC FOUR from the sixties.....

Jack Kirby's run on the Fantastic Four is legendary; he came up with some truly incredible stories and concepts for the book, but was aided by some really wonderful inkers on his run, including the two men I am naming in this article.

As I get older, I find Chic Stone's inks on the Fantastic Four to be more appealing to me. I started reading the FF through a reprint mag called Marvel's Greatest Comics, picking it up at a time when they were reprinting F.F. 69, which was inked by Joe Sinnott...

...to me, this was a great story to read, and from a period of the Fantastic Four that I would later collect as an adult. The storyline is probably the best Mad Thinker story ever, and a really intense one at that.

Whenever I would pick up a reprint or earlier issue of FF, I would often see Chic Stone's inks over Jack Kirby and find that he and Joe Sinnott had two definitely different styles of inking. In the issue below, the Fantastic Four get beaten, yes, beaten by Frightful Four in their second appearance in the book. Chic's ink work is fairly awesome....

Chic's inks was a bit more minimalist than I expected; it was good, clean, and classic, but very much different from Joe's run on the flagship Marvel title.

As I grew older, I appreciated both styles of inking, and there is a certain innocence and simplicity to Chic's work that makes it seem very sixties in its look. When Joe took over the inks, the FF got a real serious look to it, going first into the lost realm of the Inhumans and then into the cosmic odyssey of the first Galactus Trilogy......

Joe's inks gave the book a sort of grandeur unmatched at the time, with an incredible amount of detail and a powerful special effects budget that, if filmed, could only be reproduced on film by the best digital effects artists. 

The composition of the panels in the first Galactus story is incredible, and Joe really gets to push himself into some of his greatest work ever....

If you have the opportunity to read any of the classic FF from the 1960s, either in reprint or original form, I don't think you will be disappointed. There are so many good points to start at. I am gonna post a few more covers for those of you who want to look up a good era to start reading or collecting at. There are so many good places to start that I cannot list them all in one article, but here are a few favorites:

The story that started the Marvel Age of Comics......

The first Watcher story, which includes also the Red Ghost and the mysterious Blue Area of the moon. Inked by Steve Ditko, of Spider-man fame......

Not the first outing for the Thing vs. the Hulk, but one of the best, and this two part story guest-stars The Avengers.

This one issue story asks the question: what would the Thing do if he thought the Silver Surfer was trying to steal his girlfriend? 

A truly awesome story, built on a misunderstanding, that draws Spider-man and a slightly under powered Thor to the side of Daredevil who is clearly in a lot of trouble with Fantastic Four.

Postscript : For those of you who care about such things, Joe Sinnott has a Facebook page, so anyone who wants to add him and give him some love for his great work, please look him up. Joe inked the F.F. after Jack left, making many an artist look better than they actually were. 

THE STRANGE TALE OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 216 ....

The comic book pictured above, Captain America 216, 
is was not a new comic, even when it first came out. 
Oh, the cover was new, and very exciting and it sold the book to me, even though i soon discovered it was actually a reprint.  Marvel did this a lot in the 70's, whenever they did not meet the deadline for the regular book, they found a decent or obscure reprint to pop in there.

 The reprint in question is from a Silver Age Strange Tales starring The Human Torch. Since I had not read the original, I was not too disappointed with the reprinted story, even if the Captain America was not the real Cap. Turns out, it was the Torch's old nemesis, the Acrobat.

This appearance, or non-appearance of Cap pre-dates his return in the Avenger's fourth issue. Apparently Stan and Jack were selling people on the idea, before actually bringing the real one back. A pretty good idea, but somewhat confusing to people wanting to collect old Captain America books. Cap also showed up again, fighting Iron Man in Tales of Suspense, only this time it was not the Torch's whats his name nobody criminal. This time, it was The Chameleon, Spidey's old nemesis in the red, white, and blues.

All of this is good and well, as it helped reignite interest in Cap. Strangely enough, Captain America debuted in the very next issue of Tales of Suspense, and yes, its the real one, the one The Avengers fished out of the frozen waters of the north. If you are looking to buy Cap's first re-appearance start with Avengers 4. If you are looking for Cap's first new solo strip since the Golden Age, that starts in Tales of Suspense 59.

For those who read or collect comics from the Silver Age, you really won't be disappointed with Marvel's cliffhanger superhero serials Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense, or Tale to Astonish.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Strange Tales:
Doctor Strange starts out in this book, ends up sharing space with the Torch for a while, until Nick Fury starts in issue 135. Torch had a good run, and his appearance in Strange Tales could be really called Fantastic Four 2.0, as the Sue, The Thing, and Reed are frequent guest-stars.

Tales of Suspense:
Iron Man started in this book, and gets some real company when Captain America shows up in issue 59. Now the book gets really cool, as Jack Kirby does most of the artwork on the Cap series, including several issues past the title's name change with issue 100.

Tales to Astonish:
The title says it all. Ant-man starts out in this book, ends up becoming Giant-Man, and is later joined in issue 60 by The Incredible Hulk and is replaced by the Sub-mariner in issue 70. This book runs up to issue 100, changing its name in the next issue to The Incredible Hulk in issue 101.

All of these books are highly entertaining and very collectible, both in the original form, and in bound volumes offered by Marvel in their Masterworks series.

Giant Size Pissed Off Super Villain Team Up

Back in the 1970's, Marvel was trying all sorts of things in their comic book line....including the unlikely book pictured here.

I can understand the thinking here: two of Marvel's best characters, a Anti-Hero and a Supervillain, teaming up to fight...each other.

Well, it's more complicated than that, but really, thats what the cover is about...and the title of the short-lived series....

The Marvel giant-sized series are worth collecting and reading, in case none of you have heard about GS Xmen ;
And I do mean, all of them. For one thing, its a lost format, and one that I loved as a kid. You get a kick ass new story, and then at least one or two rare or obscure reprints about the main characters, for about twice the cost of a regular comic.  And yes, I really did like the reprints, cause i was not around to collect Marvel in the silver age sixties.  I especially like this version of Sub-Mariner because he is wearing the special armor created for him by Reed Richards to keep him wet and wild. It's a lot cooler than his green Aquaman trunks he got stuck wearing for years in his own book. I mean, does he like, have a whole closet full of green swim trunks? No sweatshirts? No socks with holes for his footwings? And look closely at the selfie pic circle on the cover of this first issue: Doc Doom is kinda like, 'hey, i am so tangled up in my cloak, so don't take that pic' and Namor just stands there looking like 'yeah, i'm kinda pissed off' so take your damn picture....

 I never really considered Namor a SuperVillain, and instead will refer to him as a Anti-Hero, cause he really is just kinda pissed off all the time. The good thing about Marvel and DCs' failed book lines of the 70s is that you can go back collect every issue if you like. There is only so many issues, so its a book you can actually say, 'Hey, I own every issue of that series'!