The Groovy 1970's Christmas Countdown: Spider-Man the Newspaper strip -Stan Lee & John Romita Snr

I don't recall ever reading the Spider-Man newspaper strip in my local/national papers but I did read them when I picked up vol 1 of the collected strips in 2005. Most newspaper adventure strip rarely had much of a Christmas storyline to them as they were probably in the middle of an ongoing adventure as the festive season arrived. However, the Spider-Man newspaper strip went all out and featured a specially written Christmas themed tale.

This story follows on from an earlier segment involving J Jonah Jamieson who hires Kraven the Hunter to capture Spider-Man. As can be seen from the above colour Sunday strip, in the story Peter heads to a department store to buy Christmas presents but it is so busy that he decides to shop as Spider-Man. The strip then meanders a bit and over the next few instalments Peter basically goes through the presents he bought and calls Mary Jane and Aunt May. The action improves (very slightly) when Spider-Man see a crook and captures him. This is not the best Christmas tale but it has a. certain charm to it and of course it is nicely illustrated by the late great John Romita.

Next up: Hot toys, comics, and Santa all in a Christmas comic!

The Groovy 1970's Christmas countdown: Amazing Adventures #5 - Black Widow by Colan, Everett and Thomas

As we begin the countdown to the big day, I thought I would look out some of my favourite 1970's comics which contained a Christmas story, or at least a tale that occurred in winter (basically anything with snow!). First up is "...And to all a Good Night" from Amazing Adventures #5 (1970) by Roy Thomas, Gene Colan, and Bill Everett. I didn't actually pick this comic up until around 1976 a year in which the UK experienced an unusually hot summer, so the winter theme of this tale may have been lost on me, but the stunning art and the Black Widow made up for that.

In 1970 when Marvel decided to launch a couple of anthology titles the Black Widow was chosen to get her own series. John Romita who was initially going to draw the feature, designed her new costume (gone were the spectacles and frumpy clothes etc) bringing her into the 1970's. As it turned out John Buscema drew the first few issues before Gene Colan took over the art chores.

In 1976 my knowledge of the Black Widow was limited to her occasional appearances in the pages of the Avengers (UK weekly) and in the Iron Man tales that were reprinted in "Spider-Man Comics Weekly". Most of these tales were drawn by Don Heck so it came as a pleasant surprise to 16-year-old me to see Gene Colan's wonderfully sexy art on Natasha showing her in the shower naked (although covered up by a strategically placed towel).

In this story a young man is about to kill himself when Ivan, the Black Widows chauffeur saves his life. It turns out the young man is mixed up with a dangerous gang led by the Astrologer who want him dead. Ivan gives the teen the Black Widows card telling him that she can help him. In the end the young man sacrifices himself to save Natasha. A rather dark tale for 1970.

To wrap up a wonderful issue was the lead "Inhumans" strip in Amazing Adventure illustrated by the great Neal Adams. Below is the cover to this excellent comic.

Next up, Spider-Man at Christmas, but not the Spidey of the comic books!

Naughty comics: Bernie Wrightson & Vaughn Bode - Purple Pictography

In 1971, legendary underground comix artists Vaughn Bode briefly teamed up with then newcomer and future comic book superstar, Bernie Wrightson for a strange collaboration on a series of "adult" themed comic shorts called "Purple Pictography" for the US men’s magazine "Swank" . At the time Bode was very busy on other work and had asked his friend Bernie if he would illustrate some of his stories. The result was a series on beautifully painted strips in a cartoon style by the man that would soon take on the artistic chores on DC's "Swamp Thing" comic. Below are a few of the first pages featuring Bernie’s art in what was one of the most bizarre collaborations in US comics.

Bode had drawn a few of the strips in his own style before he asked Wrightson for his assistance. Together the team produced five 3 page strips before the series ended.

The Bode and Wrightson strips were collected by the Fantagraphics Eros line. Originally the above strip as printed in black and white but the colour version of Bernie's art was printed in this collection.

Below as a special treat is the full 3 pages from the "Monster's Thing" (Frankenstein ) strip. It's strange to think that in 1971 these comics would have been considered pretty risky whereas today they are for the most part (some of Bode's pages are still a bit out there) pretty tame.

Next up the Christmas countdown.

Favourite Comics: Challengers of the Unknown #74 - Neal Adams, George Tuska, Bernie Wrightson

The Challengers of the Unknown (created by Dave Wood and Jack Kirby ) had their own title which ran for an impressive 77 issues (1958-1970) following their test run which began in Showcase# 6 (February 1957). Despite the titles relatively long run this was a comic that I was unaware of and my introduction to the team would have to wait until issue 79, when the title was re-launched as a short lived all-reprint comic in 1973. It wouldn’t be until 1977 when DC rebooted the title under the stewardship of Gerry Conway and hot artist Mike Nasser when I would become a fan of the team. Although this new series did not last long it whetted my appetite for the team and in 1981, I eventually tracked down my first “Challengers” back issue, the above #74 (1970) featuring art by Neal Adams, George Tuska, Bernie Wrightson and Henry Boltinoff !!!! Below are a few pages from this excellent issue.

As can be seen from the above splash page and cover, Deadman guested in issue 74, an occult story drawn half and half by Tuska and Neal Adams who, at that point, was the only artist who got to draw Boston Brand. Although Adams and Tuska's styles would not be considered compatible, as a fan of both artists I loved this issue even although Tuska's pages had a touch of "Scooby Doo" about them compared to Adams realistic style.

As was the norm for many DC titles at this time (1970) most issues feature a one page humour strip by the great Henry Boltinoff.

An to round of this excellent comic, DC added a one page tale by Bernie Wrightson.

Everything old is new again! - Savage Sword of Conan - Reforged #1 -John Buscema, Barry Windsor Smith

Titan comics, who currently hold the publishing rights to Conan, have released another new Conan book to add to their monthly colour "Conan the Barbarian" title and their black and white "Savage Sword of Conan magazine" that may be of interest to bronze age comic fans. "Savage Sword of Conan - Reforged" is a new magazine sized monthly that reprints coloured versions of the classic black and white tales from the legendary “Savage Sword of Conan" monthly from the 1970's, and the first issue is a decent package wrapped up in an actioned packed cover by Roberto De La Torre.

The main story in the first issue of "Reforged" is "Tower of the Elephant" by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala from Marvels "Savage Sword of Conan” #24 . I had missed this tale first time around in the US (and UK reprint) and had only previously read the Thomas / Smith version in "Conan the Barbarian" #4 - so I was more than happy to shell out £8.99 to read this. Below are a few pages from what I think is excellent magazine.

"Reforged" also features a newly coloured version of one of my favourite Conan stories, "The Frost Giants Daughter" by Thomas / Smith (originally published in black and white in " Savage tales" #1 and a coloured version reprinted in "Conan the Barbarian" #16).

This issue also sees a new coloured verion of the Robert E Howard poem "Cimmeria" by Barry Smith & Tim Conrad.

This new book is going to appeal to those bronze age Conan fans who don't have the original comics/magazines or those looking for a decent comic to read (like myself). Of course there will be those Conan/Marvel fans that don't approve or like the colouring and although I do not think the black and white versions will be surpassed, I did enjoy these coloured versions. Issue 2 features "The Devil in Iron" (from SSOC #15) which I will be picking up.

The horrific beauty of Nick Cardy's covers - From Ghosts to the Witching Hour

As most readers of this blog will be aware I am am a massive fan of Nick Cardy's covers. Cardy (1920-2013) was one of the top comic book artists of the 20th century and was easily one of the greatest cover artists ever. His covers graced most genres but perhaps he was best known for his horror covers (although DC never used the word ‘horror’ in the 1960s and 1970s) . Along with Neal Adams and John Buscema, Nick Cardy was instrumental in cementing my love of US comic books with his unique and enthralling covers that begged you to pick up the comic book to find out more about the stories contained within - although these were rarely as good as his wonderful covers suggested. To celebrate , below are some of my favourite Nick Cardy “horror” covers.

Above: "The Witching Hour" comic was one of the best of DC's mystery comics line featuring not only some of Nick Cardy's best covers but it also featured some amazing strips by the likes of Alex Toth, Neal Adams and Bill Druat. Issues 31 & 45 are 2 of my all time favourite Nick Cardy mystery covers .

Above: The Unexpected #147 - This was the first DC mystery comic that I bought based on the cover alone back in 1973.

Above: Secrets of Sinister House # 5 - I wasnt aware of this title until I saw in in a bargin bin for £1 a few years ago - I only purchased this for the cover and the fact the tale was set in Scotland. Its a bit of a strange book for DC at this time as the entire comic only featured one story.

Above: The cover to the collected "Witching Hour" Showcse collection featuring my favourite Nick Cardy mystery cover from issue 4 of the comic. I was hoping to feature 13 covers but sadly these are my last Nick Cardy mystery/horror covers.