Favourite comics: Batman Family # 19 - Michael Golden, Denny O'Neil

Batman Family was an excellent anthology comic that ran for 20 issues between 1975 and 1978 which was designed to showcase solo stories featuring characters from the Batman universe including Batgirl, Robin and Man-Bat. Initially the series ran a mix of classic reprints with a couple of new stories. However, with issue 11 that all changed and it became an 80 page mag featuring all new strips illustrated by some of comics newest artistic talents. One such artist was Michael Golden who after drawing the Man-Bat series in #15 -17 took over the art chores on the Batman series from #14 until #20, the last issue of the Batman Family. For many fans Goldens Batman has remained a high point in the characters long history, for myself his Batman was always fun and exciting.

This issue also featured a Batgirl back-up.

Although #20 was the last issue of Batman Family the title merged with Detective Comics with #481 a series it out sold but DC decided to keep due to the titles importance to the company. Golden completed one final Batman story in issue 482 before moving on.

The greatest ( comic book) love of all - Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker

With Valentines day rapidly approaching I thought I would reread my old issues of "Marvel Tales" to reacquaint myself with comic books most romantic and tragic couple, Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker. I initially read about this comic book romance in the pages of the UK "Spider-Man Comics Weekly" and as a teenager and I found their relationship as fascinating and entertaining as the adventure element of the stories. I was genuinely shocked and upset when Gwen was killed off. Below are a few of the main events from Gwen and Peters time together.

Above. The first meeting between Gwen and Peter from Amazing Spider-Man #31 ( illo from Marvel Tales #24).

Above - Peter asking Gwen out on their first date from Amazing Spider-Man # 53 ( illo from Marvel Tales ,#38)

Above- Peter and Gwens first smooch from Amazing Spider-Man #59 ( illo from Marvel Tales # 42).

Above- The death of Captain Stacy put a strain on Gwen and Peters relationship from Amazing Spider-Man #90 and 91 ( illo from Marvel Tales #72)

Above- Gwen and Peter reunite after the death of Gwen's father from Amazing Spider-Man #98 ( illo from Marvel Tales #79)

Above - Sadly Gwen and Peter were not to be and with the legendary Amazing Spider-Man #121 Gwen is killed off.

Above - Like many readers at the time I had hoped that Gwen was not dead, but Amazing Spider-Man #122 nipped that hope in the bud showing Gwens body being taken away to the morgue.

Above. In Mexico , La Prensa the publisher of Spider-Man were given the go-ahead to publish an alternative storyline where Gwen did not die and she actually married Peter. Eventually the Mexican publisher had to ignore this story and Gwen was again killed off. Above illo from internet.

Favourite comics: Nova #1 John Buscema , Marv Wolfman - A new hero or Spider-Man in space?

By 1976/77 I was 16 going on 17 years old and my interest in superhero comics was starting to wane. I needed something new that would be a fun and exciting read to retain my interest in the genre and that happended in June 1976 with the first issue of Marv Wolfman's brainchild, “The Man Called Nova” ( cover above by Buckler/Sinott). Of course the main selling point about Nova was that he had more than a passing resemblance to a certain Peter Parker, with a bit of Green Lantern in his origin. The fact that issue 1 ( and #2) was illusrtated by John Buscema and Joe Sinnot added even more fun to this origin issue.

From issues 3-14 the equally great Sal Buscema took over the art chores (with Tom Palmer and Frank Giacoia on inks) and from issue 15 until #25 (the final issue) Carmine Infantino was the artist. Although the first 4 issues showed great promise with issue 5 the storyline ( for myself anyway) took on a bit of a dip by trying to emulate Lee/Kirby/Ditko's trick of trying to bring the character into the "real" world by having him visit the Marvel bullpen in order to get them to give him his own mag - unlike Stan Lee's simialr storys this failed big time, and my interest in Nova began to wane- although when I saw the above cents copy on sale recently, it didnt stop me picking it up to replace my long lost 10p UK original .

Sal Buscema - RIP

Sad news that Sal Buscema passed away on Friday 23 January at the age of 89 years old , just a few days before his 90th birthday. Sal was probably best known for his long runs on Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America, the Avengers and the Defenders. Like his late brother John, Sal worked on most titles at some point in his career and covered all genres from sword and sorcery, to romance to horror comics. Some of my earliest Marvel purchases in the late 1960’s contained Sals artwork and he has remained a favourite of mine ever since. I have followed his work from Marvel to DC and many indie publishers over the years. My personal favourite Sal comics were form the early 1970’s, but everything he did was just wonderful.

Above - Our pal Sal at the drwing board - the last of the Marvel legends?

Favourite comics: Jimmy Olsen # 135: Jack Kirby, Neal Adams

Jack Kirby came to DC in 1970 with a deal that allowed him to create and edit three brand-new interconnected titles based on concepts that had been working on during his last few years at Marvel. Seemingly his deal at DC also called for him to work on one of their existing titles which turned out to be “Superman’s pal, Jimmy Olsen” , on the face of it a strange choice for someone like Kirby to work on with his galaxy spanning concepts. However, in November 1970 with Jimmy Olsen #133, Kirby began work on what would become known as the “Fourth World” series. The first issue of Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen that I picked up was actually issue 139 and over the next couple of years I managed to pick up most of Kirbys 15 issue run on Jimmy Olsen (#133-#139 and #141 -#148) except for the above #135 (with an excellent cover by Neal Adams) which I tracked down a few years ago. Of all Kirby’s DC output at this time Jimmy Olsen and Kamandi were by far my favourites and despite the 11 -12 year old me from 1971/72, not always understanding what was going on (and who the heck Don Rickles was!!!??) I loved this series which introduced me to golden age characters like the Newsboy Legion and (my favourite) the Golden Guardian. Below are a few pages for this excellent comic with some of Kirby's best art as DC.

Happy New Year

All the best to everyone for 2026. I sometimes wish it was 1974 as in the above SHAZAM! Bob Oksner cover, but at least we can revist the 1970s from time to time through our old comics .