The Spinner Rack: 1973 - Part 3

Over the last few months I have been making yet another attempt to thin out my comic book collection, partly to free up some storage space in our wee cottage and partly to enable me to access my comics more easily from my favourite decade, the groovy 1970's. In doing this I found tucked away in an unmarked box, a selection of comics from my favourite year , 1973. Below are some of my favourite comics from that great year including the above issue of Action comics #424 (cover by Nick Cardy) to add to my previous 1973 Spinner rack (Part 1 and Part 2) posts.

Above: Flash #221 - Cover by Nick Cardy

Above: Wierd Worlds #3 - Cover by Mike Kaluta

The Shadow #2 Cover by Mike Kaluta (my first "Shadow" and a classic comic book)

Shazam #2 Cover C.C Beck - This comic (not my copy above) is on a sale in Forbidden Planet (Glasgow) for £100 which seems exceptionaly high to me. I have cleaned up almost all my covers here using my natty new "Picsart" app to make them look "pretty" but regardless of my copys wear and tear, I can see it going on ebay soon lol.

Fantastic Four # 134 - Cover by John Buscema / Joe Sinnott - My first US issue of the FF was #150 and this issue (#134) was one of the first back issues I ever bought in the late 1970's.

Captain Marvel # 26 - Cover by Jim Starlin and Frank Giacoia - a repurchase from last year.

The Defenders # 11 - Cover by Sal Buscema and Frank Bolle

Thor #211 = Cover by John Buscema - Another repurchase from a few years ago.

Dead of Night #1 - Cover John Romita - I picked this issue up on a city break in Haarlem (Netherlands) in a great little comic shop for around £2 - I never had this comic back in 1973 but I just love the issue and I'm sure that 13 year old me probably drooled over the cover if it was advertised in Marvel titles.

Conan the Barbarian #26 - cover by John Romita, John Buscema and Ernie Chua - I have already shown my (newer) US cents copy of this issue but above is my original UK pence issue (tidied up on my app).

The Phantom #55 - Cover Pat Boyette - Next up more from 1973 in part 4.

Top Tens: Jim Aparo

From the first time I saw Jim Aparo’s art in the pages of DCs “The Brave and the Bold” #100 he has remained one of my favourite comic book artists of all time. His style was both realistic and yet at the same time cartoony which only added to the appeal of his storytelling. For many comic book fans Aparo’s Batman is the definitive version of the character, although that accolade for myself rests with the equally legendary Neal Adams, Jim Aparo will always be the artist that defined both Aquaman and the Spectre for me. Below are a few of my favourite covers by the great man:

Jim Aparo began his artistic career working in advertising at a Connecticut ad agency, but his true passion as a lifelong comic book fan was to become a comic book artist. In his pursuit of that goal he gained his first professional work with Charlton comics where he worked with the companies then editor Dick Giordano, providing art on (among other strips) “Nightshade” a female super-hero back-up feature that appeared in Captain Atom, and most notably on Charlton comics version of Lee Falk’s “The Phantom”.

When Dick Giordano moved to DC Comics, he took Jim Aparo with him where he worked on Aquaman and the Phantom Stranger. After seeing his excellent art on the Phantom Stranger, editor Murray Boltinoff asked Aparo to work on a Batman/Phantom Stranger team-up for “The Brave and the Bold” #98 - The rest is the stuff off comic book legend and Jim Aparo stayed on this title for almost every issue until the final 200th issue.

The mystery skier in the above cover was "Two Face"

I have shown Jim Aparo's covers for his excellent run on the Spectre when it appeared in "Adventure comics" . I couldn't leave out showing an Aparo Spectre cover and recenlty came across this issue of "Ghosts" #97 which features a great Aparo Spectre cover (sadly he didn't draw the actual strip).

Jim Aparo passed away in 2005 at the age of 72. His final work for DC during his life, was the cover of the trade edition of “Batman in the Eighties” published in 2004. To this day everytime I see one of his great covers, it always makes me smile.

Spinner Rack - 1974/75 - Part 4 - Charlton / Gold Key

The mid 1970's was a time when you could simply pop down to your local newsagents and be presented with an wide assortment of US comic books stuffed into spinner racks. And not all of these were Marvel, DC or indeed Atlas, there were other books available from companies like Skywald, Archie, King, Charlton and Gold Key comics. Of these companies Charlton produced many of my favourite titles for the period 1974/75, some of these are shown below:

"The Phantom" issues 67 (heading) and 68 above by Don Newton. I was never really that big a fan of the Phantom as a kid until Don Newton became the regualr artist on the Charlton comic.

"E-Man" isues 10 - Cover by Joe Staton. I have rambled on about my affection for E-Man in the past but it was a really wonderful comic. Sadly this was the last Charlton issue.

"Vengeance Squad" - Issue 2 - Cover by PAM (Peter Morisi) - In the 1970's TV detective shows were everywhere yet very few comic books really tried to copy this format. Vengeance Squad made a valid attempt to break into the TV detective genre but the title never took off and was cancelled after only 6 issues.

"Doomsday + 1" - Cover by John Byrne - This SF comic was John Byrne's first original colour comic series. The story which lasted for 12 isuses, featured 3 astronauts who return to Earth after a nuclear holocaust wipes out humanity and is worth searching for in the back issue bins.

"Haunted" issue 21 - cover by Don Newton. Charlton were known for their horror/mystery anthology titles each with their own "presenters" (Dr Graves etc) - with issue 21 of "Haunted" the comic introduced Baron Weirwulf as its caretaker to the macabre.

"Ghost Manor" issue 23 -Cover by Tom Sutton - This is simply my all time favourite horror/mystery anotholgy cover. Charlton, and in particular Tom Sutton produced some stunning horror covers.

"Magnus, Robot Fighter" - issue 39 - Cover by Russ Manning - This was the only Gold Key issue of "Magnus, Robot Fighter" that I ever bought.

"Ripleys, Beleive it or Not !" - issue 54 - Ripleys, Beleive it or Not! is a museum full of kitch oddities like shrunken heads, strange animal skeletons etc. It was particaltly popular in the late 1960's to the mid 1970s spawning a film, books and a Gold Key comic that lasted 94 issues. I picked up the above issue up on a holiday visit to the Blackpool Ripley's museum shop . The comic wasn't great but I liked the cover.

As with my previous 3 posts on the 1974/75 spinner rack I end this one with an Atlas/Seaboard cover. This time one of their wonderful black and white magazines "Weird Tales of the Macarbe" issue 1 - cover by Jeff Jone.

Favourite characters: E-Man (Charlton Comics)

It was around late February 1974 after a particularly bad day at school (for a reason that is now long forgotten) that I entered R S McColl’s (my newsagents of choice at this time) to buy a comic book to cheer myself up. It was there that I spied what was then a totally new superhero comic book character from a company (Charlton comics) that up until then I was unaware published superhero comics. I immediately purchased the comic called “E-Man” (issue 2) and was instantly enamoured by the story, the art and the character of Alec Tronn and his supporting cast. The success of E-Man was very much down to the characters creators, writer Nicola Cuti and artist Joe Staton. Cuti’s humorous and light-hearted writing quality just seemed to mesh perfectly with the exciting and fun art style of Joe Staton which made E-Man’s adventures and transformations great fun to read. Sadly, Charlton’s E-Man only lasted for 10 issues between October 1973 and September 1975 but in that short time the comic was for many fans one of the most creative and fun comics of the time.

Cover to E-Man issues 1 – I missed the first issue of E-Man at the time only purchasing my copy around 1987.

Originally the origin of E-Man was to be based around the story of a man who is caught in a factory explosion and becomes an energy being that could take any form of matter. However, when writer Nicola Cuti shared this idea with artist Joe Staton, he felt the origin was too similar to what had already been used many times in the past by both Marvel and DC comics. On hearing this Cuti created a new origin where E-Man was born from the energies of a star going nova (see origin page above from issue 1) and the resultant burst of pure energy gained sentience as it travelled through space in search of a home.

Cover to E-Man isues 2 (my first E-Man comic). As noted above, despite E-Man’s cult status among comic fans the Charlton series only lasted for 10 issues but in that time the comic not only produced the fun adventures of E-Man but it also featured some excellent backup strips including Steve Ditko's zany superhero "Killjoy" (page below from issue 2) the time-traveling "Travis", by Cuti and Wayne Howard; and the colour-comics debut of John Byrne's wonderful ROG-2000 character which I blogged about previously.

E-Man issues 3 introduced Michael Mauser (below) a scruffy, sarcastic private investigator who would become a regular character in E-Man's adventures.

E-Man issues 4 "City in the Sand" and issue 5 "The City Swallower" are my two favourite E-Man tales.

With issue 8 E-Man's girlfriend Katrinka Colchnzski, a brilliant college student by day, and sexy burlesque dancer Nova Kane by night, becomes the super-heroine Nova.

All things must come to an end and so it was with E-Man issue 10....well it wasn't really the end of E-man as noted in the letters page (E-Mails) E-Man would continue in the pages of the "Charlton Bullseye", a semi professional(and excellent) Charlton fan comic.

Above, the cover of the Charlton Bullseye issue 4 (cover from the Grand comicbook database) which featured the last Charlton E-Man strip by Cuti and Staton.

Of course E-Man was too good a character to keep down for long and during the independent comics boom of the 1980’S First comics produced a succesful 25 issue run of new E-Man stories. Since then E-Man has found a home with various other publishers including Comico, Alpha and Digital Webbing Press. However, all good things must finally come to an end and in 2018 Nicola Cuti and Joe Staton created the final E-Man story arc that appeared in the "Charlton Arrow". Sadly, in 2020 Nicola "Nick" Cuti passed away.

Above the final page of the last E-Man story featuring E-Man (Alex Tronn), Katrinka Colchnzski (Nova Kane) and regular back up characters Mike Mauser and Teddy Q.

Gone but not forgotten : Marvel Corner Image boxes

One of the many fascinating things about comics in the 1960’s/1970s were those great little corner box images that appeared on the covers of all Marvel comic books at this time. While they have now all but faded out of existence they were at one point in time a prominent feature of any Marvel comic book - and I loved them. As time went on and the characters costumes and/or art styles changed so to did those amazing little images on the left hand corner of the comic cover so there would be various versions of Thor, Spiderman, the Avengers etc. The corner box tradition carried on for decades until the early 1990s when for the most part, they were simply and unceremoniously dropped.

f course the corner box image wasn’t just reserved for Marvels Superhero comics as they also used them for their mystery, western and humour comics. Some of their mystery /horror images were pretty cool as can be seen above.

However, it really was the Marvel superhero corner image box that attracted my attention and made me want to pick up titles that I hadn't read before just to obtain that wee image. It really was a great marketing/branding idea and one I feel played a small, but important part of Marvels success.

Although Marvel were the main proponents of the corner box image other companies also used these including Warren publishing and even Charlton.

In the late 1990’s / early 2000’s artist Joe Jusko created a series of painted cover box images based on the originals that are pretty cool and would look amazing on the cover of any modern Marvel comic book.