Ok, how about this for an idea. We take it in turns to post a favourite (British spelling) comic cover every day. This went really well on the comic fan website that I used to frequent. What we tried to do was find a theme or subject and follow that, until we all got bored with that theme. I'd like to propose a theme of letters of the alphabet. So, for the remainder of October (only 5 days) and all of November, we post comic cover pictures associated with the letter "A". Then in December, we post covers pertaining to the letter "B". The association to the letter can be as tenuous as you want it to be. For example I could post a cover from "Adventure Comics" or "Amazing Spider Man". However Spider Man covers can also be posted when we're on the letter "S". Adventure Comic covers could also be posted when we're on the letter "L" if they depict the Legion of Super Heroes. So, no real hard, fast rules - in fact the cleverer the interpretation of the letter, the better, as far as I'm concerned.
And it's not written in stone that we have to post a cover every day. There may be some days when no cover gets posted. There's nothing wrong with this, it just demonstrates that we all have lives to lead.
If everyone's in agreement I'd like to kick this off with one of my favourite Action Comic covers, from January 1967. Curt Swan really excelled himself here.
Date | Page/Reply | Theme (and clickable link) | Pages | Replies |
Oct 2016 | 1/1 | Letter A | 19 | 228 |
Dec 2016 | 20/1 | Letter B | 17 | 207 |
Jan 2017 | 37/4 | Letter C | 18 | 214 |
Feb 2017 | 55/2 | Letter D | 17 | 208 |
Mar 2017 | 72/6 | Letter E | 15 | 178 |
Apr 2017 | 87/4 | Letter F | 15 | 184 |
May 2017 | 102/8 | Letter G | 13 | 157 |
Jun 2017 | 115/9 | Letter H | 16 | 195 |
Jul 2017 | 131/12 | Letter I | 12 | 133 |
Aug 2017 | 143/1 | Letter J | 16 | 194 |
Sep 2017 | 159/3 | Letter K | 19 | 237 |
Oct 2017 | 178/12 | Letter L | 24 | 285 |
Nov 2017 | 202/9 | Letter M | 24 | 280 |
Dec 2017 | 226/1 | Letter N | 19 | 236 |
Jan 2018 | 245/9 | Letter O | 21 | 245 |
Feb 2018 | 266/7 | Letter P | 25 | 295 |
Mar 2018 | 291/2 | Letters Q & R | 20 | 243 |
Apr 2018 | 311/5 | Letter S | 22 | 270 |
May 2018 | 333/11 | Superman’s 80th anniversary | 21 | 250 |
Jun 2018 | 354/9 | Letter T | 21 | 250 |
Jul 2018 | 375/7 | Letter U | 17 | 207 |
Aug 2018 | 392/10 | Letter V | 19 | 228 |
Sep 2018 | 411/10 | Letter W | 20 | 233 |
Oct 2018 | 431/3 | Letter X | 15 | 180 |
Nov 2018 | 446/3 | Letter Y | 13 | 156 |
Dec 2018 | 459/3 | Letter Z | 13 | 156 |
Jan 2019 | 472/3 | Person being carried | 16 | 190 |
Feb 2019 | 488/1 | Real people | 17 | 214 |
Mar 2019 | 505/11 | Homages/parodies | 19 | 224 |
Apr 2019 | 524/7 | Green-skinned people | 17 | 207 |
May 2019 | 541/10 | Wanted posters | 17 | 201 |
Jun 2019 | 558/7 | Boxing rings | 15 | 180 |
Jul 2019 | 573/7 | Empty uniforms | 15 | 177 |
Aug 2019 | 588/4 | Beaches | 25 | 297 |
Sep 2019 | 613/1 | Apes | 28 | 340 |
Oct 2019 | 641/5 | Haunted houses/graves | 21 | 250 |
Nov 2019 | 662/3 | Motor bikes | 21 | 254 |
Dec 2019 | 683/5 | Foreign language covers | 17 | 209 |
Jan 2020 | 700/10 | Playing cards/tabletop games | 23 | 275 |
Feb 2020 | 723/9 | Valentines and Cupids | 22 | 259 |
Mar 2020 | 745/4 | Statues | 21 | 256 |
Apr 2020 | 766/8 | Elephants | 22 | 263 |
May 2020 | 788/7 | Heroes & villains cooperating | 17 | 198 |
Jun 2020 | 805/1 | The Moon | 26 | 322 |
Jul 2020 | 831/11 | Flags & patriotic symbols | 18 | 215 |
Aug 2020 | 849/10 | Foreign locations (non-US) | 20 | 233 |
Sep 2020 | 869/3 | MST3K (with commentary) | 24 | 292 |
Oct 2020 | 893/7 | Vampires and Werewolves | 20 | 245 |
Nov 2020 | 913/12 | Giants | 24 | 286 |
Dec 2020 | 937/10 | Snow & winter scenes | 24 | 289 |
Jan 2021 | 961/11 | Doppelgängers | 32 | 377 |
Feb 2021 | 993/4 | Movies | 23 | 275 |
Mar 2021 | 1016/3 | Cats/cat-themed adventurers | 22 | 263 |
Apr 2021 | 1038/2 | Dogs/dog-themed adventurers | 25 | 305 |
May 2021 | 1063/7 | Big guns/Heavy weaponry | 25 | 302 |
Jun 2021 | 1088/9 | Dinosaurs/Time Travel | 28 | 338 |
Jul 2021 | 1116/11 | Big Questions/Question Marks | 28 | 330 |
Aug 2021 | 1144/5 | Highways, Travel etc | 19 | 232 |
Sep 2021 | 1163/9 | Favourite Covers/Comics | 28 | 330 |
Oct 2021 | 1191/3 | Lineups | 21 | 260 |
Nov 2021 | 1212/11 | JSA 80th Anniversary | 23 | 269 |
Dec 2021 | 1235/4 | Logos in the action | 26 | 317 |
Jan 2022 | 1261/9 | Dynamic Duos | 29 | 348 |
Feb 2022 | 1290/9 | Romantic Scenes | 26 | 313 |
Mar 2022 | 1316/10 | Bridges | 29 | 339 |
Apr 2022 | 1345/1 | Unexpected Green | 23 | 286 |
May 2022 | 1368/11 | Neal Adams | 26 | 310 |
Jun 2022 | 1394/9 | George Perez | 19 | 227 |
Jul 2022 | 1413/8 | Parents | 30 | 356 |
Aug 2022 | 1443/4 | Fairgrounds and Carnivals | 24 | 285 |
Sep 2022 | 1467/1 | Joe Kubert | 19 | 238 |
Oct 2022 | 1486/11 | First and last issues | 27 | 324 |
Nov 2022 | 1513/11 | Classrooms and Education | 22 | 264 |
Dec 2022 | 1535/11 | Robots and Cyborgs | 33 | 392 |
Jan 2023 | 1568/7 | Trials and Courtrooms | 28 | 330 |
Feb 2023 | 1596/1 | Doctors, Nurses and Hospitals | 24 | 292 |
Mar 2023 | 1620/5 | Detectives & Murder Mysteries | 34 | 411 |
Apr 2023 | 1654/8 | Birds and Winged Creatures | 35 | 419 |
May 2023 | 1689/7 | Strength in Numbers | 48 | 570 |
Jun 2023 | 1737/1 | Horses, Centaurs & Equines | ||
Jul 2023 | Railways |
Tags:
Continuing the Shang-Chi saga, Special Marvel Edition was renamed Master of Kung Fu, but kept the numbering. Here's the first issue with the new title, #17, April 1974:
The book ran until June 1983, ending with issue #125:
But -- ! When Marvel did that "Legacy" numbering nonsense, it released issue #126 (January 2018), 35 years after the original end of the series.
ClarkKent_DC said:
When Marvel did that "Legacy" numbering nonsense...
Something similar from DC. The Atom #1 was cover-dated July 1962, though there was no number 1 on the cover.
The final issue of The Atom was #38 (cover date September 1968).
However, the numbering continued with The Atom and Hawkman. The last issue of that title - which we also saw last month as a Joe Kubert cover - was #45 (November 1969)...
...until DC published The Atom and Hawkman #46 more than 40 years later (cover date March 2010), as part of their "Blackest Night" event.
"The Atom #1 was cover-dated July 1962, though there was no number 1 on the cover."
See also the first issues of Strange Tales, Sea Devils and My Greatest Adventure already posted, all marketed with "the smart kid" in mind. We'll see more of this phenomenon before the month is through, I guarantee it.
Is the issue number important for any kinds of publications that aren't comics? Other than being a way to distinguish one issue from another?
I mean, I never knew or cared what the issue number is for Time or Sports Illustrated or People, or for mags with short stories like Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine or Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, or, really, anything but comics.
Well I guess it's important if you had a copy of The Times of London number 1. The Times newspaper has always been numbered (the current issue is number 78,670) so issue 1 would be worth a fortune. I would imagine most British newspapers are numbered.
Next up, for me, Plastic Man. He first appeared in Police Comics #1 (publisher Quality) cover dated August 1941, although he didn't manage a cover appearance until Police Comics #5.
Interesting name, Plastic Man. Plastic doesn't necessarily conjure up images of stretchable limbs, unlike say, Rubberman or Elongated Man. Plastic is generally a fixed shape which doesn't alter unless you apply heat to it.
However, in 1941, plastic was a relatively new product, and people were amazed by the way it could be molded into all kinds of different shapes. I guess Jack Cole wanted to have his new character associated with something new and exciting.
The final appearance of Plastic Man, under the Quality imprint was Police Comics #102 (October 1950). He wouldn't appear again until 1965, this time under the DC umbrella.