UTHEORY OF : JSA Savage Times TPB

Another great JSA TPB I found at Ollie's...JSA : Savage Times TPB from 2004...Collects JSA issues 39-45 from 2002-03...Great to find so many of these but the fact that they're at Ollie's means that DC printed way too many of em...More great superheroics involving many elements of DC's storied past from writers Geoff Johns and David Goyer and artists Leonard Kirk and Keith Champagne...Starts off with an eye-poppingly cheesecake Power Girl story drawn by Patrick Gleason and Christian Alamy...Another TPB that shows why JSA was one of DC's best titles for several years...

(And for a DC fan it's hard to resist any book with a cover that shows Captain Marvel fighting Metamorpho...like some lost issue of Brave & Bold or Super-Team Family...Shazam!)

UTHEORY OF : Wonder Woman Spectacular 1978 (DC Special Series # 9)

Here's another one worth checking out. Wonder Woman Spectacular (DC Special Series 9) from 1978. Actually on sale in late 1977. Glorious cover by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez and Dick Giordano. A giant WW image! An armored Hitler on a horse! Wow!

Story is a massive WW2 epic written by Jack C Harris and art by Jose Delbo, Steve Ditko and Russ Heath inked by Dick Ayers and Vince Colletta. That's quite an art combo! The legendary Ditko draws the sequences involving the gods and the Amazons and unfortunately only portrays WW herself in one panel. Did he ever draw her anywhere else?

Art is strong elsewhere as the 80-page format lends itself to larger panels and layouts. One-shot hero the Bombardier looks like a cross between Spy Smasher and Dr. Mid-Nite. Only thing is Colletta does his usual art-trampling (and maybe Ayers does too) to the point where I can't tell which non-Ditko pages are by Delbo and which by Heath. And I never thought I'd say I couldn't recognize Russ Heath's wonderful style...

Recall having this as a kid and glad I found it once again...

UTHEORY OF : Gunfighters # 61

Gunfighters was another Western title that Charlton brought back for reasons unknown in the late 70s, but it managed to last for 33 reprint-filled issues...Here's Gunfighters 61, cover-date July 1980...Excellent cover by Rocke Mastroserio had bn used in this title in 1967 and wld be used again in 1984...Charlton got its money's worth...Stories are all reprints from 1956-61...Great Kid Montana story with Pete Morisi art, but they recolored his distinctive gray hair as brown...The Kid's planning to retire until fate intervenes...Also a nice 2-page Wyatt Earp story from Morisi...Wild Bill & Jingles (Jingles! Because a hero needs a chubby sidekick) story with Maurice Whitman art, Lash Larue with Charles Nicholas art and Masked Raider with Mastroserio art all are just OK...This one's worth picking up on the cheap for that swell cover and those two Morisi stories...

UTHEORY OF : Tarzan (Limited Collectors' Edition 1974)

Another great recent pickup...Limited Collectors Edition C-29 from 1974...Two of the first eight issues of this oversized series were devoted to Tarzan, so the character must have been doing well for DC.
Reprints the 5-part Return of Tarzan story that had run in Tarzan # s 219-223 the previous year. One of the many things I love abt these DC and Marvel tabloids is the impact of seeing comic art magnified to this size. Doing so here really increases yr appreciation for Joe Kubert. Obviously an amazing war comics artist for decades, but his work on the first few years of Tarzan for DC was terrific.

UTHEORY OF : Ghosts (Limited Collectors' Edition)

Here's DC's second and final horror tabloid - Limited Collectors' Edition C-32 - Ghosts - from late 1974 (cover-dated Jan. 1975)...10 stories, all written by workhorse Leo Dorfman, who sadly passed away a few months before this issue came out.

7 of the 10 had appeared in the ongoing Ghosts title, which DC had launched in 1971 as part of its horror boom. Weird War Tales debuted the same month, giving DC six - six! - ongoing horror titles.

Dorfman wrote every story in the first several issues of Ghosts and had been writing Superman and Superman-related stories for DC since the late 1950s. Comics writer and historian Mark Evanier has said that Dorfman may have been the most prolific Superman writer of the 1960s. In addition to Ghosts, Dorfman wrote similar stories for Gold Key's horror anthologies such as Twilight Zone.

Most of the stories here are solid, with the "haunted castle" types being more entertaining than some of the international ones. Ghost lions in Africa?

Art-wise, it's a mixed bag. We get two great-looking stories by Tony Dezuniga and well-crafted ones by Jim Aparo and ER Cruz. The rest are professional but not exceptional efforts by Art Saaf, Jerry Grandenetti, Ernie Chan, John Calnan, George Tuska (inked by Nick Cardy), Jack Sparling, Frank Redondo and Gerry Talaoc.

That's a swell cover by Cardy, who drew covers for 34 of the first 35 issues of the Ghosts title.

Ghosts was kind of an odd title to feature here, since it was one of DC's newest horror titles. House of Secrets, Unexpected and Witching Hour all had been around longer. This one and the previous House of Mystery tabloid must not have sold well, since DC didn't do any others...

UTHEORY OF : Aquaman # 41

Comics like this one are why people still love the Silver Age. Aquaman 41, cover-date October 1968. Excellent cover by Nick Cardy with story by Stephen Skeates and art by Jim Aparo. This was only Aparo's second story for DC, but he already was firing on all cylinders. Many beautiful panels. He really had a knack for this character.

Story has Aquaman running into a bizarre undersea civilization while searching for Mera. More depth than the usual superhero punch-up. And I've always thought the Aquaman logo is one of the most perfect in all of comics. This issue is worth picking up if you spot it in a back issue bin...

UTHEORY OF : House of Mystery # 243

Here's another high-quality issue of House of Mystery, # 243, cover-date July 1976. Suspenseful cover art by Ricardo Villagran. First story is a twist tale with a bit of an ecological edge from the productive mind of Bob Haney, well-supported by eye-catching art from Franc Reyes. Reyes only did 18 stories for DC, mostly in the 70s, including 5 Tarzan tales. Wish he would have done more. His work creates a positive impression.

Second story is a creepy number about one of those fortune-telling machine dummies. Brrr... Written by Sheldon Mayer with unsettling art by Jess Jodloman.

Having sampled a few different titles now, it's looking like HOM may have been DC's best-written horror book of the mid-70s.

UTHEORY OF : Kobra # 3

Kobra was one of the more bizarre titles of the 70s. Here's Kobra 3, cover-date July 1976. A gonzo Ernie Chua cover. Look at that robot! Totally looks like Bender from Futurama. And a purple background! Outstanding!

Story by Marty Pasko with interior pencils by Keith Giffen and inks by Terry Austin and Dick Giordano. This was the title's third art team in as many issues. Wld go on to have six in first six before finally getting same art team in 7th and final issue. That kind of volatility plus a bimonthly publishing schedule cldnt have helped...

But it's kind of amazing that DC gave a brand new villain his own comic in the first place. Jack Kirby was listed as plotter in issue 1, so maybe he was to be involved somehow. But never happened. The main plot was Kobra battling his own twin brother, and Pasko threw in all sorts of spies, doubles, world domination, etc. Great 70s stuff. Giffen also was doing the great page designs he was doing in All-Star and later wld do in Defenders. Pretty much imitating Kirby and Steranko and doing a decent job of it.

Villain Solaris is "a crazed astrophysicist" who goes bad after not being recognized for his work. At one point in this story, he's even crying about it. Ah, the 70s...

Kobra later wld battle Aquaman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman & the Outsiders, but it's really kinda surprising that DC didnt use him even more. Criminal mastermind...global network...just add superhero!

UTHEORY OF : Superboy # 214

My Cigar Band collection rolls on. Here's Superboy 214, cover-date January 1976. So basically for the first few years of his career, Mike Grell could draw fight scenes and beautiful women but not much else, but his skill with fight scenes and beautiful women made him a fan favorite? Do I have that about right?

That's a Grell cover. First story here written by Jim Shooter and drawn by Grell. Second story written by Cary Bates and drawn by Grell and Bill Draut. First one involves a bratty kid stranded on a machine planet and seems about 10 years out of date for the mid-70s. Maybe Shooter wrote it in the mid-60s then forgot about it. Second one has a nice focus on Shrinking Violet.

As a younger fan, I never noticed the peaks and valleys of early Grell, but man, it really shows in some of these issues. Maybe the workload of this title plus Green Lantern and random other features was proving to be too much, but lots of panels just look unfinished.

Except for the fight scenes and beautiful women, of course...

UTHEORY OF : World's Finest # 249

Sometimes the absolute random craziness of DC's 70s anthologies was part of the attraction. Here's World's Finest 249, cover-date March 1978. That's a great Jim Aparo cover! A vampire Superman tangling with Batman n Phantom Stranger! Take my dollar! 

Page one has the WF heroes welcoming Creeper to the comic. Gotta love DC cheesiness! Then 20 pages of Supes, Bats and PS battling underwater vampires courtesy of Bob Haney and the unlikely cartoonish art of Kurt Schaffenberger inked by Tex Blaisdell. Haney wrote almost 1,000 stories for DC from the mid-50s to early 80s, but his superhero work didnt begin til the mid-60s. That's when the wackiness truly began. The man cld write fast-paced stories taking his heroes in any direction. And his disregard for continuity was legendary. Whaddaya mean Batman never had a brother or a son? Do you want a good story or what? Story here is equally bizarre, but Schaffenberger's style makes it seem like an episode of Scooby-Doo...not that that's a bad thing...

Then 20 pages of Green Arrow n Black Canary fighting Hellgrammite - who oddly enough was more of a Creeper foe - and a gangster who somehow thinks Ollie Queen is Batman, leading GA to spend most of the issue in a Batman costume. Story by Gerry Conway with art by Trevor Von Eeden n Vince Colletta...

The Creeper - one of my favorite characters - makes his return in an 8-pager written n drawn by the legendary Steve Ditko...goofy story abt sabotage at the TV station where Creeper alter ego Jack Ryder works...Ditko was so excited to have a feature again that he gets the villain's name mixed up by the end...

Wraps up with 15 pages of Wonder Woman n Sgt. Rock (!) battling Dr. Psycho during WW2...more bizarre stuff written by Conway with art by Mike Vosburg n Bob Smith...The dollar-sized WF was many things in the 70s, but it was never boring...

UTHEORY OF : Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams

As Neal Adams was rocketing to fame in the late 60s on Deadman, DC somehow thought he wldnt be able to handle Batman as well. So he went to a different editor there and got work on World's Finest and Brave & Bold, resulting in the great run of stories from 1968-69 that are collected here. Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams from 2003. You get WF 175 and 176 and B&B 79-85. Fantastic stuff. Adams handling most art chores by himself with all of those classic B&B stories written by Bob Haney. Batman teams with Deadman, Creeper, Flash, Aquaman, Teen Titans, Sgt. Rock and Green Arrow. Adams' hyper-realistic art and creative page layouts were something comics had rarely seen before...

This was one of my bargain buys from Ollie's...Quite the steal...

UTHEORY OF : Haunted # 38

Tracked down this one recently...Haunted 38, cover-date October 1978...Can recall buying it off of a spinner rack at a convenience store in my hometown of Warren OH...Cover art by Joe Staton taken from a panel of an interior story...First story is a new "mistaken identity" tale probably written by Joe Gill with surprisingly creepy art by Charlton mainstays Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia...The Staton story is next, written by Nic Cuti and reprinted from the first issue of Midnight Tales in 1972...Great twist ending...Wraps up with a "sell your soul" story, also likely by Gill, with cheesecake art from Spanish artist Jorge Galvez that had to flirt with the edge of the Comics Code, if the Code was even bothering to review Charlton titles in the late 70s...This was part of the great unwinding of Charlton's new content as these titles moved to all-reprint, but still proof you cld often find good material in Charlton comics...

UTHEORY OF : Marvel Treasury Edition # 3

Marvel chose Thor for one of its very first treasury comics. Here's Marvel Treasury Edition 3 from late 1974. Swell cover art by John Romita...

Reprints the Thor vs. Hercules saga that ran in the final issue of Journey into Mystery and the first five issues of the renamed Mighty Thor in 1966. Legendary stuff from Stan Lee and the art team of Kirby and Colletta. Epic fight scenes and wondrous Asgardian architecture.

But of course here comes the obligatory shot at Vince Colletta. Once every page or two, he has a panel where he just kinda mails it in. You can usually see it in the faces and especially the eyes, which he often turned into blank ovals. And those panels are even more obvious when blown up to 11 x 17 as they are here.

Colletta worked in the industry forever and was great at making deadlines but still had plenty of detractors. Let's just say Kirby had better inkers.

Marvel only did one other Thor-focused treasury, so sales must not have been that great. The character did however appear on the covers of three others, including one with the Avengers.

The DC and Marvel treasuries and tabloids remain some of my most cherished comics. This one seems harder to track down than some of the others. I'm glad I found it...