Theagenes

April 1939. I'm not sure how accurate the "8" rating is, but the only other one I've seen for sale recently is the one on Metro (which I've had my eye on), but it's a slightly lower grade and it's a file copy so it probably has one of those "Western Publishing" stamps on the front cover.

Just got my first Gerber 8. First appearance John Carter of Mars:

Kind of cool that this thread got bumped since it was the first thread I ever posted when I joined a couple of years ago. I still have to go with my original pick for all the reasons in my original long-winded post a few pages back - Conan #1.

Very nice! Oh my - I think I see a nipple!

If anyone knows where to find a copy of #36 please let me know.

This was waiting for me when I got home today. File copy from Metro. One of my grails - 1st John Carter of Mars cover appearance.

Nice! So who was his "Shocking Co-star"?

Yeah, Buck Rogers definately has the patent on the whole "crested helm and jetpack" look that became such an archetype in mid-20th century sci-fi, even up to the late 60's with Captain Marvel of the Kree (crested helm anyway sans jetpack). Flash Gordon and Brick Bradford are also usually cited as Buck Rogers knock-offs as well. Of course they are all John Carter of Mars knock-offs as he was the original contempory earthman transported through space and/or time to an alien world in your basic fish-out-of-water scenario. Early sci-fi kicks !

I already posted this in the Pedigree thread in general, but I'm really happy to have found this and I want to show it off some more; and this is one of the first times I got a GA book that I thought was really cigar-worthy. Besides I don't have anyone else to show my cool finds to, since none of my friends collect comics and all I ever get from the wife is "That's nice dear."

Yeah, It's kind of weird. He appeared on a couple of the anniversary type issues along with other Famous Funnies regular characters like #100 and also #144 I think, but this is his only solo cover until #209. It came out right after Buck Rogers #1 and before #2, so they were probably trying to drum up interest in the new solo series by putting him on the cover. It's a really undervalued book IMO (though I suppose I'm a little biased).

Thanks! It's amazing that throughout the whole 200+ issues run of Famous Funnies, this is the only real Buck Rogers cover until the Frazetta issues in the 50s. It's a sweet copy - now I've got my eye on a couple of the Lost Valley Tip Top Tarzan covers. Next payday!!

Lost Valley from Basement Comics. After 25+ years of collecting, this is actually my first pedigree! Now I want more! I've been looking for a nice copy of this one for a long time so I'm stoked I found this. I love this cover.

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed the post. Like I said I have a real interest in this topic. Maybe it's just cool that the comics I was reading when I was a kid finally have their own "Age." On the other hand it makes me feel a little old. Zonker, I understand your point about Conan not being an original comic book character, but I don't really think it's a problem in this case. When most mainstream average people think of Conan they usually think of the movies and the Marvel Thomas/Smith/Buscema Conan comics. Not many people really know about REH and Weird Tales. It's true the L. S. de Camp edited Ace/Tor paperbacks that came out in the 60's were very popular, but Marvel's version of Conan is what most people picture in their mind when they think of Conan. Did you know that Roy Thomas actually co-wrote the first version of the screen play for the movie? But then they decided to go a second version by some guy named Oliver Stone. But at any rate it was Marvel that brought Conan into mainstream pop culture and made the movies possible. My only real complaint against Conan #1 as the start of the Bronze Age in October 1970 is it excludes a number of earlier books with more in common with what followed (Bronze Age) than what preceeded (Silver)-- - Detective 395, 397, 400, 402 (Adams books) - Batman 219 (Adams) - Green Lantern / Green Arrow 76-79 (O'Neil/Adams) - Teen Titans 25-29 (disillusioned TT give up costumes, take on new members) - JLA 78-83 (JLA leave Earth) These are good points and I don't disagree. That's why I really don't have a problem with having a different book for Marvel and DC. That really better reflects reality. As joe_collector pointed out, it was Marvel that was really the one experimenting with different genres as well more sophisticated content. DC for the most part (there are exceptions of course) stuck the superhero genre, but made their chararcters grittier, etc. When you look at that way, Conan best epitomizes what Marvel was doing in the BA, while GL/GA best epitomizes what DC was doing. But I had forgotten that Detective 400 (1st Man-Bat) preceded GL/GA. Now I'm leaning toward that book as the first DC Bronze Age comic. Man-Bat is definitely a Bronze Age character on many levels, and not just chronologically. He's ambigous as to whether or not he's a hero or villain/monster, etc. Also 400 isn't a no. 1, but it is a nice round symbolic number. I still think Conan no.1 is more significant and representative of the time period, so if I had to pick one book I would go with that one, but it is probably more accurate to have Conan no. 1 for Marvel and Det. 400 or GL/GA 76 for DC, ala Showcase 4 and FF no.1 in the Siver Age.

OK, I'm a newbie here and this is a topic I'm very much interested in so I thought I would throw in my two cents. I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I've been doing a lot thinking about this subject and I'd like to get all of my thoughts out there. First a brief intro: I've been reading and collecting comics since I was a kid in the mid-70s (i.e. the Bronze Age). I'm also an archaeologist, so I really get into these arbitrary and somewhat artificial classifications of time periods. If you think arguing over whether or not GL/GA no. 76 is Silver or Bronze is problematic, imagine arguing over whether a pottery shard is Late Minoan IIIB or Late Minoan IIIC. Anyway, I think that ComicInvester has best represented my own opinions on what constitutes a "Bronze Age comic." If you pick up a random comic from the 60's and a random comic from the 70's, there is clearly a difference. The artwork is different, the story is different, and there is good chance that the genre will be completely different. The evolution that took place in comics during the late 60's and early 70's reflected in many ways the changes that had taken place in American society during the 60's.The turmoil of the 1960’s and early 1970’s changed American society forever. The struggle for civil rights, the Vietnam War, the assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK, Watergate – all of these events forced Americans to reassess how we view authority, government, or society and our place in the world. Good vs. evil no longer seemed satisfactory as explanations for the way the world worked. Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? Dudley Do-Right superheroes and Snidley Whiplash villains just wouldn't cut it anymore. America had come of age and lost its innocence forever, and comics quickly followed suit. The super-hero genre did not fade in popularity with the transition from the Silver Age to the Bronze Age as it had at the end of the Golden Age, but rather the super-hero comic book grew and adapted with its audience. That audience was more cynical now and the stories were forced to become more sophisticated; they were forced to have more depth. Gone were the episodic one or two issue stories of the Silver Age, replaced by larger story arcs and continuous narratives, giving us a chance to see characters grow and develop. Stories dealt with more serious issues such as drugs, sex, racism and death. African-American characters began to appear finally, even one with the politically charged name of Black Panther. So unlike the transition from the Golden Age to the Atom Age, super-hero comics in the early Bronze Age were not replaced by other genres, but rather they were joined by them. Atom Age staples such as science fiction and horror returned to American pop culture in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The resurgence of science fiction was partially a result of the space program and the Apollo program, as well as the emergence of Star Trek reruns as an surprise hit in syndication. Horror was made popular again by Hollywood, from the Christopher Lee Dracula movies of the late 60’s to the heyday of the slasher flick in the late 70’s. But they were also joined by a new genre that reached its height of popularity in the 1970’s – fantasy. The rediscovery of the works of Tolkein during this period help to clearly define fantasy as a genre of its own (as distinct from science fiction, with which it has often been lumped together), and riding on Tolkein’s rather large coat-tails were other authors like R. E. Howard and Michael Moorcock. Dungeons and Dragons appeared for the first time in the 1970’s; the lyrics of bands like Led Zeppelin and The Blue Oyster Cult were immersed in Tolkein and Moorcock references. It seemed as though every heavy metal album had a cover painting by Boris Vallejo. When Star Wars appeared in 1977, it revolutionized science fiction, but many of its elements are pure fantasy in a science fiction setting, and that was certainly no accident given the influence of Joseph Campbell on Lucas’ storytelling. Many of the young people (myself included) who were listening to that music, playing D & D, and reading Tolkein, Howard and Moorcock were also reading comic books, and comic books were quick to take up this burgeoning new genre. From Conan to Elric to Kull to Cerebus to Elf Quest, the Bronze Age is unique for being the period in which fantasy found its place in the industry. Another new genre of the Bronze Age, less important than fantasy, but still worthy of note, is that of martial arts, which first appeared in the mid-seventies with the sudden popularity of Bruce Lee’s movies and reached its high-water mark with the ninja fad of the early 1980’s. As mentioned above, African-American characters finally began appearing with greater frequency in the Bronze Age. As “Blaxploitation” movies such as Shaft and Dolemite began appearing in theaters, what could be called “Blaxploitation” comics began appearing on newsstands, with characters such as Black Panther, Black Lightning, Black Goliath, and Luke Cage. Another characteristic of the Bronze Age that cannot be overlooked is the variety of formats that begin to appear – comic magazines, giant size editions (of various page lengths), digests, treasury editions, and graphic novels. The black and white magazine format, including Vampirella, Savage Tales, Savage Sword of Conan, Rampaging Hulk, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu and Dracula Lives, and later color magazines such as Heavy Metal and Epic Illustrated are notable because they were intentionally aimed at an older, more mature audience and contained more graphic content, such as hardcore violence, sexual material and nudity. This is something that would have been unthinkable in earlier periods. Savage Tales no.1, in particular, should be considered a very significant early Bronze Age book. Not only does it contain the first appearance of Man-Thing, but it also contains stories from most of the non-super-hero genres that were popular in the Bronze Age: fantasy (Conan, Kazar), horror (Man-Thing), science fiction (Femizons), and African-American interest (Black Brother). As such, it is a fascinating early example of the trends that would dominate the Bronze Age. Once we have a general idea of the characteristics and trends of the Bronze Age, we should look at the significant events of the period, by which we can attempt to define an absolute chronological framework. In comic book terms, “significant event” usually means the first appearance of a major character, so it is there that we should start. It should be no surprise that most of the major characters that make their debut (or received their own series) in the Bronze Age are not traditional super-heroes, but fit better into the other genres we have discussed, such horror (Swamp Thing, Dracula, Ghost Rider, Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing, The Cat/Tigra, Man-Bat), fantasy (Conan, Kazar, Kull, Red Sonja, Cerebus, Elric, Shanna the She-Devil, Elfquest), African-American (see above), or martial arts (Iron Fist, Shang-Chi the Master of Kung Fu, Elektra, TMNT). In fact the only major characters making their first appearance in the Bronze Age that fit the traditional super-hero model are the new X-Men, Punisher, Moon Knight, Huntress and Spider-Woman (there are others no doubt, but these are the once that come to mind right away). But first appearances are not the only events in comic book history that can be called significant. Dramatic events in story telling are also very important and with respect to the Bronze Age, this means looking for the point at which the stories become more mature and sophisticated. Obviously the Green Lantern/Green Arrow run (nos.76-89) by O'Neill and Adams is one of the first examples of this new trend in story telling. For Marvel it has been suggested that the death of Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man no. 121 represents a similar turning point and indeed, this was a major moment in comic history. But I would submit that the change to a more mature story content actually took place earlier in the same title, ASM, with the non-Code approved “drug issues” in issues 96-98. If the creation of the Comics Code Authority brought an end to the elements that were unique to the Atom Age, then surely the first time a major publisher rebelled against the Code, opened the doorway to many of the elements that would make the Bronze Age unique. Choosing one book to mark the beginning of the Bronze Age is a daunting task, given the number of factors that must be taken into account. Ideally the book should contain the first appearance of a major character; that character should be a type that epitomizes the unique qualities of the Bronze Age; it should mark a change in artistic style that exemplifies the evolution of comic book art into the more modern style; and finally, its storyline should reflect the more mature writing style of the Bronze Age. There are three candidates, which I believe best fit some or all of these criteria (listed in chronological order): Vampirella no. 1 (first appearance of Vampirella; art by Adams), GL/GA no. 76 (beginning of more mature storytelling), and Conan the Barbarian no. 1 (first comic book appearance of Conan and Kull; art by Windsor-Smith). Vampirella no. 1 is the earliest of these three, published in September 1969, but although it is the first comic work to fit the label of Bronze Age, it was in a B&W magazine format, and not a traditional comic book. One poster mentioned this book, but it was quickly dismissed because of the magazine format. It could be argued, however, that this fact works in its favor, since unusal formats are one of the characteristics of the Bronze Age. The earliest work then, chronologically, in the traditional comic book format, is GL/GA no.76, published in April 1970, but is it a landmark enough book to truly mark the beginning of the Bronze Age? It represents the Bronze Age in terms of story and art, but it doesn't introduce a new character and doesn't represent any the new genres that exemplify the uniqueness of the period. Conan the Barbarian no.1, published in October 1970, however, fits all of these criteria as several posters have elaborated in great detail, and for this reason I believe it is the best choice for a single book that truly represents the beginning of the Bronze Age. Conan the Barbarian no.1 is my preferred choice for another reason – the artwork of Barry Smith (by no means am I discounting Adams, who was more influential over-all). The Smith Conan run, from no. 1 to no. 24 (sans 17 and 18 which were drawn by Gil Kane), has been somewhat overlooked among comic book art historians. Within this run, one can see, in a sense, a microcosm of the artistic revolution that was taking place in comic book art at this time. In the early Conan issues, Smith’s style is very reminiscent of his mentor, Jack Kirby, but as the issues go by, you can see his own unique style begin to form and emerge. By the later issues (19-24), his pre-Raphaelite influence is readily apparent and his line work is so detailed it borders on crowded, until his work reaches a crescendo with the stunningly elaborate cover for no. 24, in which you can see the precursor of the later work of artists such as Byrne and Perez. You can see within this short run the evolution from Silver Age art to Modern Age art. The safest course, I suppose, would be to consider GL/GA no.76 the first DC Bronze Age book and Conan no. 1 the first Marvel Bronze Age book. But if you put a gun to my head and forced me choose one book then I would have to go with Conan no.1. If Conan the Barbarian no.1 marks the beginning of the Bronze Age, then where does it end? For DC, this question is easily answered. In the 1950’s, when DC created new updated versions of their traditional heroes, beginning with the Flash in Showcase no. 4, they ushered in the Silver Age. In order to explain the problems of character aging and continuity, they soon came up with the concept of alternate earths. The Golden Age versions of their heroes were on Earth-2 and the new Silver Age versions were on Earth-1. Whenever any sort of continuity problem cropped up or when DC acquired the rights to characters from other companies, such as Captain Marvel, new earths were created to fix the problem. With the Crises on Infinite Earths mini-series, published in 1985-86, DC quite consciously brought an end to this cosmic framework that was a product of the Silver and Bronze Ages, and essentially started over from scratch. For a historian like myself, that is as clear an epochal dividing line as World War II. The dividing line for Marvel is not so clear-cut, but I would suggest that the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars mini series (1984-85) marked an important nexus for the Marvel Universe, and many of the major books took a new direction as a result of that series. Spider-Man received his new black costume (later Venom), the membership of the Fantastic Four changed for the first time with She-Hulk replacing the Thing, and the relationship between the X-Men, Magneto and the other Marvel superheroes was changed forever. Secret Wars was clearly a watershed moment in the Marvel universe, if a bit more subtle than Crisis on Infinite Earths. Now, what to do with GS X-Men no.1? Clearly it was a turning point, though its influence wasn't felt until several years after it came out. I can understand the idea put forth that the periods of 70-75 and 75-84/85 might represent two Ages or two sub-periods of one larger Age, but to say that the Bronze Age begins with GS X-Men and the period from 70-75 is a different interegnum period is non-sensical (though I kind of like 'Weird Age'). What we are talking about here is simply an arguement of nomenclature rather than substance and since most people already associate the books of the early 70's with the term "Bronze Age" it is too late to change it now. If you want to recognize a dividing line with GS X-Men no. 1 then perhaps it would be better to recognize an Early Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age. But it is important to remember that interest in the non-superhero genres did not disappear in 1975. The kids that were reading Conan and Dracula comics in the early 70's were the teenagers that were playing D&D and watching horror movies in the late 70's. Thanks for the opportunity to present my opinions on this topic and I apoligize again for the length of the post but I was on a roll and rambling a bit there.