Silver Age books that don't turn you on

[vaillant]

I've never been a fan of team super heroes. I always preferred Batman solo as well. Fantastic 4 is my least favorite Marvel title. I know others adore them. There are some great covers to their issues, but the concept of the FF? Nah, not for me. I read one or two, they bored me.

 

That’s precisely what the FF aren’t – a team of super-heroes. The whole concept is even more incidental than a simple family, and surely not built afterwards, based on existing heroes, like the Avengers was.

I can agree about the Avengers, nonetheless, authors managed to produce great stories after the first issues – each title has its own appeal, it just takes time and insight to appreciate it.

 

I agree there are certain periods that may be boring, especially in the late 1980s, and now the title has been mistreated for years because it’s difficult to write (unlike it may appear), but there due exceptions can be found.

[vaillant]

Yup. Fantastic Four. As a kid that started collecting in the late 80s I could not see what the fuss over the title was. Still can't.

 

Hard to be taken seriously, from one which appreciated "Sins Past"…

 

Kidding apart (but not so much ), the late 1980s had probably been the worst period ever since 1961. Afterwards… it’s a gamble.

[jimjum12]

.... I was going to say the same thing about the late 80's period...... and the family angle is what made it cool to me. I was never a loner..... so a social group concept always appealed to me. GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[KirbyJack]

The FF is the core of my collecting interests, but even I have to admit there have been some really awful stretches. Stick to Kirby, Byrne, and then to specific tastes. It's too late for me, I'm one of those marks who buys every issue, no matter what.

 

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

The FF is the core of my collecting interests, but even I have to admit there have been some really awful stretches. Stick to Kirby, Byrne, and then to specific tastes. It's too late for me, I'm one of those marks who buys every issue, no matter what.

 

[tth2]

Check out the issues with Jim Aparo art, he was much better than Nick Cardy.

There is no universe in which the words "Jim Aparo is better than Nick Cardy" should ever be uttered.

 

Here are some samples of Jim Aparo's take on the Aquaman strip:

If the Aparo "art" you posted was supposed to convince me that he`s better than Cardy, you failed miserably.

[Hepcat]

Actually I have never read Aquaman, so I can’t tell how good the stories are, but I understand why you aren’t attracted by the art on some.

 

What attracted me to the Golden Age original stories of Blackhawk has been precisely the art: it is just breathtaking for the period, and of course in the 1960s becomes similar to Superman, Batman and the Aquaman covers posted by HepCat: they have a feeling of homogeneity which do not attract me....

 

Hah! It's precisely that house look defined by letterer Ira Schnapp and artists such as Murphy Anderson and Curt Swan that I liked about DC covers from the early Silver Age!

 

 

Oh well. As they say, that's what makes a market.

 

 

[Hepcat]

Speaking about titles that I'm more familiar with, the latter issues of Tales of the Unexpected and the Challengers have a few clunkers in there.

 

 

 

Yes. Post Space Ranger Tales of the Unexpected was generally pretty bad.

 

 

[Jeffro.]

Check out the issues with Jim Aparo art, he was much better than Nick Cardy.

There is no universe in which the words "Jim Aparo is better than Nick Cardy" should ever be uttered.

 

Here are some samples of Jim Aparo's take on the Aquaman strip:

If the Aparo "art" you posted was supposed to convince me that he`s better than Cardy, you failed miserably.

 

Aparo is like the Sal Busema of the DC universe. Prolific, dependable, and enjoyable...to a point.

 

However, Nick Cardy is light years better than Aparo. No comparison whatsoever. This discussion reminds me of those people who like Andru better on Spidey than Romita.

[Hepcat]

This discussion reminds me of those people who like Andru better on Spidey than Romita.

 

How about those people who like Romita better on Spider-Man than Ditko? Would that not be a more apt comparison?

 

 

 

[jjonahjameson1]

This discussion reminds me of those people who like Andru better on Spidey than Romita.

 

How about those people who like Romita better on Spider-Man than Ditko? Would that not be a more apt comparison?

 

 

 

No, they are all in a state-run facility.

[Rip]

FF really went up and down. But I loved FF from around 200-295

 

Some of the greatest moments ever. Loved the one where they were in disguise as a normal family.

[Hepcat]

This discussion reminds me of those people who like Andru better on Spidey than Romita.

 

How about those people who like Romita better on Spider-Man than Ditko? Would that not be a more apt comparison?

 

 

 

No, they are all in a state-run facility.

 

Congress or the White House?

 

[vaillant]

Hah! It's precisely that house look defined by letterer Ira Schnapp and artists such as Murphy Anderson and Curt Swan that I liked about DC covers from the early Silver Age!

 

 

Oh well. As they say, that's what makes a market.

 

 

I am not saying that they have no appeal. I like hallmark features, especially in graphic design, but I also like innovation, to some degree.

I absolutely love the "house look" of early Marvels, as you never expected what woul come next, in terms of lettering. Sol Brodsky (responsible for such legendary logos as the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and many others) managed to stay always fresh: they were recognizable, never predictable. And the colorist are really something, especially on certain issues.

 

But I do love the Quality Blackhawks (which I collect when I have the money and some exceptional war-related issue pops up) – and the 1970s DCs like Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Superman, Batman etc, even if I don’t collect them.

[vaillant]

FF really went up and down. But I loved FF from around 200-295

 

Some of the greatest moments ever. Loved the one where they were in disguise as a normal family.

 

Great you mention this. These were the peculiar scenes I always loved most. I don’t recall the one you mention, but when they go house-seeking in the Mole Man story (won’t spoiler here) in FF#88-89, when they are on the beach in the Monster from the Lost Lagoon story, when they are confronted by replica androids of the Mad Thinker while doing errands around the city… definitely Lee and Kirby had EVERYTHING here.

 

To be honest, I wasn’t crazy about Englehart tenure in the late 200s – from what I read Marvel also made him constantly change everything, that’s why he ended up totally disaffectioned and ultimately – clashing with DeFalco – he adopted the alias name of "John Harkness".

[vaillant]

The FF is the core of my collecting interests, but even I have to admit there have been some really awful stretches. Stick to Kirby, Byrne, and then to specific tastes. It's too late for me, I'm one of those marks who buys every issue, no matter what.

 

 

If it helps GG, which does not love the FF, it took me about twenty years to disintoxicate, but I finally made it. Loved the Carlos Pacheco run (how many new concepts, and aptly introduced – I just loved the turn of the century Pilgrims stranded in the Negative Zone mistaking the inhabitants for demons and the place for Hell, and Noel Baxter, just to mention two).

After reading the acceptable Straczynski run, which I saw as a sort of "wrap up", I gave up at a time in which I felt the Marvel books were being deprived of their essence.

[Jeffro.]

This discussion reminds me of those people who like Andru better on Spidey than Romita.

 

How about those people who like Romita better on Spider-Man than Ditko? Would that not be a more apt comparison?

 

 

 

I used that comparison because Andru's work is hard and angular (like Aparo) while Romita's is fluid and smooth (like Cardy)

[tth2]

This discussion reminds me of those people who like Andru better on Spidey than Romita.

 

How about those people who like Romita better on Spider-Man than Ditko? Would that not be a more apt comparison?

 

 

 

I used that comparison because Andru's work is hard and angular (like Aparo) while Romita's is fluid and smooth (like Cardy)

It was a good comparison. I can`t stand Andru or Aparo.

[Ebel 1911]

I always hated the Metal Men. Stories and art, no matter who did them, we're always so lame to me.

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

I always hated the Metal Men. Stories and art, no matter who did them, we're always so lame to me.

 

Agreed. The Metal Men were pointless.