I'm having so much fun with the Charlton thread, that I'm going to start a similar one, this time following Superman chronologically from when I started getting into comics (more or less). Since I don't know that date 100%, I'm choosing on-sale date November 1976, the month that DC got that cool colour bullet on their upper left corner.

Preview of what will be covered here: http://dcindexes.com/timemachine/releas ... 6&month=11

That month I bought Justice League of America #139, Batman #284, Superman #308, Teen Titans #46, Green Lantern #93, Super Friends #3, Superboy and the Legion of Super Heroes #224, Wonder Woman #228, World's Finest Comics #243, Action Comics #468, DC Super Stars #12 and Flash #247.

Action Comics #468, coverdate February 1977

Cover by Neal Adams
"Terra At Nine O'Clock" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Tex Blaisdell
"My Son, The Orphan" by Martin Pasko, Curt Swan and Frank McLaughlin

Cary Bates is one of my favorite comics writers because he can take something ridiculously absurd and turn it into a good story. In this case, we have a space cowboy with alien weapons disguised as old west equipment forcing Superman to appear on TV with him, and forcing the audience to watch. I bet Superman doesn't see anything like this on his walk across America, or whatever it is he's doing these days. Anyway, nice one-panel catch-up on who Terra-Man is, and some pretty sweet Curt Swan action sequences, with the inevitable To-Be-Continued ... "same Terra-time, same Terra-channel..."

The backup is a Morgan Edge solo story as he comes to terms and goes public with his humble roots and Jewish background. The don't actually say Jewish. They reveal that his birth name was Morris Edelstein, so forgive me if I'm jumping to conclusions. Anyway, this is a nice little feel-good story that adds a little bit more to the Superman mythos I miss so much.

For this particular month, I just have the Superman titles (except Super Friends). Oh, and the Ragman, Flash, Metal Men and Super-Team Family.

I enjoy looking at the month-to-month pages on that site and remembering which ones I bought new and which ones I bought as back issues.

Total shock that Fall to see Adams return to do covers for DC. His Adam Stange/JLA and Flash cover that he did in those months are two of his best.

DC Super-Stars #12, coverdate February 1977

"Don't Call Me Superboy" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson
"The Super-Teacher From Krypton", writer uncredited, art by John Sikela (reprinted from Adventure Comics 240, 1957)

Swanderson rides again as an adult Clark Kent reminisces about an untold adventure from his teen years. In a sequel to an old 50s story, his Kryptonian robot teacher returns. Superboy falls in love with a redhead (and who hasn't?), and learns a hard lesson. Oh yes, we also have a bunch of sasquatches showing up. As a bonus, the backup reprints the original Super-Teacher story. For me, this story was a success. It had human elements, and it added a tiny bit more to the great Superman mythos. The art in this book is fantastic. Curt Swan never had a better inker than Murphy Anderson.

No offense to Neal Adams and all other other great Superman cover artists who did great jobs over the years, but, I prefer Curt Swan doing his covers. What a great cover. I was six years old when this was published.

Justice League Of America, coverdate February 1977

An awesome Neal Adams cover and two stories drawn by the great Dick Dillin, both with "strange" guest stars.

Story 1: "The Cosmic Conspiracy Against Adam Strange!" - Adam Strange & the JLA team up to battle Kanjar Ro. (Cary Bates, writer)
Story 2: "The Ice Age Cometh!" - The JLA and The Phantom Strange tackle Captain Cold, The Icicle, The Blizzard and The Shadow Thief. (Steve Englehart, writer)

God, you need a pink belly.

REAL bad.

Uhhh... so did Superboy just get laid there? Isn't the silouhette of figures embracing the universal code for "we're panning away to be tasteful about the sex that's happening".

Those stories are awesome, but sadly the art in both DC and Marvel's comics suffered greatly during this period from the shitty newsprint and/or poor printing.

Some quick observations -

* I'm impressed by the cowboy with the flying horse.

* Misty is teh hottness.

* Adam Strange was well named.

Superboy And The Legion Of Super-Heroes #224, coverdate Feb. 1977

You gots yer Jim Shooter, and you gots yer Mike Grell. I ain't gonna go on about it, but instead let four consecutive pages of 30th Century action make its own case.

That art is pretty nice, especially the last Superboy page. The green bell-bottom wearing beatnik villain, not so much.

Superman #308, coverdate Feb, 1977

"This Planet Is Mine!" by Gerry Conway, Jose Garcia-Lopez & Frank Springer.
Cover by Neal Adams.

Great cover. Awesome pencils. That's about all the good stuff I can say about this comic.

I assume so.

World's Finest Comics #243, coverdate Feb, 1977

By Bob Haney, Curt Swan and Al Milgrom.

Supes? Batman deserved to die.

The internet just answered some long-forgotten questions that I had about obscure villain Minister Blizzard. Highly recommended.

She better be brain-washed into forced sex or that's just nasty.

Bump
because this belongs on the first page.

Those Mike Grell pages above are a reminder of how good an artist he was from the very start of his career. While most artist take time to find their style and achieve good storytelling skills, Grell blasted out of the starting gate like a seasoned pro.