1979 - 1980 were important years for comics as DC and Marvel crept toward the end of the Bronze Age and beginning a new age when comic book stores began to replace the spinner racks and companies became more daring with existing characters and titles.

DC had introduced the mini-series in 1979. By then end of 1980 there had been two more. They also had returned the digest format for the first time in years. At Marvel, the Dark Phoenix Saga brought a lot of attention to the X-Men through word of mouth, setting it on a trajectory that would make it Marvel's best-selling title in just a few years.

Since it's not possible to discuss every book published each, my reviews will be sporadic. Feel free to jump in, especially if you can give insight into what was going on at Marvel since DC was my primary company of focus at this time.

But before I begin in January, let me step back to October '79 and the beginning of my all-time favorite comic book story.

Uncanny X-Men 130

I can't imagine anyone at this board who hasn't read this comic so I will not dwell on a plot review. I was introduced to the series in late September with the final chapter of the Proteus story. At the drugstore I flipped through that book to notice art by John Byrne, a penciler that I had become acquainted with earlier in the year from his work on the Avengers and whose style I immediately liked. But there was something different about it here. It was cleaner, more detailed, stylized more than I had seen. It was, of course, the inks of Austin that made the difference. The story was little more than one big battle, and despite little characterization, I intrigued by their strangeness. I had not seen other heroes who could emit eye blasts, teleport, turn flesh into steel, or have the power of telekinesis. And most had no pupils in their eyes. Interesting. I bought it.



So along comes issue 131 in the final week of October and the beginning of the saga. This was my opportunity to learn about them beyond their powers and I was not disappointed. It was in this issue that I learned of Xavier with his Danger Room, Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club, as well as Kitty Pryde, whose introduction to her mutant powers and the arrival of the X-Men to her house made clear to me the purpose for this team, making it a great issue for a new reader. The action came next with the X-Men being attacked and captured with Kitty left behind. Although new to her powers and just a kid, she decides to rescue them. It was fun to see a young hero being born and the cliffhanger was enough for me to continue the series. I was getting hooked.

November brought Part 2 and the introduction of Dazzler, who arrived so late in the disco era that she was almost an anachronism from the start. There is not much more this issue than some great fighting between the agents of the Hellfire Club and Phoenix, Cyclops & Nightcrawler, as well as some additional insight into the White Queen. All in all, a good chapter in this continuing story though.



December continued the story with some interesting insights into these characters still generally new to me. For the first time I see how powerful and ruthless Phoenix can be when she stops the Hellfire agents car by having it "crash" into her telekinesis, something that surprised even Cyclops. Kitty is presented well, scared and crying from it all as a child would be if thrust into it all. Frost is shown to be heartless with her torture of Storm, something that stays in my mind to this day when modern Marvel has decided to make her a superhero. After Kitty is injured, I get to momentarily witness Wolverine in his more bestial state as he gets revenge on her assailant. At the end of the story I was disappointed to see Kitty returned to her family since I really liked the character and wished that she would become a regular team member. Oh, well.



So, with all that behind... forward to 1980.

Complete and total wheelhouse here.

Cover dated December 1979, I bought this issue off the racks. I thought it was cool the way this guy Tyrannus seemed to have a "flaming arm" device that tracked his movement.



Little did I know the history -- Tyrannus appeared in one of those original six issues of the first ( cancelled) Incredible Hulk series, and if I'm not mistaken this was his first return. The issue was written by our own Roger Stern.

The other biggie for me going on at this time was Amazing Spider-man #200 (and the lead up). As fans may remember, this storyline culminated in a first "Joe Chill Moment," where he is drawn into confronting the burglar who killed Uncle Ben. In fact, there had been a long storyline involving Mysterio that capped off with this anniversary issue.

Although Mysterio comes to mind as part of a classic "rogues gallery" for Spider-man, he actually had not been used much up to this point. He had some early appearances in 1964-1965, one more in the Romita era, and then as far as I know had not appeared all through the 1970's.



This issue was cover dated January 1980. Spider-man was cranking up for one of the most solid 3 or 4 year runs in his history, one that I consider to have ended with the new costume ( didn't like) and the marriage ( blegh).

Other than Uncanny X-Men, there wasn't a lot from January that stands out for me beyond the standard monthly stories. Jose Luis Garcia Lopez returned in DC Comics Presents 20, but the inks by Joe Giella sucked the life right out of his pencils as Giella often did as an inker. The Flash had finally completed the year-long saga of the death of Iris Allen and Barry's grief, with him now ready to move on with his life. Gerry Conway's Justice League was uninspired and Frank McLaughlin's inks had become so thick and sloppy that Dillin's pencils were getting lost.

Conway did deliver an interesting Brave & Bold story with Batman and Adam Strange finding themselves swapped to the other's respective planets with Batman trying to prove that Strange had been framed for a murder, while Strange was in Gotham working with Commissioner Gordon to capture a serial killer. Unfortunately, the story suffered from the restriction of page count, which at the time was 17.



One of the few notables from this month is Brian Bolland's stunning cover to Green Lantern 127.



I believe that this was his first work for DC.

The Avengers delivered a great "quiet" issue with issue 194, with beautiful art by George Perez and Joe Rubinstein. It was disappointing to see Falcon leave the team this issue and I didn't really care for the Wasp's new costume with one bare leg, but all a great lead-in to a fun story to come.



And, of course, there was Uncanny X-Men 132, the issue where the Dark Phoenix Saga starts to heat up, with the team infiltrating a Hellfire Club party, undercover as guest.



This issue was my introduction to Angel, whom I immediately liked due in part to his well-designed costume. The members of the Inner Circle and their powers turned out to be great foes for the X-Men, but the best part of the story was then ending with the team defeated except for Wolverine rising from the sewer water for another battle with the cliffhanger blurb "Next: WOLVERINE -- ALONE!" Like everyone else here who was reading this series at the time, I couldn't wait until the next issue.

This issue of Thor was a good one (#291, cover dated January 1980). I have it right here.

It's a story with the Greek pantheon and the Norse pantheon, and the Eternals. I once assumed the Eternals made frequent appearances, but I later realized that they hadn't popped up much since that Kirby series. Roy Thomas wrote this one, as I'm sure he appreciated the creativity of Kirby.

I have all these comics! These are the comics that made me want to draw 'em!

Cover date January 1980, the Tyrannus story wrapped up. This Sal Buscema look is the one I first liked in the ongoing (while also reading the classic Kirby and Ditko version in reprints).

Another notable book from DC in January was Legion of Super-Heroes 262.



After having since read Legion back issues prior to 1979, I think that this title had a rocky year or longer trying to get back the magic that the book had through most of the 1970's. Joe Staton had been the previous penciler and his art never quite meshed with characters. Superboy had recently left and the book and the team now independent from him in title was still trying to find it's footing from the departure. Jim Sherman returned for this issue with a nice interlude between Staton and the next regular penciler, Jim Janes. I had only seen Sherman's work in the brief intro to the members of the Legion in the back of the beautiful Legion tabloid with the marriage of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl and was unfamiliar with his sequential art, which turned out to be stunning. This is an artist whom I would have loved to have seen continue on the title forever, but unfortunately that was not to be.



This issue has become one of those special ones for me and was one of the first that I bought when I started re-building my collection. The story is self-contained and makes for a pretty little gem in my collection.

Yay for this thread.

LOVE this cover.

One of my first comics... I think I got it in one of those bagged 2-packs you could get at Woolco or Kmart. The other one might have been a Thor issue with a giant eyeball on it but memory is fuzzy. Love Sal Buscema's Hulk.

+1

This is the year of my birth. I did no notable collecting that year.

I had these comics coming by subscription at this time. Mailed flat!

I have a cousin born that year. That helps me picture how old you were at different stages of my life.

You were quite the little princess at my wedding.

And look at him, now. A grown up woman.

And what a woman! Yowza!

I lied. Pretty sure there is a giant eyeball in the issue, but this was the cover. And the comic rocked...



I checked, the eyeball was the "lost eye of Odin". The comic was a great overview to Norse mythology and featured an earlier version of Asgard (and Odin, Thor, Loki, etc.) overcome by Ragnarok. There was a crap-load of story to chew on in that one single issue.

February 1980



In retrospect I believe that Jim Aparo was one of the best artist who inked his own pencils and certainly the best of the 1970's. His entire run of Brave & Bold is a beauty to behold, which explains why the last Aparo B&B collection sold out so quickly last year. He was pulled away from the title in 1980 for work to be seen later in this thread, but before that happened he delivered a great job in issue 162 with Batman & guest star Sgt. Rock with story by writer Bill Kelley, the pen name of veteran writer/editor Murray Boltinoff. What a treat.

Aparo was throwing everything into this issue, from the double-page splash page to channeling Joe Kubert to banging out his trademark sound effects.





Boltinoff wisely used Iron Major as the antagonist, as close to a super-villain that could be found in Sgt. Rock stories, which would satisfy fans like myself who bought the book looking for more of a superhero story.





It's strange how this series had little trouble delivering great stories in a single issue while so many other writers today find it such a challenge. I could always count on it to provide a great reading experience every month.

Best month ever.