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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:21 pm 
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I asked this question of one person, but would like to broaden it out.

I've been digging the Superman/Batman Chronicles. Much better than the comparable Marvel/Timely stuff of the period IMO (mostly, the only good Timely stuff I've read so far is The Submariner and a few minor features).

Reading some Marvel Atlas stuff and it's pretty good-Twilight Zone and Monsters, if repetitive.

Big fan of Stan Lee, and to a lesser extent, Roy Thomas in the Marvel Age part of the Silver Age. \I grew up on Stan's stuff in reprints and Marvel masterworks which my grandma used to buy me. Old DC stuff at the time seemed to be much less reprinted, and what there was, as a kid, i didn't care for it much.

I'd like to try it again, older, wiser, looking back at some things with fondness that I used to dismiss, since my version of DC has ceased to exist.

Any recommendations as to what i should start with? The cream of the crop? (like, you'd recommend Stan and Jack's FF before, say, Ant-Man).

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Last edited by Rob Steinbrenner on Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:23 pm 
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Showcase Green Lantern. Gardner Fox and Gil Kane. Soap opera superheroics in the best sense of the word.

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:27 pm 
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Monk wrote:
Showcase Green Lantern. Gardner Fox and Gil Kane. Soap opera superheroics in the best sense of the word.

:thumbsup:

Not a big DC guy, Taft, but I can certainly vouch for these. Great stories, great art. Classics.


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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:28 pm 
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Linda in Serge's Hellpit (aka the WANderground) wrote:
Batman, Detective, Green Lantern, Flash, Atom, JLA, Mystery In Space. Most of those were written by Fox or Broome and they're basically detective and/or sci-fi stories with super powers tacked on. Those are my favourites from childhood. The Superman Family titles are fun too, but they're more outlandish and have a different feel to them.

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:35 pm 
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Since you're a Marvel fan, I'd suggest the Challengers of the Unknown Showcase or Archives (the Chall Archives is very cheap at Overstock.com, not sure why they singled that title out). With the Challs you'll see what Kirby used as a jumping off point for the FF (four adventurers in jumpsuits taking on the world).

Keep in mind, with the Showcases and Archives, a little goes a long way. I wouldn'r suggest reading any Showcase straight through. DC was not beyond being repetative back before they realized that some kids were buying every issue of some titles.

Doom Patrol also has a very Marvel feel to it. The DP sort of worked in their own universe that was a rarely seen corner of the DCU. Good background on what would lead to some of the better Wolfman/Perez Titans stories.

Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 8 features some of Jim Shooter's best Legion stories. The focus switched from stories featuring the entire roster to tales that centered on three or four characters. Really intense tales that I would put up against anything that Marvel was doing at the time.

The Superman Showcases are good if you're open to fun and goofy stories. The Flash and Elongated Man Showcases are a blast.


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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:46 pm 
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Thanks for the recommendations. I remember enjoying the greatest flash stories ever told and the Green Lantern Archives Vol. 1 (only one I bought) back in the day.

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:49 pm 
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It's from the 70's, but I think that the Showcase: Shazam! book is terrific. CC Beck's art is just phenomenally good.


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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:57 pm 
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Hanzo the Razor wrote:
It's from the 70's, but I think that the Showcase: Shazam! book is terrific. CC Beck's art is just phenomenally good.


That's the only Showcase that I read straight through.

Art by Beck, Schaeffenberger, Cockrum, Oksner.

Nothing but fun.


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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 2:22 pm 
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Agree with most of the other posters.
GL showcases, Flash, Elongated Man, Challengers, and Shazam are all good reads. My favorite showcase to this point though, has been, surprisingly, Jonah Hex! I read that thing straight through and couldn't wait for more. Then they canceled volume 2. :(


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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:10 pm 
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Showcase Brave and the Bold is quite good once Neal Adams comes in about halfway through. The second volume has Adams, Cardy, and Aparo, so that should be excellent.

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:36 pm 
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The stories get better too, Matt. Haney is still throwing out crazy, improbable, and even totally illogical plot devices, but they're fun reads. When Aparo takes over it's an amazing thing. He did Neal Adams, only better. :) Since he was the regular Bat-artist when I started reading comics again in the early 90s, I've not given him nearly the credit he deserves. I'll dare and say it now. Jim Aparo: best Batman artist of them all.


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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:39 pm 
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Aparo drew the first Batman comics I ever read, so every other Batman is sort of a variation of his, in my mind. Looking forward to getting the second volume.

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:41 pm 
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Showcase: Hawkman is wonderfully illustrated, most notably by Joe Kubert. I'd get that one as well, if for nothing else than the "art boner" you'll get.


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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:16 pm 
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For a total WTF experience, pick up the upcoming Super-Sons TPB from Haney and Dillin. Haney just gave Superman and Batman teenage sons and did an entire series. No explanation, just, "Screw it, let's go with it." It's like the guy was on a totally different wavelength from the rest of the world.


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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:26 pm 
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Jeff wrote:
When Aparo takes over it's an amazing thing. He did Neal Adams, only better. :)


Don't know that he was a better artist, but in some ways his style might have worked better for the kind of stories he drew than Neal Adams' did. He certainly produced a larger body of Bat work than almost anybody else, and it was always very good. His female faces often looked a little weird to me, though.

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:30 pm 
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RobertSwanderson wrote:
For a total WTF experience, pick up the upcoming Super-Sons TPB from Haney and Dillin. Haney just gave Superman and Batman teenage sons and did an entire series. No explanation, just, "Screw it, let's go with it." It's like the guy was on a totally different wavelength from the rest of the world.


I saw a discussion once about how many Earths there were pre-Crisis. Somebody decided there had to be one where some of Bob Haney's stories took place, since he didn't let continuity get in the way of telling the stories he wanted to tell. Maybe one of those numerous Earths in the restored multiverse is it!

Seems like the Super-Sons series was later explained away as a computer simulation or something.

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:39 pm 
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That meddlin kid wrote:
RobertSwanderson wrote:
For a total WTF experience, pick up the upcoming Super-Sons TPB from Haney and Dillin. Haney just gave Superman and Batman teenage sons and did an entire series. No explanation, just, "Screw it, let's go with it." It's like the guy was on a totally different wavelength from the rest of the world.


I saw a discussion once about how many Earths there were pre-Crisis. Somebody decided there had to be one where some of Bob Haney's stories took place, since he didn't let continuity get in the way of telling the stories he wanted to tell. Maybe one of those numerous Earths in the restored multiverse is it!

Seems like the Super-Sons series was later explained away as a computer simulation or something.


I never liked that explanation. I never thought that Haney's magic needed to be explained.

I don't mind the talk about an Earth-Haney, as long as it's done with respect. He gets a lot of guff on the web from folks that couldn't get around the fact that he put the fun of the story first.

The guy just decided to have an Earth 1 Wildcat that was older than all of the other heroes. He liked the character so he just threw him in. Awesome.


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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:21 pm 
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RobertSwanderson wrote:
Since you're a Marvel fan, I'd suggest the Challengers of the Unknown Showcase or Archives (the Chall Archives is very cheap at Overstock.com, not sure why they singled that title out). With the Challs you'll see what Kirby used as a jumping off point for the FF (four adventurers in jumpsuits taking on the world).

Keep in mind, with the Showcases and Archives, a little goes a long way. I wouldn'r suggest reading any Showcase straight through. DC was not beyond being repetative back before they realized that some kids were buying every issue of some titles.

Doom Patrol also has a very Marvel feel to it. The DP sort of worked in their own universe that was a rarely seen corner of the DCU. Good background on what would lead to some of the better Wolfman/Perez Titans stories.

Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 8 features some of Jim Shooter's best Legion stories. The focus switched from stories featuring the entire roster to tales that centered on three or four characters. Really intense tales that I would put up against anything that Marvel was doing at the time.

The Superman Showcases are good if you're open to fun and goofy stories. The Flash and Elongated Man Showcases are a blast.


I couldn't really add much to this excellent list of possibilities, except that if you find that you like Gardner Fox stories, and Murphy Anderson or Joe Kubert art, I'd point you to Hawkman Archives.

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:24 pm 
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RobertSwanderson wrote:
Hanzo the Razor wrote:
It's from the 70's, but I think that the Showcase: Shazam! book is terrific. CC Beck's art is just phenomenally good.


That's the only Showcase that I read straight through.

Art by Beck, Schaeffenberger, Cockrum, Oksner.

Nothing but fun.


Green Arrow for me. But I don't own the Shazam one. Usually, I can't last more than about 30 minutes at a time with a Showcase Presents. (Same is true of Essential volumes.)

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:25 pm 
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RobertSwanderson wrote:
For a total WTF experience, pick up the upcoming Super-Sons TPB from Haney and Dillin. Haney just gave Superman and Batman teenage sons and did an entire series. No explanation, just, "Screw it, let's go with it." It's like the guy was on a totally different wavelength from the rest of the world.


OMG! I didn't realize that was coming out finally! Those were some of my favorite stories as a kid!

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:26 pm 
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That meddlin kid wrote:
Jeff wrote:
When Aparo takes over it's an amazing thing.

His female faces often looked a little weird to me, though.


The lips. They looked a bit odd to me, but he drew compelling enough stories that I had to buy it if he drew it.

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 Post subject: Silver Age DC
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 9:40 pm 
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RobertSwanderson wrote:
For a total WTF experience, pick up the upcoming Super-Sons TPB from Haney and Dillin. Haney just gave Superman and Batman teenage sons and did an entire series. No explanation, just, "Screw it, let's go with it." It's like the guy was on a totally different wavelength from the rest of the world.

They need to reprint Haneys explanations from the letter pages of the time. It amounted to "well we've never been told they DON'T have wives and children"! :lol: Later he amended it to "our stories don't take place at any certain time". Haney didn't give one damn about anything but telling the story he wanted to tell. At times this worked very well, others, it was a bit befuddling.


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