This blog is dying...but it is being reborn!! In true comic book cliffhanger fashion, to see the second half of my memorable comic covers from my youth you have to go my new blog site. http://d-r-m.posterous.com/
All future posts will be at http://d-r-m.posterous.com/
75th post extravaganza!!!
I just realized this is my 75th blog post! To celebrate, I'm going to feature 75 of my most memorable comic book covers from my "golden age" of comics. Er, 75 covers seems like a lot...howzabout 30 covers? I'll break this into two posts.
My particular golden age falls between the age of 8-18 (1987-1999). I'm not saying the comics in my golden age are the greatest comics ever. Most of them are definitely not anything groundbreaking or the highest examples of what a great comic book is. So my apologies in advance for inevitable the Rob Liefeld and Image comics at some point in this list. I'm being honest here, and when the '90s comics came out I gobbled them up and begged for more. I was young. Tastes evolve over time (thankfully). For better or worse, these comics bring that nostalgic essence of what comic books were "back then."
GI Joe #46
One of my earliest comics that have long since gone to comic book heaven. I don't remember anything about it except the cover.
Wolverine #5
My first exposure to Wolverine. Back when he also went by the name "Patch." Great cover by John Buscema. I love the feeling of fast action/movement frozen in time.
Captain America #358
As a kid - when it comes to comic book covers - it is hard to ignore the looming threat of death of one of your favorite superheroes. I remember thinking "What's going to happen - will he survive?" When a superhero "dies" these days, I don't even bat an eye.
Uncanny X-Men #222
Wow it's that Wolverine guy! My first X-men comic featuring a classic Sabertooth vs Wolverine battle. Sadly this comic perished by the oft recurring disaster known as "Mom Doesn't Approve." When this disaster hits the comic is destined for the garbage. This isn't the only comic on this list to meet that fate. Mom was probably right on a few occasions given some material and my age. But only a few...
Amazing Spider-Man #300
Spider-Man was always safe from "Mom Doesn't Approve" disasters. Ironic since it was often just as bloody and violent as X-men. Ah well... Black costume Spidey was the coolest thing for me as a kid. The only thing more bad ass was Chuck Norris and Rambo.
Amazing Spider-Man #328
A fun cover with Spidey beating on the Hulk. Impossible you say? Not when you favorite wall-crawler gains cosmic powers! This was during the Acts of Vengeance crossover/event.
Captain America #375
I loved the Captain America era when Ron Lim was the artist. A berserk Cap ready to tear Daredevils head off! A great fight between Cap and Daredevil gave me my first exposure to Ol' Hornhead.
Iron Man #249
I never really bought Iron Man that often, but the idea of a showdown with Dr. Doom sounded cool. One of the few things I remember from this issue - Iron Man uses his chest laser beam (technical term) to make popcorn.
Detective Comics #610
I always loved this cover of a somber Batman standing in a cemetery. I really didn't buy any DC except Batman and Detective comics. Don't know why. These days it is about equal between the DC and Marvel stuff I buy.
Punisher War Journal #11
Punisher has an uzi and is seeing red! I snuck this one past my Mom at the store. Success! D'oh you idiot, don't sit in the living room and read it! She caught a glimpse of the cover, flipped through 22 pages of drug dealers getting made into swiss cheese and that was the last I saw of that one. "But Mom, they are all scum who deserve what they got." That didn't persuade her. The Jim Lee art was cool - what parts of it I got to see. Looking back this probably was a bit too violent for me at age 10. Although I had seen Terminator by that point so go figure.
Amazing Spider-Man #344
Back to Mom-approved Spidey... I was intrigued by this new Cardiac character. I liked his costume and his powers. Back then that was all you needed to be gnarly and radical. I loved to say gnarly and radical. I should bring gnarly back.
Wolverine #50
The unique die-cut cover was enough to convince me to buy this one. "Sweet, it's like Wolverine took a slash at my comic book!" Little did I know that the comic book cover shenanigans were just beginning. Die-cut, chromium foil, hologram, super-foldout covers. Hello '90s...
X-men #1
By this point I must have hit the magic age where X-Men was no longer on the "Momma Don't Approve" disaster list. I was really mesmerized by this comic. I was convinced Jim Lee was the greatest artist ever (still one of my top 5) and the X-Men where the best team in comics. These were the absolute glory days of comic books for me.
New Mutants #100
Riding off the high of X-men #1, I found this issue still on the racks shortly after. "Dude, more mutants!" then "What?! Last issue?" This was followed by more excitement upon realizing this would become X-Force. I admit it - I was pretty impressed by Liefeld's art. Something about it seemed really energetic. It had lots of lines so it had to be good art, right? Back then I think I placed him just below Jim Lee. My how opinions change.
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #1
Ooh, not just a foil logo, but red foil all over! The cover sold me, but I quickly realized the story was even better. I really like this look at Daredevil's early years as he learned to cope with his blindness and his powers. Frank Miller and John Romita Jr. were a good match.
Check back in a couple days, when I post the the other 15 covers!
I've gotten a little backed up...with pictures that is. I'm hoping to post some pics from the last few heroclix games sometime this weekend.
08.06.08 game night
The Game: 400 point teams with random placement.
We played on the Baxter Building map from the Fantastic Four starter set.
Chris played a fun theme of "Granny and her grandchildren".
Katie/Energizer, Julie/Lightspeed, Alex/Zero-G, Granny Goodness, Jack/Mass Master, Star-Girl, Robin, Baby Hellboy
Adam brings out the stars and stripes for a Captain America theme.
ww2 Captain America, Bucky, Isaiah Bradley Captain America, U.S. Agent, Captain America, Ultimate Captain America
Jeff played a "Fantastic Couples" theme. Ignore the Invisible Woman/Spidey (or pretend they are an alternate universe FF couple!).
Invisible Woman, Spider-man, Crystal, Human Torch, She-Thing, Thing.
I came up with a "Time Travelers" theme. It was stretching it a bit with WW2 Captain America.
WW2 Captain America, Kang, Bishop, Supernova.
Game Summary: I tried to hold the middle of the board, FF laid the smack down on a grandma, and Adam's WW2 Cap is a sadistic beater of little children. Poor Power Pack.
game night 07.23.08
The Game: With the Secret Invasion set being released today, we decided to do a "blind box" game. Each player has one booster pack of Secret Invasion heroclix and whatever is in the box is your team. This usually leads to some wildly unbalanced teams between the players, but the fun is in the anticipation of what's in the box.
What's in the box?... WHAT'S IN THE BOX!?
Sorry about that, wild tangent. Anyways...
The Map: We used the map from the new Fantastic Four starter set. The middle cross section is blocking terrain that can't be flown over, phased through or shot through. Also everyone started in the middle of the map separated by the barriers.
The Teams:
Chris pulled a Dr. Strange, Dum Dum Dugan, Yellow Jacket, Spider Slayer and Gravity
Adam discovered a Spider-Girl, Arachne, Hawkeye, Lightspeed and Attuma in his booster
"It's not Attuma" - joke of the night courtesy of Adam
Jeff found Mass Master, Spider-Man, Immortus, Triton and Namor waiting in his booster
Lo and behold, I pulled Triton, Captain America (John Walker), Sharon Carter, Attuma and a Moloid
It was a fun game despite the uneven teams. It ended up coming down to Adam vs. Jeff, with Adam the victor if I remember right.
And finally sing along with me,
*It's heroclix in a box*
07.02.08 game night
Another night of Heroclix. 400 point teams.
Break out the hair dye, Jeff plays a blondes theme team.
Stature, Liberty Belle, Saturn Girl, Rip Hunter and Emma Frost.
Adam lets the big guns out to play with DC's trinity.
Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman
Greatest theme ever! Chris came up with a "people with flowey shirts" team.
Kang, Black Tom, Abra Kadabra, Firestorm, Luke Cage.
My hastily thrown together theme was "Marvel Marriages" and a dog.
Lockjaw, Mockingbird, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Marvel Girl, Vision and Cyclops.
Game Summary: 2/3 of the Trinity holds up (RIP Batman) and squashes us all.
game night 06.18.08
A three team Heroclix game, as Adam and Comfort were not present(busy with The Uniques comic, conventions, etc.) We decided on a 400 point game of random placement. No map picture - it was the standard 2-3 buildings and hills.
Teams:
Jeff played a bug team bent on not being squashed.
Ant Man, Spider-Man, Blue Beetle, Blue Beetle, Spider-Woman, Spider-Man, Ambush Bug
Chris had a different mix of Teen Titans besides the usual Titans team.
Speedy, Raven, Tempest, Jericho, Kid Flash
I used an X-men team from the Days of Future Past storyline (minus Magneto).
Colossus, Storm, Colonel Logan, The Hound (Phoenix), Shadowcat
Summary:
I had a sneaking suspicion that my Rachel Grey/Summers/Phoenix/Hound clix sucked for 130 points. Maybe I didn't play her correctly, but e-gads, what crap for the point cost. It was anyone's game for most of the night, but it finally came down to Jeff vs. Chris. It became a lengthy roll off with Chris using Kid Flash to hit Jeff's Ant Man with an 18 defense. After many rounds of rolling (including a nice crit miss by Jeff to lower Ant Man's defense) Chris was finally victorious with a hypersonic KO punch!
