The 200 Issue Club!!

[Air Wave]

Well, this is a much more exclusive group:

NEW COMICS→NEW ADVENTURE COMICS→ADVENTURE COMICS (1935)
DETECTIVE COMICS (1937)
ACTION COMICS→ACTION COMICS WEEKLY→ACTION COMICS (1938)
SUPERMAN→ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN→SUPERMAN (1939)
FLASH COMICS→THE FLASH (1940)
BATMAN (1940)
WORLD'S BEST COMICS→WORLD'S FINEST COMICS (1941)
STAR-SPANGLED COMICS→STAR-SPANGLED WAR STORIES (1941)
WONDER WOMAN (1942)
TARZAN (1948)
SUPERBOY→SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES→LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (1949)
STRANGE ADVENTURES (1950)
HOUSE OF MYSTERY (1951)
OUR ARMY AT WAR→SGT. ROCK (1952)
STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES→THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER (1952)
GI COMBAT (1952)
SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN→THE SUPERMAN FAMILY (1954)
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD (1955)
FALLING IN LOVE (1955)
TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED→THE UNEXPECTED (1956)
BLACKHAWK (1957)
GREEN LANTERN→THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS (1960)
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (1960)
SUPERMAN (1987)
HELLBLAZER (1988)
LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT→BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT (1989)
LOONEY TUNES (1994)

[Jim Kelly]

I got nothing to add here, but since TARZAN was one of my favourite titles, I got to looking at the back history on that title, just so I'd have something to talk about.

Going by what I could find on the Grand Comics Database, the first two Dell issues only said TARZAN on the cover, after that (3 - 7) it says EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS'S TARZAN, issue 8 says EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS TARZAN (no apostrophe) and then EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS' TARZAN from issue 9 onward. The last Dell issue is EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS' TARZAN 131 (July-August 1962)--so it achieved its first 100 under Dell.

Gold Key takes over with issue 132 and now it's EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS' TARZAN OF THE APES. During the 1960s I bought a few of these, although not as many as I'd like, and some of my issues say EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS TARZAN OF THE APES (no apostrophe). It gets up to 200 as a Gold Key comic and finishes there at EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS TARZAN OF THE APES 206 (February 1972).

This is when it goes over to National Periodical Publications, with Joe Kubert doing the bulk of the work and I've got all those comics. On the cover for the "1st D.C. issue," it says EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS TARZAN OF THE APES 207 (April 1972)--no apostrophe--however, inside in the indicia, the title is given as simply TARZAN.

[Air Wave]

I got nothing to add here, but since TARZAN was one of my favourite titles, I got to looking at the back history on that title, just so I'd have something to talk about.

Going by what I could find on the Grand Comics Database, the first two Dell issues only said TARZAN on the cover, after that (3 - 7) it says EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS'S TARZAN, issue 8 says EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS TARZAN (no apostrophe) and then EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS' TARZAN from issue 9 onward. The last Dell issue is EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS' TARZAN 131 (July-August 1962)--so it achieved its first 100 under Dell.

Gold Key takes over with issue 132 and now it's EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS' TARZAN OF THE APES. During the 1960s I bought a few of these, although not as many as I'd like, and some of my issues say EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS TARZAN OF THE APES (no apostrophe). It gets up to 200 as a Gold Key comic and finishes there at EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS TARZAN OF THE APES 206 (February 1972).

This is when it goes over to National Periodical Publications, with Joe Kubert doing the bulk of the work and I've got all those comics. On the cover for the "1st D.C. issue," it says EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS TARZAN OF THE APES 207 (April 1972)--no apostrophe--however, inside in the indicia, the title is given as simply TARZAN.

Sloppy punctuation work.

[Jim Kelly]

Getting to 100 generally seems to have always been a good thing for a comic, but getting to 200 while a blessing might also be a curse.

I remember my mania for hundredth issues really went into Bachman-Turner Overdrive with the 100th issue of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD→THE BRAVE & THE BOLD. It was actually my first issue (well I had bought an issue before that but hated it so much I got rid of it) and it both made me want to get more of that title and get more hundredth issues.

But the 200th issue of B.&B. was the last issue of the title. They tried to make it a celebration. The team of Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo were moving on to BATMAN & THE OUTSIDERS. But that wasn't enough compensation. Maybe if Bats had teamed up each month with his regular guest stars--Wildcat of Earth-One, Deadman, Green Arrow & Black Canary, Sgt. Rock and add in Nemesis for good measure.

The 100th issue of GREEN LANTERN was a great comic. The title had just come back from limbo--Green Arrow & Black Canary were in almost every issue--and that comic introduced Air Wave II (Hal Jordan II). Whereas, GREEN LANTERN 200 saw the end of the Green Lanterns as we knew them, with the next issue changing the format into THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 100 was a celebration of the team, bringing in the Justice Society and many guest stars, as they tried to save a world by searching for the Seven Soldiers of Victory. On a happy/sad note, this was the first Len Wein issue--happy for most people, but sad for me because I'd become a fan of Mike Friedrich, the previous writer. Issue 200 was pretty great in its own right--featuring the original members battling the non-originals, with art by some of the best in the business--still, unlike 100, this was a book about divisions rather than reunions (more like a Marvel-style story from Gerry Conway).

SUPERMAN 100 had a cover paying tribute to milestone covers and inside a story that recapped the Man of Steel's origins, with art by Wayne Boring. SUPERMAN 200--while special to me because it celebrated Canada's Centennial--was bittersweet, as the imaginary story had nearly the last Wayne Boring art job for the title (another followed a few years later, but probably an inventory story). And it seems to me that this marked the time when Weisinger ousted writers and artists, or changed their assignments, which was a downward trend for the Superman Family.

BATMAN 100 had a similar milestone tribute cover and some good stories inside. BATMAN 200 also had a milestone tribute cover, with new art by Neal Adams (his first Batman work on that title) and a story recounting the Dynamic Duo's origins from Mike Friedrich, Chic Stone (ghosting for Bob Kane) and Joe Giella--but this came at nearly the end of Bob Kane's reign and in a few issues the title (along with DETECTIVE COMICS) would take a sharp turn in a different creative direction.

WONDER WOMAN 100 solidified the change to the Wonder Family brought on by Kanigher, Andru and Esposito--with a time capsule story to honour the event (which sets up the Impossible Stories to come). The 200th issue took the new editor by surprise, as Diana was going through an uncertain time (one editor had left, another editor popped in and out, and new editor O'Neil was struggling to find a path forward). The cover was the second of two bondage covers by Jeffrey Catherine Jones. Only a few issues later, another editorial change would bring back Kanigher and everything olde was nouveau again.

SUPERBOY 100 had a modest celebration, marking the occasion on the inside pages with vintage covers, a map of Krypton and showing the routes to Earth taken by Kal-El, Krypto and Kara Zor-El. SUPERBOY 200 was more a celebration of the Legion of Super-Heroes having taken over the book, as opposed to a celebration of Superboy. While the marriage of Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel was great to see--with a one page spread by Dave Cockrum--the fight between Cockrum and editor Murray Boltinoff over returning the original art for that page would push Dave to leave the book and leave the publisher, going over to Marvel where he would be key to re-inventing the X-Men.

[Air Wave]

The 100th issue of GREEN LANTERN was a great comic. The title had just come back from limbo--Green Arrow & Black Canary were in almost every issue--and that comic introduced Air Wave II (Hal Jordan II).

Which is where I first encountered him!

[Brad]

Pretty sharp drop off in the number of qualifying titles that debuted through 1960 versus after 1960.

[Air Wave]

Is there anything current far enough along to possibly make it to 200?

[Digifiend]

Fables is closest at 159 issues.