Thirty Years Ago

[Shellhead]

What new comics did you buy 30 years ago? What comics from that month did you pick up later? Do you still have any of them?

I like to look them up each month at The Newstand screen at Mike's Amazing World of Comics:

http://www.dcindexes.com/features/ti...984&sort=alpha

May 1984: comics I bought, and in bold if I still have them...

Alpha Flight #13: I don't remember anything about this issue, possibly because I was still stunned about the surprise death in the previous issue.

Dreadstar #11: I re-read this very recently. Nice issue featuring the origin of the Lord High Papal.

Fantastic Four #269: IIRC, this issue featured Terminus, AKA Byrne's low-rent Galactus wanna-be.

Grimjack #2: An outstanding issue from a very good series. One line near the end has stayed with me after all these years. "Friends are the family that we choose."

Infinity Inc. #5: The first 10 or so issues of this title are mandatory reading for classic JSA fans.

Secret Wars #5: lightweight, forgettable fun.

New Teen Titans #1: Loved the Perez art, but the angst-ridden writing was starting to wear me down.

Swamp Thing #27: classic issue by Alan Moore. Interesting ideas, disturbing developments, and plenty of intensity.

Tales of the Teen Titans #45: This was during the complicated overlap period when DC was publishing two Titans titles each month, but there was a year of overlapping content. Or something. They were afraid at first to commit fully to the Baxter paper upgrade.

West Coast Avengers #1: I really wanted to love West Coast Avengers, so it took me a few years to overcome my denial and admit that it wasn't very good at all.

[CrazyOldHermit]

Lol, I was six years away from being born. The only comics I've read from May 1984 are the Thor issues.

[Tony]

Wow! So i was writing down the comics I owned at one time or another -34 comics published in that month, don't feel like typing them all. The funny thing is I bought none of them as a 10 year old off the rack. Didn't really start collecting books every month until I was 12. Stuff like DNA Agents, Ms. Tree, and Elfquest I didn't get into until I was 14 and had a job better than a paper route (Worked in my parents used bookstore and got them to start getting new comics to sell). Those covers bring back a lot of memories though. I would never have guessed that Power Pack 1 and 2 came out in the same month. I remember it as bi monthly.

[Pinsir]

Lol, I was six years away from being born. The only comics I've read from May 1984 are the Thor issues.

Hah! Im the same.

[Fan of Bronze]

...I would never have guessed that Power Pack 1 and 2 came out in the same month. I remember it as bi monthly.

That's probably an anomaly of Mike's Amazing Dating Methods—I would bet that on Marvel's publishing schedule, the two issues were in separate months. Don't know about the bimonthly thing, though.

[Shellhead]

That's probably an anomaly of Mike's Amazing Dating Methods—I would bet that on Marvel's publishing schedule, the two issues were in separate months. Don't know about the bimonthly thing, though.

With 31 days in May, it's entirely possible that there were five distribution dates in May of 1984.

[Melchior]

With 31 days in May, it's entirely possible that there were five distribution dates in May of 1984.

Actually, yes, May 1984 did have 5 Wendnesdays.

I was three at the time, so I doubt I purchased many comics that year.

[Godzylla]

With one or two possible exceptions... this is my list:

Action Comics #558 All-Star Squadron #36 Alpha Flight #13
Amazing Spider-Man #255 Amazing Spider-Man #256 American Flagg #12
Avengers #246 Aztec Ace #3 Batman #374
Batman/Outsiders #13 Best of DC #51 Blue Devil #3
Captain America #296 Captain America #297 Cerebus #62
Crossfire #1 Crossfire #2 Daredevil #210
Detective Comics #541 DNAgents #12 Doctor Strange #66
Dreadstar #11 E-Man #18 Elfquest #19
Fantastic Four #269 Fury of Firestorm #26 Green Lantern #179
Grimjack #2 Incredible Hulk #298 Infinity, Inc. #5
Iron Man #185 Jon Sable, Freelance #16 Journey #10
Legion of Super-Heroes #1 Marvel Age #17 Marvel Tales #166
Marvel Team-Up #144 Micronauts #59 Ms. Tree #8
New Gods #3 New Mutants #19 New Teen Titans #1
Omega Men #17 Spectacular Spider-Man #93 Power Man/Iron Fist #108
Power Pack #1 Power Pack #2 Sub-Mariner #1
Rom #57 Ronin #6 Saga of Swamp Thing #27
Star Reach Classics #3 Star Trek #7 Star Wars #86
Starslayer #20 Superman #398 Tales of Legion #314
Tales of Teen Titans #45 Thing #15 Thor #346
Thor #347 Uncanny X-Men #184 Vigilante #9
Warlord #84 West Coast Avengers #1 What If #46
Zot #3
Annnnd! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, ordered directly from Eastman & Laird through their CBG ads!

[Mamylon]

I've read plenty of May 1984 comics, though all of them after the fact. American Flagg! Sienkiewicz New Mutants! Ronin! The Swamp Thing issue with Etrigan spouting sonnets! Simonson Thor! I'd call that a pretty good month.

[DCIndexer]

Actually, yes, May 1984 did have 5 Wendnesdays.

New comics have not always been released on Wednesday. The standard day of week shipping was implemented by Diamond, the company which survived the distribution wars of the mid-1990s.

Prior to this the distribution day was not standardized between distributors or publishers. Publication schedules also changed over time. For example: In the 1960s DC shipped books to newsstand distributors (pre-Direct Market) twice a week. These usually went on sale Tuesdays and Thursdays or Wednesday and Friday. Marvel during the same period often shipped only twice a month. Following the DC implosion in the late 1970s, DC also briefly went to twice a month rather than weekly shipping.

The Marvel books mentioned in the thread actually went on sale on Tuesday.

[DCIndexer]

That's probably an anomaly of Mike's Amazing Dating Methods—I would bet that on Marvel's publishing schedule, the two issues were in separate months. Don't know about the bimonthly thing, though.

During the newsstand distribution days (non-Direct Market), publishing schedules were based on shipping date rather than on sale date. Often the newsstand on sale date was three weeks after shipping date. As a result, a series could ship in the 2nd week of April, and go on sale in early May. Then the next issue shipped in the 2nd week of May and was released in late May (fifth week). This is the case with Power Pack. #1 went on sale May 1st, #2 went on sale exactly 4 weeks later May 29th. Both were indeed released in May.

Power Pack did start as a monthly and went to bi-monthly with issue #25.

[Melchior]

New comics have not always been released on Wednesday. The standard day of week shipping was implemented by Diamond, the company which survived the distribution wars of the mid-1990s.

Prior to this the distribution day was not standardized between distributors or publishers. Publication schedules also changed over time. For example: In the 1960s DC shipped books to newsstand distributors (pre-Direct Market) a week. These usually went on sale Tuesdays and Thursdays or Wednesday and Friday. Marvel during the same period often shipped only twice a month. Following the DC implosion in the late 1970s, DC also briefly went to twice a month rather than weekly shipping.

The Marvel books mentioned in the thread actually went on sale on Tuesday.

Fascinating - 5 Tuesdays as well, but that's irrelevant - I've always found the decision on when to ship things kind of mind-boggling. I have worked media retail before, so the habit of "most everything on Tuesday, comics on Wednesday" had become ingrained with me, and I did not realize it only came about in the mid-90s. Thank you!

[America / Bucky / Russia]

Maybe we should do a thread of these for each decade?

Twenty years ago:
"A twinkle in my dad's eye", as it were.

Ten years ago:
The era of Spider-Man 2. My collection has a few odd Spider-Man issues from around that time, and (once had; has not done for years) piles upon piles of The Beano.

[matt levin]

American Flagg 12 - loved this series so much until Chaykin left, and then I hated this series so much-- but I've still got several copies of each Chaykin issue
Atari Force 8 - it was just fun. I may still have this series but haven't read it in, well, decades.
Aztec Ace - great series, still have it, still enjoy reading it now and then.
Blue Devil 3 - more fun stuff, still pretty silly
Cerebus 62 - well, just about the greatest landmark series in comics - went pretty sour after another 100 issues, but still....
Crossfire 1, 2 - a terrific debut issue, still good reading
Destroyer Duck 7 - by now pretty boring; first early issues are still great
DNAgents 12 - a fine superteam
Doctor Strange 66 - just...lovely.
E-Man 18 - always great fun to read
Elfquest 19 - one of the few really gripping, engaging fantasy comics
Grimjack 2 - incredible character and a good story
Jon Sable 16 - superb action hero/kids' book author lead character; this issue in particular featuring a wonderful foil in The Cat
Journey 10 - every issue a gem. One of my all-time favorite comics
Mars 9 - what a great time to be reading comics - Mars is another of my top favorites
Ms.Tree 8 - Ms. Tree, too, a consistently good character
New Mutants 19 - wonderfully wild art still couldn't keep my interest in this title much longer
Powerman/IronFist 108 - sentimental favorite character in Luke Cage; admittedly no longer such a great comic
Power Pack 1,2 - a really enjoyable series opener
Ronin 6 - the ultimate climax issue for an incredibly ground-breaking series that still holds up for me despite many now-seen flaws.
Star Wars 86 - definitely read this just to keep in continuity. haven't read this series in...a long time.
Starslayer 20 - another Grell exploration, not as great as Jon Sable, but still fun at the time.
Swampthing - what excitement Moore & Bissette were bringing to this longtime favorite character!
TMNT 1 - terrific fun combining all the worst in Teen Titans etc, New & Other Mutants, ninja ninja ninja overload, and total aping Ronin. #1's the only issue that holds up for me now.
Thriller 9 - just reread this series last summer, and it still holds up; wild Von Eedon artwork and an excellent swirling plot with interesting characters
Uncanny X-Men 184 - when they were still mostly good.
Zot 3 - Ah, Dekko. Zot remains a fine fine comic to read.

whew. I sure got a lot of comics that month....!

[basbash99]

This is pretty early in my comic collecting phase, I was surprised at the large quantity of books purchased!

Alpha Flight # 13
Amazing Spiderman 255-256?
Captain America 296-297?
Daredevil 210
Dr.Strange 66
Fantastic Four 269
Hulk 298
Secret Wars #5
New Mutants 19
Questprobe #1
Thor 346/347
X-Men 184
West Coast Avengers #1
What If #46

Total of 17 comics

A few issues were part of legendary runs such as Simonson's Thor, Byrne's FF, Mantlo/Sal Buscema's Hulk.

This was the 1st month that I purchased X-Men and New Mutants. The Bill Sienkiewicz art blew me away, went on to collect many more issues of both series.

Missed out on TMNT # 1!! I did pick up # 2 the next month.

Secret Wars, Amazing Spiderman, Cap, Daredevil (shortly before Miller's return), West Coast Avengers all stick out as memorable reads. Dr. Strange, Alpha Flight, What If.. not so much. And Questprobe??? Terrible comic to one of those old text based adventure video games, ugh.

Always liked Ron Frenz' spiderman artwork!!

For some reason I didn't pick up avengers 246 even though I was collecting the title at the time.