A quickie post today designed to offer a little love to my fellow nostalgia sufferers.
First, the Twitter account known as The Spinner Rack. Every day they offer a glance (sometimes several glances) back at what was on the comics spinner racks thirty to forty years ago. Late last week they published a beaut, one that hit me right in the feels, from September 1977:
A day of reckoning was at hand, at THE SPINNER RACK, Sept. 20, 1977. Seriously, sit down, breathe… this is the good stuff. (Triple Byrne) pic.twitter.com/XapiVEygcQ
— THE SPINNER RACK (@RackSpinner) September 20, 2019
WOW.
Just… WOW.
That’s the second part of the X-Men’s first meeting with the Star Jammers; the beginning of the Power Man-Iron Fist team; the awesome ending of the Avengers’ battle with Count Nefaria; and the magnificent conclusion of Jim Starlin’s original Thanos Epic. The only one I missed buying new off the racks at the the time was Power Man—I’d have to track that one down a few years later in the back-issue bins.
Fun Fact: John Byrne drew three of these four issues. Marvel kept him quite busy back in those days.
Going back to this time in my mind is quite the trip. Remember, I just saw Star Wars right around this same time. What a time to be a kid and be alive on this Earth. All four comics are superb and wildly entertaining stories, but Starlin’s goodbye to Thanos and Warlock was the best, of course.
And while I already dropped a plug for him in the comments section of my recent farewell to Mad magazine, allow me to give another shout out to Alan Stewart’s Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic Books blog here. The blog’s purpose is to look back on comics that were published almost exactly one half century ago, and Mr. Stewart does as thorough a job as any blogger you’re going to find. For example, check out his post on the introduction of the Prowler in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #78. It serves as a great snapshot of how Stan Lee’s “Marvel Method” worked back in the day, and why this created so many headaches when it came time to give proper creator credits.
Aww, shucks! Thanks for the plug, Crustymud!
Thanks, too, for recommending the “Spinner Rack” on Twitter — I look forward to checking it out. (And I share your “wow” feeling regarding this particular tweet. What a great argument for for my keeping my blog going at least another eight years! 🙂 )