The Spidey reprint saga was rebooted with Marvel Tales #137, and I remember reading this one over and over again. I don't think it was my first exposure to the Ditko Spider-Man, but I can't quite pinpoint where I would have seen it otherwise. Obviously, it's an awesome story - but this book gets extra points for the unpublished cover to Amazing Fantasy #15 and including Dr. Strange's first appearance from Strange Tales #110. I still have this one.
Ghost Rider #66 is a bit of a weird one. I was reading a lot of Ghost Rider during this period, and a lot of the stories were quite strong and memorable. I do not, however, remember a single thing about this story. When I skimmed over an on-line cover gallery, I recognized it immediately, but I have no recollection of the Wind Witch. She was probably as lame as the Weathermen in the Avengers. I don't remember what happen to this book, but I don't seem to have any of my Ghost Riders from back then.
I missed a lot of great series during their initial publication, but I was definitely on the Daredevil bandwagon from a fairly early stage. Daredevil #181 came out this month, and it was probably the most intense comic book I had read up to that point. I'm not actually a huge Elektra fan, and was not really invested in her relationship with Matt (what can I say? I was 9), but it was still pretty mind blowing to see someone killed. To be honest, I likely a lot of the post-Elektra stuff better than the stuff leading up to this issue. I've still got this one, along with all of the other Miller issues.
In the regular Spideyverse, Felecia Hardy was around and confusing me. I always had trouble with the love/hate relationship with the female villains (same goes for Catwoman). It's really not fair for comic book companies to send such confusing signals to young boys. I still think pretty highly of this stretch of issues, and Amazing Spider-Man #226 is no exception. I recently sold a bunch of mine and surprised by how much interest they generated. I was also surprised that I was able to keep them in such nice shape for 25+ years.While I was still reading Master of Kung-Fu, Avengers and Power Man and Iron Fist on a fairly regular basis at this time - I did not pick them up this particular month. I also completely missed the boat on Marvel Fanfare and Byrne' Fantastic Four (only read an issue or two) and I think I'd stopped buying X-Men.
3 comments:
Scott:
I was a much older 11 in Dec. 1981, but was still waiting for those same Star Wars toys. My parents also got me several subscriptions to Marvel comics that Christmas, and I can distinctly remember Marvel Team-Up #115 being stuffed in my stocking, subscription crease and all!
I like these your "My Reading Pile" pieces. They really take me back!
Cheers,
Andrew
ComicsBronzeAge.com
Apparently, the first chunk of those 80's Marvel Tales were edited--dialogue and pop culture references were put through a "modernize" filter. A real shame, as these would be a great option for acquiring Ditko Spidey for cheap. I *THINK* they knocked it off starting with issue #159.
I rarely, if ever, got comics new off the rack. In fact, most of my comics from this era have been picked up in bins and boxes over the years.
Like you, I was never really invested in Elektra (even all those years later when I finally got the issue in question), but there still was something cool about seeing a character die and believing it was permanent. . . Wish I could get some of that wide-eyed idealism back.
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