Memory Lane: thru 1968

Starting at Mike's Amazing World of Comics' Newstand for November 1965, when I turned four years old, and stepping forward through the months, the first DC comics of which I have definite memories were....


Action Comics #340 o[n-]/s[ale] 30 June 1966: This definitely rings a bell, but I'm pretty certain I didn't own it, must have “read” it at the barber shop. OR DID I CONFUSE IT WITH ACTION COMICS #361?


(Batman #189 o/s 6 Dec 1966: I'm pretty sure I never owned or “read” this one, but I distinctly remember seeing the cover in a house ad and wondering who the Scarecrow was – he never appeared on the TV show. I think I found him pretty scary.)


(Flash #169 o/s 14 Feb 1967: Another one that I remember the cover but don't think I had. It's an “80-pg Giant.”)


Superman #199 o/s 20 June 1967: I long ago identified this as the first comic I can be absolutely sure I owned for myself. I still can't be certain I owned anything before this. But I know I had this one, can still remember lying across my parents' bed reading it over and over again. I must have held onto it for a couple years at least, because I don't think I learned to read until first grade even though I did kindergarten in the 1966-1967 year. My earliest comic memories would have been looking at the pictures, and I often had Momma or Mammaw read them to me. But I can very honestly say that comics were among the first things I read for myself.  –  What a story! The great race! Flash vibrating through the Great Pyramid while Superman ran up and over it! Flash running on the water while Superman cut through the waves swimming at super-speed. The criminals making bets on the race and each one's bettors scrambling to sabotage the other! This would be a prime candidate for treatment in this blog, although I can't afford an original copy – $18.00 FAIR (1.0) (on 15 May 2012) is beyond my self-imposed limit for a comic book, especially when the story has been reprinted a couple of times, most recently in a trade paperback collecting several races between the two characters. Maybe I'll pick that up sooner or later and give this story its due in this blog.



Zorro #7 o/s 1 July 1967: Even though it's not DC but rather Gold Key, I know I had this comic as well. Probably the only Zorro comic I had as a kid, but I remember that cover pose.



Superboy #142 o/s 17 Aug 1967: Barber shop? Never owned.



World's Finest #172 o/s 26 Oct 1967: I remember reading this one first in the barber shop, and later finding it on a spinner-rack! And buying it. An “Imaginary Story,” who cares? The idea of Superman and Batman raised as brothers captured me. This is definitely blogworthy. At one time I thought this was the earliest comic I remember distinctly.




Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #108 o/s 23 Nov 1967: not sure about the context, but read it.





(Aquaman #37 o/s 2 Nov 1967.  This is an iffy one.  I read this either in the barber shop or had my own copy.  I remember more remembering reading this issue than actually reading it.  Besides that wonderfully striking Nick Cardy cover, I well remembered the imagery of the very fabric of the sea rotting around them.  And yet if I had my own copy I must have lost it very quickly, because I remember searching for it fruitlessly a bunch of times.  Even then I could get pretty obsessive, and very frustrated when I couldn't find something!  Years later when I bought it as a back issue, and found I had no memory whatsoever of the plot.)




Adventure Comics #364 o/s 30 Nov 1967: I definitely had this one. And still do, maybe even my original copy.  Maybe not.  Years later, I filled in a run of Adventure Comics from #360-380 ... but I did not have to buy them all.  Super-pets?!  I need this!



Aquaman #38 o/s 2 Jan 1968: This may have been the first Aquaman comic I ever had ... see #37 above.  This story I remember very well, rereading and rereading it until it fell apart and I had to buy another copy years later.  ... And notice the banner at the top.  This is within months of the debut of The Superman-Aquaman Hour of Adventure.



Adventures of Jerry Lewis #105 o/s 4 Jan 1968: Not super-hero, and I think this was the only Jerry Lewis issue I ever had, but it had Superman!



Flash #177 o/s 18 Jan 1968. I remember very well Flash's swelling head.



Action Comics #361 o/s 30 Jan 1968. I remember both the Parasite cover and the Supergirl computer-dating backup story.



Flash #178 o/s 8 Feb 1968. I mainly remember the cover but don't think I owned it.



Superboy #146 o/s 10 Feb 1968. I remember this cover making me very sad, but I don't remember if I ever read the story.



Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #110 o/s 27 Feb 1968. Guess where I remember reading this one.



Justice League of America #62 o/s 12 Mar 1968. I remember wondering, “Where's Superman?”



World's Finest Comics #175 o/s 12 Mar 1968. The Superman-Batman Revenge Squad! I also remember first reading the origin of Martian Manhunter here, and being turned off by the very heavy brow-ridge he was originally drawn with (a story reprinted from 1955, but I didn't know that at the time).



Adventure Comics #368 o/s 28 Mar 1968. Boys vs. girls!



Flash #180 o/s 18 Apr 1968. I remember the clunky looking samurai armor. This is one I had no memory of until I saw this cover, but I am firmly convinced I had this comic.



Showcase #75 o/s 23 Apr 1968. Hawk and Dove.



Action Comics #364 o/s 30 Apr 1968. This was the middle part of a three part story – what a concept! Continued stories? Although I had the last part, too, I did not have the first....



Adventure Comics #369 o/s 30 Apr 1968. And it's another continued story, this one the first part. I did get both parts and remember this as one of my favorite comic stories of all time. That cover is one that impressed itself deeply into my memory.



Aquaman #40 o/s 2 May 1968. The beginning of the “Search for Mera” story that played out over nine issues – a year and a half since this was a bimonthly title. I remember being heartbroken when I could never find one of the issues along the way, only buying it as a back-issue and reading the full story years later.



Wonder Woman #177 o/s 2 May 1968. Even as a kid I liked the idea of two girl super-heroes together in one issue. Hey, I was precocious.



Teen Titans #16 o/s 23 May 1968. The first issue of Teen Titans I ever remember. I would have been familiar with the characters from the couple of short cartoons as part of The Superman/Aquaman Hour, and I remember being disappointed at the color-scheme of Kid Flash's suit.  I also presumably would have wondered at the "replacement" of Speedy with Robin, but I don't really remember that.



Action Comics #365 o/s 28 May 1968. The conclusion of the Virus X story. … sort of. I don't remember having the next issue, but apparently it formed the actual conclusion. I must not have ever known how it turned out. Like Superman would have been dead, anyway....



Adventure Comics #370 o/s 28 May 1968. The conclusion of the Mordru story. And at this point I have five comics from one month listed. That's only the ones I know I owned, there are others whose covers I recognize and I may have had, but no way to know now.



Justice League of America #64 o/s 13 June 1968. This might have been my introduction to the Golden Age heroes of the Justice Society and the idea of multiple Earths. I remember being fascinated. I never found it confusing. ...  Another clear memory of this issue is that it was the first comic I ever bought a second copy of. As I remember it, after I'd already had it for at least some period of time, my mother and I were in Piggly Wiggly and I was allowed to get one comic book. I couldn't find anything else I wanted so I picked this one. My mother said that I already had it, but I successfully convinced her I didn't. ... Why did I want another copy? I have not idea except that I was allowed to get a comic and by golly I was going to get one!   ... Then my cousin Alan ratted me out and I got in trouble! Thanks, pal!



Adventure Comics #371 o/s 27 June 1968. Increasingly, many of the covers are looking familiar, but I'm limiting myself here to the ones I know I had.



Aquaman #41 o/s 2 July 1968. I remember for the longest time misreading the title as “The Trial of the Ring.” I have a memory associating this comic with the barber shop as well.



Justice League of America #65 o/s 25 July 1968.  Aw, look at the cute little Atom alcove!  Continued from the previous issue with the JSA.



Adventure Comics #372 o/s 30 July 1968.



Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #115 o/s 27 Aug 1968. Aquaman!



Adventure Comics #373 o/s 29 Aug 1968.  The Flash's descendants? Cool!



Captain Action #1 o/s 29 Aug 1968. I had the toy, I loved the comic even though it had nothing to do with the toy as I recall!



Wonder Woman #179 o/s 3 Sep 1968. The beginning of the new, powerless Wonder Woman.



World's Finest Comics #180 o/s 10 Sep 1968.



Teen Titans #18 o/s 24 Sep 1968.  A Russian super-hero.  A French villain wiss ze Frinch accint!  I liked the way he planned his heist.



Adventure Comics #374 o/s 26 Sep 1968.



Justice League of America #68 o/s 22 Oct 1968.  If I remember correctly, this was just a tale of a little boy lost.



( Captain Action #2 o/s 29 Oct 1968. I'm not absolutely sure about this one.  Price Guide.  )



Adventure Comics #375 o/s 31 Oct 1968.  Notice that Saturn Girl ripping off her chest emblem does not leave a great gaping hole in her uniform....



(Brave and the Bold #81 o/s 31 Oct 1968.  This is another comic I may not actually have had although I remember that cover.)



Aquaman #43 o/s 5 Nov 1968. … and I had missed the previous issue. Heartbreak! Didn't acquire it and read it until years later.  ... In this issue, I remember not liking the idea that the Atlanteans were given the power to breathe water.  If I recall correctly, the ones in the TV show couldn't  –  or at least under the dome was an air-breathing environment – and as long as I'd been reading the comics they didn't.   Why they lived under the sea I didn't really wonder about, I just thought it was cool!



Teen Titans #19 o/s 26 Nov 1968. I remember the art on this issue being really wonky. This was the first non-Nick Cardy issue. Coloring was off as well – at one point Aqualad's gloves or boots – maybe both – were wrong, as was his hair, colored brown rather than black.  At the end of the story Aqualad headed off to "take care of Aquababy while Aquaman searches for Mera," which didn't please me then even though now I find it an interesting example of the increasing cross-continuity between DC titles.



Brave and the Bold #82 o/s 24 Dec 1968. Aquaman!  This is the comic I remember buying in Otasco.  It's another example of growing cross-continuity in that Aquaman's frustrating search for Mera helps explain his state of mind.



Captain Action #3 o/s 31 Dec 1968.


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