They Might Be Giants! (The BEGINNING of 1966) ~~ A "Comical Wednesday" Post!

Well! Here we are (were?) in 1966, arguably the greatest year in pop culture history! And that's not just my opinion. It's shared by at least two other pop culture mavens, namely Steven "Booksteve" Thompson and Hal Lifson.

The above issue (#18) of DC's 80 Page Giant title promised something I'd never actually seen before: Golden Age comic book reprints! (Okay, okay, with one exception, briefly mentioned here, and again below.)

Unfortunately, Yours Truly missed that razzer-frazzer issue, and all I ever saw of it until many years later was the following advertisement!

As I mentioned in the first installment of this "They Might Be Giants" series, I spent the early 1960s learning about DC's "Earth-Two," and I also knew that Marvel Comics' Captain America and the Sub-Mariner had both originally appeared in the 1940s. However, I didn't dare hope that I'd ever actually see a Golden Age story, outside of the one G.A. tale of the original Flash (Jay Garrick), reprinted in 1963's Giant Flash Annual #1!

DC did reproduce a handful of Golden Age covers on a couple of back cover illustration appearings on two of their annuals, plus on one interior page from Giant Flash Annual #1... and all three of those are shown below.

It seemed that the two leading comic companies were reluctant to show the relatively primitive antecedents of the comics which were instrumental in my learning to read. 80 Page Giant #18 (a/k/a Superman #183) was a notable exception. See why I was so ticked off that I missed that issue?

As a kid, I loved appearances of not only Ace, the Bat-Hound (discussed here), but also the various super-powered pets owned by, or associated with, both Superman and Supergirl.

Superman usually dealt with Krypto, the super-dog, or (I swear!) Beppo, the super-monkey. Both of those animals were originally from Krypton, like Superman himself! There was even a one-shot character in the Superboy comic named Krypto Mouse, but the less said about that, the better!

Supergirl was sometimes joined by Streaky, the super-cat, and Comet, the super-horse! Neither Streaky nor Comet hailed from Krypton, however. In fact, Comet had quite a convoluted origin and history, most of which I'll spare you. He was originally a centaur named Biron, who was magically turned into an immortal, super-powered horse hundreds of years ago. In modern times, he occasionally became fully human and in this form, he had an actual romance with Supergirl! Pretty sick stuff, if you look at it with a 21st century attitude, but when I was a young'un in the '60s, I found it quite entertaining. So obviously, comics like 80 Page Giant #20 (a/k/a Action Comics #334) really appealed to me.

Oh, and if you noticed the black and white checks at the top of 80 Page Giant #20, those are the infamous "DC Go-Go Checks" that adorned the tops of all DC titles for about a year and a half. They were evidently placed there so comic readers could spot a DC title on a crowded newsstand rack. Plus, the powers-that-were at DC apparently (and erroneously) thought these Go-Go Checks showed that DC could be just as "cool" as this upstart Marvel Comics company.

Yeah, right.

Anyway, back to the story of the pre-adolescent and his yearning for Golden Age comic stories.

In early 1965, Marvel's Tales of Suspense title (which featured both Iron Man and Captain America in separate adventures every month) decided to start telling Cap tales from the World War II era. They began with a retelling of his origin story (from 1941's Captain America Comics #1) in Tales of Suspense #63, and continued through most of  the rest of 1965. But again, these were retellings, not the G.A. reprints that I so desired.

For example, here's one page from Tales of Suspense #65, featuring Cap's first encounter with the Red Skull! It features artwork by the incredible Jack Kirby, comic legend.

Here, on the other hand, is a reprinted page from Captain America Comics #1, produced by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

"Mister Maxon" (a/k/a George) turned out to be an agent of the "real" Red Skull, if you're interested...

In early 1966, Marvel began a 12-cent reprint title, Fantasy Masterpieces. Its cover proclaimed "From the Golden Age of Marvel" but they lied! The first two issues contained reprinted stories from 1959-1962!

With issue #3, however, they made two major alterations to the book's format. The first was to make it yet another "giant," but not an "annual." No, this was an ongoing series!

The second change was a little better. Okay, a lot better.

The third issue of Fantasy Masterpieces contained not one, but two original Captain America stories from the 1940s! At last!

Issue #4 contained three Golden Age stories!

And sandwiched in with these exciting Marvel Comics was yet another 80 Page Giant that featured "Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen," another character whose adventures really clicked with this little Foxlet!

But Fantasy Masterpieces kept rolling along with its Captain America classics, three to an issue!

And if you think that all of these vintage Captain America stories were enough to shut me up satisfy me, I've somehow failed to impress upon you how obsessed I really was with not only the comics I was growing up with, but the history of the medium itself!

In fact, there was so much going on in the comic book titles of 1966, for next week's Comical Wednesday entry, I'm going to devote yet another chapter to 1966.

See you then, I hope. And I apologize for not posting any non-comic-book-related entries lately, but this series, as well as my personal life, have been taking up all my time.

And speaking of "time," thanks for your time.