The Super Heroes Monthly Vol.1 #1 - DC/Egmont

1980 - "Here is at last, the Super Heroes magazine you've all been waiting for!"

This is the debut issue of Egmont's The Super Heroes Monthly series, featuring reprints of some of DC's best material, topped off by all-new covers, which in 1980 were breathtaking in their realism.

This issue's cover is by Alan Craddock, who would go on to do a number of them for the series. As you might expect, this first issue focuses on the Big Three, featuring reprints of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman stories:

In addition to the reprints, there's an all-new article giving a brief history of The Man of Steel, and another shorter one for Batman. There's also an ad for the next issue, a little feature I used to love but have gone the way of letters pages.

Living in America, I never saw this series until a few years later, and seeing the covers (in those old Heroes World catalogs, I think) was a real eye-opener: I'd never seen superheroes rendered this way, and it really made me want to find these magazines.

On eBay, these issues of Super Heroes Monthly can be found incredibly cheaply (I think I bought this one for $1.50); and their smorgasbord of DC material make them the perfect books to give out to any kids you might know who love superhero comics.

The Superheroes Monthly Vol.1 #2 - DC/Egmont

1980 - These issues of Super Heroes Monthly first caught my eye back when I was a kid, almost entirely because of their covers--at the time (around 1985 or so), I had never seen superheroes rendered so realistically, and the various covers were just so captivating.

Since then, I've had the chance to get a hold of a couple of issues of the series, and they make for a nice package--slick covers wrapping around a selection of classic reprints from the Silver Age (mostly).

This issue's cover is by Gary Leach (I dig Batman's spooky glowing eyes!), and as the characters might suggest, this issue focuses on DC's Big Three.

First up is Wonder Woman in "Wonder Woman's Daring Deception!", from Wonder Woman #173, by Robert Kanigher, Irv Novick, and Mike Esposito:

Next is the classic two-page Superman origin sequence from Action Comics #1, followed by "The Nightmare Maker", from Superman #166, by Elliott S! Maggin, Curt Swan, and Murphy Anderson:

...and finally, we have Batman in "Legend of the Key Hook Lighthouse!" (great name!) by Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick, and Dick Giordano, from Detective Comics #414

...as usual, the cover painting is reprinted on the back cover, sans logos and cover type, Dell-style.

These books make for a really nice little package, and can be picked up super cheap on eBay (I think I bought this one for $1.50!), making them a great buy for kids just starting to read comics.

Superheroes Monthly Debut Party

From time to time I've profiled issues of the fun U.K. reprint title Superheroes Monthly; this photo is from an event at a comic book store celebrating its debut. Now that's a store that knows how to throw a party! Look how ecstatic that kid on the far left is--now that's Comics.

I had never seen this photo before until I came across it on the uber-cool site Wonder Woman Collectors, site master Kyall Coulton generously told me I could post it here. Thanks Kyall!

The Superheroes Monthly Vol.1 #11 - DC/Egmont

The British Superheroes Monthly magazine mostly focused on the Big Three every issue, so it's nice to see the Winged Wonder get some love this time(although it does kinda look like Batman is chasing him here). Nice painting by Bryan Talbot.

The main story is indeed Hawkman(and Hawkgirl!), "Creature of a Thousand Shapes" by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert, from their first appearance in Brave and the Bold #34.

After the letters page put together by editor Vanessa Morgan is the second classic, "Earth's Final Hour!" by Mike Friedrich, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella, from Justice League of America #86, an unusually Aquaman-centric story.

On the inside back cover is a PSA, "Can You Help Superman Unmask the Evil of Nick O'Teen?", with a certificate that you can send in to get a "Free Superman Kit", which includes a poster, an 8-page comic, certificate, and badge. Neat-o!

On the inside front cover is an ad for four "Super-Annuals" that, from their covers, look absolutely astounding:

...man, I have got to get my hands on these someday.

The Superheroes Monthly Vol.1 #10 - DC/Egmont

DC Week, Part 3

I love this cover by Alan Craddock--it's suitably mysterious in the classic Batman way, yet Gotham City is lit up like a Christmas tree, which I think makes for a nice, attractive image. But let me get this straight--Gotham City has a street called Gotham City?

First up is the classic Huntress origin story, "From Each Ending...a Beginning!" by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton, and Bob Layton.

(interesting note: for some reason, most of the credits are removed from these reprints, except when the credit box was somewhere that would require a lot heavy drawing, like the splash page for this story.)

Next is "The Superman-Batman Revenge Squads!" by Leo Dorfman and Neal Adams, from World's Finest #175. Following that are the results of a drawing contest, featuring a photo of judges Brian Bolland and Dave Gibbons! Jeez, no pressure there!

Last is the Flash in "The Coldest Man on Earth!" by John Broome, Carmine Infantino, and Frank Giacoia, from Showcase #8. A classic.

There's also a fun puzzle page on the inside cover which, as a kid, I couldn't resist trying out and therefore ruining the Minty freshness of my comics. Luckily, I've grown up a bit(ha!) so I can just scan the thing in and do it from there. You can, too, by downloading the puzzle here!

You're welcome.

The Superheroes Monthly Vol.1 #9 - DC/Egmont

DC Week, Part 2

Another issue of The Super Heroes Monthly, with a nifty painted cover by Bob Wakelin, featuring a hesitant Superman, a super-angry Batman, and a sort of odd-looking Wonder Woman.

First up is "Battle of the Thinking Machines!" by Bob Rozakis and the mighty team of Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin, from Detective Comics #468.

This is the story featuring Batman and guest-stars Elongated Man, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Atom fighting, improbably, the Calculator, a villain not exactly known to strike fear in the hearts of superheroes everywhere, yet Rozakis managed to write him as formidable.

It features a funny ending, where Morgan Edge wonders if he could get Batman to write an auto-biography. That sends Batman into a fit of laughter:

...I love the JLAers looking bewildered at hearing the Dark Knight Detective chuckle.

Next is "The Baby Who Walked Through Walls" by Len Wein and Neal Adams, from the "Private Life of Clark Kent" back-up in Superman #254. Adams was of course a perfect choice to illustrate a tale that features just Clark Kent, no Superman, and still makes it visually compelling.

Last is "The Planetary Conqueror!" starring Wonder Woman and Supergirl, by Bill Finger, Win Mortimer, and Jack Abel, from Wonder Woman #177.

There's also two brief text features about Supergirl and Wonder Woman's superhero gear--I always love seeing what modern editors use to fill those empty half-pages they get stuck with when reprinting stories from the 50s and 60s.

I just noticed, the edtior of SHM is named Vanessa Morgan--a female comic book editor? Pretty unusual for the time!

The Superheroes Monthly Vol.1 #7 - DC/Egmont

DC Week, Part 1

Welcome to our first official Theme Week! All this week we'll be talking about DC-related comics in the magazine format.

Of course, DC didn't do much--none, really--in the format directly, so we don't have much to draw on, but we'll do what we can!

This is The Super Heroes Monthly, a British DC reprint magazine that ran in the early 80s. We've talked about this magazine before, and even though its all reprints, between the original painted covers and the high quality of the tales chosen, SHM was an attractive package.

As the cover says, this is a special Superman II Movie Issue, featuring all-Superman content as well as an article on the film. I like how Superman looks just mildly annoyed at Zod, Non, and Ursa as they are what looks like microwaving some earthlings.

First up is an untitled Superman story from 1942 by Siegel and Shuster, featuring Superman taking on some Axis saboteurs!

Next is "The Mightiest Team in the World" by Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan, and Stan Kaye, from Superman #76, the first Superman-Batman team-up!

Then comes a review and article on Superman II, and then finally we have "Clark Kent, Hero...Superman, Public Enemy!" by Cary Bates, Swan, and Jack Abel, from Superman #219.

On the inside back cover is a little Captain Company-like action, featuring this ad for Superman II t-shirts for sale:

...I like that "Arch Villains" one. It takes a bold kid to not wear a Superman shirt and instead go for the three murderous supervillains. Although that old school, more rounded "S" shield is pretty nifty, too...

The Superheroes Monthly Vol.2 #3 - DC/Egmont

This issue's cover is by Bryan Talbot--I know what they were going for, but I can't help but think this looks like Batman has knocked out Santa Claus and the cops have the drop on him. Holy Elseworlds!
More classic reprints, all Christmas-themed stories, starting off with "Wanted: Santa Claus--Dead or Alive!" by Denny O'Neil, inker Steve Mitchell, and pencils by some new kid named Frank Miller.

Next is "Star Light, Star Bright...Farthest Star I See Tonight!" starring the Legion of Super-Heroes by Paul Levitz, Jose Luis Garica Lopez, and Dick Giordano.

A cool bonus feature is a text article called "A Date With DC" where over three pages we're given a series of important dates in DC's history from 1961-1981(previous issues handled earlier years). It starts off with "Feb.1961--After many years as a back-up feature, Aquaman starts a series of try-outs starting with Showcase No.30." Amen!

The last story is the bona-fide classic "The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus!" from Justice League of America #110, by Len Wein, Dick Dillin, and Giordano. The Key suckers the JLA into a series of death-traps in an extraordinairily fun adventure--one of my all-time favorite JLA stories.

Another nice feature in this issue is "Ask The AnswerMan", an all-new version of the Bob Rozakis column this time answering British comics fan's questions! Consdering how friggin' convoluted the DCU is nowadays, I'd say we need the AnswerMan more than ever!

These are great magazines filled with fun, timeless material--I definitely plan to get more of 'em as the blog goes on...

The Superheroes Monthly Vol.1 #8 - DC/Egmont

I had a couple issues of these British, b/w, magazine-sized DC reprint books years ago; I had forgotten all about them until I saw them on ebay last week so I quickly snapped two of them up--the other will be here tomorrow.

First off, the cover by artist Alan Craddock---way cool, and a predecessor to the look of realism Alex Ross would bring to comics. The Flash looks like a badass here--no easy feat.

Each issue features three stories from DC's archives, and this issue reprints the uber-classic "Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt"--the first appearance of The Flash from Showcase #4, by Bob Kanigher, Carmine Infantino, and Joe Kubert.

Next is "Marriage: Impossible", another chapter in the Man-Bat saga, by Frank Robbins, Neal Adams, and Dick Giordano.

Last is Superman in "The Man Who Murdered The Earth" by Len Wein, Curt Swan, and Murphy Anderson.

A really fun magazine, every bit as good as I remember it being when I had it as a young kid. The back cover features the cover painting, sans text, Gold Key-style.