My Pull List from 1983!

[palitoy]

Ah yes, Ka-Zar...one of the first "Direct Only" books from Marvel (along with Moon Knight and Micronauts at the same time methinks....)

Yeah, I remember them ending on a cliff hanger and realizing I could no long buy the comic at Checkers. Luckily the local used book store had just started files.

I pronounced it "Kah-zar" until I was 32 and heard Stan Lee say it correctly.

[samurainoir]

wow ..., no Action , Detective or Superman huh ?

In regards to Superman and Action, Julie Schwartz was into his final years editing the title and for me looking back, it's really indicative in some respects to why Marvel ruled in sales back in those days for the better part of the seventies and eighties.

Don't get me wrong, Schwartz's final years were in fact be wildly inventive, but I think it pretty much says it all that sales spiked on the titles every time Ambush Bug showed up to take the **** out of Supes.

You also had the reinvented Luthor and Brainiac, a fantastic star-creator filled anniversary issue that looked back on the legend of Superman from the future, and Elliot S! Maggin was still doing some neat stuff like the new Superwoman. However, notice that none of this really had much to do with the character of Superman himself?

He was also running into analogues of Popeye and Asterix, fun but ultimately just more gimmicks.

The shining light of course was Alan Moore's The Man Who Has Everything, and Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow.

At the end of the day, whether folks liked the Byrne Superman or not, they really did need a big shake-up like that to get people reading Superman again. (reading Supreme, I have to wonder what would have happened if they gave Alan Moore the Post-Crisis Superman).

[The Toyroom]

wow ..., no Action , Detective or Superman huh ?

I bought Action and Superman but for some reason didn't feel the need to put them on a checklist....As samurainoir points out lots of oddball stuff was happening in the Supes titles. I was definitely one of the folks who would help the sales spike whenever Ambush Bug "popped" up in the book but didn't feel the need to buy each and every month...Although I do remember buying the new Brainiac and Luthor arcs as well as the Popeye and Asterix analogues so maybe I WAS buying every month and just didn't realize it.

[BlackKnight]

I didn't start buying comics regularly until about 86 ..., and then it was only Batman and Detective at 7-11 ..., I started picking up Superman and Action off and on ..., and the Teen Titans a few yrs after that ...., I bought the Annual's too ..., I didn't really start to get involved with spendage until around 89 & 90 ...., then it was like 10+ titles.

[Blue Meanie]

I was looking through my '83 Overstreet Price Guide and came across an ad for Geppi's Subscription Service...

So you're one of the minions that helped to create the GIANT that is Diamond Distributors...


I wish I still had my old lists from "The Batcave" / Comic Heaven / Long Island Comics. I know early on I had a couple of titles that I would get multiple copies of.

[The Toyroom]

So you're one of the minions that helped to create the GIANT that is Diamond Distributors...

Not quite I checked off on their list but bought stuff locally. I did seek out the famed "Geppi's Comic World" in Crystal City on a trip to Arlington VA though....it was the first real comic shop I was in but I was with my mom and that definitely put a damper on the whole experience.