tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7679275871060278971.post101135483517166228..comments2024-02-17T14:15:04.602+00:00Comments on Silver and Bronze Age Subjects: DC Big 5 War Comics: G I CombatSimaylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01861115402841654930noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7679275871060278971.post-78245277846463553192012-08-30T07:48:56.795+01:002012-08-30T07:48:56.795+01:00DC had a tough time in the late 60s dealing with l...DC had a tough time in the late 60s dealing with losing their market share to Marvel, it is possible that they focussed on their core characters and did not have capacity for the minor characters. Weisinger retired and Kanigher stepped down from editing, how many top quality editors did they have? Schwartz and Boltinoff split the super titles and Boltinoff was not a great innovator, where was the vision coming from?Simaylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01861115402841654930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7679275871060278971.post-57870078500099004512012-08-29T22:59:18.889+01:002012-08-29T22:59:18.889+01:00In a way, I would have expected Plastic Man (and I...In a way, I would have expected Plastic Man (and Inferior Five) to fit in with the camp comedy/pop art fad in 1966. But the subteen kids (then the main audience for comics) still wanted their super heroes played straight. And the adults who watched the campy Batman TV show (and the Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Wild wild West) did not read comics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7679275871060278971.post-52744538967803652162012-08-29T21:43:52.039+01:002012-08-29T21:43:52.039+01:00Kanigher's war books had great art and sometim...Kanigher's war books had great art and sometimes were more realistic....Haunted Tank stretched things further than most but it was more realistic than the Wonder Woman stories Kanigher was writing at the time. Batman was quite dumb in the fifties although some of the stories had their charm. I really enjoy Weisinger's Superman, he used great writers including Jerry Seigel himself and Otto Binder along with great artists like Curt Swan. Batman didn't improve until Julius Schwartz took over with the new look in my opinion. <br /><br />Challengers was a great series when Kirby was drawing it but I am only familiar with House of Mystery from the 70s which was great!Simaylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01861115402841654930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7679275871060278971.post-55386729191319861082012-08-29T21:33:05.139+01:002012-08-29T21:33:05.139+01:00G I Combat was certainly the most successful title...G I Combat was certainly the most successful title DC had from the Quality stable. Plastic Man never reached the heights of the Golden Age and his best stories were probably in Grant Morrison's JLA.Simaylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01861115402841654930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7679275871060278971.post-41990126624697132232012-08-29T20:42:05.827+01:002012-08-29T20:42:05.827+01:00What I like about War comics, and to a point, book...What I like about War comics, and to a point, books like Challengers of the Unknown, House of Mystery etc..is that the stories were more realistic and believable. If you look at Batman and Superman during those years, they were fighting goofy looking aliens, evil doubles of themselves, giant hands, dumb imaginary tales, or Lois Lane dreaming of marrying Superman for the 415th time. I'm loving reading about these and seeing the old covers.Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15962464518956106665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7679275871060278971.post-38653947290238124972012-08-29T20:14:36.546+01:002012-08-29T20:14:36.546+01:00Evidently, the super hero genre was in a slump in ...Evidently, the super hero genre was in a slump in the 1950's. The two Quality titles that DC chose to continue uninterrupted were G.I. Combat and Blackhawk. The former was obviously a war comic and the latter was at least paramilitary. I would assume they looked at sales figures and saw that war comics were what sold at the time. AFAIR, DC never really did much with Quality super heroes, but they tried a few revivals from time to time. They published Plastic Man for ten issues in 1966-67, and then tried again for another ten in the 1970s, but it never caught on. (There were also a few guest-star appearances in Brave&Bold, and a back-up strip in Adventure Comics.) I remember a few reprints of Kid Eternity, the Ray, and Black Condor in 100-Page Super Spectacular issues in the 1970s, as well as teaming them up in Freedom Fighters. Kid Eternity also appeared in the Shazam strip in World's Finest. Blackhawk sort of phased in and back out in the 1970s and again in the early 1980s. Oddly, even with the decline in war comics, it was G.I. Combat that seemed to have the longest uninterrupted run of the comics that DC took over from Quality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com