Follow the Leader: Episode 101: Not from the Big Two...

Redartz:  Greetings, all; and welcome to another weekly dose of bountiful Bronze age badinage! You all know the routine; the first commenter names the topic of the day. But before we get to the action, here's a little personal tidbit. Recently my wife and I have been nosing around flea markets and  antique malls , all part of holiday shopping (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). One one such visit recently, in a small town antique shop, I happened to come across a small wicker basket. In said basket lay a stack of bronze age comics! Notable in that they were in pretty nice condition, I leafed through them; most were nothing of interest. But I did pick out two comics from the long-defunct Atlas/Seaboard line, an issue of Iron Jaw and the first issue of Howard Chaykin's Scorpion. I've never read any of those Atlas books, so a dollar each seemed a safe price for the experiment. I'll let you know how it comes out...

And now, the mike is yours! What shall we discuss today...

Chew the Fat: Heroes from 'the Other Guys'...

Redartz:  Greetings, comics fans! We talk frequently and at length here at BitBA about our favorite heroes, titles, and companies. And mainly those discussions center around The Big Two, Marvel and DC. But those guys certainly don't have a total lock on heroic comics. In the Golden age, of course, there were many companies churning out comics with heroes and heroines, costumed and otherwise.  Indeed, some of those vintage characters ended up being absorbed by Marvel or (more likely) DC, such as Blackhawk and Captain Marvel. 

But we're talking Bronze age, so I'm going to narrow the focus to the Silver and Bronze (I doubt many of us were buying Doll Man or Lady Luck off the stands).  Even with that limitation,there are still many many characters whose adventures were told in beautiful newsprint over those fine eras. Charlton (Hong Kong Phooey, E-Man), Gold Key (Dr. Solar), and even Archie Comics (The Shield, Superteen and Pureheart the Powerful) offered numerous heroic titles. Some of those you will see in our cover cavalcade below. And not to ignore the 80's, when the indies started making some noise: several fine examples from those producers are represented as well (Joshua Quagmire's "Cutey Bunny" was a guilty pleasure of mine). Actually, pretty much every company making comics dipped a toe into the adventure hero pond (with the possible exception of Harvey Comics, unless you count Casper). 

So here's some familiar and not-so-familiar books from 'the other guys'. How many others can you come up with? Did you actually read / collect any of these? Which would you recommend, and which were best left for the dime bin (not even good enough for Marti's Quarter box)?  Have at it, all!

Animation Congregation / $1 Challenge: Saturday Morning Comic Books!

Martinex1:  Hey BitBA  fans, today we have a special mix of two of our favorite topics - Saturday morning cartoons and comic books!   It is like chocolate and peanut butter, two great concepts that go great together.  So we have also combined our blog features The Quarter Bin $1 Challenge and the Animation Congregation for this post.

You may think it is rare for your favorite Saturday cartoons to leap to the comic spinner rack, but I disagree.  It seems that back in the bronze age, it was quite common for the stars of animated series to jump to the comic medium.  Dell, Charlton, and Gold Key particularly took advantage of the synergy. From super-heroes to funny animals to adventurers, we've got them all.

Take a look at the myriad books we have assembled and pick your four favorites.  Hopefully this selection brings back some warm memories of carefree weekends, television consoles, a big bowl of cereal, and warm pajamas. 

Share your thoughts on these and other favorite series and comics.  We'd like to know which books you would buy if these showed up on the spinner rack. Cheers!