Amph 1001 Comic Books You Must Read: 280. "Superboy" #49

My god, that sample page is something like 20 years ahead of its time.

 

[image=https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/iss/600w/653/286531/7523441_1.jpg]

[image=http://image.absoluteastronomy.com/images/encyclopediaimages/m/ma/masterrace.jpg]

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The whole story can be found here

Notice on the cover...the line of '13's...

 

262. "Psychoanalysis" #1

[image=http://www.projectb.com/uploads/Image/psychoanalysis1CoverLevineCollection.jpg]

Writer: Uncredited

Artist: Jack Kamen

E.C. (March-April, 1955)

"The oddest of E.C.'s "New Direction" title featured tales of three "people searching for peace of mind" throught sessions with a never-named psychistrist. One patient was "cured" in the third issue and the remaining two in the fourth and final issue."

This was reformatted as a daily comic strip (!) though it was never run.

 

Ah, yes.

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Sigmund_Freud_LIFE.jpg/200px-Sigmund_Freud_LIFE.jpg">

Here ve zee the comics company, vith its primary source of income cutoff, resorting to novel stylistic experiments. While rewardink for the modern reader who can go back and appreciate these back issues, they would ultimately prove unsuccessful, something something because you want to sleep with your mother something something.




Also, thanks for the link to the previous story, fantastic, if depressing, stuff.

 

Very cinematic in style, I thought.

 

Definitely. And the way the big reveal is handled is terrific... even if the guy who made this list spoiled it big time.

 

This is one of the goofiest things I've ever seen. And, as you may recall, I just saw Krypto the Super-Dog fetching a safe a few minutes ago.

 

263. "Extra!" #1

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/54/Ecextra.jpg/250px-Ecextra.jpg]

Writer: Johnny Craig, Uncredited

Artist: Johnny Craig, John Severin

E.C. (March-April, 1955)

"My favorite of E.C.'s "New Direction" books. Reporter Keith Michaels, photographer Rick Rampant, and 'roving newspaperman' McDuff chase stories around the world. Pretty Geri Hamilton took McDuff's spot with the third of the title's five issues."

 

264. "My Girl Pearl" #1

[image=http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/4/62321-1709-95316-1-my-girl-pearl_super.jpg]

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Dan DeCarlo

Marvel (April, 1955)

"Who knows what modern readers would make of 'America's Darling Dim-Wit?' Lee loved writing humour xcomics with gorgeous girls and no one drew those girls better than DeCarlo, who would set the style for "Betty and Veronica" in the 1960's."

 

265. "The Black Knight" #1

[image=http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/4/1659-1701-1788-1-black-knight_super.jpg]

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Joseph Maneely

Marvel (May, 1955)

"Sir Percy seemed no more than a foppish fool but he was secretly The Black Knight, King Arthur's bravest and most powerful warrior. Armest with a mystic sword forged by Merlin, he fought for Camelot through five exquisitely drawn issues."

Sounds like cross between Superman and The Scarlet Pimpernel.

 

Ah, DeCarlo. Yeah, you look at that cover and "Pearl" is basically Betty Cooper. I mean, maybe a couple of tweaks, but there she is. DeCarlo's Archie is the Archie I grew up with, so when I think of Archie and Americana, it's DeCarlo's version that I'm thinking of. Absolutely iconic.

 

I might also point out that we're starting to see covers with the CCA logo, as designed by the impeccable Ira Schnapp.

And can you imagine a universe where one of these desperation-induced genre experiments caught on? I like to think there's an alternate universe out there where the Silver Age began with Psychoanalysis #1.

 

By day, he is mild-mannered Freudian psychiatrist, Percy Sheldon. But by night, he dares to fly in the face of established psychiatric tradition and to take the cases his colleagues will not! For after normal office hours, Percy Sheldon becomes GestaltMan, Jungian of the streets!

His Rogue's Gallery includes Schizoid Sam, Multiple Mary and an all-new threat in the form of the mysterious grey-suited Malaise Man!

I foresee that eventually the respected head of the Freudians has to form a secret alliance with GestaltMan in order to deal with the evil Narcissist's League. This will involve the Freudian Headquarters building having a flashing Skinner Box on top of the building to signal GestaltMan when he is needed.

 

Lurv the flashing Skinner box...

 

266. "My Greatest Adventure" #3

[image=http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/d/d9/My_Greatest_Adventure_3.jpg]

Writer: Uncredited

Artist: John Prentice, uncredited

DC(May-June, 1955)

"This anthology title specialized in such first-person adventure stories as "I Found Captain Kidd's Treasure!" It soon switiched to more fantastic thrillers: "I Was a Cop from Outer Space!" and "We Fought the Giant of Island X!"

 

Man, can you imagine if that had caught...

[image=http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/8/8e/Green_Lantern_Corps_005.jpg]

... on...

 

267. "Valor" #2

[image=http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/4/74652-9437-77610-1-valor_super.jpg]

Writer: Carl Wessler, Uncredited

Artist: Al Williamson, Al Krigstein

EC(May-June, 1955)

"Historical adventure--heavy on the knights and the gladiators---was the theme of this "New Directions" title. Yet valor could come from unlikely individuals, s was the case with poet Chau Po in the Krigstein-drawn "Poetic Justice"

 

So, I must inquire - is that "Notorious 1950s EC Comics" label their own marketing, or is that from the host website?

 

It's their own marketing.

 

Hah, awesome. Here was I thinking banking on infamy was a relatively recent development.

 

It's probably a reprint; it's the image I could find.

 

Oh, hey, yeah, that $2.50 cover price is kind of a giveaway. Ah well.

 

268. "Annie Oakley" #5

[image=http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090405215529/marveldatabase/images/thumb/1/13/Annie_Oakley_Vol_1_5.jpg/216px-Annie_Oakley_Vol_1_5.jpg]

Writer: Uncredited

Artist: Ross Andru, Ross Esposito

Marvel(June, 1955)

"Historical figures are fair game for any publisher, but only Marvel and Dell gave sharpshooter Annie Oakley her own title. Dell's was based on a TV show; Marvel's featured the first in a long line of beauties."

 

269. "Boy Comics" #112

[image=http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/boy-comics/110-1.jpg]

Writer: Charles Biro, Virginia Hubbell

Artist: Joe Kubert, Carl Hubbell

Lev Gleason (July, 1955)

"The New Comics Code Authority was not enamoured of the word 'crime', so the teen hero Crimebuster became known as just plain Chuck Chandler, and his adventures took on more of a human interest vibe. Gleason would cease publication by the year's end."

 

270. "M. D." #2

[image=http://politedissent.com/images/jul04/md_2.jpg]

Writer: Carl Wessler, Uncredited

Artist: Joe Orlando, Graham Ingels

E.C. (June-July, 1955)

"Dedicated doctors were the heroes of this "New Direction" title, and the "villains" they battled were leukemia, cerebral palsy, optical hypertension, and a brain tumour. Compelling human-interest stories make this another favorite of mine."