National Comic Book Day recommendations
Sept. 25 is marked as a day to celebrate comics, especially in classrooms
Today is the celebration of “National Comic Book Day,” which also happens to be former Superman Christopher Reeve’s birthday.
I wrote about the day and made some comic-book recommendations over on my MatthewLPrice website.
The day is celebrated in many teacher calendars and other publications as “National Comic Book Day,” different from its more famous cousin usually celebrated in May, Free Comic Book Day. But the original American medium is a great way to experience storytelling that engages the mind in multiple ways. While superheroes are often seen as the dominant genre, comics, like TV, movies, and novels, have stories of all different types.
For Substack readers, here are some bonus recommendations on a special bonus Monday column.
Since National Comic Book Day is also Christopher Reeve’s birthday, let’s start with a Superman recommendation.
Superman #400 (1984)
There is a laundry list of great creators who work on this anthology issue, which examines the legend of Superman. How will be Superman be remembered in the future? This issue tackles the question with some of the 1980s greatest comic creators. Two of the bright comic stars of the 1980s, Howard Chaykin and Frank Miller, provide the front and back covers. Elliot S! Maggin provides the script for all but the last 10-page story, which is completely crafted by Jim Steranko. Maggin may be best-known for his Superman novels “Last Son of Krypton” and “Miracle Monday,” and here he examines some of the same themes. Artists working with Maggin on this issue include Joe Orlando, Al Williamson, Miller, Marshall Rogers & Terry Austin, Wendy Pini, Michael Kaluta & Kelly Alder, and Klaus Janson. The pinups in these pages are also gorgeous, from noted artists Brian Bolland, Jack Kirby & Terry Austin, John Byrne, Jack Davis, Leonard Starr, Walt Simonson, Bernie Wrightson, Will Eisner, Steve Ditko, Mike Grell, Moebius, Bill Sienkiewicz and Jerry Robinson. Writer Ray Bradbury provides the introduction.
Marvel editor Tom Brevoort has said of this issue:
“This is the single greatest issue of SUPERMAN ever put together in the character’s 80 year history. Closer to home, it’s the special Anniversary issue that I’m always jockeying against in my own mind when it comes to put together a book of this sort for the Marvel characters.”
Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man (Dell Four Color #386, 1952)
Comics are more than superheroes. One artist, Carl Barks, helped make Disney's "Uncle Scrooge" series one of the most beloved of the 1950s. "Only a Poor Old Man" was the first story with Donald Duck's miserly, but adventuresome, Uncle Scrooge as a lead character.
Fantagraphics has reprinted the tale “Only a Poor Old Man,” which it calls "the defining Scrooge yarn." In the tale, Scrooge’s plan to hide his money in a lake goes terribly wrong.
Astro City 1/2: The Nearness of You (1996)
The “Astro City” ½ issue, “The Nearness of You,” is a multi-award winning tale that’s a good introduction to the types of stories you will get in “Astro City.” In this city of heroes and villains, in this issue, a regular man named Michael Tenicek keeps dreaming about a woman he has never met. Who is this woman, and what does she mean? Read the story to find out. Regular "Astro City" artist Brent Anderson is the artist; Kurt Busiek is the writer of all the "Astro City" tales.
Try to read a comic today for National Comic Book Day, and feel free to share your recommendations with me as well!
Matthew Price, matthew@matthewlprice.com, has written about the comics industry for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman, Oklahoma.