Topic: Tales from the Box of Interesting Iron Man #83

[zedhatch]

Tried to find the original thread I started for this but it seems to have been lost, so here's a new one.  



After an extended hiatus, Tales from the Box of Interesting has returned with a look at the Dark Knight in Batman #295: The Adventure of the Houdini Whodunit.   Batman investigates the murder of a body found in three different locations and the clues lead him to a magic house but is this the truth or a bit of classic misdirection?  Click below to find out in this classic Bronze Age tale.  

http://www.zedsjoesite.com/tales/tales5/tales5.html


Tales from the box of interesting is the result of finding an old, old box of comics in my move from Kentucky to Tennessee. Most of these are some of my first comics. The comics in this feature all came from the old shrink wrapped 3 for $1 sets that were often sold after the comics had a run on the news stands. As a result they are a mix-match of oddities.

Back in the old days when comics were sold on news stands they were often removed and resold in shrink wrapped sets. The sets were a catch as catch can mix of whatever was left on the news stand. At the time the nearest news stand to me was over an hour away so most of my comics as a kid came to me in this way. Wendell's General Store was a 1/2 a mile from my house and often I went there after school with a few dollars and grabbed a glass bottle of some kind of soft drink and a pack of comics. You never really knew what you would find in the middle (as they were blocked off in the bag by the other two on the sides) and often that became a huge part of the fun. For whatever reason I hadn't placed these comics into my main collection and when I searched through them recently I was bombarded by memories, thus this column was born.

I hope to update this weekly as I read through some of the comics. The comics in question are simply a bizarre mix of superheroes, army, horror, cartoon and everything under the sun from that by-gone age of comic books. They average in date from 1974-1978 (although one or two extend to further into the 80's). I hope this article will informs and helps people realize my love for the earlier age of comics, when heroes and villains acted in character and the latest "shake up" wasn't the norm but yet comics were still loaded with killer stories (and some stories that were just plain weird

[Clonehead]

good idea for a thread. I remember getting newstand comics when i was a kid but dont remember seeing the repackaged three pack ploy. Makes sense, though. My brother was always more of a comic nut than I was and knew where to go to find his goodies.

[Tamer]

Well I will have to go look for that other thread. About the only thing I could come up with is we upgraded our smf forums, but didn't delete anything that I am aware of.

I will look for it Zed and add this to it if I find it.

I saw some of these comic packs at a discount store called Ollies and tried to get my daughter interested, but she only had eyes for the webkinz at the time. I need to try again. I remember loving these as a kid.

[zedhatch]

good idea for a thread. I remember getting newstand comics when i was a kid but dont remember seeing the repackaged three pack ploy. Makes sense, though. My brother was always more of a comic nut than I was and knew where to go to find his goodies.

Yeah they used to pull them from the stands and repack them in 3-packs, it was cool and cheap.

Well I will have to go look for that other thread. About the only thing I could come up with is we upgraded our smf forums, but didn't delete anything that I am aware of.

I will look for it Zed and add this to it if I find it.

I saw some of these comic packs at a discount store called Ollies and tried to get my daughter interested, but she only had eyes for the webkinz at the time. I need to try again. I remember loving these as a kid.

Those 3-packs were great and really introduced me to lots of characters like Avengers, Deathlok, Man-Thing, Shang Chi, ect.  Really impacted my life in a major way, almost as much as Star Wars ;-)

[zedhatch]

Tales from the box of interesting is the result of finding an old, old box of comics in my move from Kentucky to Tennessee. Most of these are some of my first comics. The comics in this feature all came from the old shrink wrapped 3 for $1 sets that were often sold after the comics had a run on the news stands. As a result they are a mix-match of oddities.

A fair warning on this installment, it is a fairly complex tale that covers nearly a decade and results in many life-long lessons learned.  Not all the comics from the Box of Interesting have this distinction but this is one of the most notable of the series. This is where I originally wanted to start off with the installments of Tales as it is such a huge story but alas such things as life get in the way.  I hope you enjoy this one as it's a very personal journey. 

http://www.zedsjoesite.com/tales/tales6/tales6.html

[Clonehead]

You sucked me in on that one. Love anything John byrne.

[zedhatch]

Byrne and Claremont are awesome in anything they did at Marvel, DC not so much, but Marvel was great. 

[zedhatch]

Tales from the box of interesting is the result of finding an old, old box of comics in my move from Kentucky to Tennessee. Most of these are some of my first comics. The comics in this feature all came from the old shrink wrapped 3 for $1 sets that were often sold after the comics had a run on the news stands. As a result they are a mix-match of oddities.

This week;s installment has one of my favorite Bronze Age buddy books, Power Man and Iron Fist as they face of against the evil menace of Medea the drug Czar.  OK if that sounds weird you'll just have to click through to see what I am talking about. 

http://www.zedsjoesite.com/tales/tales7/tales7.html

Also just for FYI I have made a main page for Tales from the Box of Interesting (link below) in case anyone feels the desire to go back and re-read (or perhaps you need to catch up) with previous installments. 

http://www.zedsjoesite.com/tales/talesmain.html

Also don't forget to ;ike Scale Wars on Facebook to get the latest updates from the Box of interesting as well as Scale Wars (links at bottom of both pages).

[Tamer]

I love these old comic three pack reviews. Makes me want to pick up some comics again. I actually saw some of these at Ollies about a month ago and tried to get my daughter interested, but alas failed as she was only worried about a stuffed kitty at the time.

I am also still looking for the original thread of this. I know its here somewhere.

Back on the front page.

[zedhatch]

Cool, don't worry too much about the original thread, I got so sidetracked in the winter it was a long time between updates. 

Thinking something more on the weird side next week and then something special for Iron Man 3, stay tuned ;-)

[zedhatch]

Two of my favorite worlds collide as Giant Monsters take on the underrated super team of the Champions.  Classic monster destruction and Superheroes all make for an interesting and action packed look back at the bronze age, hope you enjoy. 

Also, get ready for Iron Man week in celebration of Iron Man 3, a week of installments from some of my earliest memories of old shellhead.  Should be interesting (pun intended).

http://www.zedsjoesite.com/tales/tales8/tales8.html

[Clonehead]

Gotta love good ole Godzilla. i remember this issue.
On the front page.

[zedhatch]

Even with the flaws it's one of my personal favorites.  Zilla still makes me smile a bit LOL. 

[zedhatch]

Celebrating the United States release of Iron Man 3 this week I am running a look back at some of my favorite (for various reasons) Iron Man appearances in the Box of Interesting.

Iron Man week kicks off with one of the silliest Iron Man appearances in my collection and perhaps ever. 

A plot of vengeance against Ben Grim by a wrathful movie producer results in ancient Dinosaurs rampaging through 1980's Hollywood.

Yes you read that right. 

Click for more of this off the wall tale:

http://www.zedsjoesite.com/tales/tales9/tales9.html

[zedhatch]

From the silly to the much more serious comes the attack of the Growing Man (Yes, insert sexist joke here) on Iron Man as he attempts to save his friends from the result of the attack of Midas.  Guest Staring Yellowjacket and Jack of Hearts this is one of the most memorable Iron Man battles from when I was a kid, I hope you enjoy.

http://www.zedsjoesite.com/tales/tales10/tales10.html