6.04.2011

A Newsstand in 1975



"A Newsstand in 1975"

I fell in love with this photograph when I saw it posted in the Robot 6 section of the Comic Book Resources website two or so years ago. Included with the photo was the caption: "A newsstand in 1975."

In 1975, I was all of six years old, and I can still easily remember the sight of comic books jammed together in the racks at corner newsstands across the city of Chicago. Because of that still present memory, the black and white picture made me really nostalgic for days gone by. I even printed out a copy of it to hang on a wall in my studio.

When I first saw it, the photo also made me curious as to whether it was actually taken in 1975. Based on the covers, I knew that it was easy to determine not only the year, but maybe even the month that the photo was taken. So last week, a few nights before the Phoenix Comic-Con, I satisfied my curiosity by looking up the publication dates of a few of the issues in the photo.

Now, because I'm a geek, it just wasn't enough to look up the publication dates of a few issues. No, it had to become my quest to detail every comic book that I could discern in the lower portion of photograph; I wasn't so much interested in the comic magazines across the top.

Based on the list of books that I've assembled from the image, I've narrowed down the time frame that this photo was taken to between March and April of 1975. The comic books that I could make out in the picture are as follows:

Giant-Size Defenders #4, April 1975
Giant-Size Dracula #4, March 1975
Giant-Size Chillers #2, May 1975
Giant-Size Marvel Triple Action #1, May 1975
The Spirit #6, February 1975
G.I. Combat #177, April 1975
The Losers #154, April 1975
Iron Jaw #2, March 1975
Wulf The Barbarian #2, April 1975
Morlock #1, February 1975
Planet of Vampires #1, February 1975
Destructor #2, April, 1975
Phoenix #2, March 1975
Adventure Into Fear #26, February 1975
Supernatural Thrillers #12, April 1975
The Frankenstein Monster #16, May 1975
Werewolf By Night #29, May 1975
Tomb of Dracula #32, May 1975
Police Action #2, April 1975
The Scorpion #1, February 1975
Grim Ghost #2, March 1975
Tiger-Man #1, April 1975
The Amazing Spider-Man #143, April 1975
Doctor Strange #7, April 1975
Conan The Barbarian #49, April 1975
The Defenders #22, April 1975
Marvel Team-Up #32, April 1975
Marvel Two-In-One #8, March 1975
Strange Tales #179, April 1975
Kazar #8, March 1975
Marvel Jungle Action #14, March 1975
Marvel Double Feature #9, April 1975
Where Monsters Dwell #35, May 1975
Astonishing Tales (Featuring Guadians of the Galaxy) #29, April 1975
Marvel Premiere #21, March 1975
Master of Kung-Fu #27, April 1975
Amazing Adventures (Featuring Killraven) #29, March 1975
Man-Thing #16, April 1975



Yeah, yeah, I know... I could have posted all the covers. Get a life.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Actually since on sale dates were about two months behind the cover date in 1975 this photo was probably taken in January 1975. Also since the majority of the Marvels it looks like the fan that took it put a few of the Marvels in front of some of the DC's.

Unknown said...

Nice photo though.