Tag: Rich Buckler

Re-reading ‘World’s Finest’ #258, the comic that got Jason Aaron into world-building

Tom Bondurant dives into a classic issue of DC’s ‘Dollar Comics’ line that helped inspire the architect of Marvel’s ‘Heroes Reborn’ event.

As part of our round-robin Heroes Reborn [2021] coverage, I learned that writer Jason Aaron’s first superhero comic book was August-September 1979’s World’s Finest Comics #258. Back then it was part of DC’s “Dollar Comics” line, boasting 68 pages’ and five features’ worth of colorful characters. In his newsletter, Aaron says

I fell in love with these books, in part because they didn’t just give me one story, but instead gave me a taste of an entire world of characters and adventures and history that was out there waiting for me. The sort of gargantuan super-world that would come to consume a large portion of the rest of my life. […] In other words, I think I’ve been primed from the beginning to want to build my own world of superheroes. And HEROES REBORN is maybe as close as I’ll ever come to doing exactly that.

It will surprise none of you to learn that I also read World’s Finest Comics regularly as a kid, especially during the Dollar Comics phase. (It lasted over five years and almost 40 issues, from April-May 1977’s #244 through August 1982’s #282; and a Green Arrow/Black Canary backup continued for a couple of issues past that.) Although the Dollar Comics line was largely an experiment in marketing and economics of scale, World’s Finest was pretty impressive among the company’s late-1970s output.

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Fresh Eyes on ‘Black Panther: Panther’s Rage’

Fresh Eyes is a new column reassessing milestone stories in comic book history from a modern perspective. Do they hold up, and how might they resonate with today’s readers?

Jungle Action #11 by McGregor, Graham and Janson

In the mid-1970s, the Black Panther starred in a sprawling 13-part epic called Panther’s Rage in the pages of Jungle Action by writer Don McGregor and artists Rich Buckler and Billy Graham. With promotion heating up for the 2018 Black Panther movie from Marvel Studios, it seemed like a good time to revisit this story. For me, it was the first time reading it.

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Remembering Rich Buckler

Comic legend and prolific artist Rich Bucker passed away on May 19, 2017, from cancer. He was 68. He was best known for his work in the 70s and 80s, creating a definitive style for comic book superheroes for both DC and Marvel comics in the bronze age of comics. He created Deathlok, and his work was seen across a wide variety of licensed merchandise.

With his passing, many tributes were posted throughout the week. A started by writer Clifford Meth, for a Rich Buckler Memorial Scholarship for the Joe Kubert School of Comic Art is currently trending.

Rich Buckler Memorial Scholarship

Jim Beard wrote a blog entry for Marvel.com on Buckler’s accomplishments and creations. He was similarly honoured on the Inkwell Awards’ website, who considered Buckler to be their greatest ambassador.

Other creators and publishers took to their social media channels:

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