 Carmine Infantino's cover art forThe Amazing World of DC Comics #1. | |
| Editor | Carl Gafford #1 Allan Asherman #2–7 Bob Rozakis #8 Neal Pozner #9 Paul Levitz #10–14,Special Edition #1 Cary Burkett #15–17 |
|---|---|
| Categories | DC Comics news and publicity |
| Frequency | Bimonthly |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First issue | July/August 1974 |
| Final issue Number | April 1978 17 |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City |
| Language | English |
The Amazing World of DC Comics wasDC Comics' self-producedfan magazine of the mid-1970s. Running 17 issues, the fanzine featured DC characters and their creators, and was exclusively available throughmail order. Primarily text articles, with occasional strips and comics features,Amazing World offered a great deal of insight intoBronze Age DC corporate and creative culture.[1]
The bulk of the issues were edited by Allan Asherman and later byPaul Levitz and thenCary Burkett; individual issues were edited byCarl Gafford,Bob Rozakis, andNeal Pozner.
Contributors included Burkett,Ramona Fradon,Jack C. Harris,Nestor Redondo,Steve Skeates,Michael Uslan,Wally Wood, andMark Gruenwald (in one of his few credits outside ofMarvel Comics).[2][3]
DC production managerSol Harrison conceived of the idea of a DC "pro-zine", and assignedBob Rozakis—who got his start in the industry through his many letters tocomic book letter columns—to oversee its development.[4] In addition to editing, Rozakis wrote for the publication and oversaw theletters page.Amazing World was co-edited by a group of fellow young fans-turned-DC Comics editorial employees that Rozakis termed the "Junior Woodchucks".[4][5]Carl Gafford was a key contributor to the zine, doing editing, writing, production work and color separations.
Cost for a single issue subscription was US$1.50.
Amazing World occasionally featured previously unpublished stories and artwork, including:
The premiere issue contained the following features:
Issue #7 promotedThe Legend ofKing Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table byGerry Conway andNestor Redondo, a four-part King Arthur treasury edition series that was never published.[9]
Issue #14 (March 1977) stated thatClark Kent's hometown ofSmallville was inMaryland. Some years later, the Maryland location was supported in the actual comics with a map of Smallville and the surrounding area that was published inNew Adventures of Superboy #22 (October 1981), which situated Smallville a few miles west of a large bay very similar toDelaware Bay. The same map placedMetropolis andGotham City on the east and west sides of the bay, thus placing Gotham inNew Jersey.[10]
In addition to the 17 regular issues, in 1976 DC published anAmazing World of DC Comics Special Edition[11] in conjunction with the Super DC Con '76comic book convention, held between February 27 and 29, at theAmericana Hotel, in New York City.
The Amazing World of DC Comics sponsored character-design contests that resulted in three winners:
All three characters appeared in DC continuity asLegion Academy students inLegion of Super-Heroes vol. 2, #272 (Feb. 1981).
Back in the very early days of our careers at DC Comics, then VP/Production ManagerSol Harrison decided that we "kids" should put together a company-backed fanzine calledAmazing World of DC Comics. He came to my desk and said, "Go get the rest of your pals and bring them to my office". So I went to my compatriots and said, "Sol wants to have a Junior Woodchucks meeting". I was making a joke, using the name of the faux-Boy Scouts that Huey, Dewey and Louie of Donald Duck fame belonged to. But the name stuck...and we became DC's Junior Woodchucks".
I guess the most infamous "lost" DC treasury comic was the ambitious King Arthur book. Intended as four-part series by Gerry Conway and Nestor Redondo, the book was heavily promoted in the seventh issue of DC's self-published fanzine,Amazing World of DC Comics, as well as in ads that ran in their Sept. 1975 issues.