Notable events of 1970 in comics. Events and publications January January 5: The first episode of Kim Casali's Love Is... appears in print. January 8: In the magazine Pilote, the first episode of the Asterix story Asterix and the Roman agent, by Goscinny and Uderzo is published. January 10: The first issue of the British football comics magazine Scorcher is published. In its first issue, Fred Baker and John Gillatt's comic strip Billy's Boots makes its debut. January 12: In Charlie Mensuel, the humorous erotic series Paulette, scripted by Georges Wolinski and drawn by Georges Pichard, makes its debut. January 13: In Le journal de Tintin, the first chapter of the Ric Hochet story Les Compagnons du Diable by André-Paul Duchâteau and Tibet is published. January 15 : In Pilote, the first chapter of Le Spectre aux Balles d'Or by Jean-Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud is published, which closes the Blueberry saga The Gold of the Sierra. January 18: Jim Lawrence and Jorge Longaron's Friday Foster makes its debut and will run until 1974. January 20: The first episode of Jean-Pol's Kramikske is published in De Volksmacht, where it will run until 1971. Detective Comics #395: "The Secret of the Waiting Graves", the first collaboration between Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams. (DC Comics) Our Fighting Forces #123 (January/February cover date) (DC Comics) First appearance of the Losers Avengers #72 (Marvel Comics) First appearance of Zodiac, as well as team members Aquarius, Aries, Cancer, Capricorn, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Pisces, Sagittarius, Taurus, and Virgo The Amazing Spider-Man #80: "On the trail of... the Chameleon!" (Marvel Comics) Charlton Comics, with issue #18, publishes its final issue of Flash Gordon (1966 series). The first issue of the magazine Il Paladino dei Ragazzi (The Boys’ Paladin) is published by the Panini Group.
February February 3 : In Le journal de Tintin, the first chapter of the Michel Vaillant story Rodéo sur 2 Roues by Jean Graton is published. February 14: The British comics magazine The Wizard, cancelled in 1963, is relaunched. It will run until 10 June 1978. February 15: In Quino's Mafalda the girl Libertad makes her debut. February 18: In Le journal de Tintin, the first episode of the Ric Hochet story Cauchemar pour Ric Hochet, by André-Paul Duchâteau and Tibet, is published. February 21: first issue of Provolino (Edizioni Bianconi), by Alberico Motta and Pier Luigi Sangalli. February 26: The first episode of François Walthéry's Natacha is published in Spirou. In the Italian magazine Horror, first strip of Zio Boris, by Alfredo Castelli and Carlo Peroni. The Alan Ford story Il Numero Uno, by Max Bunker and Magnus is the debut of Number One, the boss of the TNT group.
March March 2: James Childress' Conchy is first published. It will until 1977. March 21: The first San Diego Comic-Con is organized. A few months later it will be held again as a three-day event. March 24: Frans Piët officially retires and passes Sjors en Sjimmie on to his successor Jan Kruis. March 26: Berck's Sammy makes his debut. Teen Titans #26 (March/April cover date) (DC Comics) First appearance of Mal Duncan, DC Comics' first black superhero.
April April 5: In Topolino, the first chapter of the Donald Duck story Storia e gloria della dinastia dei paperi (History and Glory of the Ducks Dynasty) is published, a saga in 8 episodes by Guido Martina, Romano Scarpa and Giovan Battista Carpi, telling the story of the Duck family from the Ancien Egypt to the Apollo 11 mission. April 5: In Il Giornalino, the story Adios Gringo, by Claudio Nizzi and Carlo Boscarato marks the debut of Larry Yuma (here still called Dave). April 15: The first issue of the underground comix magazine Slow Death is published.Fox, M. Steven. Slow Death, Comixjoint. Accessed September 22, 2016. The first issue was copyrighted by the "Visual Yoyo Tribe," a Berkeley-based collective of which Turner was a member.indicia, Slow Death Funnies #1 (April 1970). April 19: Russell Myers' newspaper gag comic Broom-Hilda makes its debut. April 19: In Il giornalino, the story Il Ladro di Uranio (The Uranium Thief), by Gianluigi Gonano and Gianni De Luca marks the debut of Commissario Spada. April 30: The Marvel super-heroes get officially Italy with the first issue of L’uomo ragno (translation of Spider-Man, Editoriale Corno); however, some Fantastic Four stories had been already published in Linus. Green Lantern #76, Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams became the creative team and rechristen the title as Green Lantern/Green Arrow. This begins a long story arc in which the characters undertook a social-commentary journey across America.McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 139: "Real-world politics have always gone hand-in-hand with comics and their creators' own personal perspectives. Yet this was never more creatively expressed than when writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams paired the liberal Green Arrow with the conservative Green Lantern." Ron Turner founds Last Gasp in San Francisco. The first issue of the Italian magazine Psyco (Editrice Naka), dedicated to the horror and the science fiction comics, often in parody key. Also if very short lived (only 6 issues), it hosts classics as the dramatic serie Van Helsing, detective del soprannaturale (Van Helsing, supernatural detective) by Alfredo Castelli and Carlo Peroni and the parody Storie dello spazio profondo (Stories from deep space) by Bonvi and Francesco Guccini. In the French magazine Pif Comics, Le Secret de Tristam Bantam, by Hugo Pratt, the first chapter of Under the sign of Capricorn is published, a cycle of Corto Maltese’s adventures set in South America.
May The British underground magazine Oz releases a special issue, Schoolkids Oz, made by high school pupils. The issue features a pornographic parody of the children's comic Rupert Bear made by a 16-year old pupil named Vivian Berger. The issue and particularly this specific comic will lead to a highly mediatized trial, accusing the publishers of Oz of obscenity.
June June 6: The first issue of the British comics magazine Cor!! is published. In its first issue Reg Parlett's Ivor Lott and Tony Broke makes its debut. June 17: The first episode of Ted Shearer's Quincy is published. June 22: In Charles M. Schulz' Peanuts the little bird Woodstock receives his name. Detective Comics #400: "Challenge of the Man-Bat", by Frank Robbins, Neal Adams, and Dick Giordano. (DC Comics) First appearance of the Man-Bat.Greenberger and Manning, p. 177 "Adams helped darken Gotham City in the 1970s [and] the scene was set for a new host of major villains. One of the first was Man-Bat, who debuted in the pages of 1970's Detective Comics #400." The final episode of Gerard Wiegel's Professor Cumulus runs in De Volkskrant.
Summer John Bagley founds Company & Sons in San Francisco.
July July 9: In Pilote, the first chapter of the Asterix story the Asterix in Switzerland, by Goscinny and Uderzo is published. In Spirou, the first chapter of the Spirou et Fantasio story Du Glucose pour Noémie by Jean-Claude Fournier is published. July 12: In Il giornalino, Il colonnello Casterbum contro Piccolo Dente, by Claudio Nizzi and Lino Landolfi, marks the debut of the redskin kid Piccolo Dente (Little Tooth). July 19: In Tiramolla, Cattivik, by Bonvi, makes his debut. July 25: The final episode of R.B. Clark's Boofhead is published. Fantastic Four #100: "The Long Journey Home", by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Joe Sinnott. (Marvel Comics). The one-shot feminist comics magazine It Ain't Me Babe is published. The first issue of the British adult comics magazine Cyclops is published. It will run for only three months. The first and only issue of It Ain't Me, Babe is published, a one-shot underground comic realized only by women. First issue of Il Topolino d’oro (Golden Micky Mouse, Mondadori), reprint of the classic Mickey Mouse stories by Floyd Gottfredson.
August August 1–3: The first three-day San Diego Comic-Con is held. Five months earlier a first event was organized but just for one day. After the death of David Law, Gordon Bell filled in for that week's episode of Dennis the Menace and Gnasher in The Beano. David Sutherland now steps in to continue the series. He will draw it up until 1988. August 4: In Le journal de Tintin, the first chapter of the Ric Hochet story Ric Hochet contre le Bourreau by André-Paul Duchâteau and Tibet is published. August 20: In Pilote, the first chapter of the Lucky Luke story Canyon Apache, by Goscinny and Morris is published.
September September 10: In Pilote, the first chapter of the Blueberry story Chihuahua Pearl by Jean Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud is published. This is the start of the Blueberry story “Saga of the Confederate gold”. September 24: Roger Leloup's Yoko Tsuno makes its debut. Denis Kitchen founds Krupp Comic Works (more commonly known as Kitchen Sink Press) in Princeton, Wisconsin. The Flash #200: "Count 200 — and Die", by Robert Kanigher, Irv Novick, and Murphy Anderson. (DC Comics) Showcase (1956 series), with issue #93, is cancelled by DC Comics. Fantastic Four #102: After 102 consecutive issues written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby, Kirby's final issue as Fantastic Four artist (and his temporary departure from Marvel Comics). Silver Surfer, with issue #18, cancelled by Marvel. In Italy, the first issue of Jolanka (Furio Viano editore) is published, an erotic comic with a sensual pirate woman as a protagonist. The next month, Ediperiodici too launches an analogues character (Jolanda de Almaviva)
October October 8: In Pilote, the first chapter of the Valerian and Laureline story World Without Stars, by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières is published. October 26: Garry Trudeau's long-running satirical newspaper comic Doonesbury is first published. The first episode of Mell Lazarus' Momma is published. October 29 : The last issue of Il Vittorioso (since 1967 changed in Vitt) appears on the market. Il Giornalino replaces it as main Italian Catholic magazine for children. October 30: Kees Kousemaker and his wife Evelien publish Strip voor Strip, the first standard Dutch-language book about comics. Jack Kirby, with issue #133, debuts as writer/artist on Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, introducing the concepts and characters of his Fourth World epic.McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 141 "Since no ongoing creative team had been slated to Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, "King of Comics" Jack Kirby made the title his DC launch point, and the writer/artist's indelible energy and ideas permeated every panel and word balloon of the comic." In his first issue alone, Kirby creates the characters Morgan Edge and Intergang, as well as Project Cadmus, a fictional government genetic engineering project. The first issue of Young Lust is published and will run until 1993. In Italy, the first issue of Hessa (ErreGi), drawn by Nevio Zeccara, is published. It becomes controversial for its large amount of sex and violence and ambiguous attitude towards Nazism.
November November 16: The French satirical comics magazine Hara-Kiri mocks the death of President Charles de Gaulle on its cover. This leads to its third and definitive ban within one decade. To thwart the ban, the publication changes its name to Charlie Hebdo. November 17: in Le journal de Tintin, the first chapter of the Michel Vaillant story Massacre Pour Un Moteur by Jean Graton is published. November 23: The first issue of the French satirical comics magazine Charlie Hebdo is published.
Robert M. Overstreet publishes the first edition of his Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, soon to become the primary authority on the subject of American comic book grading and pricing. In Midi Linus, first episode of the fantarcheology series Agharti, by Eric Sciò.
December December 12: Jan Kruis' Jan, Jans en de Kinderen (Jack, Jacky and the Juniors) makes its debut.