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.[2]
April 15: The first issue of the underground comix magazine Slow Death is published.[15] The first issue was copyrighted by the "Visual Yoyo Tribe," a Berkeley-based collective of which Turner was a member.[16]
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.[19]
The first issue of the Italian magazine Psyco (Editrice Naka), dedicated to the horror and the science fiction comics, often in parody key.[20] 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[21] and the parody Storie dello spazio profondo (Stories from deep space) by Bonvi and Francesco Guccini.[22]
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.
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.[23]
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).[28]
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).
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 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.[35]
October 30: Kees Kousemaker and his wife Evelien publish Strip voor Strip, the first standard Dutch-language book about comics.[36]
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.[38]
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.
January 16: Dave Breger, American comics artist (Private Breger, aka G.I. Joe), dies at age 69.[41]
January 17: Norman E. Jennett, American illustrator and comics artist (The Monkey Shines of Marseleen), dies at age 92.[42]
Specific date unknown: Munson Paddock, aka Pad, American comics artist (Mr. Bluff, The Wisdom of Wiseheimer, Little Miss Thoughtful, Naughty Ned, Angelic Angelina, worked for DC Comics, Harvey Comics, Fawcett Comics), dies at age 86.[43]
May 3: Ken Kling, American comics artist (Hank and Pete, Buzz and Snooze, Katinka, Those Folks, Joe & Asbestos, Windy Riley, assisted on Mutt and Jeff), dies at age 74.[50]
June 13: Hubuc, Belgian comics artist (Victor Sébastopol, Alertogas), dies from leukemia at age 42.[56]
June 15: José Sobral De Almada Negreiros, Portuguese comics artist (O Velho, o Rapaz e o Burro, Os Dois Irmãos Muito Unidos, O Sonho do Pechalin), dies at age 67.[57]
December 9: Harrison Cady, American illustrator and comics artist (Peter Rabbit), dies at age 93.[74]
December 14: Malcolm Kildale, American illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 57.[75]
December 30: Clifford David Vormelker, American comics writer (wrote the script for a 1937 comic strip adaptation of A Christmas Carol, illustrated by Alfred J. Buescher,[76] and the 1938 comic Dickens The Chimes - A New Year's Fantasy, illustrated by William Sherb), dies at age 64.[77]
R.B. Clark, Australian comics artist (Boofhead), dies at age 59 or 60.[29]
John Henry Crosman, American painter, illustrator and comics artist (comics of novels for King Features' Book-of-the-Month Club), dies at age 72 or 73.[78]
Helen Jacobs, British illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 89 or 90.[79]
Raquel Roque Gameiro, Portuguese illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 81.[80]
Julius Macon, German cartoonist, caricaturist and illustrator, dies at age 86 or 87.[81]
November 27–29: Phoenix Con (Scottsdale Ramada Inn, Scottsdale, Arizona) — first iteration of the show, produced by Bruce Hamilton;[84][90] attendees include Don Newton and John Barrett
^McAvennie, Michael; Dolan, Hannah (2010). "1970s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 143. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. Artist Neal Adams and writer Denny O'Neil rescued Batman from the cozy, campy cul-de-sac he had been consigned to in the 1960s and returned the Dark Knight to his roots as a haunted crime fighter. The cover of their first collaboration, "The Secret of the Waiting Graves", was typical of Adams' edgy, spooky style.
^Greenberger, Robert; Manning, Matthew K. (2009). The Batman Vault: A Museum-in-a-Book with Rare Collectibles from the Batcave. Running Press. p. 26. ISBN978-0-7624-3663-7. Editor Julius Schwartz had decided to darken the character's world to further distance him from the camp environment created by the 1966 ABC show. Bringing in the talented O'Neil as well as the innovative Frank Robbins and showcasing the art of rising star Neal Adams...Schwartz pointed Batman in a new and darker direction, a path the character still continues on to this day.
^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."
^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."
^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."
^Adams entry, Who's Who in Comic Books: 1928–1999. Accessed Feb. 3, 2016.
^O'Neil entry, Who's Who in Comic Books: 1928–1999. Accessed Feb. 3, 2016.
^Thomas entry, Who's Who in Comic Books: 1928–1999. Accessed Feb. 3, 2016.
^McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 141 "The second feature uncovered the roots of Rose Forrest/Thorn's identity, as told by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Ross Andru."
