I picked up FANTASTIC FOUR #147 and from that pointr on I was a reagular reader of FANTASTIC FOUR, THE AVENGERS, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, DAREDEVIL, THOR, THE DEFENDERS, MARVEL TEAM-UP and MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, plus all the reprints I could get my hands on and the many other titles that came and went.

Sure, the real sizzle of the early 60's was gone by that point, and it had become more a case of Marvel publishing the old favorites ans what ever seemed popular in culture at the time.  I guess I would say the best thing about the comics of the 70's was their willingness to try anything (that brought us some classics like TOMB OF DRACULA and MASTER OF KING FU).  But that also meant a lot of misses and the sheer number of comics being published insured that a certain amount of schlock was also hitting the stands.

Still, I have a nostalgic affection for several of the "failed" titles like SKULL THE SLAYER, BLACK GOLIATH, CREATURES ON THE LOOSE, WARLOCK, THE CHAMPIONS, and JB's IRON FIST.  (OMEGA THE UNKNOWN, not so much.)

Its been about 15 years now since I was making that trip to the LCS every week, mainly because I was starting to realize that my "To Read" pile was only growing and my enthusiasm for the new comics just wasn't as strong as it once was.  But that feeling I got as a youngster reading JB's Fantastic Four or Englehart's Avengers or Starlin's Warlock or Simonson's Thor was pretty special to me at the time.

The stuff of the last 20 or so years?  Ehh, no so much.

There are still individual series that I have found worthwhile the last few years--I enjoyed Karla Pacheco's SPIDER-WOMAN, Ed Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA, Mark Waid's DAREDEVIL, a few different runs of INCREDIBLE (or other adjective) HULK...but the years of buying an entire universe (or line) are long gone.

I was into my second year of collecting sports cards (Baseball, Football, Hockey). I wouldn't start reading comics until about a year later when my Mom brought home- Marvel Tales #59, GS Avengers #4, Brute #2 and Brave and the Bold #118. I was all in after that, within a couple of weeks I had sampled all the big guns plus books like Tarzan and Claw, and a variety of Atlas titles.

My Mom really supported this, happy that I was reading anything.

ron bailey wrote: Slight momentary thread deviation, but thank you for never elongating Mr. Fantastic's neck or giving him hard angles like knees, knuckles or elbows while elongating. I don't know if that was some sort of company-wide artistic directive (broken in the example shown above), but I always appreciated how it set him apart artistically from Elongated Man and Plastic Man.

 

I second that, Ron.

JB has said on a number of occasions that neck stretching is Plastic Man's schtick.

I didn't read "The Incredible Hulk" #181 in1974, and would not be aware of Wolverine until about 1979, but I do have memories from 1974 (I was 5-years-old at that time). 

THe Fantastic Four vs. Namor in FANTASTIC FOUR #146-149

Adam Warlock appears in THE INCREDIBLE HULK #177-178

The introduction of Firelord in THOR #225

The introduction of the Tarantula in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #134

The the head of the Secret Empire commits suicide in CAPTAIN AMERICA #175

Captain America quits in CAPTAIN AMERICA #176

The Introduction of Deathlok in ASTONISHING TALES #25

Harry Osborn becomes the Green Goblin in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #136-137

The return of the Guardians of the Galaxy in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #5

Crystal and Quicksilver marry in FANTASTIC FOUR #150

Sunfire appears in IRON MAN #70

Power Man and Power Man fight over their name in POWER MAN #21

The introduction of Wolverine in THE INCREDIBLE HULK #180-181

Kang the Conqueror returns in THE AVENGERS #129

The Swordsman dies in GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #2

Captain America becomes the Nomad in CAPTAIN AMERICA #180

The introduction of the Wrecking Crew in DEFENDERS #17-19

Iron Man visits Comic-Con in IRON MAN #72

Silver Surfer returns in FANTASTIC FOUR #155-156

Adam Warlock gets his own series in STRANGE TALES #178

Namor and Doctor Doom team up in GIANT-SIZE SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #1

Captain America returns in CAPTAIN AMERICA #183

This doesn't include the numerous reprints that I read in MARVEL TALES, MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS, MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION, THE X-MEN and the first issues of the MARVEL TREASURY EDITION.

I didn't read the horror books like SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS (the Living Mummy), TOMB OF DRACULA, ADVENTURE INTO FEAR (Morbius) and WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, but I read a lot of those later on.  I also skipped the horror and monster reprints that were everywhere.

I would say the best thing about Marvel in 1974 was the sheer amount of choices, both new and in reprints, that was available at the time.