COMIC BOOK COVER GALLERY: Some two-part stories I enjoyed in the '60s and '70s

Following our recent gallery of individual issues I loved when I was a kid in the '60s and '70s, we turn to two-part stories I loved within that same time frame. 

Of course, as a kid, I hated reaching the end of an issue and encountering that dreaded phrase: TO BE CONTINUED! C'mon! My parents had paid the princely sum of twelve cents, and I expected a complete story, man. Given the spotty nature of comic book distribution in the '60s, there wasn't even any certainty of finding Part1's potentially elusive Part 2. What kind of scam is this...?!

Nonetheless, I grew to enjoy the expanded storytelling of a two-part story. My first issue of Justice League Of America was # 55, which was Part 1 of a crossover story with the Justice Society of America. It was 1967, I was seven years old, and I was hooked.

I had passed up an opportunity to snag a JLA/JSA team-up the previous summer (1966), and regretted that lapse in judgement throughout first grade. A month after I snapped up Part 1 of the '67 epic, I eagerly plucked JLA # 56 off the spinner rack. Like Rick ands Louis in Casablanca, this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. In '67, I doubt I realized that the two-part JLA/JSA meetings were an annual thing. I for damned sure knew it when the '68 crossover arrived. These summer team-ups became my most-anticipated comic book event of every year. I never missed one, and in the '70s I acquired back issues of all of the preceding JLA/JSA summer crossovers from 1963-1966. I still have all of them.

Today's gallery is almost exclusively DC Comics. I threw in one Avengers two-parter to represent Marvel Comics, but Marvel's storytelling seemed to favor multiple-chapter serials rather than mere two-parters. We'll see more from Marvel (and DC) with our next gallery, spotlighting stories of three or more parts. Yes, here it comes: TO BE CONTINUED!

We'll be sticking exclusively to the '60s-'80s era of acquisition I've established for these galleries. Today's selection includes books I bought new, back issues I acquired after the fact (but within the timeline), and B-stock contraband originally purchased without their covers. As always: These aren't actual photos of comics in my collection. But I did have each and every one of 'em at some point in time.

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