THE ENFORCERS #2 1978 I had first encountered the work of Larry Houston in CHARLTON BULLSEYE #4, where he’d both written and drawn the adventures of the Vanguards, a trio of intergalactic heroines. So I was quite delighted when I happened across two issues of his earlier ENFORCERS in the back-issue bins of Xanadu Comics … Continue reading BHOCOS: THE ENFORCERS #2
THIMBLE THEATER FEATURING POPEYE 1928-1938 THIMBLE THEATER featuring cartoonist E.C. Segar’s initial version of Popeye remains my favorite newspaper comic strip of all. Like most post-Television era kids, I grew up with the Popeye cartoons that ran in the afternoon–both those that had originally been produced for theatrical airings, and the later batch made especially … Continue reading BHOCOS: THIMBLE THEATER FEATURING POPEYE
THE DESTROYER Series begins June 1971 I’ve written previously about my general dislike for prose treatments of super heroic characters, feeling that they often fail to make up in content what they lose in visual appeal. But there are a few exceptions, though almost all of them work because they were designed as prose in … Continue reading BHOCOS: THE DESTROYER
It was because of Fandom that I got married. Well, not comics fandom, but that’s beside the point, really, since all fandom is pretty much alike. By the early 1980s, as is typical for kids of a certain age, I was beginning to drift away from comics a little bit. I never quite stopped reading … Continue reading Introduction to COMIC BOOK FANTHROPOLOGY, 2011
2014 Note: There was an entry for STAR BLAZERS at this point, but the text of it has been lost to the mists of time. There are a handful of entries that are similarly missing.
NEXUS #1 1981 By 1981, I was growing rather tired of the comics that were coming out of the mainstream, which had begun feeling vaguely mechanical and uninspired to me. I turned increasingly to the burgeoning Direct Sales market, looking for titles that were more off the beaten track. It was a good time to … Continue reading BHOCOS: NEXUS #1
Warrior #1 - March, 1982 I bought WARRIOR #1 at Port Comics towards the end of 1981, right before my family moved away to Delaware. It would be years before I’d be able to track down the subsequent issues. WARRIOR was a noble failure, an attempt to provide an alternative to the more kiddie-oriented fare … Continue reading BHOCOS: WARRIOR #1
Doom Patrol #121 - October, 1968 I found DOOM PATROL #121 at the short-lived “west branch” of PORT COMICS. I already knew about the final fate of the Doom Patrol, but now I was able to experience it firsthand. Doom Patrol had been a series ahead of its time from the beginning. And though it … Continue reading BHOCOS: DOOM PATROL #121
CAPTAIN VICTORY #2 January, 1982 CAPTAIN VICTORY #2 is noteworthy for containing the only fan letter I ever had published–and, inevitably, they spelled my name wrong. It’s also evidence of how, as I moved into the 1980s, I began to explore the burgeoning independent comics market. I was fortunate in that a comic shop–PORT COMICS … Continue reading BHOCOS: CAPTAIN VICTORY #2
CHARLTON BULLSEYE #4 November, 1981 Charlton was pretty much indisputably the cheapest comic book publisher around for most of its life. It’s page rates were bottom of the barrel, its paper stock was crumbly and often poorly trimmed, and its printing was rough and unattractive. Charlton published comics all the way through the mid-80s, largely … Continue reading BHOCOS: CHARLTON BULLSEYE #4
The Tom Brevoort Experience 