What If #27 - July, 1981 WHAT IF #27 represents my first conscious experience with a late-shipping book. In the aftermath of the Earth-Shattering X-MEN #137, the X-Men had reached a level of popularity unrivaled during the period. Back issue prices had skyrocketed, with issues only a couple of months old selling for $5.00 or … Continue reading BHOCOS: WHAT IF #27
2014 Note: There was an entry for JUSTICE MACHINE #1 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.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25June, 1965 To this day, I do not own a copy of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25. Here’s why… A week or so prior to this story, my friend Israel Litwack had picked up a small stack of Steve Ditko-era SPIDER-MAN issues at Bush’s Hobbies for what was then (and still would be) an extraordinarily … Continue reading BHOCOS: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25
WHAT IF #11October, 1978 This is probably the most blatantly self-indulgent story Marvel ever published. It also has the dubious honor of being the last Fantastic Four story Jack Kirby ever illustrated. I can’t imagine what Roy Thomas was thinking when he came up with this premise, nor how he inveigled Kirby into doing it. … Continue reading BHOCOS: WHAT IF #11
Give the People What They Want I’ve been doing this column at ComiX-Fan, formerly X-Fan, for a while now. And yet, in all that time, I don’t think I’ve ever once mentioned the X-Men. And that’s the subject that most people around these parts are most interested in. Despite Eric’s efforts to expand the readership … Continue reading Life In A Four Color World column on X-MEN, 2003
NEW TEEN TITANS #4 February, 1981 It should have been a no-brainer. I liked the Teen Titans. I liked the writing of Marv Wolfman, who I thought was one of the best of the era. I really liked George Perez, who had penciled many of the earliest Marvel books I had read. But when NEW … Continue reading BHOCOS: NEW TEEN TITANS #4
2014 Note: There was an entry for THOR #300 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.
X-Men #137 - September, 1980 More has probably been said and written about X-MEN #137 than virtually any other comic book of the period. And every word of it is true. More than any other single issue, this story made X-MEN the unrelenting sales juggernaut it continues to be to this day. It’s never been … Continue reading BHOCOS: UNCANNY X-MEN #137
ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE BRIDE OF HEMBECK #3June, 1980 I first became aware of the work of Fred Hembeck on the Daily Planet coming attractions pages in many DC comics in the late 70s, where Fred was doing a small one-tier gag strip. It was Glenn Hauman who introduced me to the collections of … Continue reading BHOCOS: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE BRIDE OF HEMBECK #3
BATMAN #238January, 1972 BATMAN #238 exemplifies what made the DC 100-Page Super-Spectaculars truly the best buy in comics. It contained a pair of Batman classics from the 50s (one with art by the renowned Dick Sprang), the first Doom Patrol story, a Jack Cole-penned Plastic Man adventure, a short Sargon the Sorcerer story by Joe … Continue reading BHOCOS: BATMAN #238
The Tom Brevoort Experience 