Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett: The linked stories of X-MEN #1, AVENGERS #1 and DAREDEVIL #1

I've seen different bits and pieces of this story told in assorted places, but I cannot recall anyplace where the entire sequence of events was laid out in a single recounting, so I thought that was worth doing. In the spring of 1963, with the super hero titles that his firm had been producing doing … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett: The linked stories of X-MEN #1, AVENGERS #1 and DAREDEVIL #1 →

Blah Blah Blog – Distribution and Content

A post from my old Marvel blog concerning how the switch-over to the Direct Market system impacted on the types of books and stories we made. Distribution and Content April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General Continuing on one of the points that came up yesterday in discussing the old … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – Distribution and Content →

BHOC: STAR WARS #1-3

I think it's likely that virtually every child of a certain age owned copies of the above three comic book stories in 1977 and 1978. Not only did STAR WARS #1 represent the first Marvel comic book to sell over a million copies since the Golden Age but these issues were also collected in Treasury … Continue reading BHOC: STAR WARS #1-3 →

The Death of Menthor

Once we get to the 1960s, the deaths of super hero characters becomes a more frequent occurrence, though still relatively a rarity (and usually the characters who meet their end--Lightning Lad, Junior Juniper, Ferro Lad--either aren't the headliners of their series but rather one member of an ensemble. And some of them, like Lightning lad, … Continue reading The Death of Menthor →

Blah Blah Blog – More on Covers

A post from my old Marvel blog concerning covers. More on Covers April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General Two more thoughts on covers, in response to things different people mentioned during the long sequence these past few weeks.1) As we've moved further and further into a Direct Market-driven model, … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – More on Covers →

BHOC: SUPERMAN #321

I had been steadily enjoying Marty Pasko's run as the writer of SUPERMAN just about since it began (I had missed/skipped his first issue.) This wasn't a loud appreciation, I wasn't waiting with baited breath for each new release. Rather, it had quietly become a title that I enjoyed each and every time I picked … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #321 →

End Of The Year Stats

It's been just over a year since I migrated all of this material over from Tumblr and set up this page as a clearinghouse for whatever nonsense i wanted to write about. And, being of fannish nature, I was curious about what the most popular features I'd done here were--both to guide me in future … Continue reading End Of The Year Stats →

The Death of #711

As we spoke about earlier, the deaths of super hero characters didn't really become a thing until the 1960s, and didn't become an industry-wide trend until the 1980s. Nowadays, virtually every character has died and been resurrected at least once over the years, but back in the day, this was relatively unthinkable. The Comet was … Continue reading The Death of #711 →

Blah Blah Blog – Youth

One of the more controversial pieces I wrote at my old Marvel blog, where I talk about the fact that Spider-Man is about youth. Youth April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General Okay, while we're gathering up nominations for the GOLDEN LOEB AWARDS (still available in the previous blog thread), … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – Youth →

BHOC: FLASH #259

A month had gone by, and so the mailman brought me my latest subscription copy of THE FLASH. This was getting towards the end of my subscription period. Now that I could, and was, visiting the 7-11 every Thursday when new comics dropped like clockwork, there wasn't as much of a need to make sure … Continue reading BHOC: FLASH #259 →