The first and apparently only issue of the Mighty Marvel Messenger was published in the opening months of 1967--it's announced on the Bullpen Bulletins page of Marvel titles cover-dated June 1967--and sent for free to all current members of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. It was a little four-page newsletter fanzine that gave some promotional … Continue reading The Merry Marvel Messenger
DESTROYER DUCK #1 was a stopping point in a much larger saga, one that I'll recount the broad strokes of momentarily. It was also a benefit book published by Eclipse, work on which was provided free by all of the contributors in support of the underlying cause of the book in the first place. It … Continue reading Brand Echh: Destroyer Duck #1
A post from my old Marvel blog, this one part of a series on Bad Comics I Wrote. A Not So Excellent Comic April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General Continuing on through our odyssey of BAD COMICS I WROTE, we come to BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT COMIC BOOK #8.The … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – A Not-So-Excellent Comic
This is another comic book whose cover is a bit unfamiliar to me. And the reason for that is that this is another book that I got in one of those plastic-wrapped bundles of coverless recent comics from my local Drug Store chain. I think that to this day, I don't possess a copy of … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #146
Here's another vintage newspaper article on the burgeoning comic book fandom of the 1960s, this one a profile on a young pre-Marvel Roy Thomas. As most know, Roy went on to become one of the most popular and influential writers and editors of the 1960s and beyond--but at the time this piece saw print in … Continue reading A Serious Student of the Comic Books
The Atom is one of those characters who hasn't quite stood the test of time as well as many of his contemporaries. While he's still around in one form or another, it seems like attempts to give him his own series are sporadic at best, and often not long-lasting. In part, that's because of the … Continue reading WC: THE ATOM #10
A post from my old Marvel blog where I discuss aspects of having first come into the business. My So-Called Career pt 2 April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General So, yesterday we began the saga of my career at Marvel with my coming aboard as an intern for the … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – My So-Called Career in Comics, Part 2
This is another old cover that triggers no nostalgia for me, because I got my copy of CAPTAIN AMERICA #208 out of one of those plastic-wrapped packages of coverless comics sold by my local Drug Store. These were books where the covers had been stripped and returned to the publisher for credit, but the insides … Continue reading CAPTAIN AMERICA #208
Here's another look at some sales figures, these ones from the Direct Sales marketplace of comic book specialty shops in June of 1990--the month in which Todd McFarlane's SPIDER-MAN #1 launched. This document was compiled by Carol Kalish, then the head of Marvel's Sales Department and an important and largely-forgotten figure in comic book history. … Continue reading The Direct Market Sales Figures of Marvel’s Carol Kalish
As the potential audience for comic books opened up in the early 1980s with the rise and advent of the direct sales market, it wasn't just young new would-be publishers who noticed. Some of the most established firms were just as aware of this new venue, and they geared up to enter it. One of … Continue reading Brand Echh: The Fly #1
The Tom Brevoort Experience 