BHOC: AVENGERS #173

Another month had gone by, and so the subsequent issue of AVENGERS arrived at the spinner rack at my local 7-11 where I bought my new comics. I picked it up on one of my weekly Thursday trips down there for that purpose, Thursday then being the day when new comics arrived in those days. … Continue reading BHOC: AVENGERS #173

Lee & Kirby: The 1966 Testimony of Jack Kirby

In the mid-1960s, thanks to the way that copyright law was set up at the time, Captain America co-creator Joe Simon filed legal paperwork in an opportunity to win back the rights to the Star-Spangled Avenger and the work that he and Jack Kirby and a variety of other hands had performed in the first … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The 1966 Testimony of Jack Kirby

5BC: Five More Dopey Marvel Villains

Feels like it's been quite a while since I put together one of these surveys of absurdity. So what say we take a look at five more Marvel villains from the past who tried their hardest, but who somehow failed that ineffable test towards being legitimately dangerous--and who instead came across as ridiculous, absurd, and … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Dopey Marvel Villains

Blah Blah Blog – Letter of the Day Follow-Up

An entry from my Marvel blog of the 'Aughts, featuring a post concerning Matt Fraction making an appearance at a local school comic book club that we had sent stuff to. Sadly, I can no longer lay hands on the photos that ran with the original piece, so you'll have to make do with this … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – Letter of the Day Follow-Up

BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK POCKET BOOKS

One of my regular stops whenever my family would make a weekend shopping trip to the Smith Haven Mall was one of a number of book sellers. It's hard to imagine today, when finding locations that are devoted to selling nothing but books is a difficult proposition in a lot of places, but in the … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK POCKET BOOKS

Comics in the Wild 11

More, more, more photographs from yesteryear featuring the comic books of long ago either on sale on newsstands and the like or in the hot little hands of readers of their era. Gathered over the years from hither and yon.

Lee & Kirby: THE STATS OF FANTASTIC FOUR #1, Part 3

Continuing our sequence looking at Marvel's in-house production stats for FANTASTIC FOUR #1--the closest thing that still exists to the original artwork--and studying them up close to see if they can tell us anything about how the book was put together. So let's go! We're moving into the back half of the issue now, a … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: THE STATS OF FANTASTIC FOUR #1, Part 3

Blah Blah Blog – Accountability

A post from my Marvel blog of years ago in which I respond to a response to an earlier post about the balance between adhering to a fixed schedule and maintaining the quality of a series. Tuesday, 9:44 April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General I'll probably only have time … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – Accountability

BHOC: IRON MAN #96

Now that's a really nice cover--one that I didn't get to experience until many years later, as my copy of IRON MAN #96 came from one of those bundles of coverless recent comics that my local drug store had begun to sell. Today, Iron Man is one of the most recognizable Marvel characters worldwide, but … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #96

How The Comics Are Made

One of the casualties of the haphazard manner in which I've grabbed and kept things over the years is that on a more-than-occasional basis, I'm not sure precisely where I culled it from originally. That's the case with this cool four-page 1940s vintage behind-the-scenes article on the making of Captain Marvel comics during the Golden … Continue reading How The Comics Are Made