As the Silver Age of Comics began to wind down, while the fortunes of the assorted super heroes whose careers had helped to define that period were similarly on the wane, it was other genres which were feeling the pinch the most. Among the titles having a bit of a rough go of it was … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: Jerry Lewis Meets the Flash
UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN was the series that brought me to the attention of fandom, the first truly successful title that I worked on, at least from a critical standpoint. And this didn't have so much to do with me as it did Kurt Busiek and Pat Olliffe, the creative team that produced most of … Continue reading Personal Best: UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1, 1996
An entry from my Marvel.com blog of long ago, this one concerning the passage of time in the realm of comic books. Barack Obama was now President when Captain America was unfrozen, by the way. Time September 24, 2008 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General A few more ruminations concerning continuity in … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – Time
There was a bit of a stigma attached to Marvel's regular reprint titles among at least the comic book readers in my community in the 1970s--despite the fact that we all bought and read them. That's because we wanted to experience the stories. But the prevailing wisdom at the time was that these reprints were … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #73
STAR-STUDDED COMICS was a long-running fanzine of the Silver into the Bronze Age that specialized in fan-created comic book stories. It was originated and published by a threesome of fans who became known as the "Texas Trio": Buddy Saunders, Howard Keltner and Larry Herndon. It ran for 18 issues from September of 1963 to the … Continue reading STAR-STUDDED COMICS #4 and the Birth of the Liberty Legion
FIGHTING AMERICAN is a well-remembered series produced by the Joe Simon & Jack Kirby Studio in the 1950s. It started out as a reaction to the revival of Simon & Kirby's best-selling patriotic super hero at Atlas Comics, Captain America--they figured that if the public wanted that kind of a character, they were better suited … Continue reading Simon & Kirby: When Fighting American Stole From Starman
A post from my long-gone Marvel blog, this one published on the one-year anniversary of the passing of artist Mike Wieringo. M-Day August 13, 2008 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General I hate to turn this blog into maudlin city all week, but that’s the luck of the draw. We’ve got one … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – M-Day
The place where i regularly bought my comic books on a weekly basis was a 7-11 in the center of town. It was close enough to home that even at a young age, I was able to bike there regularly. This led me to work out that new comic books were put out on Thursday, … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #12
In the late 1970s, things were not looking good for the comic book industry in general or for Marvel in particular. As "mom & pop" stores were steadily replaced by large chain outlets such as 7-11, the venues for comic book sales continued to dwindle. Comics were a small-margin business, and even those places that … Continue reading PIZZAZZ #1
A short while back, we covered an issue of SUPERMAN that I had purchased in 1988 as a part of my big Windfall Comics buy. That issue featured a single full-length Superman adventure rather than the usual three shorter stories that the title typically ran. (That story was broken up into three discrete chapters so … Continue reading The First Book-Length Superman Adventure
The Tom Brevoort Experience 