I've always been just a little bit fascinated by this cover to ACTION COMICS #319. That's an awful lot of empty dead space to leave at the upper left side of the cover--an area that falls into the "Dynamic Live Area" that is most likely to be visible on racks whether the books are displayed … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #319
This is the third and final part of our survey of the first issue of future Marvel Executive Editor Mark Gruenwald's classic fanzine OMNIVERSE, which dealt with the question of consistent reality in comic book stories. Or continuity, as it is more typically thought of. While it didn't quite reach the heights of a scientific … Continue reading OMNIVERSE #1, Part Three
This next issue of DAREDEVIL featured the return of a hallmark of the series. Not DD's original yellow costume--something that I was excited to see, having read the first DAREDEVIL issue in SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS--but rather artist Gene Colan returning to the book that he'd labored on for many years throughout the … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #156
So after last week's piece on STRANGE TALES #103 where we tried to work out who might have been behind the story therein, Larry Lieber or Jack Kirby, I received, as you'd expect, a lot of pushback from the "Everything Kirby" contingent, who believe that Jack did at least 100% of all of the stories … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Lieber & Hartley & Sinnott: Examining JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #89, 90 & 91
This next issue of GREEN LANTERN (Co-Starring GREEN ARROW) guest-starred the original Green Lantern of Earth-2, Alan Scott. I assume that this crossover had been planned before the DC Implosion that cost Scott his back-up series that had been running across the prior three months, but it was a nice way to fold the character … Continue reading BHOC: GREEN LANTERN #111
For those who know, the significance of this issue of SUPERBOY is readily apparent. For those who don't, you'll be finding out all about it by the time we get to the end of the coverage of this issue. By 1966 when this issue was first published, editor Mort Weisinger's approach to the Superman titles … Continue reading WC: SUPERBOY #131
Continuing in our look at Mark Gruenwald's pre-Marvel fanzine OMNIVERSE, dedicated to examining consistency in the depiction of fictional realities in comic books. After a write-up of several recent science fiction stories, Gruenwald takes it upon himself to review several recently-released comic books to see if they measure up to his own beliefs and standards … Continue reading OMNIVERSE #1, Part Two
This is another comic whose contents I barely remember, whose story didn't really make much of an impact on me, and that I likely bought simply because it was there and I had the forty cents to spare. I was still lukewarm on BRAVE AND THE BOLD in general--it still felt "off" to me as … Continue reading BHOC: BRAVE AND THE BOLD #145
I believe that it's inarguable that, when it comes to the creation of the early stories and characters of the Marvel Universe, Jack Kirby was for many years denied his rightful due, reduced to the level of a mere penciler of other people's stories and ideas. Clearly, Kirby was more than that--he was an equal … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Provenance of STRANGE TALES #103
I had skipped the last couple of issues of PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, having come to the conclusion that the series was relatively superfluous to the life of Marvel's wall-crawling hero. The stories were mostly fine, but nothing of any particular consequence seemed to happen in them, I can recall looking at both issues … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #25
The Tom Brevoort Experience 