FANTACO CHRONICLES #2: John Byrne Column

In the early 1980s, FantaCo published a number of issues of CHRONICLES, a magazine whose each issue was dedicated to a deep dive discussion about a prominent Marvel series. Some of these were authorized by Marvel, though not all of them, and this gave FantaCo access to a lot of material they might not otherwise … Continue reading FANTACO CHRONICLES #2: John Byrne Column

BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #193

I had skipped buying SUPERMAN FAMILY #192 the previous month, for reasons that I'm not quite certain of apart from just a general dissatisfaction with the title. That was the problem with DC's Dollar Comics anthologies, they were wildly inconsistent. While any given issue probably had something in it that you thought was pretty great, … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #193

BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #162

It was at around this time that JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA had begun to feel tired to me. It had once been a favorite series, but in recent months, coupled with a growing interest in the Marvel style of storytelling, the venerable JLA had seemingly been slowing down, becoming a bit trite and simplistic and, … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #162

WC: ACTION COMICS #322

The title that I got the most issues of in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988 was definitely ACTION COMICS. There were close to twice as many issues of this book as anything else in that long box. Which is understandable--ACTION COMICS was selling in phenomenal numbers during the early Silver Age, and these books … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #322

THE COMIC TIMES #4: Jim Shooter Interview

Here is another lost and forgotten interview from the pages of an obscure 1980s fanzine, this one with Marvel's Editor in chief Jim Shooter. I seem to recall that Jim was giving an awful lot of interviews at around this time, possibly in connection with Marvel's 20th Anniversary. Regardless, it's interesting from a modern day … Continue reading THE COMIC TIMES #4: Jim Shooter Interview

BHOC: THOR #279

Boy, it's hard to believe that the scantily-clad woman strung up on the center of this THOR cover will one day wield the hammer herself and become the title character. But such are the ways of time and comic books. And female imperilment was a leaned-upon trope in the 1970s when it came to selling … Continue reading BHOC: THOR #279

Doctor Who: Rebooting the Doctor

We're not far off now from the return of DOCTOR WHO to our screens, this time with a big-deal arrangement with Disney+ to help fund the series and distribute it worldwide, and with the program once again under the guiding hand of Russell T. Davies, the man who brought it back from extinction almost two … Continue reading Doctor Who: Rebooting the Doctor

BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #81

I had been waiting for this issue of MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS for a good long while. Having the Olshevsky OFFICIAL MARVEL INDEX TO THE FANTASTIC FOUR, I knew that this next book would be reprinting FANTASTIC FOUR #100. And that was of special interest to me for one reason: due to nothing more than it … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #81

WC: SUPERBOY #136

This was the final issue of SUPERBOY that I got as a part of my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988, in which I bought a box of almost 150 Silver Age comics for $50.00, a huge bargain even at that time. By this point, editor Mort Weisinger's Superman titles were beginning to run out of … Continue reading WC: SUPERBOY #136

THE X-MEN CHRONICLES: Jim Shooter Interview

Among the features in THE X-MEN CHRONICLES, the fanzine published by FantaCo, who were the publishing arm of a comic shop of the same name situated in Albany, New York, there was a relatively candid interview with Marvel's Editor in Chief, Jim Shooter. At the time, the Death of Phoenix was still a relatively new … Continue reading THE X-MEN CHRONICLES: Jim Shooter Interview