This was the last issue of STRANGE TALES that I had gotten in the box of Silver Age comics that made up my Windfall purchase in 1988. As we've spoken about before, the series felt more and more like an afterthought, one that simply wasn't as important to the line as books like FANTASTIC FOUR, … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #129
I'd been waiting for this one, the second half of the Death of Gwen Stacy storyline, a saga that was already legendary by 1978 when I first got to read it. With Stan Lee having retired from scripting AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, incoming writer Gerry Conway and plotter and artist John Romita were looking to do something … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #99
I had a couple of people rise to the occasion and come back to me with examples of even earlier comic book letters pages than the one that we looked at last week. https://tombrevoort.com/2023/10/21/the-first-comic-book-letters-page/ So I wanted to give these some space here as well, to make sure the record was straight. Comic book historian … Continue reading The First Comic Book Letters Page Redux
This week brought a new issue of INVADERS to the spinner rack in my local 7-11, a series that I was still quite a fan of, even though its quality had been dipping in recent months. Artist Frank Robbins had departed the title, and despite the fact that many fans of the era would cheer … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #36
Editor Mort Weisinger was certainly putting himself on the line with the cover copy on this next issue of ACTION COMICS, #325. "Best Superman Story of the Year!" he cries, in the manner that was being used by rival Stan Lee. This is maybe a strange thing to say on a cover that features not … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #325
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, INCREDIBLE HULK went through a consistent pattern with me: it would start with some storyline that I was interested in, then segue into a bunch of issues that left me cold, to the point where I'd be on the verge of dropping it, then a story would come along … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #231
Scanned by the Authentic History Center If you were a comic book reader at any time throughout the 1960s through the 1990s, each issue of whatever title you happened to be reading carrying a letters page in which members of the readership could write in and share their opinions about the stories they were consuming … Continue reading The First Comic Book Letters Page
As a series, DEFENDERS had never entirely hooked me. I didn't really entirely click with any of its cast of characters, particularly in a team setting, and its supposed "non-team" format didn't appeal to me. Frankly, I barely understood it, as the members of the Defenders seemed to spend an awful lot of time hanging … Continue reading BHOC: DEFENDERS #67
This was one of the better issues of STRANGE TALES that I got in my Windfall comics purchase of 1988. While typically the series felt like something of an afterthought, here editor Stan lee appears to be trying to bring a bit more attention to the Human Torch feature by having Johnny and the Thing … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #128
I bought this issue of AVENGERS on one of my regular weekly Thursday trips to my neighborhood's local 7-11, whose spinner rack was my primary source of new comics at this time. Having wrapped up the Korvac Saga a few months earlier, AVENGERS was pretty clearly in a scheduling hole, and so editor Jim Shooter … Continue reading BHOC: AVENGERS #179
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