First of all, it's got to be said: at a time when a regular issue of a new comic book cost 60 cents, the fact that this first MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL was priced at $5.95 was almost intolerable. Yes, it was 64 pages long by a top creator, yes it was on far better paper … Continue reading FSC: MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #1
We covered Marvel's propensity for replacing late-running stories in their meant-to-be-new magazines with emergency reprints in depth a while ago. Here's that piece again for those who may have missed it: https://tombrevoort.com/2021/01/09/a-guide-to-marvels-unannounced-1970s-reprint-issues/ For the most part, DC didn't suffer from this same problem. Their editorial staff was both larger and much more well-organized and regimented … Continue reading BC: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #229
For the next year or two, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA turned into a bit of a forgettable series. I still was buying it every month, but some of that was simply out of momentum. I had loved the series when I was younger, but whether it was that nostalgia made those earlier issues look better … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #169
By 1942, Jerry Siegel seemingly had it all. He was the creator and writer of Superman, a character whose first appearance set off a fad that changed the comic book industry, but who had thereafter gone on to conquer the worlds of newspaper strips, radio shows, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and animated cartoons. Siegel … Continue reading The First Robotman Story
This was the issue that put me off of reading THOR, at least for a short while. I already wasn't all that interested in the ongoing plotline involving trying to paste Jack Kirby's Eternals into the Marvel Universe--I'd sampled ETERNALS and not found it much to my liking, so bringing all of this baggage into … Continue reading BHOC: THOR #286
In 1982, I was a huge fan of Pacific Comics, and really all of the new companies that had begun to spring up in the developing Direct Sales marketplace. These new companies and their assorted offerings excited me with the possibilities. I truly felt that I might be on the ground floor of some future … Continue reading FSC: STARSLAYER #2
I was continuing to work my way through the stack of issues of SHAZAM that I had borrowed from my buddy Donald Sims that comprised a complete run of the series. But issue #9, changes were starting to take place. First off, following the prior issue's all-reprint format, from this point forward the book would … Continue reading BC: SHAZAM #9
I had started to pick up the quarterly MARVEL TREASURY EDITIONS as a part of my comic book buying pattern. By this time, they had shifted from something that felt pretty special at the outset to just another regular publication, but they gave me a way in which to catch up on stories that I'd … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #22
We're back with a look at the second part of the classic-but-mostly-forgotten storyline in which aviator Airboy battled the threat of super-intelligent rats waging war against humanity. It was a memorable two-part encounter, one that certainly made an impact on the readers of the say. By the time it was published in late 1948, interest … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: The Rats Capture Airboy
Having purchased DOCTOR STRANGE the previous issue, and being a relatively simple-minded kid, I went ahead and scooped up this issues well. This despite the fact that I'd only been lukewarm on that prior issue. But it was easy to get me into the habit of following titles, and even when I'd drop something--THOR on … Continue reading BHOC: DOCTOR STRANGE #35
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