Continuing on in our survey of the four Blooperman stories published by Charlton Comics in the mid-1960s and how they intersected with certain elements of fandom, today we're taking a look at the second adventure of the dimwitted character, published in GO-GO #4. The character's visual creator Jon D'Agostino drew Blooperman on the cover, but … Continue reading Brand Ecch: The Fannish Adventures of Blooperman, Part Two
GO-GO was a strange little comic book that was published by bottom-rung publisher Charlton for nine issues starting in 1966. It was something of an attempt to appeal to a counter-culture crowd, combining Archie-style teen hijinx comics with MAD-influenced parodies of assorted genres and a broad helping of what somebody thought was "teen-focused lingo." It … Continue reading Brand Echh: The Fannish Adventures of Blooperman, Part One
And so, we come at last to the end of the road for MIGHTY COMICS, Archie's attempt to replicate and cash in on the popularity of the Marvel titles of the day. By late 1967, the super hero fad that had driven sales to enormous numbers across the past few years had cooled off considerably, … Continue reading Brand Echh: Mighty Comics #50 and the Last Web Story
By the late 1980s, Japanese Manga was beginning to have an influence on the American comic book marketplace. As different creators such as Frank Miller discovered the works being done overseas and the adopted their influence into the comics they were making, awareness of the riches to be had began to spread. A number of … Continue reading Brand Echh: Mazinger graphic novel
1986 was the year in which the wider world began to become familiar with the concept that comic books could be vehicles for more serious and thoughtful ideas than merely slam-bang adventure stories for children. The twin juggernauts of Frank Miller's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and Moor and Gibbons' WATCHMEN along with the release of … Continue reading Brand Echh: Hero Alliance graphic novel
Eclipse had established itself early on as one of the most creator-friendly alternative comics on the burgeoning Direct Market scene. They began publishing in 1978 with the issuing of Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy's graphic novel SABRE. Publishers Jan and Dean Mullaney had been huge comics fans throughout the 1970s, and as the tastes of … Continue reading Brand Echh: Airboy #1
As the Silver Age kicked off in the late 1950s, DC/National Comics wasn't the only publisher testing out the genre once again,. All throughout the decade, different publishers had attempted to find success with new costumed heroes with names like Captain Flash, the Avenger and Strong Man. And Archie Comics was no exception. Getting a … Continue reading Brand Echh: The Double Life of Private Strong #1
Talk about a disparity between title and visual! It would be difficult to come up with an image that less embodied the concept of SCARY TALES that this one, featuring a happy super hero whose body fragments into pieces comically battling a pair of thugs amidst a bright green forest. And that's because, like the … Continue reading Brand Echh: Scary Tales #38
Now this one is a bit of a strange aberration, one that I wasn't even aware of when it first saw print. SCARY TALES had been released intermittently by publisher Charlton filled with weird mystery stories of the sort that DC and other publishers were issuing--that is to say, stories that had twist endings or … Continue reading Brand Echh: Scary Tales #40
Time once again to check in on the exploits of the greatest of the mid-1960s Mighty Comics super heroes, the hen-pecked Web. As you'll recall from previous installments, Mighty Comics was Archie's attempt to get into teh super hero game at the height of Batmania by reviving all of their long underwear characters from the … Continue reading Brand Echh: Mighty Comics #46
The Tom Brevoort Experience 