Charlton had been a player in the comic book marketplace going back to the days of the Golden Age of Comics. They were widely regarded as the shlockiest of publishers, whose paper and printing was markedly inferior to that of the competition. There was some very good work buried among the many Charlton publications, but … Continue reading Brand Echh: Charlton Bullseye #1
As the Direct Market for comic books opened up in the early 1980s, all sorts of new players poured in, and all sorts of new comic book publishers, many of them short-lived, hawked their wares--including a couple that were a bit surprising. One of those was undoubtedly Kitchen Sink Press, who had made their bones … Continue reading Brand Echh #1: Megaton Man #1
In the 1960s, one of the factors that enabled DC/National Comics to become the best-selling comic book publisher of the era was the shattering of Dell Comics. Dell had been a powerhouse in the field for more than a decade, far and away the best-selling comics company--a company whose wares were so known and trusted … Continue reading Brand Echh: Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #5
By 1966, the super Hero fad of the 1960s was in full swing, propelled to the forefront of popular culture by the debut of the BATMAN television show, which became a short-lived national obsession. BATMAN's mix of straightforward heroics with broad self-deprecating humor made it the poster child for middle America in terms of defining … Continue reading Brand Echh: Mighty Comics #40
As we've spoken about in the past, the establishment of the Direct Sales comic book marketplace provided an opportunity for new publishers to enter the field. Initially, the efforts expended in this new arena tended to be attempting to push the boundaries of what comic books could be in different directions, outside of the oversight … Continue reading Brand Echh: Justice Machine #1
One of the areas in which the nascent Pacific Comics publishing firm made some unexpected inroads was with a series of comics devoted primarily to horror and science fiction themes--titles in keeping with the well-regarded EC books of the past. Nobody else was quite doing this material in this fashion, and certainly nobody else was … Continue reading Brand Echh: Vanguard Illustrated #7
At the start of the 1980s, Pacific Comics was one of the first of the new breed of comic book publishers. They had started out as one of the many distributors into what is now called the Direct Market chain of comic book specialty shops that had been popping up nationwide. Eventually, there was a … Continue reading Brand Echh: Starslayer #2
The short mid-1970s history of Atlas Comics represents one of the great missed opportunities in the history of comics. For a brief, shining second, it seemed as though there would be another mainstream publisher in the field, one that would challenge Marvel and DC for supremacy in the marketplace and create greater competition, and by … Continue reading Brand Echh: The Scorpion #3 and the Marvelization of Atlas Comics
One of the more overlooked pioneers of what would come to be called the Direct Sales comic book market was Mike Friedrich. He'd started his career as a writer for DC and Marvel, among others, and eventually became first Marvel's first executive in charge of Direct Sales and thereafter an artists representative. But in-between, he … Continue reading Brand Echh: Star Reach #1
The opening up of the Direct Sales market in the early 1980s made it possible for anybody with a little bit of money to publish and sell their own black and white comic books. All sorts of new companies popped up, put out a few releases, then vanished without a trace. Comico performed better than … Continue reading Brand Echh: Comico Primer #2
The Tom Brevoort Experience 