In the early 1980s, after having spent a couple of years working outside of the field in animation, Jack Kirby was making a bit of a comeback. Pacific Comics, one of the new independent publishers that had begun releasing titles into the emerging Direct sales market of comic book specialty stories had agreed to publish … Continue reading FSC: SILVER STAR #1
As I've related before, my buddy David Steckel had inherited a bunch of assorted comic books from older cousins who had outgrown them, and so his haphazard collection reached all the way back into the 1960s in a scattershot fashion. Among the books that he had, and which he let me borrow and read at … Continue reading BC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #5
MARVEL SUPER-HEROES continued in reprinting Incredible Hulk stories from a couple short years earlier, but which were old enough that they were still new to me. To be honest, I often enjoyed these older tales more than the new ones appearing in the Jade Giant's current series--that isn't surprising, I had a real connection to … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #84
I was very surprised to come across this second volume of Doctor Strange adventures in the Pocket Books line of paperback reprints in a local bookstore. These releases had seemed to have been tied to the appearances of the Marvel characters on television, and while the initial Doctor Strange volume had been released to capitalize … Continue reading BHOC: DOCTOR STRANGE POCKET BOOKS Volume 2
A few years back, I wound up on an X-MEN convention panel along with Louise Simonson, and I was able to express just how impossible a bar she'd set for everybody who came after her as an editor on that particular line. In the space of a very short time, she'd finished up the DARK … Continue reading FSC: MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #5
And so we come to the end of the run of SHAZAM that I borrowed from my grade school buddy Donald Sims so many years ago. Or maybe we do. I'm honestly not certain after all of these years whether he had this final issue in his complete stack. If nothing else, I don't recall … Continue reading BC: SHAZAM #35
In addition to now being able to regularly get my hands on Annuals and other oversized comics such as Anniversary issues or WHAT IF and the like, my new Stationery Store outlet also gave me access to titles that I didn't even know existed, such as this revival of MACHINE MAN. I had sampled one … Continue reading BHOC: MACHINE MAN #11
PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN had settled into a nice rhythm. It wasn't a great comic book, but it was solid and reliable. In the hands of its now-regular creative team of Bill Mantlo and Jim Mooney, it had built up a cast of characters around mainstay Peter Parker, a cast that existed in addition … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #34
The early 1980s was a wild time to be a comic book reader, in that the establishment of the Direct Sales marketplace as a viable alternative to mainstream Newsstand distribution for comic books opened up the floodgates, with all sort of publishers with big dreams of finding success pouring through. On any given visit to … Continue reading FSC: SPECTRUM COMICS PREVIEWS #1
As I've mentioned before, my friend David Steckel had inherited a chunk of his comic book collection from older cousins who had outgrown comics, so he owned a handful of issues that dated back to the 1960s. He didn't have many of them, and they were a bit scattered, but they represented a bit of … Continue reading BC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #67
