This next book isn't one that I ever actually borrowed from my next-door-neighbor Johnny Rantinella. But it was one that I saw over at his house and flipped through extensively--enough so that I can clearly recall several details about it. I had only begun reading JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA with the preceding issue, and would … Continue reading BC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #110
DC was facing the steadily-worsening decay of their circulation in the early 1970s, and one of the ways in which they attempted to combat this was in innovating alternate formats for comic books that would carry a higher cover price and therefore be more attractive to outlets to carry. It was these efforts that led … Continue reading BC: SHAZAM #13
Especially in the first half of the 1970s in which I grew up, comic books were a ubiquitous item. Almost every kid read them, at least a little bit, and they were on sale in every candy store and convenience store you were likely to encounter. This changed as the decade went on and those … Continue reading BC: BATMAN #263
I continued to make my way through the complete run of SHAZAM that i had borrowed from my grade school friend Donald Sims one week. While it's taking us months to go over these books, I read them all in two, maybe three days when I first borrowed them. This next issue was a return … Continue reading BC: SHAZAM #12
I'm not 100% certain who I borrowed this issue of BATMAN from. it might have been my grade school friend Donald Sims as with most of the books that we've been looking at recently. But I suspect that it was actually my next-door-neighbor Johnny Rantinella. Johnny was a year younger than I was and a … Continue reading BC: BATMAN #257
I'm pretty certain that I had owned a copy of SHAZAM #11 at some point. I believe I got it in one of those 3-Bags that could be found in supermarkets, toy stores and department stores, with three comics of recent vintage for a barely-discounted price. I'm also sure that I traded this comic away … Continue reading BC: SHAZAM #11
I don't know that I ever borrowed this first MARVEL TREASURY EDITION from my grade school friend Donald Sims, but I definitely read it over at his house during one visit or another. And I can recall seeking him out a year or two later, when I was in Junior High, to offer to buy … Continue reading BC: MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #1
The cover to this next issue of SHAZAM, which I borrowed along with the rest of the compete run of the title from my grade school friend Donald Sims, presaged changes that were coming to the series. For the first time, the cover image isn't the work of the character's co-creator C. C. Beck but … Continue reading BC: SHAZAM #10
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
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
The Tom Brevoort Experience 