There was a relatively brief period of time during which IRON MAN was a crackerjack reading experience. After more than a decade of mostly just floating along not being especially inspired, David Michelinie, John Romita Jr. and Bob Layton made the Armored Avenger into a real player. They put him up against more major threats, … Continue reading GH: IRON MAN #171
The ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS line wasn't the only thing Marvel-related that Simon & Schuster published back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Indeed, there was a whole line of other volumes: a bunch of puzzle books and the like. And there was also this, an exercise book featuring the Marvel characters, presumably in … Continue reading BHOC: THE MIGHTY MARVEL COMICS STRENGTH AND FITNESS BOOK
Back at Christmas 1978, I was working my way through the fourth and latest release in the ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS line of Trade Paperbacks from Simon & Schuster: THE SUPERHERO WOMEN. This book was a bit more of a mixed bag than the earlier ones and relied more on material that was more contemporary--the … Continue reading BHOC: THE SUPERHERO WOMEN
FANTASTIC FOUR was my favorite series for a long time, and the book that finally got me to take the plunge into the Marvel Universe. So you'd figure that, even in lean times, it would take a lot to dislodge me from following it. And you'd be right. Except that that's totally what happened. This … Continue reading GH: FANTASTIC FOUR #256
As I talked about yesterday, for Christmas 1978 I was given the four existing volumes in the Marvel Origins trade paperback collection that up to that point existed. I had read SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS at my local library, but I was happy to have my own copy to go back to and … Continue reading BHOC: BRING ON THE BAD GUYS
Christmas 1978 was a huge comic book windfall for me. Whereas in years past I had filled my wish list with an assortment of toys, starting here, I would instead begin asking for books on comics. ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS had eluded me for months, so much so that I eventually got to read the … Continue reading BHOC: ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS
As I've spoken about several times as we've looked at assorted issues that I bought over the years, DEFENDERS was a series whose best days were behind it by the time I started reading it. For a long stretch of time, it simply wasn't very good--yet, as a dutiful Marvelite, I kept on buying it … Continue reading GH: DEFENDERS #120
This was the second of two issues of PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN that were illustrated by a young Frank Miller, before that name really meant anything. Even more meaningfully, Daredevil, the character he would go on to reinvent, was a guest star in these two issues as well. It almost feels like fate. At … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #28
By the time this issue of IRON MAN came out, there was no mistaking the qualitative improvement the series had experienced, and it became a title that I really enjoyed every month. Whereas the IRON MAN of most of the prior decade had always felt a bit underpowered, prone to attacks from one medical condition … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #120
By 1983, SUPERMAN was feeling a bit like a product of a different age. While some effort was being made to modernize the Man of Steel, including having Gil Kane provide covers as he does here, the actual contents of the magazine were still very much of a piece with the kinds of stories that … Continue reading GH: SUPERMAN #382
The Tom Brevoort Experience 