BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #49

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #49 was another junky, lifeless issue of what had become a largely junky, lifeless series. There was improvement just around the corner, though, and while I didn't know that at the time, my critical standards at the age of twelve were pretty meager. I liked the Thing and the Fantastic Four, and so … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #49

BHOC: MARVEL SUPER HEROES #79

Now here was an issue of MARVEL SUPER-HEROES that I quite liked. The story was reprinted, of course, from an INCREDIBLE HULK that had gone on sale seven or so years earlier, back when Roy Thomas had taken over the series. And it was a good example of the simple pathos that worked best with … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER HEROES #79

GH: GHOST RIDER #80

The last regular issue of GHOST RIDER I bought was #80,--literally just one issue away from the series' cancellation with #81. So why did I jump off here, right before the end/ Well, the honest reason is that GHOST RIDER was never a book I was all that interested in. I bought it out of … Continue reading GH: GHOST RIDER #80

BHOC: HUMAN FLY #19

It was the final issue of the magazine, but I dutifully purchased this issue of HUMAN FLY, having bought the prior one. I don't think I even gave it much thought, I just went ahead and did it. I'd sometimes start following titles simply because I had some additional pocket money that week, and once … Continue reading BHOC: HUMAN FLY #19

BHOC: DAREDEVIL #157

In 1979, DAREDVIL was a series that had been limping along for years. Perhaps its only saving grace, the thing that kept it from being cancelled, was the fact that it was one of the original Marvel titles that had been launched at the start of the 1960s at the dawn of the Marvel Age. … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #157

GH: CAPTAIN AMERICA #281

The last regular issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA that I bought was #281, almost a hundred issues on from when I'd first sampled the book. The series was on a bit of an upswing at this point, having just concluded a multi-part adventure that established the contemporary Baron Zemo (who had previously appeared as the one-off … Continue reading GH: CAPTAIN AMERICA #281

BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #27

This issue of PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN is probably the most noteworthy and sought-after one in the whole of the run, for reasons that were not apparent to me when I first read it. And that's because it represents the first time that artist Frank Miller works on the character of Daredevil--a series that … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #27

BHOC: IRON MAN #119

The change was almost imperceivable, so incremental had it been, at least to me. But starting at around this point, it was difficult to argue that IRON MAN had become a much better title than at any earlier point in recent memory. The new creative team of co-plotter and scripter David Michelinie, penciler John Romita … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #119

GH: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #241

The last regular issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN that I bought new was this one, #241. And I know what some of you are thinking already: you dropped ASM in the middle of the Roger Stern and John Romita Jr. run (a run that's generally considered a high water mark, the best the series had been … Continue reading GH: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #241

Goodbye, Hello: Introduction

My home life was upended majorly in November of 1981 when my father's job at the Chase Manhattan Bank transferred him from working in New York to setting up a new operation in Delaware. This meant that the family had to move, and the transition played havoc with my comic book buying. Where I had … Continue reading Goodbye, Hello: Introduction