It was business as usual back at my 7-11's spinner rack that Thursday, the day when new comic books would be put out for the week. Having jumped aboard the Spider-Man train, I picked up this issue of PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN. SPEC SPIDEY was decidedly the second tier Spider-Man title for virtually all … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #21
This was another issue of SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE that I got in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988 and for which I paid 33 cents--more than three times the original cover price! This was another good example of where the series was at this time--it's worth keeping in mind that all of the … Continue reading WC: SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE #28
This issue of IRON MAN was a bit more like it. After a pair of issues that were concerned with a war in deep space that I found it difficult to care about (the influence of STAR WARS was all over those issues, at least broadly) with #113 we were back in Earth, with grounded … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #113
It seems like forever since we spoke about the issue of FANTASTIC FOUR that came out before this one. A side effect of me starting to find comic shops and regularly buy back issues as well as new books. But FANTASTIC FOUR was still my favorite series at this point, and I was very much … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #197
It turns out that I made an error a while ago when I covered JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #15, indicating that it was the oldest of the JLA issues that I wound up with in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988. Because in actuality, that was this book, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #6. So we'll … Continue reading WC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #6
Dealer and comics historian Bob Beerbohm was recently talking about how the sales of X-MEN skyrocketed in his shop when artist John Byrne came on board the title with issue #108. He indicates that his guess is that the series might have been cancelled otherwise, though I find this difficult to believe. Based on what … Continue reading BHOC: X-MEN #112
I bought this issue of MARVEL TALES from my usual spinner rack at the local 7-11. It reprinted, as usual, a story from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN published about six years before. At that time, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN was in the midst of one of its more seismic changes: Stan Lee, having been promoted to publisher of the … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #94
One of the myths about the Marvel Age of Comics is that it pretty much happened all at once--that as soon as FANTASTIC FOUR #1 hit newsstands coast-to-coast, the paradigm of comic books changed completely. And that's clearly not the case. In fact, it took a few years for the Marvel approach to storytelling to … Continue reading WC: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #91
Again, as with yesterday's book, I believe I picked up this issue of INVADERS on that same excursion to the Heroes World in Levittown with my grandparents. I wasn't really aware of it at the time, but the series had definitely reached its peak earlier, and now with the departure of artist Frank Robbins, it … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #31
I think I bought this issue of INCREDIBLE HULK during that same trip to Heroes World with my grandparents. As I've related previously, I wasn't really all that interested in the character to start with, but my brother had begun picking up the book, spurred on by the live action television series that was then … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #226
The Tom Brevoort Experience 