It's more of the same here, another interview conducted by Peter Sanderson in 1982 for the first of Fantagraphics' X-MEN COMPANION books commemorating the creation of the new series and its meteoric rise to popularity in the early Direct Sales market. This one was a bit more expansive a piece than the last two because … Continue reading THE X-MEN COMPANION #1: Dave Cockrum Interview
Continuing our look at the two-volume X-MEN COMPANION published by Fantagraphics in 1982, just as X-MEN was expanding from being the darling of the Direct Market to a full-on juggernaut across the whole of the industry. Writer and historian Peter Sanderson interviewed pretty much all of the principle writers and artists involved in the creation … Continue reading THE X-MEN COMPANION #1: Len Wein Interview
In 1982, there was simply no hotter book in the Direct Sales marketplace than UNCANNY X-MEN. Riding off of the tremendous success of the Dark Phoenix Saga, the series was rocketed to the absolute pinnacle of the sales charts, at least in comic book specialty shops. X-MEN was super hot, and so the publishers of … Continue reading THE X-MEN COMPANION #1: Roy Thomas Interview
XERO was an important science fiction fanzine published by the husband and wife team of Dick and Pat Lupoff. It had a strong impact on the beginnings of comic book fandom as, starting with this first release, almost every issue ran an installment of a series titled All In Color For A Dime which talked … Continue reading XERO #1: All In Color For A Dime
One of my absolute favorite creators in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s and beyond was Fred Hembeck. I first encountered his work as a single-tier strip on DC's in-house promotional page, the Daily Planet. Eventually, my friend Glenn Hauman showed me one of the collections of Fred's material that were being released by … Continue reading HEMBECK 1980: Fred Hembeck Reviews SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE
A few more excerpts from THE ART OF JOHN BYRNE, Volume One as published by Sal Quartuccio under his SQ Productions imprint. Byrne wouldn't begin working on Superman for six more years, and was thought of as a real true blue Marvel artist at the time, so this piece from the inside front cover was … Continue reading THE ART OF JOHN BYRNE, Part Two
By 1980, John Byrne had been working in the industry for over half a decade, and the popularity of his work had begun to soar. In particular, his penciling on X-MEN helped make that comic book a huge seller within the growing Direct Sales marketplace of hardcore fans. As the 1980s went on, Byrne became … Continue reading THE ART OF JOHN BYRNE
Here's a final look at the AMAZING HEROES Preview Special for 1984, showcasing the series and storylines that were going to be making their way to a comic shop near you in the coming months. Most of these plans for the JC incarnation of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents failed to materialize. VOID INDIGO did see print, but … Continue reading AMAZING HEROES #39 1984 PREVIEW SPECIAL, T-Z
Wrapping up our coverage of the first issue of DC's in-house comic book fanzine, THE AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS. The series ran for 17 issues, as well as a few special releases both immediately before and during its run. It remains a treasure trove of information and artifacts about the National Periodical Publications of … Continue reading THE AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS #1, Part 3
Once again, another look at more of the 1984 Preview issue of AMAZING HEROES, the long-running fanzine from Fantagraphics. There's a bunch of stuff talked about in the write-up of the twin NEW TEEN TITANS titles that didn't quite come to pass in this manner, largely because George Perez left the title to take on … Continue reading AMAZING HEROES #39 1984 PREVIEW SPECIAL, N-T
The Tom Brevoort Experience 