So at around this point, I finally got my hands on a copy of the first volume of the MARVEL POCKET BOOKS paperback collections of early AMAZING SPIDER-MAN stories. Some months earlier, I had bought a copy of Volume 2 and loved it, but the first volume was by that point simply no place to … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN POCKET BOOKS Volume 1
THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON was a fan comic book produced by Kurt Busiek and Scott McCloud while in High School. Never published anywhere, it featured an enormous battle between different Marvel super heroes that they liked set in and around the area of their hometown of Lexington, Massachusetts. As McCloud describes it on his website: … Continue reading The Battle of Lexington, Part One
Continuing to pick the bones of this final issue of FLASH COMICS, the long-running series that had introduced the Flash, Hawkman and Johnny Thunder to the world, this time we're looking at the final published adventure of the Mighty Mite, the Atom. Like his fellow Justice Society members, the Atom's last published solo adventure of … Continue reading The Last Atom Story
Now I know that I picked this issue of MARVEL PREMIERE up in a candy store in a distant strip mall that my parents had gone to for some shopping reason. My regular 7-11 didn't seem to carry issues of MARVEL PREMIERE--they had quietly stopped getting all sorts of books, including double-sized issues such as … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL PREMIERE #47
The first run of Topps' Marvel-themed super hero stickers had been a solid success, which meant that they decided to do another run the following year. Like the first run, these stickers came five-to-a-pack with a piece of stiff chewing gum, and each one featured the image of a Marvel hero with a quasi-comical word … Continue reading The 1975/1976 Topps Marvel Super Hero Stickers
IRON MAN was quietly becoming a really good comic book back in 1979, a change that at once seemed both gradual and instantaneous. The creative team of writer David Michelinie, co-plotter and inker Bob Layton and penciler John Romita Jr. transplanted the character to the modern era, dispensing with a lot of the Cold War … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #121
As an adjunct to the typical photographs of comic books of the past being captured in photographs, either while being enjoyed or else while on sale, there's an entire subset of images that have been captured in film and television productions. These examples are often a bit more staged, especially if the film in question … Continue reading Comics in the Media 1
As with Hawkman, the Flash's final golden age appearance was in ALL-STAR COMICS #57 in 1950 as part of the Justice Society of America. But we're talking about the Scarlet Speedster's solo exploits here. And by that metric, Jay Garrick's final run in his winged helmet took place in the final issue of FLASH COMICS, … Continue reading The Last Flash Story
It's tough to find a Marvel comic from this period that didn't feature any cover copy whatsoever, but this latest issue of FANTASTIC FOUR fit the bill. It probably could have used some, honestly, if only to contextualize what the FF were fighting. But it's a nice action piece either way. And I didn't need … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #205
DEFENDERS from here on out was rough sledding for a very long time, and I'm surprised that my younger self stuck with it for as long as he did, especially since I had no problem dropping other books that I wasn't enjoying. (Well, in some cases. I bought GHOST RIDER for years too, for reasons … Continue reading BHOC: DEFENDERS #70
The Tom Brevoort Experience 