CHARLTON BULLSEYE #4 November, 1981 Charlton was pretty much indisputably the cheapest comic book publisher around for most of its life. It’s page rates were bottom of the barrel, its paper stock was crumbly and often poorly trimmed, and its printing was rough and unattractive. Charlton published comics all the way through the mid-80s, largely … Continue reading BHOCOS: CHARLTON BULLSEYE #4
What If #27 - July, 1981 WHAT IF #27 represents my first conscious experience with a late-shipping book. In the aftermath of the Earth-Shattering X-MEN #137, the X-Men had reached a level of popularity unrivaled during the period. Back issue prices had skyrocketed, with issues only a couple of months old selling for $5.00 or … Continue reading BHOCOS: WHAT IF #27
2014 Note: There was an entry for JUSTICE MACHINE #1 at this point, but the text of it has been lost to the mists of time. There are a handful of entries that are similarly missing.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25June, 1965 To this day, I do not own a copy of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25. Here’s why… A week or so prior to this story, my friend Israel Litwack had picked up a small stack of Steve Ditko-era SPIDER-MAN issues at Bush’s Hobbies for what was then (and still would be) an extraordinarily … Continue reading BHOCOS: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25
WHAT IF #11October, 1978 This is probably the most blatantly self-indulgent story Marvel ever published. It also has the dubious honor of being the last Fantastic Four story Jack Kirby ever illustrated. I can’t imagine what Roy Thomas was thinking when he came up with this premise, nor how he inveigled Kirby into doing it. … Continue reading BHOCOS: WHAT IF #11
Give the People What They Want I’ve been doing this column at ComiX-Fan, formerly X-Fan, for a while now. And yet, in all that time, I don’t think I’ve ever once mentioned the X-Men. And that’s the subject that most people around these parts are most interested in. Despite Eric’s efforts to expand the readership … Continue reading Life In A Four Color World column on X-MEN, 2003
NEW TEEN TITANS #4 February, 1981 It should have been a no-brainer. I liked the Teen Titans. I liked the writing of Marv Wolfman, who I thought was one of the best of the era. I really liked George Perez, who had penciled many of the earliest Marvel books I had read. But when NEW … Continue reading BHOCOS: NEW TEEN TITANS #4
2014 Note: There was an entry for THOR #300 at this point, but the text of it has been lost to the mists of time. There are a handful of entries that are similarly missing.
X-Men #137 - September, 1980 More has probably been said and written about X-MEN #137 than virtually any other comic book of the period. And every word of it is true. More than any other single issue, this story made X-MEN the unrelenting sales juggernaut it continues to be to this day. It’s never been … Continue reading BHOCOS: UNCANNY X-MEN #137
ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE BRIDE OF HEMBECK #3June, 1980 I first became aware of the work of Fred Hembeck on the Daily Planet coming attractions pages in many DC comics in the late 70s, where Fred was doing a small one-tier gag strip. It was Glenn Hauman who introduced me to the collections of … Continue reading BHOCOS: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE BRIDE OF HEMBECK #3
The Tom Brevoort Experience 