Warrior #1 - March, 1982 I bought WARRIOR #1 at Port Comics towards the end of 1981, right before my family moved away to Delaware. It would be years before I’d be able to track down the subsequent issues. WARRIOR was a noble failure, an attempt to provide an alternative to the more kiddie-oriented fare … Continue reading BHOCOS: WARRIOR #1
Doom Patrol #121 - October, 1968 I found DOOM PATROL #121 at the short-lived “west branch” of PORT COMICS. I already knew about the final fate of the Doom Patrol, but now I was able to experience it firsthand. Doom Patrol had been a series ahead of its time from the beginning. And though it … Continue reading BHOCOS: DOOM PATROL #121
CAPTAIN VICTORY #2 January, 1982 CAPTAIN VICTORY #2 is noteworthy for containing the only fan letter I ever had published–and, inevitably, they spelled my name wrong. It’s also evidence of how, as I moved into the 1980s, I began to explore the burgeoning independent comics market. I was fortunate in that a comic shop–PORT COMICS … Continue reading BHOCOS: CAPTAIN VICTORY #2
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
