MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #49 was another junky, lifeless issue of what had become a largely junky, lifeless series. There was improvement just around the corner, though, and while I didn't know that at the time, my critical standards at the age of twelve were pretty meager. I liked the Thing and the Fantastic Four, and so … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #49
As we detailed last week, artist Frank M. Borth, who was working on both strips, created a six-part epic crossover between his two series, Phantom Lady, which ran in POLICE COMICS, and the Spider Widow, which could be found in FEATURE COMICS. There wasn't any promotion for this crossover, so it appears to be something … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Forgotten Phantom Lady/Spider Widow epic, Part 2
Now here was an issue of MARVEL SUPER-HEROES that I quite liked. The story was reprinted, of course, from an INCREDIBLE HULK that had gone on sale seven or so years earlier, back when Roy Thomas had taken over the series. And it was a good example of the simple pathos that worked best with … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER HEROES #79
The last regular issue of GHOST RIDER I bought was #80,--literally just one issue away from the series' cancellation with #81. So why did I jump off here, right before the end/ Well, the honest reason is that GHOST RIDER was never a book I was all that interested in. I bought it out of … Continue reading GH: GHOST RIDER #80
It was the final issue of the magazine, but I dutifully purchased this issue of HUMAN FLY, having bought the prior one. I don't think I even gave it much thought, I just went ahead and did it. I'd sometimes start following titles simply because I had some additional pocket money that week, and once … Continue reading BHOC: HUMAN FLY #19
Quality Comics was one of the finest publishers of the Golden Age of Comics. They lived up to their firm's name by featuring a high level of polish in both their stories and their artwork. Quality's most popular features included Plastic Man, Doll Man and Blackhawk, along with reprints of Will Eisner's The Spirit, and … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Forgotten Phantom Lady/Spider Widow epic, Part 1
In 1979, DAREDVIL was a series that had been limping along for years. Perhaps its only saving grace, the thing that kept it from being cancelled, was the fact that it was one of the original Marvel titles that had been launched at the start of the 1960s at the dawn of the Marvel Age. … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #157
The last regular issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA that I bought was #281, almost a hundred issues on from when I'd first sampled the book. The series was on a bit of an upswing at this point, having just concluded a multi-part adventure that established the contemporary Baron Zemo (who had previously appeared as the one-off … Continue reading GH: CAPTAIN AMERICA #281
This issue of PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN is probably the most noteworthy and sought-after one in the whole of the run, for reasons that were not apparent to me when I first read it. And that's because it represents the first time that artist Frank Miller works on the character of Daredevil--a series that … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #27
It's no great secret that Thor was one of the earliest super heroes introduced during the beginnings of the Marvel Age of Comics, and that it was likely Jack Kirby who first proposed the idea of making a super hero out of an ancient god. Kirby had an abiding interest in mythology and in folk tales … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #16
The Tom Brevoort Experience 