After Superman had opened the floodgates and showed publishers that there was money to be made in comic books by putting out the adventures of costumed heroes, Fawcett jumped into the field with both feet. They were an established publisher already, and so had staff and connections in place to produce and distribute their new … Continue reading The First Bulletman Story
I'm not 100% certain after all this time where I got this issue of DEVIL DINOSAUR #1 from. I think it was probably another cast-off of David Steckel's that he didn't want and so gave to me. But I also have a similar vibe concerning my other comic book reading friend of the period, Don … Continue reading BHOC: DEVIL DINOSAUR #1
As we've spoken about before, STRANGE TALES had become something of an afterthought in the Marvel line, a title where new prospective writers and artists could be tried out with limited risk. But after 22 issues of this, sales on the book seem to have slid enough for editor Stan Lee to look to make … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #124
I mentioned meeting my buddy David Steckel in gifted class a couple weeks ago. David was, like myself, an avid comic book reader. But he only liked Marvel comic, and turned up his nose at anything from DC or other companies, which he felt were too childish and stupid. Accordingly, every once in a while … Continue reading BHOC: DC SPECIAL #15
In the early 1980s, FantaCo published a number of issues of CHRONICLES, a magazine whose each issue was dedicated to a deep dive discussion about a prominent Marvel series. Some of these were authorized by Marvel, though not all of them, and this gave FantaCo access to a lot of material they might not otherwise … Continue reading FANTACO CHRONICLES #2: John Byrne Column
I had skipped buying SUPERMAN FAMILY #192 the previous month, for reasons that I'm not quite certain of apart from just a general dissatisfaction with the title. That was the problem with DC's Dollar Comics anthologies, they were wildly inconsistent. While any given issue probably had something in it that you thought was pretty great, … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #193
It was at around this time that JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA had begun to feel tired to me. It had once been a favorite series, but in recent months, coupled with a growing interest in the Marvel style of storytelling, the venerable JLA had seemingly been slowing down, becoming a bit trite and simplistic and, … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #162
The title that I got the most issues of in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988 was definitely ACTION COMICS. There were close to twice as many issues of this book as anything else in that long box. Which is understandable--ACTION COMICS was selling in phenomenal numbers during the early Silver Age, and these books … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #322
Here is another lost and forgotten interview from the pages of an obscure 1980s fanzine, this one with Marvel's Editor in chief Jim Shooter. I seem to recall that Jim was giving an awful lot of interviews at around this time, possibly in connection with Marvel's 20th Anniversary. Regardless, it's interesting from a modern day … Continue reading THE COMIC TIMES #4: Jim Shooter Interview
Boy, it's hard to believe that the scantily-clad woman strung up on the center of this THOR cover will one day wield the hammer herself and become the title character. But such are the ways of time and comic books. And female imperilment was a leaned-upon trope in the 1970s when it came to selling … Continue reading BHOC: THOR #279
The Tom Brevoort Experience 