5BC: Five Best Comics of 1979

This issue of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE featured John Byrne's first outing with the team as both writer and artist, a time travel adventure that had Ben Grimm coming face-to-face with the earliest version of himself as seen and characterized in FANTASTIC FOUR #1 and #2. Byrne does a great job of capturing the period of the … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1979

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #477

Now that I was able to go to my local 7-11 whenever I wanted to, I did spend a week during this summer working out something very important: when did the new comic books show up every week? I went to that 7-11 day in and day out until I was certain that my analysis … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #477

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #476

I bought this issue of ACTION COMICS at my usual 7-11. In fact, this was the summer where, now being allowed to travel to the 7-11 on my own, I buckled down and spent a week determining when the new comics would arrive each week. Rather than simply asking somebody, I instead made a pilgrimage … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #476

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #458

We now begin to approach an important crossroads in my comic book reading history. My family frequented a local drugstore, part of a chain, pretty regularly, and one day during this summer, the store put in this huge bin of comics. In my mind’s eye, it was massive, though in reality it was probably a … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #458

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #475

A pretty sharp cover by Jose-Luis Garcia Lopez kicks off this latest issue of ACTION COMICS. Garcia Lopez is very much an artist’s artist, and was another exciting new figure on the DC scene in the 1970s, who somehow never quite became a break-out star, largely because he never did a long sustained run on … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #475

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #474

I think this was another purchase at the little candy store next to the barber where I’d get my hair cut. I know it was an issue that I’d seen and passed up in favor of other fare earlier, so it’s likely that a more limited selection made me take it home in this instance. … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #474

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #473

Got this comic not at the 7-11 but rather the small candy store down the row from my barber, which carried a very small selection of titles, mostly Superman and Batman books. I can remember gripping the corner of the cover so much during the bike ride home that I left an impression in the … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #473

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #471 and #472

I picked up these two issues of ACTION COMICS at the same time, from the same rack–I must have been flush with cash, possibly the change from a haircut (my Dad would give my a few bucks and send me off to our barber down in the center of town) as I know they were … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #471 and #472

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #469

Now that is a cover. You really have to wonder what the folks in charge of some of the comic books of this era were thinking when they commissioned such a piece. It’s certainly attention-getting, but only because it’s so downright weird. I picked up this issue of ACTION COMICS having already purchased and read … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #469

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #470

It had been a while since I’d picked up an issue of ACTION COMICS, but for whatever reason, after passing up the previous few issues, this one made the trip home. Might have been as simple as there being slim pickings on the rack that week in terms of new super hero comics of the … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #470