Now this was a bit of a seminal issue in DC Comics history, though you really couldn't tell so by looking at this cover. But it represents one of the very few times that a super hero legitimately was killed off during the Silver Age of Comics. And even though that character would be revived … Continue reading WC: ADVENTURE COMICS #304
Much as with its sister title ACTION COMICS, ADVENTURE COMICS had adjusted to shrinking page counts by reducing the number of features that it ran from three to two. That second feature position eventually wound up handed over to the Legion of Super Heroes, who promptly took over the entire magazine. But before that, it … Continue reading WC: ADVENTURE COMICS #295
This issue of ADVENTURE COMICS is another book that came in that box of 150 Silver Age comics that I purchased in 1988 for fifty bones--what I think of as my "windfall comics" purchase since it came about entirely by luck. As with ACTION COMICS last week, ADVENTURE COMICS back issues weren't especially in demand … Continue reading WC: ADVENTURE COMICS #292
Now, this was a noteworthy issue, and another one that I acquired as part of my big Windfall Comics purchase in 1988, when I bought a box of close to 150 Silver Age comic books for $50.00. Unfortunately, for me, it's also a book whose lead story was one that I had read many years … Continue reading WC: ADVENTURE COMICS #271
FIGHTING AMERICAN is a well-remembered series produced by the Joe Simon & Jack Kirby Studio in the 1950s. It started out as a reaction to the revival of Simon & Kirby's best-selling patriotic super hero at Atlas Comics, Captain America--they figured that if the public wanted that kind of a character, they were better suited … Continue reading Simon & Kirby: When Fighting American Stole From Starman
As Dave Lister explains to Arnold Rimmer in an early episode of the British science fiction comedy series RED DWARF, "Death isn't the handicap it used to be." Today, it's a given that, in the world of super heroes, death is, at worst, a revolving door, and any character who breathes his or her last … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Silver Age Character Deaths
Here's another comic book that I got in that Windfall buying experience, a book I paid 33 cents for in 1988. Rather than plow through all of the issues of ACTION COMICS that were in that horde--which seems as though it would get boring and repetitive quickly--I'm instead going to jump around a bit, work … Continue reading WC: ADVENTURE COMICS #266
In the early 1940s, as a myriad of would-be publishers heard about the overwhelming success of Superman nd rushed into the marketplace offering their own get-rich-quick versions of a comic book super hero, the reality is that nobody quite understood just what factors made Superman work. And so, everything was tried, and creativity--both good and … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Most Unique Super Heroes of the Silver Age
This was another book that came to me in trade from my buddy Donald Sims. It was released during that period when Marvel was focused hot and heavy in coming up with monster/suspense series similar in approach to their super hero offerings, an effort that only had mixed results. The lead character who debuts here, … Continue reading BHOC: DEAD OF NIGHT #11
My brother Ken continued to intermittently read assorted war comics, most of which eventually ended up with me, This issue of WEIRD WAR TALES was the next. In the 1970s, DC had some success with the word WEIRD, cross-breeding their supernatural/mystery titles with other genres--WEIRD WESTERN TALES has given the world Jonah Hex, for example, … Continue reading BHOC: WEIRD WAR TALES #59
The Tom Brevoort Experience 