Now this was another comic book that I welcomed--not so much for the lead Thunderbolt story as for the back-up featuring my new obscure favorites, the Sentinels. As with the other issue I had sampled, this one was reissued by Modern Comics in the 1970s. They had contracted to provide and sell 3-Bags of comic … Continue reading BHOC: THUNDERBOLT #58
The entirety of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's BATMAN: YEAR ONE story was must reading, and this final installment wrapped the story up beautifully--a story more of hard-boiled cop Jim Gordon than really of Batman (who doesn't appear in costume all that much throughout it. ) Mazzucchelli channels the best attributes of Alex Toth in … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1987
Back in the days when he was the Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics, Jim Shooter had a particular story that he liked to use as an example when explaining to people what he thought needed to be on the page in a well-crafted Marvel story. It was this one, the Human Torch story from … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Narrative Techniques of Jack Kirby
One more book from the Modern Comics 3-Bags reprinting vintage Charlton releases, VENGEANCE SQUAD was very much of a kind with a lot of Charlton’s output during the 1970s: it resembled a low-budget television show, it lacked in personality and individuality, and it was a bit shoddy and dull. The key thing that got it … Continue reading BHOC: VENGEANCE SQUAD #6
My Uncle Jerry Blazer was a house-painted by trade. He and his wife, my Aunt Clementine, lived with my grandparents in a big house that they’d all moved into simultaneously around 1955. So he was a constant fixture in my life, though not seen quite so often as my Grandparents were. He was also the … Continue reading BHOC: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #226
This was another Treasury Edition that I loved. I can recall intending to duplicate Dick Giordano’s cover as an art entry in a Block party art contest that summer–it would also be used as the basis for a key frame in the opening credits to CHALLENGE OF THE SUPER-FRIENDS. More interesting to me, the back … Continue reading BHOC: LIMITED COLLECTOR’S EDITION #C-46
I had just begun third grade when I bought this SUPER-FRIENDS treasury edition. And it represented a bit of a leap on my part. As much as I watched it every Saturday morning, I felt that Super-Friends was more kiddie than the regular comics I’d been reading, and thus somehow beneath my level as a … Continue reading BHOC: LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION #C-41
This is a fanzine cover, rather than an actual comic book cover, but it’s just too good to pass up. Here, Alex Toth, the master of minimalism, creates a fully-realized depiction of an alien fighter attack on an unwary ship, using design and the stark contrast between black and white to convey the information. It … Continue reading Great Covers – CONTEMPORARY PICTORIAL LITERATURE #11
The Tom Brevoort Experience 