By 1971, Stan Lee's career scripting comic books was winding down. While he'd remain in place as Marvel's Publisher for the remainder of the decade, he ceased scripting pretty much everything he had been working on, except for an occasional and far-between assignment. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #96 is the first part of the last truly great … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Best Comic Books of 1971
This was the second issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN that came in the SUPERHERO GIFT PACK that I was given for Christmas in 1978. This was another issue where I had read the concluding chapter already, so this set-up part was just a little bit perfunctory. This was the issue that introduced the Rocket Racer, a … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #172
This was the first of two issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN that was in the SUPERHERO GIFT PACK that I received for Christmas in 1978. It was also the second half of a two-part story, but one that had begun in a different title entirely. Unless I miss my guess, this is the first time when … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #171
Another gift that I received on that Christmas of 1978 was this SUPERHERO GIFT PACK. Ordered from I believe the Sears Catalogue, this Gift Pack was essentially a box containing ten recent-but-not-new Marvel Comics. There may have been a poster as well--I had a Sal Buscema-illustrated Marvel poster that hung in my bedroom at around … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERHERO GIFT PACK
Christmas 1978 was a huge comic book windfall for me. Whereas in years past I had filled my wish list with an assortment of toys, starting here, I would instead begin asking for books on comics. ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS had eluded me for months, so much so that I eventually got to read the … Continue reading BHOC: ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS
This issue of MARVEL TALES presented me with a slightly more manageable conundrum. I didn't own a copy of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #124, the issue that was reprinted here, but I had read it. I believe my school buddy Don Sims had a copy, and I'd read it at his place at some point. Consequently, this … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #101
Over the years, both Marvel and DC have built up a steady stream of ancillary income by licensing out their characters for what are known as "custom comics"--comics dedicated to promoting a company, a perspective or an ideal (or sometimes a specific product or individual.) These books are produced to-order for the client, meaning that … Continue reading The Amazing Spider-Man vs The Prodigy
As I've spoken about in the past, it proved to be relatively easy to get me to start buying a given series every month. A book just needed to make me picking it up a habit for an issue or two, and away I would go. In the case of MARVEL TALES, the long-running reprint … Continue reading GH: MARVEL TALES #151
After a few shaky months following the successive departures of both writer Len Wein and artist Ross Andru, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN finally felt like it was back in the groove again. New writer Marv Wolfman had started up a number of running subplots in Peter Parker's life, making it feel nuanced and textured again, and the … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #190
The last regular issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN that I bought new was this one, #241. And I know what some of you are thinking already: you dropped ASM in the middle of the Roger Stern and John Romita Jr. run (a run that's generally considered a high water mark, the best the series had been … Continue reading GH: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #241
The Tom Brevoort Experience 