Dr. Jerry Bails was truly the forefather of organized comic book fandom in the early 1960s. As a full-grown adult, his interest in comic books and comics history brought some respectability to the medium, and his status as a grown-up allowed him to interact with the creators and editors of the comics as a peer … Continue reading The 1964 Alley Award Winners
When we left things off last week, we were talking about a pair of issues that I got in those plastic-wrapped bundles of coverless comics my local drug store had begun to sell. When this story was originally printed in the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, the Comics Code Authority of the time wouldn't approve it, … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #79
Now this is a comic that I did purchase deliberately, albeit without this cover and in one of those plastic wrapped bundles of assorted coverless comic books my local drug store had taken to selling. I bought both this issue of MARVEL TALES and the next at the same time, giving me two parts of … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #78
This is another long-lost interview from the past, from the Spider-Man-themed fanzine THE WEB-SPINNER produced by Mike Appel. It was conducted in 1966, the year that its subject, John Romita, took over the artistic reins of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, replacing teh feature's departing co-creator, Steve Ditko. Once again, it's an interesting insight into just what the … Continue reading Rambling with Romita
Feels like it's been quite a while since I put together one of these surveys of absurdity. So what say we take a look at five more Marvel villains from the past who tried their hardest, but who somehow failed that ineffable test towards being legitimately dangerous--and who instead came across as ridiculous, absurd, and … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Dopey Marvel Villains
A post from my Marvel blog of years past, this one the final entry in a sequence on the Marvel books that made me into a regular Marvel reader. The Ones That Did It pt. 5 April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General Finishing up our series on the comics … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – The Ones That Did It, Part 5
This was one of the more exciting acquisitions I made in my windfall acquisition of 1988--a super-early (single digits) issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN by the character's originators, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. And not to boast per se, but because it's the point of this whole series of pieces, remember that I got this book … Continue reading WC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #7
The week this issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN came to my spinner rack in the neighborhood 7-11 was a big one for comic book happenings. In addition to the release of a regular slate of comic books, two other things were going on that grabbed my attention. The first was the launch of DC's new Newspaper … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #182 & THE WORLD’S GREATEST SUPERHEROES
A post from my Marvel blog of long ago, part of a series discussing my early Marvel purchases which failed to make me a fan. Bad Comics I Bought pt. 4 April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General Continuing our exploration of Marvel books I sampled in the 70s but … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – Bad Comics I Bought, Part Four
At this point, I expect that most of you know the drill here. But to hastily recap for those who do not: in the early 1970s, demand for Spider-Man stories was so strong in Mexico that the Mexican publisher of Spidey's translated adventures, La Prensa, got permission from Marvel to produce all-new adventures of the … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: EL SORPRENDENTE HOMBRE ARANA #150 and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #8
The Tom Brevoort Experience 