When she first arrived at DC as the new publisher, Jenette Kahn instituted a pet format that she hoped would help reverse DC's fortunes in the mainstream newsstand market: the Dollar Comic. As it said right in the name, a Dollar Comic cost a buck, but you got an awful lot of material for that … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN FAMILY #17
This is another book that was bought for my brother Ken rather than me--though, looking at it, while I wasn't a huge Aquaman fan I might have been enticed into this one by the double-whammy combo of Batman and Kobra. This feels more like an issue of BRAVE AND THE BOLD, though, with Batman, a … Continue reading BHOC: AQUAMAN #61
This is the first issue of Biljo White's classic 1964 fanzine devoted entirely to the Caped Crusader. An interesting look back at where Batman fans' heads were at prior to the 1966 TV show, Denny O'Neil & Neal Adams, and Frank Miller.
There was a little store in one of the mini-malls where my Mother regularly shopped--I can't recall if it was a candy store or a stationary store or what. But the important bit here is that it carried a tiny selection of comic books. Tiny--just a few titles at any given time. So each time … Continue reading BHOC: BRAVE AND THE BOLD #140
After fifteen issues in which other artists illustrated his stories, Matt Wagner returned to both write and draw this and the following three issues, a flashback tale to the time of the original Grendel, Hunter Rose. Besting WATCHMEN, Wagner subdivided each page into 25 panel areas, carrying out his story with masterful syncopation. The back-up … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1988
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
It's impossible to encapsulate how seismic the effect of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS was on the field of comic books. Not only did it introduce a more prestigious package for comics (and a then-unheard-of cover price of $2.95) but interest in the series also inaugurated the now-common process of repackaging collections of recent storylines into … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Best Comic Books of 1986
Here's another book that was bought for my brother, Ken--it seems as though at this time, he was trying to match me book-for-book. And eventually it ended up with me in any case. That's a pretty dramatic cover by Sal Amendola. I wasn't as wild about his work on the interior of the book--he took … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN #296
Shortly thereafter, my local mailman also brought me my subscription copy of that month's issue of THE FLASH. I have to admit, this cover really freaked me out when I was younger. There was something about the manner in which the Flash's skin was melting off his bones that I found especially disturbing. When coming … Continue reading BHOC: FLASH #258
I bought this comic on our regular weekly trip to the supermarket. During this time, they had started carrying a few comics, mostly DC's Dollar Comics and a few other higher-priced items. This Special had been promoted in ads over the course of the past month, so it had an air of being special about … Continue reading BHOC: DC SPECIAL SERIES #8
The Tom Brevoort Experience 