It was a big surprise and a huge deal to me the next time my family went to the Two Guys discount department store chain, as I discovered a new flight of Modern Comics 3-Bags had arrived. Modern Comics was an attempt to sell bagged product directly to department stores and other such chains on … Continue reading BHOC: CAPTAIN ATOM #85
We've gone over the history of CHARLTON BULLSEYE in prior installments of this feature, but just to quickly summarize once again for newcomers: at the very start of the 1980s, longtime publisher Charlton was nearing the end of its time producing new material for comic books. One of the final things they attempted was a … Continue reading Brand Echh: Americomics #3
The Blue Beetle is one of the longest running character-concepts in the world of comic books. The character was initially conceived in 1939 as a take-off of the Green Hornet, but the approach swiftly changed to better suit the needs of a burgeoning marketplace. The Beetle got a regulation super hero costume and even a … Continue reading The Last Blue Beetle Story
AC/Americomics (occasionally known as Paragon Publications) is a long running independent comic book publisher, one that is still releasing new issues even today. Their main stock-in-trade has become reprints of Golden Age characters whose work had lapsed into the public domain, but they do occasionally release wholly original comic book properties. Probably the thing they … Continue reading Brand Echh: Americomics Special #1
Charlton had been a player in the comic book marketplace going back to the days of the Golden Age of Comics. They were widely regarded as the shlockiest of publishers, whose paper and printing was markedly inferior to that of the competition. There was some very good work buried among the many Charlton publications, but … Continue reading Brand Echh: Charlton Bullseye #1
This obscure issue of Charlton's BLUE BEETLE series--not the version re-conceptualized by Steve Ditko but the earlier, super-powered version, seems like any other throw-away Charlton comic of the era--good for a few moments of entertainment, but not at all memorable for any particular reason. But this issue is noteworthy for being one of the earliest … Continue reading Brand Echh – Blue Beetle #54
I picked up this new issue of INVADERS during the same weekly run to the local 7-11, so at this point, I was buying titles from both of the major companies indiscriminately. While I had made the leap to trying out and enjoying several Marvel books, this hadn't led to me leaving my DC titles … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #25
Summer was winding down when I bought this issue of INVADERS at my regular 7-11 haunt. It's one of those days that I can recall vividly for no particular reason, biking back up Granny Road with my new purchase. I still hadn't branched out into Marvel any further than the Human Torch, but it was … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #23
Also available in one of the new Modern Comics 3-Bags was this issue of CAPTAIN ATOM, the issue prior to the one I’d purchased previously. This was a bit of a mixed blessing, in that it meant that I knew exactly how this story turned out and much of what happened in it before I … Continue reading BHOC: CAPTAIN ATOM #83
The first big surprise of the summer came during a routine trip to the Two-Guys department store, where i discovered that a new set of 3-Bags of Modern Comics had been released. Modern Comics were cherry-picked reprints from the Charlton back-catalog. I didn’t quite realize this at the time, I just knew that there was … Continue reading BHOC: BLUE BEETLE #1
The Tom Brevoort Experience 