If there's one thing that DC has loved to do over the years, it's to explore strange story avenues and then abandon them. In some ways, that's become their history ever since CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS--it feels that you can't go but a few years anymore until everything you've read is thrown out and they … Continue reading 5BC: Would You Believe Five More Forgotten DC Retcons
I had seen ads for it in the pages of my DC Comics for weeks and lusted after it, but this issue of DC SPECIAL SERIES featuring the Flash in an all-new adventure that took up the whole of this Dollar Comic sized issue never made it to my local 7-11. By this point, distribution … Continue reading BHOC: DC SPECIAL SERIES #11
As the 1960s turned into the 1970s, two things were going on in the world of comics. Upstart publisher Marvel was gaining ground on its rival, the massive DC Comics, then known as National Periodical Publications. And a new generation of creators was coming into the field, one that had grown up reading comics as … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Unofficial Marvel and DC Crossovers
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
Bought this issue of BATMAN FAMILY at my regular 7-11. I was reading the title regularly, the only BATMAN book I was following so routinely, and I can't actually tell you why. Maybe it was the format, possibly it was that I liked the Man-Bat solo stories. But I wasn't particularly a fan of either … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN FAMILY #16
If I am not mistaken, this issue of GREEN LANTERN represents the first oversized and up-priced anniversary issue that I ever encountered. Up until this point, while a particular title might mention the fact that it had reached the arbitrary milestone of a centennial issue (or, later, a 50th or even 25th issue) the actual … Continue reading BHOC: GREEN LANTERN #100
I don’t really have any strong memories of this issue of BATMAN FAMILY, apart from the fact that I would have purchased it at my local 7-11. It was, I expect, a perfectly entertaining outing, but not one that was noteworthy in any way. And ever since DC had dropped their classic reprints in favor … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN FAMILY #14
The next comic I bought was a regular on my list: BATMAN FAMILY. The switch-over to all-new material hadn’t dampened my enthusiasm for big, oversized comics. This lovely Jim Aparo cover is a hair deceptive, though–indicating that Robin, Batgirl and Man-Bat will all be sharing linked stories in this issue, which wasn’t the case. But … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN FAMILY #12
This was the first issue of DC SPECIAL to go all-new, and which signaled the end of reprint comics at DC for the time being. There’d still be a few stragglers, but from this point forward, virtually everything the company published in regular comic book form (and even in Treasury format) would be original material. … Continue reading BHOC: DC SPECIAL #27
It was shortly before Christmas 1976 that I picked up this issue of BATMAN FAMILY, the last issue of the series that would feature reprints. After this, new Publisher Jeanette Kahn’s dislike for reprinted material in ongoing titles would change the series to being all-new–a double-edged decision as far as i was concerned, as much … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN FAMILY #10
