I can remember picking this issue up off of the spinner rack at my local 7-11. Despite having become a regular reader of FANTASTIC FOUR, I had up until this time ignored MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE over the past few months. I'm guessing now that this is because my interest in the FF stemmed at the time … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #36
Back in the days when he was the Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics, Jim Shooter had a particular story that he liked to use as an example when explaining to people what he thought needed to be on the page in a well-crafted Marvel story. It was this one, the Human Torch story from … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Narrative Techniques of Jack Kirby
I bought this issue of FANTASTIC FOUR on the Tuesday it came out from my local 7-11. Unfortunately, it represents a bit of a nadir in terms of the quality of the title during this period. Regular penciler George Perez was going through some personal crises at the time, and had blown his deadline on … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #190
One of the many things that fascinates me about the history of comics is the manner in which these stories and characters were exported around the world--the mad, slapdash, haphazard manner in which the Marvel super heroes made their way across the globe. It was typical that color guides might not be provided, resulting in … Continue reading Great Covers: Marvel Around the World
It's been bettered but never equaled, the granddaddy of all inter-company crossovers. At a time when a comic book featuring Superman and rival Spider-Man sharing the same pages was a positively shocking idea, this enormous tabloid spent its 100 pages synthesizing the narrative styles of both the DC and Marvel house approaches into a single … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Marvel/DC Crossovers
I was regularly haunting the section of the Sachem Public Library that contained books on or about comics, not just for that elusive copy of ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS (which I never did find there) but also for anything else of interest. I took out and read a bunch of books from that section, many … Continue reading BHOC: ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME
I've mentioned before that, since beginning to follow the adventures of the Fantastic Four, I was very interested in reading the first issue of the series, such was my desire to know more about the history of comics. I had been on the lookout for a copy of ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS for a few … Continue reading BHOC: Power Records: The Fantastic Four
On that same weekly trip to the 7-11 I came across and was delighted by this issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA, a title that I didn't normally read. And it had everything to do with this cover, where, rather than Cap's usual masthead partner the Falcon, the co-star in this particular issue was the Human Torch. … Continue reading BHOC: CAPTAIN AMERICA #216
In the mid-1970s, Marvel Comics had a big problem in getting its books completed and off to press on time. In those days, because press time was booked well in advance, you were going to pay for it whether you printed a title or not, so there was no margin for error. But error there … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #10
SUPERMAN #276 gave the comic book reading world something it had been lusting for since around 1940, a battle between the Man of Steel and his publishing arch-rival Captain Marvel. Except that this issue cheated--despite having recently licensed the Big Red Cheese from Fawcett for the new SHAZAM series, here an equivalent stand-in, Captain Thunder, … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1974
The Tom Brevoort Experience 