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
This is going to be kind of a weird one. The upcoming SHAZAM movie looks like a lot of fun, and I'll no doubt be there on opening weekend to watch it. But it does complete the character's transformation from his original conception as Captain Marvel into something else. Based on everything we've seen so … Continue reading SHAZAM! Captain Marvel and Billy Batson
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
Today, there are thousands of books on vintage comics, both collections of material from decades ago or literary tomes discussing those works, how they were created, what impact they had and what they meant. But in the 1970s, the landscape for such volumes was exceedingly scarce. So it was positively an event when a new … Continue reading BHOC: SHAZAM! FROM THE ’40s TO THE ’70s
My Aunt Clementine was my Grandmother’s sister, and she and my Uncle Jerry Blazer shared a house with my grandparents that they’d all purchased in 1955 and remained in for almost 50 years. Because of this, they were very much immediate family, although we didn’t see them as often since Clem didn’t like to travel … Continue reading BHOC: SHAZAM #32
I’m not certain what made me decide to pick up this issue of SHAZAM, though I’d imagine that it has something to do with the return of another Golden Age hero, Fawcett’s Minute Man, in the story. I’m pretty sure I got it while on a visit to my grandparents, so that may have played … Continue reading BHOC: SHAZAM #31
In January of 1977, I turned ten-years-old. And around that time, I would up getting my second book collection of vintage comic book stories–a book that, up until that point I didn’t even know existed. We found it in the remaindered section at Two Guys, a regional low-rent department store chain, kind of like the … Continue reading BHOC: THE GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES
It was an unimaginable 41 year ago today, on Christmas day of 1976, that I finally got my hands on this much-desired beauty, a gift from Santa Claus. And actually, having asked for it specifically on the Christmas list that my mother would demand that each child write (usually sourced out of the Sears Christmas … Continue reading BHOC: SECRET ORIGINS OF THE SUPER DC HEROES
Summer was winding down when the mailman brought me my subscription copy of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #137. This was the wrap-up to that year’s epic meeting of the JLA with their counterparts in the Justice Society–and this year, the Fawcett super heroes of the 1940s had been added into the mix. But up until … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #137
The next issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA that arrived in my mailbox continued that year’s regular team-up between the JLA and their historic fore bearers in the Justice Society of America. And this time, as had become the pattern, a third group of heroes was also in the mix. This unnamed band was comprised … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #136
The Tom Brevoort Experience 