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
At the same time that my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Clem bought me the Flash Dollar Comic, they also brought a comic book for my younger brother Ken--this issue of STAR WARS. And like with my book, my Aunt dutifully wrote Ken's name on the cover, so that the world would forever after know that … Continue reading BHOC: STAR WARS #11
Comic books are a petty business, it must be said. And the same freedom to imagine and play that allows for the creativity in conceptualizing new stories about characters who, let's face it, were designed to appeal to children also somehow invites the darker side of itself--the version where grown-ups behave like petulant children on … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Mean Caricatures of Comic Book Creators
in the final years of the 1970s, the major comic book companies realized that centennial issues and other similar anniversary issues could be upsized and uppriced and bring in a heck of a lot more money for their respective companies. And so, this was the age where the centennial mega-special was really hatched. And it … Continue reading Perfect Game – JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #200
One of the things that I've been enjoying over the last couple of months has been the biweekly livestreaming performances by Jim Infantino, the nephew of comic book royalty Carmine Infantino, who had previously fronted the band Jim's Big Ego. (For those who are interested, the recordings of these sessions are archived here: https://www.youtube.com/c/JimsBigEgo/videos ) … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: Stop Us If You’ve Read This Before!
It was back to my local 7-11 on Thursday for that week's new comic book releases--I had worked out over the summer that new books came out on Thursdays, so I never missed a trip to the 7-11 after school on that day. And this week, a new issue of DAREDEVIL was waiting for me. … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #152
In any long-running series, there's going to be a magnetic pull among a certain type of writer to want to change things, to make adjustments to details, to eliminate contradictions in the stories that have been told and to introduce new information about foundational events. These ideas can sometimes be additive and sometime be destructive, … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Forgotten DC Retcons
The Powers-That-Be at DC Comics in the 1960s could see that something was going on over at Stan Lee's new upstart Marvel imprint, but they were ill-equipped to figure out just what. This is largely due to the fact that the editorial and creative staff remained largely unchanged since the halcyon days of the 1940s. … Continue reading Brand Echh – Inferior Five #6
A month had gone by, and so the mailman brought me my latest subscription copy of THE FLASH. This was getting towards the end of my subscription period. Now that I could, and was, visiting the 7-11 every Thursday when new comics dropped like clockwork, there wasn't as much of a need to make sure … Continue reading BHOC: FLASH #259
Another similar thing that I did during my first trip to my very first comic book shop, Heroes World in Levittown, was to buy the oldest issue of THE FLASH that I could. As with FANTASTIC FOUR, there were some older releases on the wall--I seem to recall that SHOWCASE #13 with its pirate torpedo … Continue reading BHOC: FLASH #158
