When I think abut the Christmas season, I'm often put in mind of this issue of DETECTIVE COMICS, the seminal issue #500. I bought it on Christmas eve, 1980, and I don't know that any of the gifts I received the following morning were a match for that reading experience. It's all tangled up in … Continue reading Perfect Game – DETECTIVE COMICS #500
While as we've seen, Marvel was relatively quick to begin to self-mythologize its creative staff and editorial Bullpen, rival publisher DC (then known as National Periodical Publications in an attempt to disguise the fact that they published evil comic books in the aftermath of the senate hearings) wasn't as quick to follow suit. Even creator … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times DC Self-Mythologized
This was the fourth chapter in Superman's clash with the super-powered android Amazo, a conflict designed as the backdrop through which to introduce a new and marketable new piece of Kryptonian lore to the mythos: the Supermobile. Having accomplished that over the past two issues, it was time to get this story wrapped up this … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #483
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
This was a significant issue for me as it represented the final delivery in my subscription to THE FLASH, which I had allowed to lapse. Since I had begun to be able to go to the 7-11 regularly and knew when the new comics would be arriving, I was often frustrated by the fact that … Continue reading BHOC: FLASH #261
Beyond just inspiring mischievous creators to come up with ways to have characters at rival companies Marvel and DC meet, the anarchic and rebellious spirit of the Bronze Age extended beyond the bounds of the immediate industry, prompting writers and artists to come up with ways to appropriate other characters outside of what was permissible … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Unofficial DC Crossovers
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
Over the course of eighty years, DC Comics has introduced any number of great super heroic characters, many of whom have gone on to have long and lasting careers in comics. But alas, some others were struck down before their prime, managing only a few, or even a single solitary appearance before retreating back to … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Forgotten DC Super Heroes
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
Still working through my first visit to a comic book shop, that being the Heroes World in Levittown. I also made it a point to pick up a number of more recent books--they were more affordable, so I could walk out with more. Among what I purchased were these two issues of SUPERMAN, the first … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #296 & 297
