5BC: Five Best Comics of 1979

This issue of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE featured John Byrne's first outing with the team as both writer and artist, a time travel adventure that had Ben Grimm coming face-to-face with the earliest version of himself as seen and characterized in FANTASTIC FOUR #1 and #2. Byrne does a great job of capturing the period of the … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1979

BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #186

DC put a huge push behind the roll-out of their Dollar Comics line of titles, but for the most part they weren't very appealing to me. And the reason for that is that none of them were really very good. Oh, they were all adequate, competent comic books. But each one contained a ton of … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #186

BHOC: FLASH #255

The mail carrier also delivered me my subscription copy of FLASH right around this time. This was the middle chapter in a three-part story. Multiple part epics were beginning to become more frequent at DC, which was good in that, between having read the DC titles for so long and beginning to discover the Marvel … Continue reading BHOC: FLASH #255

BHOC: SUPERMAN #316

I bought this issue of SUPERMAN at my usual 7-11. That’s a nice cover by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, an artist who’d begun to pop up across the DC titles, giving them a more modern sheen. He’d eventually wind up doing much of his work for DC’s licensing department, his drawing appearing on apparel and toys … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #316

BHOC: SUPERMAN #314

Picked this issue of SUPERMAN up at my trusty 7-11. It was the final chapter in a four-part epic that I remember really enjoying, though its age is showing a bit around the edges as i look back at it. The cover was a collaboration between Superman mainstay artist Curt Swan and industry powerhouse Neal … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #314

BHOC: SUPERMAN #313

Part three of this formative four-part story by writer Marty Pasko dropped next in the pages of SUPERMAN, and I dutifully picked it up, wanting to find out what would happen wit the mysterious plague, Amalak, Supergirl and all of the hanging business from the preceding issues. I quite enjoyed Pasko’s tenure as the regular … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #313

BHOC: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #245

I picked up this issue of WORLD’S FINEST COMICS, despite its dollar price tag, because its lead story was going to wrap up the ongoing Martian Manhunter storyline that I had been following in recent issues of ADVENTURE COMICS, and that I liked quite a bit. So this was my first encounter with the phenomenon … Continue reading BHOC: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #245

BHOC: SUPERMAN #312

I bought this issue of SUPERMAN while visiting my grandmother’s house–the first comic book I ever knowingly laid down 35 cents for (or, more correctly, that somebody, likely my grandmother, laid down 35 cents for in my stead.) But how could i not? This was not only the second part in what would be a … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #312

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #469

Now that is a cover. You really have to wonder what the folks in charge of some of the comic books of this era were thinking when they commissioned such a piece. It’s certainly attention-getting, but only because it’s so downright weird. I picked up this issue of ACTION COMICS having already purchased and read … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #469

BHOC: DC SUPER-STARS #12

I didn’t get it when I was a kid, but then I was only nine years old when I first bought this issue of DC SUPER-STARS. But it contains perhaps the most wrong-headed and casually offensive Superman story of the Bronze Age. Somebody–a lot of somebodies–were asleep at the switch when they approved this one. … Continue reading BHOC: DC SUPER-STARS #12