I think it's no great secret that for a good portion of its run, the Ant-Man/Giant-Man strip in TALES TO ASTONISH was troubled. Struggling, really. More so than any of the other Marvel characters of that era, Hank Pym's series, borne out of a one-off fantasy story, was retooled and reworked far more often than … Continue reading Lee & Ditko & Orlando & Rockwell: the Multiple Car Crash of TALES TO ASTONISH #61
Not every idea that gets published in a comic book story is a good one. Especially over the long periods of time that most of the mainstay comic book heroes have been in existence, there have been any number of developments that turned out to be a bad instinct, and which were subsequently either overturned … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Forgotten Early Marvel Story Developments
The next issue of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE turned up at my 7-11 this next week, with what would be the final chapter of a story that had been running for three issues now. This part is written by Roger Slifer, who had not worked on the preceding issues and it goes off in some strange directions--enough … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #39
Let's face it, lightning doesn't strike every month, and sometimes inspiration can be difficult to come by. But comic books still had to come out, ready or not. And so, occasionally, our favorite heroes of Marvel's silver age would find themselves contending with opponents who--well, let's just say they weren't quite up to the usual … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Dopey Marvel Silver Age Villains
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
A lot of time has been spent on analyzing the Marvel output of the early 1960s, trying to determine who did what and who really deserved the credit for the success of the line and the many characters and ideas presented therein. To reiterate my essential position on this, I feel as though at this … Continue reading The Greatest DAREDEVIL Story Ever Told
A bit of evidence has surfaced which casts some doubt on the story I related previously concerning how the difficulties in getting DAREDEVIL #1 to print on time led to the emergency creation of AVENGERS #1. I'm not ready to throw in the towel on this belief completely just yet, but I do feel the … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett: More on the linked stories of X-MEN #1, AVENGERS #1 and DAREDEVIL #1
Bought this issue of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE at my regular 7-11 on one of my weekly trips. I'm pretty certain that this is the first book I bought during tat three-month period where Marvel tried to get rid of the cover month--I'm not certain what the purpose of that exercise was. Anyway, as a newly-born Fantastic … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #38
I bought this issue of DAREDEVIL out of the local drugstore's Big Bin of Out of Date Comics, a place that I was visiting with increasing regularity. I had previously seen the following issue, #143, in the bin as well, but when I went back for this one, all copies of #143 were gone, so … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #142
One of the things that John Romita used to say is that Stan Lee based a lot of his theories on how to grab comic book audiences and how to speak to the readership from Charles Biro, who co-edited the Lev Gleason line of titles in the 1940s and 50s. Biro was a pioneer who … Continue reading Daredevil is Exposed
The Tom Brevoort Experience 