Her is another book that I got from my childhood friend Donald Sims during one of our frequent comic book swaps. As soon as I laid eyes on it, I wanted it. The cover knocked me for a loop. I had seen the cover to X-MEN #1 in SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS as … Continue reading BHOC: X-MEN #104
This is yet another book that my friend Donald Sims traded to me at a certain point, and one of the best issues that I got from him (for all that it didn't make me run right out and start trying to hunt down other issues of IRON FIST.) It probably helped that Captain America … Continue reading BHOC: IRON FIST #12
I got this issue of AVENGERS from my comic book reading pal Donald Sims, the first person I knew besides myself who really cared about comic books (and who made his own, just as I did.) He'd gotten a stack of cast-off comics from some relative who had outgrown them, so he had all sorts … Continue reading BHOC: AVENGERS #126
As assorted readers pointed out, there were a lot more instances of creators at both Marvel and DC including themselves as characters in the stories that they produced than I covered in the prior two pieces about Self-Mythologizing. And so, since this is a concept that seems to have attracted some audience interest, here then … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Times Marvel Self-Mythologized
What goes around comes around, and when it comes to the often-fannishly-induced game of dropping in references benign or malicious to a competitor's characters, there isn't any company who is entirely blameless in this endeavor. Here then are five times Marvel referenced DC characters in interesting fashion. ADVENTURE INTO FEAR #17 - Steve Gerber was … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times Marvel Referenced DC Characters In Interesting Ways
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
With the sheer number of stories published about some of the characters, it's a wonder that there aren't more stories that feature developments that don't work, don't stick or are simply just plain weird. Here, then, are five more forgotten Marvel story developments. THE FALCON IS REALLY "SNAP" WILSON, LOWLIFE. CAPTAIN AMERICA #186 - There's … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Forgotten Marvel Story Developments
A million words must have been written over the decades about this issue of X-MEN, the conclusion to the Dark Phoenix Saga and the high point of the fabled Chris Claremont and John Byrne run. And in the shadow of what would follow in the years to come, perhaps the book has lost some of … Continue reading Perfect Game – X-MEN #137
Bought this issue of X-MEN most likely at the same time as I got yesterday's INVADERS issue, at my regular source for new comic books, the 7-11. Every issue of X-MEN in these days was a discovery, as the cast had changed so completely from the team that I had met in SON OF ORIGINS … Continue reading BHOC: UNCANNY X-MEN #110
When the cover price on comic books went up to 35 cents, this presented certain new challenges for readers. Primary among them was the fact that a dollar would no longer get you three comics--you needed to be packing an extra nickel. I didn't really yet have a ready source of income at this point, … Continue reading BHOC: DEFENDERS #57
