Having dedicated themselves to making strides within the new Direct Sales marketplace, an arena in which Marvel had up to this point been overwhelmingly outselling pretty much everybody, DC produced a number of issues of DC SAMPLER, an overview and preview of their line intended to be given out at comic book specialty stores across … Continue reading DC SAMPLER #3
Green Lantern had been my second-favorite super hero going back to my youth, when I found him occupying the back pages of THE FLASH. Once he got his own series again, I followed it regularly right from the jump. And I was particularly enamored of Marv Wolfman's run on the character which had wrapped up … Continue reading GH: GREEN LANTERN #162
Ever since I was six years old, the Flash has been my favorite super hero. There was something about the combination of elements--the slick costume, the simple power, the gallery of recurring villains, the sort of serious-but-not-too-serious tone of the strip--that really connected with me. But as time went on and I got older, both … Continue reading GH: THE FLASH #319
Well now, if nothing else, that certainly felt like an episode of DOCTOR WHO. That said, as I was concerned about ahead of time, I don't know that this was necessarily the best place to try to bring a new audience in, as so much of what was the most effective in this episode was … Continue reading Doctor Who: The Star Beast
It's been a year since new episodes of DOCTOR WHO appeared on broadcast screens, but the long wait is almost over. Less than a month remains now until the first of three Anniversary Specials, The Star Beast, is released on Saturday, November 25, with the remaining two rolled out weekly thereafter. In the meantime, the … Continue reading Doctor Who: The 60th Anniversary Specials Pregame
This is, I think, one of the most discussed comic book stories of all time, so I don't know that I'm going to have a whole lot that's new to add to the conversation. What I can bring to the table is some personal perspective. I would have been 19 years old in 1986 when … Continue reading Perfect Game – BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, Book One
At the beginning of the Silver Age, super heroes were making a comeback. This trend would blossom into a full-on fad mid-decade thanks to the release of the BATMAN television show--positively everybody went super hero crazy there for a year or so. But even before that, there was a sense throughout the industry that costumed … Continue reading Brand Echh: Space Adventures #33
Another regular issue of SUPERMAN that I bought at my regular 7-11. That's a pretty strong, pretty violent cover for this time period, and it represents the first time in my memory where Superman's heat vision was used as an offensive weapon. Before this, it had typically been used as a tool, for effect against … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #322
It's impossible to encapsulate how seismic the effect of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS was on the field of comic books. Not only did it introduce a more prestigious package for comics (and a then-unheard-of cover price of $2.95) but interest in the series also inaugurated the now-common process of repackaging collections of recent storylines into … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Best Comic Books of 1986
After a few false starts and doglegs, Dave Sim found his footing as his long-running Church and State storyline began to build up steam. Now paired with Gerhard, whose elaborate and expressive environments made the Earth-Pig's world more fully realized than ever, Sim was more free to focus on plot, character, world-building and even the … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1985
The Tom Brevoort Experience 