IRON MAN was quietly becoming a really good comic book back in 1979, a change that at once seemed both gradual and instantaneous. The creative team of writer David Michelinie, co-plotter and inker Bob Layton and penciler John Romita Jr. transplanted the character to the modern era, dispensing with a lot of the Cold War … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #121
That week, another issue of AVENGERS appeared at my local 7-11, and I picked it up without even much looking at it, as the book was on my regular buy list. Which is perhaps a good thing, because I don't know that this generic cover would have enticed me into completing the sale on its … Continue reading BHOC: AVENGERS #182
For the first couple of years of its existence, WHAT IF was a really good comic book. Creators seemed to come up with premises that allowed them to tell stories that took familiar characters in wild new directions, and the outcomes of those stories were all over the map. So it was a fascinating series … Continue reading GH: WHAT IF #38
There was a relatively brief period of time during which IRON MAN was a crackerjack reading experience. After more than a decade of mostly just floating along not being especially inspired, David Michelinie, John Romita Jr. and Bob Layton made the Armored Avenger into a real player. They put him up against more major threats, … Continue reading GH: IRON MAN #171
By the time this issue of IRON MAN came out, there was no mistaking the qualitative improvement the series had experienced, and it became a title that I really enjoyed every month. Whereas the IRON MAN of most of the prior decade had always felt a bit underpowered, prone to attacks from one medical condition … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #120
This next issue of AVENGERS was also a book that my younger brother Ken bought his own copy of, though in this case that copy vanished somewhere over the years and never made its way to me. It's a well-remembered issue, with the narrative getting back on track after a trio of fill-in jobs due … Continue reading BHOC: AVENGERS #181
The change was almost imperceivable, so incremental had it been, at least to me. But starting at around this point, it was difficult to argue that IRON MAN had become a much better title than at any earlier point in recent memory. The new creative team of co-plotter and scripter David Michelinie, penciler John Romita … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #119
This issue of INCREDIBLE HULK was the conclusion of the two-part Corporation saga that had begun in CAPTAIN AMERICA #230 a couple of weeks earlier. Though the roots of this saga had been developing for years, all the way back to a number of Jack Kirby's final stories for Marvel, in which he introduced the … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #232
This new week also brought a new issue of IRON MAN, a series whose fortunes were improving by the issue. I've always really liked this cover, as it's a very simple concept with an almost visceral hook to it. And in a relatively rare move for the period, it's devoid of any cover copy explaining … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #118
It was immediately apparent once the trio of writer David Micheline, penciler John Romita Jr. and inker/co-plotter Bob Layton came on board the series over the course of two months that something good was beginning to happen in IRON MAN. The series had, for a long while, been a bit out of step with the … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #117
The Tom Brevoort Experience 