BHOC: ACTION COMICS #493

I had gotten back into the habit of buying ACTION COMICS after a break of three or four months. I don't remember making any specific determination that I wasn't going to follow the Superman titles any longer, it was just a thing that happened--possibly because my financial resources were being strained by all of the … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #493

5BC: The Five Best Comic Books of 1972

When I did the initial wave of these 5 Best write-ups concerning the best comic books of each year, I confined myself to just the years when I was a fan and a reader, 1973-1989. I didn't think that it was proper for me to go beyond that, as I was a participant in the … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Best Comic Books of 1972

5BC: Five More Best Forgotten DC Super Heroes

You can't always hit a home run, and so there have been numerous characters all throughout the history of comics that were created with noble intent, but who failed to find a connection with an audience and swiftly were seen no more. Characters that are peculiar, ill-considered or just plain goofy. Here then are Five … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Best Forgotten DC Super Heroes

GH: GREEN LANTERN #162

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

GH: SUPERMAN #382

By 1983, SUPERMAN was feeling a bit like a product of a different age. While some effort was being made to modernize the Man of Steel, including having Gil Kane provide covers as he does here, the actual contents of the magazine were still very much of a piece with the kinds of stories that … Continue reading GH: SUPERMAN #382

DC SAMPLER #2

The first DC SAMPLER must have proven to be a success, because for the next couple of issues, DC did it again--producing a free comic book-sized magazine promoting all of their upcoming series. You can really see that the switch-over to what DC would become was in full swing by this point, and there's a … Continue reading DC SAMPLER #2

BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #194

After my brief moment of having let an issue of SUPERMAN FAMILY go by and then turning back and picking it up later, I seemed to be back on the train of purchasing the series regularly. And I'm not entirely certain why. Some of it, I'm sure, is that I just liked Superman. And while … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #194

GH: SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #9

As I got older, my tastes in comics began to change, or at least to grow more expansive. And so I wound up trying titles that might have done nothing for me before, like SAGA OF THE SWAMPO THING, The series was a bit of a hybrid, existing in a world halfway between that of … Continue reading GH: SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #9

BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #164

I can remember this stretch of issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA trying my patience a little bit. As writer Gerry Conway continued to unravel the mystery of Zatanna's mother and her upbringing, I increasingly was checked out on the series. A lot of this had to do, I expect, with my absolute inability to … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #164

DC SAMPLER #1

By 1983, DC was on a creative upswing. The arrival of new President and Publisher Jenette Kahn had coincided with efforts to expand DC's efforts into the growing Direct Market of comic book specialty shops that had sprung up across the country. At this time, DC's fortunes on the mainstream Newsstand weren't looking all that … Continue reading DC SAMPLER #1