My memory of things is that GREEN LANTERN entered into a bit of a doldrums as a series at about this time, one that held on at least until Green Arrow was given his eviction notice from the series and really up until Marv Wolfman began to write it a couple of years later. It … Continue reading BHOC: GREEN LANTERN #116
I was always a sucker for a cover like this one whose background was made up of earlier covers. DC took this approach with some regularity on anniversary issues. Now, one really does have to ask whether a #150 is worth this manner of celebration. At the time, this wasn't really a thing. However, since … Continue reading BHOC: BRAVE AND THE BOLD #150
By this point in time, I was still mostly following SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS, but I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to them. Under editor Julie Schwartz, they both continued to do exactly what they'd been doing since I first started reading comics years earlier--they were utterly dependable to deliver a certain experience, … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #495
Batman was created in direct response to the overwhelming success of Superman, and he represented the second major super hero to be created, and the polar opposite of the Man of Steel. While the two characters seemed like they shared a tailor, their attributes were in direct contrast to one another. Superman was godlike and … Continue reading The Second Batman Story
By 1940, the newsstands of the nation were filling up with stories of all-new superhuman champions. Superman had set off a flood of imitators, and costumed characters were clearly a bit of a gold mine. Not all of them were great, some of them were downright bizarre, and many wouldn't last the test of time. … Continue reading The Second Atom Story
As comic books entered teh 1940s, it became apparent to publishers that the thing that was really driving sales to kids, at least right at that moment, was super heroes. Larger-than-life costumed do-gooders dressed in outlandish costumes. Superman had shown the way, and every pulp publisher with two nickels to rub together began following suit. … Continue reading The Second Green Lantern Story
DC's Dollar Comics program didn't wind up being the industry game-changer that new publisher Jenette Kahn had hoped it would, but it was a format that the company pursued for several years and resulted in some decently-crafted anthologies. Case in point is SUPERMAN FAMILY, which was never a great comic book but which was a … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #195
As we mentioned yesterday, this issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA was the first in the title's long history not to be edited and overseen by Julie Schwartz. Julie had innovated the series in 1960 and had stayed with it for 19 years. But for the first time, somebody else was at the wheel. That … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #166
This issue of THE FLASH is where new editor Ross Andru's vision for the title really crystalized. In essence, this took the form of bring on board a new regular penciler. Longtime FLASH artist Irv Novick had departed one issue after outgoing editor Julie Schwartz, and while Ross had stopgapped for two months, here he … Continue reading BHOC: THE FLASH #273
Pretty much everyone knows the story by now. Having conceived of their adventure strip about an indestructible, super-strong crusader for justice in the early 1930s, creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (and sometimes other, different artists) spent the next five or six years trying to find a buyer for what they felt confident was a … Continue reading The Second Superman Story
The Tom Brevoort Experience 