DC was facing the steadily-worsening decay of their circulation in the early 1970s, and one of the ways in which they attempted to combat this was in innovating alternate formats for comic books that would carry a higher cover price and therefore be more attractive to outlets to carry. It was these efforts that led … Continue reading BC: SHAZAM #13
The third Tempo paperback that I wound up buying was dedicated to the adventures of Superboy and the futuristic Legion of Super-Heroes. I seem to think that I got this book at a short-lived convenience store that operated in the local supermarket mall for a short time called Shanes. I had never entirely clicked to … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERBOY & THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES Tempo Paperback
All in all, I wound up buying four of the six paperback editions that Tempo Books put out featuring the DC super heroes--though I didn't purchase them all at once. Rather, I wound up picking them up at odd times and in odd places. Because they were paperbacks, they wound up being available in a … Continue reading BHOC: WONDER WOMAN Tempo Paperback
Especially in the first half of the 1970s in which I grew up, comic books were a ubiquitous item. Almost every kid read them, at least a little bit, and they were on sale in every candy store and convenience store you were likely to encounter. This changed as the decade went on and those … Continue reading BC: BATMAN #263
At around this time, I wound up buying a number of Tempo paperback editions dedicated to assorted DC characters. These were DC's answer to the Marvel Pocket Books format, and they released six volumes through Grosset & Dunlap's Tempo imprint all at once. I wound up owning four of those six, starting with this BATMAN … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN Tempo Paperback
I continued to make my way through the complete run of SHAZAM that i had borrowed from my grade school friend Donald Sims one week. While it's taking us months to go over these books, I read them all in two, maybe three days when I first borrowed them. This next issue was a return … Continue reading BC: SHAZAM #12
I'm not 100% certain who I borrowed this issue of BATMAN from. it might have been my grade school friend Donald Sims as with most of the books that we've been looking at recently. But I suspect that it was actually my next-door-neighbor Johnny Rantinella. Johnny was a year younger than I was and a … Continue reading BC: BATMAN #257
I'm pretty certain that I had owned a copy of SHAZAM #11 at some point. I believe I got it in one of those 3-Bags that could be found in supermarkets, toy stores and department stores, with three comics of recent vintage for a barely-discounted price. I'm also sure that I traded this comic away … Continue reading BC: SHAZAM #11
The cover to this next issue of SHAZAM, which I borrowed along with the rest of the compete run of the title from my grade school friend Donald Sims, presaged changes that were coming to the series. For the first time, the cover image isn't the work of the character's co-creator C. C. Beck but … Continue reading BC: SHAZAM #10
As we talked about last week, Jerry Siegel's creation Robotman, while not being a trend-setter, grew into a reliable back-page feature over the course of his career. And in fact, the strip was popular enough to survive its home, STAR-SPANGLED COMICS, being rebranded as a western title. When that happened, the strip migrated to the … Continue reading The Last Robotman Story
The Tom Brevoort Experience 