I had been steadily enjoying Marty Pasko's run as the writer of SUPERMAN just about since it began (I had missed/skipped his first issue.) This wasn't a loud appreciation, I wasn't waiting with baited breath for each new release. Rather, it had quietly become a title that I enjoyed each and every time I picked … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #321
A month had gone by, and so the mailman brought me my latest subscription copy of THE FLASH. This was getting towards the end of my subscription period. Now that I could, and was, visiting the 7-11 every Thursday when new comics dropped like clockwork, there wasn't as much of a need to make sure … Continue reading BHOC: FLASH #259
1989 was the year in which I entered the field, so this will be the final installment of this topic, as I don't think it's possible to be objective past this point. Grant Morrison begins his revelatory run on DOOM PATROL by hearkening back to the earliest stories and remembering that these characters are more … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Best Comic Books of 1989
Still working through my first visit to a comic book shop, that being the Heroes World in Levittown. I also made it a point to pick up a number of more recent books--they were more affordable, so I could walk out with more. Among what I purchased were these two issues of SUPERMAN, the first … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #296 & 297
This one's a little bit of a cheat, as the story I'm about to share with you doesn't concern Robotman, Elasti-Girl or negative man in any way, nor does it have any direct relevance on the World's Strangest Heroes apart from the similarity of name. But as the Doom Patrol's creators seemed to take inspiration … Continue reading The First Doom Patrol
Another similar thing that I did during my first trip to my very first comic book shop, Heroes World in Levittown, was to buy the oldest issue of THE FLASH that I could. As with FANTASTIC FOUR, there were some older releases on the wall--I seem to recall that SHOWCASE #13 with its pirate torpedo … Continue reading BHOC: FLASH #158
After fifteen issues in which other artists illustrated his stories, Matt Wagner returned to both write and draw this and the following three issues, a flashback tale to the time of the original Grendel, Hunter Rose. Besting WATCHMEN, Wagner subdivided each page into 25 panel areas, carrying out his story with masterful syncopation. The back-up … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1988
Around this time, the mailman brought me the latest issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA as I still maintained a subscription, although those days would soon draw to a close. This isn't an issue I have a whole lot of strong memories about. I will say that somebody in the DC production team is still … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #152
I watched the Hulu documentary BATMAN AND BILL the other night, about the struggle to get credit for Batman's co-creator Bill Finger, and it put me in the mind of this story which saw print in AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS #10, an issue of DC's house-produced fanzine. I have a really strange love/hate relationship … Continue reading The Cruelty of Through The Wringer
Here's a book that pissed off both Marvel and DC's brass--both for different reasons. It's also a really good example of the kinds of schlock that started to turn up on newsstands as novice publishers began trying to jump onto the pop art super hero craze that kicked off in the mid-1960s. There are no … Continue reading Brand Echh – Captain Marvel #1
The Tom Brevoort Experience 