This was the last issue of STRANGE TALES that I had gotten in the box of Silver Age comics that made up my Windfall purchase in 1988. As we've spoken about before, the series felt more and more like an afterthought, one that simply wasn't as important to the line as books like FANTASTIC FOUR, … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #129
This was one of the better issues of STRANGE TALES that I got in my Windfall comics purchase of 1988. While typically the series felt like something of an afterthought, here editor Stan lee appears to be trying to bring a bit more attention to the Human Torch feature by having Johnny and the Thing … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #128
As we've spoken about before, STRANGE TALES had become something of an afterthought in the Marvel line, a title where new prospective writers and artists could be tried out with limited risk. But after 22 issues of this, sales on the book seem to have slid enough for editor Stan Lee to look to make … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #124
The more time went on, the more that the Human Torch series appearing in STRANGE TALES had become something of an afterthought. There was a distinct feeling that neither editor/scripter Stan Lee nor any of the artists who drew it were really putting a lot of energy or imagination into it. It was a bit … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #122
I believe that it's inarguable that, when it comes to the creation of the early stories and characters of the Marvel Universe, Jack Kirby was for many years denied his rightful due, reduced to the level of a mere penciler of other people's stories and ideas. Clearly, Kirby was more than that--he was an equal … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Provenance of STRANGE TALES #103
It must have been becoming clear to editor Stan Lee that the quirky back-up strip that he'd let artist Steve Ditko introduce was growing in popularity among the readership. So while it would still be several months before Doctor Strange would headline a STRANGE TALES cover all on his own, he had gone from carrying … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #121
Tis was a slightly more noteworthy issue of STRANGE TALES than many of the other ones that were in the box of comics that I bought as my Windfall. For the most part, any issues that could have been considered "keys" for one reason or another had been extracted. But this one was close, and … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #120
For some reason, possibly simple inertia, I had started regularly reading SGT FURY even though I wasn't typically a fan of war comics. That was maybe all right, because SGT FURY was really only a war comic in its trappings, the way HOGAN'S HEROES was about the war. It was really a comedic super hero … Continue reading BHOC: SGT FURY #149
As we begin to narrow things down among the various comics that I wound up with in my great Windfall Comics purchase of 1988, we're inevitably focusing more and more on the titles that simply weren't considered all that desirable by collectors in this period--that's why there were so many issues of them. This definitely … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #119
Another look at one of the features that was spiked and written off by DC Comics in the midst of the line contraction and round of layoffs that came to be known as the DC Implosion. THE DESERTER was a new western series created by writer Gerry Conway. It had originally been commissioned to run … Continue reading CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE #1: THE DESERTER #1
The Tom Brevoort Experience 