Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett: The linked stories of X-MEN #1, AVENGERS #1 and DAREDEVIL #1

I've seen different bits and pieces of this story told in assorted places, but I cannot recall anyplace where the entire sequence of events was laid out in a single recounting, so I thought that was worth doing. In the spring of 1963, with the super hero titles that his firm had been producing doing … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett: The linked stories of X-MEN #1, AVENGERS #1 and DAREDEVIL #1 →

Lee & Kirby: The Mystery of FANTASTIC FOUR #6

In an article printed in THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #61, a writer by the name of Michael Breen makes the assertion that FANTASTIC FOUR #6 had not only been penciled and largely plotted by Jack Kirby, but the final lettered script was written by Jack as well. This was at a point before the Marvel … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Mystery of FANTASTIC FOUR #6 →

The Last Ghost Rider Story

The Ghost Rider was a popular character in the later days of the Golden Age of Comics. He successfully combined several genres--super hero, western, supernatural--in a single series. It was an outgrowth of another strip entirely, the Calico Kid--at a certain point, Rex Hart (later Rex Fury) abandoned his guise as the Calico Kid in … Continue reading The Last Ghost Rider Story →

BHOC: HUMAN TORCH #7

This was another book that I got out of the local drug store's Big Bin of Slightly Older Comics. I'd had no idea that there had even been a HUMAN TORCH series--and in truth, it turned out to have been a short-lived reprint title. Still, it was another Fantastic Four-related book--and as the Torch was … Continue reading BHOC: HUMAN TORCH #7 →

BHOC: SGT FURY #138

Another issue of SGT FURY that my younger brother Ken bought out of the drugstore's Big Bin of Slightly Older Comic Books, likely at the same time he got yesterday's issue. The series had a more attractive logo by this point, but I must confess that, in this era of reprint titles and with SGT … Continue reading BHOC: SGT FURY #138 →

BHOC: SGT FURY #134

Like me, my brother Ken would occasionally pull books out of the Big Bin of Somewhat-Older Comics at the local drugstore. As he was into war comics at this time and the bin held only Marvel books, there was only one place for him to turn: SGT FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS. It was a … Continue reading BHOC: SGT FURY #134 →

Lee & Kirby: The Narrative Techniques of Jack Kirby

Back in the days when he was the Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics, Jim Shooter had a particular story that he liked to use as an example when explaining to people what he thought needed to be on the page in a well-crafted Marvel story. It was this one, the Human Torch story from … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Narrative Techniques of Jack Kirby →