When I think abut the Christmas season, I'm often put in mind of this issue of DETECTIVE COMICS, the seminal issue #500. I bought it on Christmas eve, 1980, and I don't know that any of the gifts I received the following morning were a match for that reading experience. It's all tangled up in … Continue reading Perfect Game – DETECTIVE COMICS #500
As assorted readers pointed out, there were a lot more instances of creators at both Marvel and DC including themselves as characters in the stories that they produced than I covered in the prior two pieces about Self-Mythologizing. And so, since this is a concept that seems to have attracted some audience interest, here then … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Times Marvel Self-Mythologized
Dell was a powerhouse in the industry from the mid-1940s all the way up to the start of the 1960s when a series of bad decisions cost them their market share and also bifurcated the company into two competing operations, Dell and Gold Key. Their big money was made on their Disney comics, and they … Continue reading Brand Echh – Nukla #1
Here's a great example of the fact that you never know what's going to become a successful property over time. This issue of Charlton's FIGHTIN' 5 comic--a series that featured the adventures of a group of Blackhawk-like non-powered adventurers--also showcased, unheralded, the first appearance of a character who remained a footnote in comic book history … Continue reading Brand Echh – Fightin’ 5 #40
Picking up from last week's theme, the creative and editorial team of Denny O'Neil, Jim Aparo and Dick Giordano created another lost gem series in the back pages of the final issue of THUNDERBOLT. It was this strip which replaced the Sentinels, about whom we've spoken before. Unfortunately, there was only a single story ever … Continue reading Brand Echh – Thunderbolt #60
As we've spoken about in the past, Charlton went through a tiny and short-lived creative renaissance in the mid-late 1960s under the editorial auspices of Dick Giordano. While the outfit that he was working for continued to crank out comic books merely as to keep their big in-house printing presses operating, Giordano actually possessed some … Continue reading Brand Echh – Cheyenne Kid #66
This particular issue would be my candidate for most underwhelming oversized anniversary issue of the era. It was heavily promoted throughout the DC titles of the era--and who could resist that story hook? It's the day the Batman retires! But honestly, it's a pretty bleh read, tedious, and with the central thesis really being fitted … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN #300
in the final years of the 1970s, the major comic book companies realized that centennial issues and other similar anniversary issues could be upsized and uppriced and bring in a heck of a lot more money for their respective companies. And so, this was the age where the centennial mega-special was really hatched. And it … Continue reading Perfect Game – JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #200
Bought this issue of SUPERMAN in the same weekly 7-11 run as the MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS issue I wrote about yesterday. That's a nice cover by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, an incredibly talented artist who worked for DC for decades but who has been somewhat overlooked--primarily because he did relatively few regular stretches on titles, … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #323
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 thees characters are more … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1989
The Tom Brevoort Experience 