In the latter part of the 1960s, change was beginning to be felt within the halls of venerable old DC Comics (then operating as National Periodical Publications.) The culture at large was going through a shift, and so the tried-and-true methodology that had kept the giant publisher on top was no longer working as well … Continue reading TEEN TITANS #20: Titans Don’t Fit the Battle of Jericho
The NATIONAL LAMPOON is one of the great publishing success stories of the 1970s. It was effectively spun out of the long-running Harvard Lampoon published by that institution of higher learning by a number of graduates, and it successfully plugged into the zeitgeist of its era, expanding at its height beyond simply a monthly magazine … Continue reading Brand Echh: National Lampoon and the other Neal Adams Deadman
At the beginning of the Silver Age, super heroes were making a comeback. This trend would blossom into a full-on fad mid-decade thanks to the release of the BATMAN television show--positively everybody went super hero crazy there for a year or so. But even before that, there was a sense throughout the industry that costumed … Continue reading Brand Echh: Space Adventures #33
This issue of ACTION COMICS was heavily advertised in DC house ads in the weeks leading up to its release, and so I was prepared for it to show up on the spinner rack at my local 7-11. And as you'd expect, it was being promoted as the for-real, no-fooling story of Superman marrying Lois … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #484
We've talked about CHARLTON PREMIERE in the past. It was Charlton's attempt at a SHOWCASE-style series that would debut a different character or concept every issue. A try-out comic, in other words. No series that appeared in CHARLTON PREMIERE ever graduated into its own book, but a few of the stories are noteworthy in some … Continue reading Brand Echh: Charlton Premiere #3
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
The Tom Brevoort Experience 