I've spoken in the past about how as a kid I was a bit disdainful towards DC's SUPER FRIENDS comic book series, an adaptation and outgrowth of the ongoing Saturday morning cartoon series. Now, mind you, I watched SUPER FRIENDS dutifully every weekend, but I was also aware even then that the story material was … Continue reading BHOC: SUPER FRIENDS #12
Quicksilver was one of the many second banana super heroes who profligated throughout the Golden Age of Comics, filling up the back pages of assorted anthology titles and providing thrills but not being so memorable or distinct that they ever became stars themselves. Occasionally, one of these back-page crime-busters would break out and become a … Continue reading The First Quicksilver Story
We've been talking a lot about the unofficial crossovers between characters and the homages that were done. But beyond that, there's a whole other category of instances in which one company either appropriated or parodied or referenced the characters of another. These instances tended to take many different forms--there was one memorable instance, for example, … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times DC Referenced Marvel Characters in Interesting Ways
Ever since I did the initial post about the 5 Best Forgotten DC Retcons, people have been turning up to remind me about other stories, most of them of a slightly later vintage, that fall into the same general category. And who am I to keep these sterling masterworks from enjoying the notoriety that they've … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Forgotten DC Retcons
The Powers-That-Be at DC Comics in the 1960s could see that something was going on over at Stan Lee's new upstart Marvel imprint, but they were ill-equipped to figure out just what. This is largely due to the fact that the editorial and creative staff remained largely unchanged since the halcyon days of the 1940s. … Continue reading Brand Echh – Inferior Five #6
This issue of SUPERMAN FAMILY introduced one of my legitimately favorite obscure and forgotten DC heroes, so it's a noteworthy release to me. But we'll get to that in a little while. It's got a very nice, dynamic Jose Luis Garcia Lopez cover as well--JLGL was making some waves with is work in fandom circles, … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #188
Today, there are thousands of books on vintage comics, both collections of material from decades ago or literary tomes discussing those works, how they were created, what impact they had and what they meant. But in the 1970s, the landscape for such volumes was exceedingly scarce. So it was positively an event when a new … Continue reading BHOC: SHAZAM! FROM THE ’40s TO THE ’70s
My Aunt Clementine was my Grandmother’s sister, and she and my Uncle Jerry Blazer shared a house with my grandparents that they’d all purchased in 1955 and remained in for almost 50 years. Because of this, they were very much immediate family, although we didn’t see them as often since Clem didn’t like to travel … Continue reading BHOC: SHAZAM #32
It might have been the same trip to my Grandmother’s home as when I picked up SHOWCASE #95, it might not–but I know that I bought my copy of BATMAN FROM THE 30s TO THE 70s at a bookstore in the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream where she lived. It was a big purchase, … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN FROM THE ’30s TO THE ’70s
The new series of SUPER-FRIENDS hadn’t premiered yet–the show had been in constant reruns since it debuted in the fall of 1973. But over at DC, they knew what was happening, and writer E. Nelson Bridwell took the opportunity to introduce the new characters who’d be featured in the show ahead of time in a … Continue reading BHOC: SUPER-FRIENDS #7
