Blah Blah Blog – 40/1967

I wrote this post twelve years ago, on my 40th birthday. 40 April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General Today I am 40. It doesn't feel like all that long a time, certainly no longer than it felt a week or a month ago. At the same time, it's one … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – 40/1967

BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR POCKET BOOKS

It was one of the most exciting days of my young comic book collecting career. I found it in the bookstore in the Smithhaven Mall, a regular stop whenever my family went out shopping there, which was often. I had no idea that it was coming out--which is strange, because ads for it appeared in … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR POCKET BOOKS

BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #191

After two months of reprints and hastily-assembled album issues, the storyline in FANTASTIC FOUR once again began to move forward with the release of this issue. I have to say, I didn't particularly mind those diversions, since the reprint was new to me, and the information contained in that album issue gave me a greater … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #191

BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR IN THE HOUSE OF HORRORS

I was wholly in the tank for the Fantastic Four by this point, and my interest in them led me to purchase a copy of this Big Little Books release from a local Stationary store. It had been issued several years previously, during the period when the first FANTASTIC FOUR cartoon was airing on Saturday … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR IN THE HOUSE OF HORRORS

Lee & Kirby: The Four Work Stages of Lee & Kirby

Whenever the conversation turns to the question of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and their collaborations during the 1960s and who was responsible for doing what--a question that I don't think can ever be definitively or conclusively answered--one of the misconceptions that I see come up time and time again is the notion that Lee … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Four Work Stages of Lee & Kirby

BHOC: AVENGERS #168

Continuing to follow up on my reading experiences from SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS, this was the first issue of AVENGERS that I purchased new (I had prior bought one issue of MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION featuring the team.) It's the second part of what would someday become known as the Korvac Saga, a high … Continue reading BHOC: AVENGERS #168

BHOC: CAPTAIN AMERICA #206

I'm pretty sure that this issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA came out of the same 3-Bag as yesterday's issue of INVADERS. It represents, among other things, my first real exposure to the writing of Jack Kirby. I had read a few Kirby stories before--an issue of KAMANDI several years earlier, a reprint of a Golden Age … Continue reading BHOC: CAPTAIN AMERICA #206

BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #150

This issue of FANTASTIC FOUR was another book that I got from my friend and classmate Donald Sims. We were only tight for about two years, taking up separate paths when we entered junior high school. I haven't seen him in easily 35-plus years. But I hope he's doing well. This was another FF issue … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #150

BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #144

Don Sims was the first other regular comic book reader that I ever met, and we became fast friends for a few years--easy enough since we were in the same 5th and 6th grade classes. Like me, he not only read comics, but he made his own, a creative compulsion that united us once we … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #144

BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #36

I can remember picking this issue up off of the spinner rack at my local 7-11. Despite having become a regular reader of FANTASTIC FOUR, I had up until this time ignored MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE over the past few months. I'm guessing now that this is because my interest in the FF stemmed at the time … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #36