SHOWCASE #50 and the Non-History of Yankee Doodle Dandy

This one isn't about a comic book feature that saw print but rather one that didn't--at least not in its original intended form. SHOWCASE was the round-robin series that would move from editor to editor throughout the DC stable, each of whom was expected to debut some new feature within its pages as a try-out … Continue reading SHOWCASE #50 and the Non-History of Yankee Doodle Dandy

BHOC: MARVEL TALES #79

When we left things off last week, we were talking about a pair of issues that I got in those plastic-wrapped bundles of coverless comics my local drug store had begun to sell. When this story was originally printed in the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, the Comics Code Authority of the time wouldn't approve it, … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #79

BHOC: MARVEL TALES #78

Now this is a comic that I did purchase deliberately, albeit without this cover and in one of those plastic wrapped bundles of assorted coverless comic books my local drug store had taken to selling. I bought both this issue of MARVEL TALES and the next at the same time, giving me two parts of … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #78

BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #78

And another issue of MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS reprinting Fantastic Four stories from earlier in the group's history, made its way to my regular 7-11 haunt. This era in which there were still monthly reprint titles for most of the major Marvel series was a godsend to me in terms of allowing me to get a … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #78

BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #156

I dutifully picked up this next issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, one of my favorite titles when I was even younger than I was at its time of release. But since the departure of writer Steve Englehart, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA was going through something of a slump--new author Gerry Conway was crafting solid … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #156

BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #20

This was yet another back issue that I picked up during my first trip to the Batcave, the very first full-on comic book specialty store that I had ever been in. I was drawn to this issue for a single, specific reason: somewhere in my travels, I had learned that this issue reprinted the 1950s … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #20

BHOC: MARVEL TEAM-UP #25

And here's another issue that landed in my lap through swapping with my grade school comics reading buddy Donald Sims. I remember really liking this issue, possibly because it was the closest thing to a typical DC/Julie Schwartz-edited story that I experienced at Marvel at the time. It was complete in a single issue, had … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TEAM-UP #25

BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #77

I bought this issue of MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS on one of my regular weekly 7-11 runs, and I can remember having it with me and being over at the house of my neighbor and sometimes-friend Charles Grella down the block. As usual, it reprinted an issue of FANTASTIC FOUR from a few years earlier (9 … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #77

BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #55

This was another book that came out of the drugstore's Big Bin of Affidavit Return Comics and the first point when I learned that before it had featured the Hulk exclusively, MARVEL SUPER-HEROES had been split between the Green Goliath and the Sub-Mariner just as TALES TO ASTONISH had been years before. More than anything, … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #55