When it was first launched, there was a veneer of respectability about the MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL line. Based on the format of European albums, these books were a place where creators could tell stories that were a bit more sophisticated and adult-oriented than the typical Comics Code-approved fare that filled the pages of the monthly … Continue reading FSC: MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #4
The next series that Valiant released was launched as a part of the UNITY crossover. Labeled as Chapter Two, it really wasn't such a thing, as the only connective tissue to the crossover storyline is a short epilogue at the end that repurposes panels from UNITY #0 to bring Gilad as well as Archer and … Continue reading Brand Echh: ETERNAL WARRIOR #1
Having been publishing super hero comic books for about a year, Valiant editor in chief Jim Shooter was about to unveil his master stroke. Jim had scored massive numbers writing MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS years before, the very first company-wide crossover series, and its success must have been top of mind as he and … Continue reading Brand Echh: UNITY #0
DAREDEVIL was a series that I had been buying and enjoying for about a year, but right around here it started to steadily get better and better--in such a gradual way that you almost didn't notice it happening. Most of this was down to the arrival of new penciler Frank Miller. As these books were … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #160
At the very end of the 1970s, comic books began to take a cue from network television. There, the concept of a limited series of broadcasts had become popular as important destination viewing, garnering ratings that proved such programming to be attractive to potential viewers. Accordingly, first DC and them Marvel began to experiment with … Continue reading FSC: WOLVERINE Limited Series #1
MARVEL PREMIERE was something of a mixed bag as a comic book purchase. While early on it had been dedicated to the adventures of Iron Fist, and before that Doctor Strange, it had turned over time into a SHOWCASE-style try-out series for new concepts (and occasionally a place to wrap up outstanding plotlines from a … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL PREMIERE #49
Going into 1982, there was no comic book series that was of greater interest to me and my small collection of comic book reading friends as DAREDEVIL. The title had been gaining momentum ever since newcomer artist Frank Miller had been brought on to pencil it a year or two earlier. Miller's storytelling chops were … Continue reading FSC: DAREDEVIL #181
The ongoing CAPTAIN AMERICA storyline had turned into an epic while I wasn't looking. This was the fifth chapter of a storyline that was still going on at issue's end, one that had begun in such an understated manner that I would never have guessed it would run so long. During this time, even a … Continue reading BHOC: CAPTAIN AMERICA #235
I had no way of knowing it at the time, but we were heading into what is largely considered the best, most significant run on DAREDEVIL of all time. I had been enjoying the series just fine since I first started reading it several months previously, and I didn't really sense a shift in the … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #159
The week brought another issue of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, this one featuring an assortment of special guest stars hanging out with Ben Grimm. Part of the reason for that is that this was one of those stories commissioned as an emergency fill-in that could be used in multiple places given the need. So it could have … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #51
The Tom Brevoort Experience 