I'm pretty certain that it was Fred Hembeck who turned me on to this super-cool short story buried in this obscure issue of Charlton's mystery anthology series THE MANY GHOSTS OF DOCTOR GRAVES. Series such as this one were plentiful in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, each issue filled to the brim with … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: THE MANY GHOSTS OF DOCTOR GRAVES #5
I think it's no great secret that for a good portion of its run, the Ant-Man/Giant-Man strip in TALES TO ASTONISH was troubled. Struggling, really. More so than any of the other Marvel characters of that era, Hank Pym's series, borne out of a one-off fantasy story, was retooled and reworked far more often than … Continue reading Lee & Ditko & Orlando & Rockwell: the Multiple Car Crash of TALES TO ASTONISH #61
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
A post from my old Marvel blog concerning Fred Hembeck and Steve Ditko. The image below is not the piece I purchased. Fred and Steve April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General I bought a piece of original art from Fred Hembeck the other day, a drawing he had done … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – Fred and Steve
I don't remember at all what prompted it at this late date, but for some reason my family wound up going to the far-off mall that housed the Heroes World store once again. Possibly my father needed to get something he'd left at his office, which was in the same complex. Or maybe I just … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL COLLECTORS’ ITEM CLASSICS #6
Now this was and is a favorite comic book of mine. This issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA arrived in the mail via subscription. I’d been seeing ads for it for a week or two in other books, so I was primed for it. And it did not disappoint. It was one of two comics … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #144
And along came the month’s subscription copies! First up was JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #133, the first half of another experimental two-parter written by Gerry Conway in which the first half and the second half only vaguely related to one another. This whole sequence was really four issues long as this month’s story picks up … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #133
ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE BRIDE OF HEMBECK #3June, 1980 I first became aware of the work of Fred Hembeck on the Daily Planet coming attractions pages in many DC comics in the late 70s, where Fred was doing a small one-tier gag strip. It was Glenn Hauman who introduced me to the collections of … Continue reading BHOCOS: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE BRIDE OF HEMBECK #3
The Tom Brevoort Experience 