It's no great secret that the relationship between editor and scripter Stan Lee and artist and plotter Jack Kirby had grown fraught by 1969. Having at least co-invented the characters who ad saved the company and done the lion's share of the story work that continued to make the Marvel books he worked on shine, … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: THE TROUBLED BIRTH OF THOR #169
Well, from the looks of this cover image, we're about to get a bit more action in this issue of ACTION COMICS. I'm not 100% certain who would have been responsible for it. The actual cover art was done by Curt Swan and George Klein, but they likely would have been working from a sketch … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #343
Another 1966 issue of ACTION COMICS, and another one in which the content is hard-pressed to match the title. The book wasn't about action at this point at all, despite the name. This issue presented another story in the short-lived "Superman of 2965" series, which postulated the adventures of the Man of Steel's descendant 1000 … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #338
There's something that I don't really like about this ACTION COMICS cover. I'm not sure what it is--it's a nice piece done by the usually-winning combination of Curt Swan and George Klein. Possibly it's the light green background that puts me off here, I don't know. But the fact remains, I don't find this cover … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #324
I've always been just a little bit fascinated by this cover to ACTION COMICS #319. That's an awful lot of empty dead space to leave at the upper left side of the cover--an area that falls into the "Dynamic Live Area" that is most likely to be visible on racks whether the books are displayed … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #319
SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN is a resolutely strange series, albeit one that was incredibly successful for two decades thanks to the lasting appeal of Superman and the performance of actor Jack Larson as the cub reporter on the syndicated ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN television program. Every young reader of the period knew exactly who Jimmy Olsen … Continue reading WC: SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #77
It's maybe difficult to believe looking back on events from fifty years on, but the title above was one of the best-selling series of the 1960s. It handily outsold even the most popular Marvel books by far, and left more storied titles such as JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and GREEN LANTERN in the dust. Such … Continue reading WC: SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #75
There's something extremely comforting about the Superman titles edited by Mort Weisinger at the start of the Silver Age of Comics. They were unfailingly consistent in terms of their execution and in the level at which they placed their stories. While there were occasionally physical challenges to be overcome, these Superman stories weren't about action-oriented … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #311
Here's another issue of SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN that I got as part of my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988, where I bought a box of around 150 Silver Age comics from a guy I met at my local Post Office for the measly sum of just $50.00. There were proportionately more Mort Weisinger Superman … Continue reading WC: SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #70
As more and more of these pieces get written, we begin to get down to those titles that had a number of different issues within that Windfall Comics box that I bought for $50.00 back in 1988. Which is to say, expect to see a preponderance of Mort Weisinger-era Superman titles in the weeks ahead. … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #305
The Tom Brevoort Experience 