Lee & Ditko & Orlando & Rockwell: Another New Discovery in the Multiple Car Crash of TALES TO ASTONISH #61

Here's some more new business building on old business that has just cropped up. It's been a number of years now since I first wrote about the catastrophic journey of getting the Giant-Man story that saw print in TALES TO ASTONISH #61 to print: https://tombrevoort.com/2020/10/31/lee-ditko-orlando-rockwell-the-multiple-car-crash-of-tales-to-astonish-61/ And also a few years since Dick Rockwell's unused splash … Continue reading Lee & Ditko & Orlando & Rockwell: Another New Discovery in the Multiple Car Crash of TALES TO ASTONISH #61 →

BHOC: THE SUPERHERO WOMEN

Back at Christmas 1978, I was working my way through the fourth and latest release in the ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS line of Trade Paperbacks from Simon & Schuster: THE SUPERHERO WOMEN. This book was a bit more of a mixed bag than the earlier ones and relied more on material that was more contemporary--the … Continue reading BHOC: THE SUPERHERO WOMEN →

WC: STRANGE TALES #124

As we've spoken about before, STRANGE TALES had become something of an afterthought in the Marvel line, a title where new prospective writers and artists could be tried out with limited risk. But after 22 issues of this, sales on the book seem to have slid enough for editor Stan Lee to look to make … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #124 →

WC: STRANGE TALES #122

The more time went on, the more that the Human Torch series appearing in STRANGE TALES had become something of an afterthought. There was a distinct feeling that neither editor/scripter Stan Lee nor any of the artists who drew it were really putting a lot of energy or imagination into it. It was a bit … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #122 →

The First Marvel Fatality

If there's one thing that's become apparent over the past 80 years of comic book publishing, it's that death sells. The demise of a beloved character can create great interest in a series, as well as potentially delivering an emotional impact that the audience will remember. The whole job of storytelling is to evoke a … Continue reading The First Marvel Fatality →

BHOC: MARVEL COLLECTORS’ ITEM CLASICS #13

MARVEL COLLECTORS' ITEM CLASSICS was an Annual sized regular title that reprinted earlier stories in the Marvel canon for the benefit of readers who came to the line later. Like me. It eventually changed its name to MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS and ran for a good long time. And for somebody like me, who was interested … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL COLLECTORS’ ITEM CLASICS #13 →

BHOC: AVENGERS ANNUAL #3

This was the second of two successive AVENGERS ANNUALS that my father brought home for me one night from the Heroes World outlet in the Nassau Mall in Levittown, where he worked. He was very proud of the fact that he'd gotten such early issues based on the numbers, and I never did explain to … Continue reading BHOC: AVENGERS ANNUAL #3 →

WC: STRANGE TALES #113

Of all of the early Marvel super hero titles, it must be said that STRANGE TALES was the one that seemed to be running on fumes the earliest. The title would get a little bit of a pick-me-up once Doctor Strange became a regular feature in its back pages, but before that, one gets the … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #113 →

Lee & Ditko & Orlando & Rockwell: A New Discovery in the Multiple Car Crash of TALES TO ASTONISH #61

You never know what's going to turn up in the world of comic books, even after decades have gone by. So I was astonished to see the page I'm about to share with you turn up at one of the comic book auction sites recently. It's an amazing thing unto itself, but it also provokes … Continue reading Lee & Ditko & Orlando & Rockwell: A New Discovery in the Multiple Car Crash of TALES TO ASTONISH #61 →

Lee & Ditko & Orlando & Rockwell: the Multiple Car Crash of TALES TO ASTONISH #61

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 →