Another older issue of FANTASTIC FOUR that showed up one day in the drug store's big bin of slightly-older comics. This was the oldest issue I had found to date. Reading these stories, particularly in this sequence, was a little bit like putting a puzzle together. There'd be some bit of information presented in one … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #170
It was like a little miracle, a book that couldn't and possibly shouldn't ever happen. But happen it did--and SUPERMAN VS THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN was an excellent mixing of the then-contemporary styles of Marvel and DC, very different flavors in that period. The creative team was spot on, anchored by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru, … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1976
In a time before the British Author Invasion and the rise of Vertigo titles, this issue of GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING was quite possibly the most literate and literary comic book as-yet published. A heartfelt, emotion-driven Steve Gerber story concerning a dead, bullied schoolkid anchors the issue. Gerber experiments with using huge blocks of text on certain … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1975
1973 was the first year in which i was reading comic books, and only for the back half of the year. But I think i can be forgiven for that--I was only six years old. For the purposes of this survey, however, I've taken into account the entire output for the year, not just those … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1973
DC put a huge push behind the roll-out of their Dollar Comics line of titles, but for the most part they weren't very appealing to me. And the reason for that is that none of them were really very good. Oh, they were all adequate, competent comic books. But each one contained a ton of … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #186
The next book I would have picked up was this issue of a favorite regular title, SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS. Here, the cover copy tries to make some hay out of a question that isn’t much of a question at all, given that the Secret Society has been trying to kill Captain Comet for something … Continue reading BHOC: SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS #10
This next issue of SUPER-TEAM FAMILY I bought while on a trip to a more distant supermarket than the one my family typically frequented. it was the second part of the “Atom’s Quest” serial, a four-part story that owed a bit of its style to the Marvel approach of the era–writer Gerry Conway had been trying … Continue reading BHOC: SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #12
I bought this issue of WORLD’S FINEST COMICS while on a visit to my grandparents’ house–not a typical purchase for me, as I had come to realize that WFC was one of those DC super hero titles that read “wrong”, and so I would avoid it if there were other options available. In this instance, those … Continue reading BHOC: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #246
The next comic I purchased was this issue of SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS, which I’d been anticipating as it had been called out prominently in house ads running this month. It also clearly had a focus on the world of the Flash–not only his protege Kid Flash, but also his enemies the Trickster and Grodd … Continue reading BHOC: SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS #8
I first heard about this story on the DC Hot-Line, the short-lived 800 number where, once a week, readers could call in to hear news about upcoming DC projects, at a cost of fifty cents per call. Like every other idiot in the world, I called faithfully every Monday, when the new messages would go … Continue reading BHOC: SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #11
The Tom Brevoort Experience 