BHOC: IRON MAN #92

As tended to be my custom, as soon as I started buying a new Marvel series I'd be driven to dig around in my local drugstore's Big Bin of Slightly Older Comics to see if any earlier issues could be found and purchased, five for a dollar. And so it was that I came into … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #92

Forgotten Masterpiece: EL SORPRENDENTE HOMBRE ARAÑA #128

This is a story that picked up a lot of chatter over the past few years, and there's a ton of misinformation out there about it--largely because the story has never been reprinted, nor published in English, so people would see fragments of it, hear part of the story behind it, and then jump to … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: EL SORPRENDENTE HOMBRE ARAÑA #128

BHOC: MARVEL TALES #92

I picked up this issue of MARVEL TALES on my regular weekly run to the 7-11 on Thursday, the day when new comic books would be released, as I'd worked out earlier in my travels. These runs were a regular ritual by this point, something that it took extraordinary circumstances to prevent me from doing. … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #92

BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #2

Here's another book that came into my hands through parlay with my grade school friend Donald Sims. And boy, you can't imagine a cover on a comic today having such an overt plug for a film not connected in any way with the publisher. But in the 1970s, it was fine, all part of the … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #2

BHOC: KOBRA #1

This is another book that I got from my friend Donald Sims back in fifth grade. And honestly, it was a bit of a mess of an issue, though I enjoyed it quite a bit. KOBRA had started life as one of the last projects worked on by Jack Kirby before his return to Marvel. … Continue reading BHOC: KOBRA #1

BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #176

This issue of INCREDIBLE HULK was another book that I got from my 5th and 6th grade friend Donald Sims. He was a sporadic source of issues that came out before I started reading, in particular Marvel titles, which was very valuable in these days before trips to back issue outlets became more common. This … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #176

BHOC: FREEDOM FIGHTERS #1

FREEDOM FIGHTERS #1 was another comic book that I got in trade with my childhood friend Donald Sims. Given that I was a big fan of comic book history, of the Justice Society and the Invaders, and that I liked weird, off-the-wall super heroes, FREEDOM FIGHTERS seems like it should have been a title that … Continue reading BHOC: FREEDOM FIGHTERS #1

BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #155

My subscription to JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA was still ticking along, though I wouldn't renew it again after it too ran its course like my FLASH subscription. So the next comic that I got was my sub copy of this issue. This is one that I hardly recall at all, and I don't think I've … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #155

BHOC: MARVEL TALES #91

So in addition to starting to read AMAZING SPIDER-MAN I also followed protocol and began checking out MARVEL TALES, the ongoing series which reprinted stories from older issues of ASM. Throughout the 1970s, most of the big titles had a sister reprint series that re-presented the earlier adventures from days past. In this way, the … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #91

BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #160

Now that I had begun to pick up AMAZING SPIDER-MAN as a new series, I also did the typical thing and began being open to buying somewhat older issues of the title out of my local drugstore's Big Bin of Slightly Older Comics made up of affidavit returns that were intended to have been destroyed. … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #160