The next issue of AMAZING SPIDER_MAN that came out introduced a character who would prove to possess remarkable staying power over the years, though it didn't really seem that way the first couple of years. This was the Black Cat, a sexy sneak thief who would go on to become a recurring love interest for … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #194
MAGAZINELAND, USA was a giveaway comic book designed for the celebration on June 18, 1977, which had been proclaimed World Color Press Day. World Color were the printers for virtually all of the comic books that were then available on the nation's newsstands, including the output of DC, Marvel, Archie, Harvey and others. Accordingly, those … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: MAGAZINELAND, USA #1
My Christmas gifts for the Christmas of 1978 weren't exclusively Marvel based, though they were pretty much all comic book based. I had also asked for and received two issues of Kitchen Sink Press's magazine devoted to Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT, #17 and #18, their two first. Prior to this, I had read one Spirit … Continue reading BHOC: THE SPIRIT #17
Reader d9dunn pointed this story out to me some time ago. It's another in that random series of one-off team-ups between the super heroes populating an anthology title in the manner of DC/National Comics' Justice Society of America. None of these team-ups ever really turned into anything greater--somehow, the allure of the Justice Society was … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: SPEED COMICS #23
Today, we're going to take a look at another story from Harvey Comics' TRUE BRIDES' EXPERIENCES #15. Like the earlier one we went over, which you can find at the link below, this one also first saw the light of day several years earlier, in the pages of FIRST ROMANCE MAGAZINE #18. And like the … Continue reading Your Comics Code at Work: TRUE BRIDES’ EXPERIENCES #15, Part Two
Ran across another really good example of the way in which the arrival of the Comics Code impacted on the contents of the stories that could see print. The contents of TRUE BRIDES' EXPERIENCES #15 was reprinted in its entirety from FIRST ROMANCE MAGAZINE #18 in 1952 pre-Code. Both were published by Harvey, only three … Continue reading Your Comics Code at Work: TRUE BRIDES’ EXPERIENCES #15
As we've spoken about before, the super hero fad of the mid-1960s was a juggernaut across popular culture. Reaching its peak during the frenzy surrounding the network premiere of the twice-a-week full color BATMAN television program, this hunger for all things super-heroic compelled publishers to make entries into the field of comic book publishing with … Continue reading Brand Echh: The Spirit #1
The backstory here is something that we've covered in the past, but just to summarize events again: in the mid-1960s, the comic book field was seeing a bit of a resurgence. A fad for costumed super heroes had sprung up, exploding to massive life in the wake of the premiere of the live action BATMAN … Continue reading Brand Echh: Double-Dare Adventures #1
For most of the Golden Age of Comics, the partnership of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby had been a sales juggernaut. While they had their occasional flops, more often than not the combo was responsible for hit after hit--enough so that their names would sometimes be called on in the advertising, something that typically was … Continue reading Brand Echh: The Double Life of Private Strong #1
Joe Simon was the editor of SICK magazine, one of the assorted knock-offs of the extremely popular MAD that crowded the newsstands in the late 1950s and 1960s. Simon had largely moved away from his involvement in the comic book field, though around the time this issue was being worked on, he had been drafted … Continue reading Brand Echh – Sick #42
The Tom Brevoort Experience 