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
When it came to the organized comic book fandom of the early Silver Age of Comics, there was no character that hardcore audience was more behind than Hawkman. The Winged Wonder had been a favorite of both Dr. Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas during their youth decades earlier as part of the Justice Society of … Continue reading WC: HAWKMAN #2
When I think abut the Christmas season, I'm often put in mind of this issue of DETECTIVE COMICS, the seminal issue #500. I bought it on Christmas eve, 1980, and I don't know that any of the gifts I received the following morning were a match for that reading experience. It's all tangled up in … Continue reading Perfect Game – DETECTIVE COMICS #500
In any long-running series, there's going to be a magnetic pull among a certain type of writer to want to change things, to make adjustments to details, to eliminate contradictions in the stories that have been told and to introduce new information about foundational events. These ideas can sometimes be additive and sometime be destructive, … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Forgotten DC Retcons
I got this issue of BRAVE AND THE BOLD while on another shopping trip, in a store where the selection of titles was rather limited. I was beginning to follow the book semi-regularly despite the fact that it was often weird, that writer Bob Haney's approach to super heroes and continuity wasn't really in tune … Continue reading BHOC: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #139
It's perhaps difficult to see from the vantage point of so many years later, but this issue of X-MEN was a game-changer when it came out, and cemented the popularity of the series at the top of the Direct Market sales charts for a decade and a half. Powerful, unexpected, emotional, this comic generated both … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1980
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
The now all-new DC SUPER-STARS returned to the clearly-successful theme of SECRET ORIGINS, this time once again focusing on the bad guys. It’s a somewhat odd collection of tales, and I wonder if one or more of them might not have been commissioned for use in other places, then burned off here. Either way, it … Continue reading BHOC: DC SUPER-STARS #14
I picked up this issue of ADVENTURE COMICS primarily for the Manhunter from Mars back-up story, although the fact that Aquaman was battling the Justice League’s first foe, Starro was also a draw. But while the Sea King’s adventures were typically well-drawn, they usually struck me as being dry–it was difficult to connect with his … Continue reading BHOC: ADVENTURE COMICS #451
This was the first issue of DC SPECIAL to go all-new, and which signaled the end of reprint comics at DC for the time being. There’d still be a few stragglers, but from this point forward, virtually everything the company published in regular comic book form (and even in Treasury format) would be original material. … Continue reading BHOC: DC SPECIAL #27
The Tom Brevoort Experience 