BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #82

We were in the twilight days of the Marvel reprint line, even though certain titles, mainly MARVEL TALES, would continue on indefinitely for another decade and a half. But the need to carve out rack space on mainstream Newsstands was diminishing as the number of mainstream outlets carrying comic books in 1979 continued to shrink, … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #82

Brand Echh: SMASH! #38 and a seldom-seen Hulk adventure

The history of Marvel's export to the United Kingdom is a complex and somewhat haphazard thing. While occasional copies of Marvel's American comics might reach England shops carried as ballast, the earliest homegrown reprints of Marvel material were carried by a number of different publishers. One of these was Odhams Press, best remembered as the … Continue reading Brand Echh: SMASH! #38 and a seldom-seen Hulk adventure

BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #237

This issue of INCREDIBLE HULK was another comic book that my household owned two copies of growing up. As had happened in the past, for some reason my younger brother Ken bought himself a copy of this issue at some point after I'd gotten mine. This may have simply been an opportunistic purchase on his … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #237

BHOC:INCREDIBLE HULK #236

I expect that I picked up this issue of INCREDIBLE HULK on my weekly bicycle trip down to my neighborhood 7-11 on Thursday afternoon, which is when the new comic books arrived back in those days. It was a series that I was following, more because it was a part of the larger Marvel Universe … Continue reading BHOC:INCREDIBLE HULK #236

BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #235

He'd been teased over the course of the previous month, but this issue of INCREDIBLE HULK firmly brought Jack Kirby's creation Machine Man into the Marvel Universe proper. The character had debuted in the last couple of issues of Kirby's 2001 and possessed ties to the mythos of that film. But after 2001 had run … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #235

BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK POCKET BOOKS Volume 2

I come from a family of readers, and so every time we'd go out to the mall or to another shopping center on the weekends, as typically happened most Saturdays, we almost always stopped into any bookstores that happened to be around. Our main destination, the Smith Haven Mall, had three if you can believe … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK POCKET BOOKS Volume 2

BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #234

Another issue featuring Marvel's TV sensation THE INCREDIBLE HULK dropped on my local 7-11's spinner rack, and I bought it dutifully, even though my interest in the title was only middling. But I had signed on aboard the series at some point previously, and through this era, that tended to keep me steadily buying the … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #234

BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #214

This issue of INCREDIBLE HULK was also included in the SUPERHERO GIFT PACK that I received for Christmas in 1978. The timing on that PACK was very precise, as the issues contained within were mostly all ones that I hadn't seen in the 3-Bags that were used to sell nine month old comics through department … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #214

BHOC: SUPERHERO GIFT PACK

Another gift that I received on that Christmas of 1978 was this SUPERHERO GIFT PACK. Ordered from I believe the Sears Catalogue, this Gift Pack was essentially a box containing ten recent-but-not-new Marvel Comics. There may have been a poster as well--I had a Sal Buscema-illustrated Marvel poster that hung in my bedroom at around … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERHERO GIFT PACK

BHOC: ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS

Christmas 1978 was a huge comic book windfall for me. Whereas in years past I had filled my wish list with an assortment of toys, starting here, I would instead begin asking for books on comics. ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS had eluded me for months, so much so that I eventually got to read the … Continue reading BHOC: ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS