It's maybe hard to believe when viewed from the vantage point of 60 years of additional history, but heading into the Silver Age of Comics, the Atom was at one point a successful and viable character--more viable than, say, Hawkman, whom he beat to having a series to call his own and in gaining membership … Continue reading WC: THE ATOM #16
Much as with its sister title ACTION COMICS, ADVENTURE COMICS had adjusted to shrinking page counts by reducing the number of features that it ran from three to two. That second feature position eventually wound up handed over to the Legion of Super Heroes, who promptly took over the entire magazine. But before that, it … Continue reading WC: ADVENTURE COMICS #295
During the Silver Age of Comics, there was a prevailing wisdom that it was the cover that sold the magazine, rather than any quality within the book itself. Comics were largely an impulse purchase on the part of numerous casual young readers, so coming up with a cover image that would grab their imagination and … Continue reading WC: WORLD’S FINEST #151
I have to confess that I've never been particularly enamored of the adventures of SUPERBOY, for all that I own and have read plenty of them. I understand the appeal of the series, but somehow, it's small town atmosphere and small-scale young heroics never really did anything for me. I can be difficult to even … Continue reading WC: SUPERBOY #95
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
This was another wonderful issue of MYSTERY IN SPACE that I got in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988. Just looking at the book, you can get a sense as to how much more invested editor Julie Schwartz was when working on science fiction material. He'd started out as an SF fan, and eventually found … Continue reading WC: MYSTERY IN SPACE #68
This was another issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA that I got in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988, in which I bought a box of around 150 Silver age comics for the princely sum of $50.00. It was one of six sequential issues, #15-20, that were part of the buy. As JUSTICE LEAGUE had … Continue reading WC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #16
This issue of SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN was another book that came to me as part of that Windfall Comics purchase of 1988, where I ran into a guy at my local post office who sold me a box of 150 silver age comics for fifty bucks. There were more Superman family books in that … Continue reading WC: SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #54
This is a relatively effective cover for an issue of DETECTIVE COMICS in this period, even given that the series tended to look a bit antiquated when placed on the comic racks next to the other contemporary DC titles. That use of the close-up of the Robot Brain with Batman and Robin trapped inside it … Continue reading WC: DETECTIVE COMICS #324
This particular issue of BATMAN was the only one I got in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988 that featured editor Julie Schwartz's "New Look" revamp version of Batman and Robin. After years under former editor Jack Schiff and with sales dwindling, irwin Donenfeld shifted the Caped Crusader over to Schwartz's editorial control. Even at … Continue reading WC: BATMAN #167
The Tom Brevoort Experience 