Over the course of comic book history, the fortunes of super heroes as a genre waxed and waned as tastes changed and the marketplace shifted. This led to moments where a series that was once popular had fallen upon hard times or was seen as being out of step with the era, and needed to … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times Two Heroes Were Better Than One
At this point, so long after the fact, and with a bevy of films reinforcing the essential ideas of the character, the specifics of who and what Wolverine are have been very well established. But for a very long time, that simply was not the case. And in fact, it would be almost six years … Continue reading When Was Wolverine Wolverine?
This was another comic book that I bought in a 3-Bag bundle from a department store or a toy store. The new creative team on MARVEL TEAM-UP, Chris Claremont and John Byrne, had first worked together on IRON FIST, the recently-cancelled martial arts super hero series. Before it went away, they had begun a subplot … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TEAM-UP #63
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
Most long-running comic book companies, if they're in business for long enough and have a wide enough diversity of creators working on their releases, reach a point at which those creators begin to pull inspiration for their stories and characters from other media. Comics in general have a long history of reflecting the trends of … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times Marvel Misappropriated Characters
This was another book that I dug up in my local drugstore's Big Bin of Somewhat-Older Comic Books, books that were reported as having been destroyed but were instead being sold off the back of the truck at five for a dollar--a great bargain for me. I was continuing to explore different avenues in the … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL PREMIERE #25
This is yet another book that my friend Donald Sims traded to me at a certain point, and one of the best issues that I got from him (for all that it didn't make me run right out and start trying to hunt down other issues of IRON FIST.) It probably helped that Captain America … Continue reading BHOC: IRON FIST #12
Bought this issue of X-MEN most likely at the same time as I got yesterday's INVADERS issue, at my regular source for new comic books, the 7-11. Every issue of X-MEN in these days was a discovery, as the cast had changed so completely from the team that I had met in SON OF ORIGINS … Continue reading BHOC: UNCANNY X-MEN #110
This issue of POWER MAN, my first, would have been another comic that I got from by grade school friend Don Sims, likely in a trade involving multiple books. I say that because I wasn't especially interested in Luke Cage at this point. I knew who he was, based on his appearance in FANTASTIC FOUR … Continue reading BHOC: POWER MAN #38
This issue of BLACK LIGHTNING was bought for me by my grandparents. It was a tough title to find in my area--during this time period, most of the new DC launches were difficult to locate in my area (I never, ever saw a copy of SHADE, THE CHANGING MAN, for example.) But as i related … Continue reading BHOC: BLACK LIGHTNING #6
The Tom Brevoort Experience 