This issue of ETERNALS was another comic book that came to me in a 3-Bag bought at a Toy Store or a Department Store. There was no other way that I would have picked it up, as Jack Kirby's godly Marvel epic was not to my tastes as a kid. I found it harsh, and … Continue reading BHOC: ETERNALS #17
Here's another book that came to me out of a 3-Bag purchased at a toy store or a department store. It was the first issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA following the departure of the character's co-creator Jack Kirby as writer, artist and editor, and it gives every indication of having been something of a rush job. … Continue reading BHOC: CAPTAIN AMERICA #215
We've looked at a bunch of different titles from the short-lived Atlas Comics line of 1975 in the past (and no doubt will continue to in the future), so I'm just going to hit teh basics here one more time. After his son Chip Goodman was passed over for the position of publisher at Marvel … Continue reading Brand Echh: The Cougar #1
The series was only nine issue old, and already somebody--presumably editor/scripter Stan Lee--felt it necessary to raise the stakes even further. This SGT FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS cover promises something unbelievable--and without even reading the story, you can likely intuit the outcome. SGT FURY was a weird title. It was created in response to … Continue reading WC: SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS #9
So as I've related before, it came out at some point that the branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank that my father worked out of was situated in the Levittown Mall--the same Mall that contained the first comic book shop that I ever went to, Heroes' World. What this amounted to in practice is that, … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #107
One of the myths about the Marvel Age of Comics is that it pretty much happened all at once--that as soon as FANTASTIC FOUR #1 hit newsstands coast-to-coast, the paradigm of comic books changed completely. And that's clearly not the case. In fact, it took a few years for the Marvel approach to storytelling to … Continue reading WC: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #91
This is a weird bit of serendipity, but sometimes that's the way the ball bounces. I only just got done writing about the reprint of this story in MARVEL COLLECTORS' ITEM CLASSICS #22 a few moments ago, and the source for that reprint is the next book up in my survey of the books I … Continue reading WC: FANTASTIC FOUR #30
This was the second of the pair of issues of MARVEL COLLECTORS' ITEM CLASSICS that I bought on my trip to Heroes World with my grandparents. It was the last issue of the magazine--the following issue, its title changed to the moch zippier MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS, though its contents remained the same: a Fantastic Four … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL COLLECTORS’ ITEM CLASSICS #22
There were a bunch of different moments during Jack Kirby's final year at Marvel any one of which might have been the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of his continuing employment with the firm. By this point, Kirby had already failed to come to an agreement with Marvel's new owners concerning what … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Desecration of CHAMBER OF DARKNESS #4
In addition to buying a handful of new comics that hadn't yet reached my area during my trip to the Heroes World outlet in the Levittown Mall, I also stocked up on a few classic back issues. As I was working with a very limited budget, a real boon to me was reprint titles such … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL COLLECTORS’ ITEM CLASSICS #20
The Tom Brevoort Experience 