Here's a second portion of our look at Marvel's archived stats for FANTASTIC FOUR #1, as close to looking at the original artwork as we can get. As with last time, there isn't a whole lot new that's revealed here. But having the ability to get up real close on some of these pages does … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: THE STATS OF FANTASTIC FOUR #1, Part 2
As those who have been following this page for some time are aware, there are a bunch of mysteries wrapped up in FANTASTIC FOUR #1, the seminal publication that kicked off the Marvel revolution in the 1960s. There have been several theories as to how this book may have been put together--whether it was all … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: THE STATS OF FANTASTIC FOUR #1
Here is yet another early and key Marvel book that I wound up with a copy of thanks to my Windfall deal. It was 1988, and I paid 33 cents for a copy of AVENGERS #6. I believe that by this point I had previously read the story contained herein in its reprint in AVENGERS … Continue reading WC: AVENGERS #6
The first and apparently only issue of the Mighty Marvel Messenger was published in the opening months of 1967--it's announced on the Bullpen Bulletins page of Marvel titles cover-dated June 1967--and sent for free to all current members of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. It was a little four-page newsletter fanzine that gave some promotional … Continue reading The Merry Marvel Messenger
DESTROYER DUCK #1 was a stopping point in a much larger saga, one that I'll recount the broad strokes of momentarily. It was also a benefit book published by Eclipse, work on which was provided free by all of the contributors in support of the underlying cause of the book in the first place. It … Continue reading Brand Echh: Destroyer Duck #1
This is another old cover that triggers no nostalgia for me, because I got my copy of CAPTAIN AMERICA #208 out of one of those plastic-wrapped packages of coverless comics sold by my local Drug Store. These were books where the covers had been stripped and returned to the publisher for credit, but the insides … Continue reading CAPTAIN AMERICA #208
And another issue of MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS reprinting Fantastic Four stories from earlier in the group's history, made its way to my regular 7-11 haunt. This era in which there were still monthly reprint titles for most of the major Marvel series was a godsend to me in terms of allowing me to get a … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #78
Well, not really Jim Shooter's directly, not in the same was as the Irwin Donenfeld sales charts we looked at last week. But I'm reasonably certain that I cribbed these newsstand tracking sheets from Jim Shooter's old web page a decade or so back, and he would have been there when they came in--so we'll … Continue reading The Sales Figures of Marvel’s Jim Shooter
Now this is an interesting one to look at, and just a little bit mysterious. Marvel (well, pre-Marvel, they were still operating without a particular company identity at this point for the most part) had launched a revival of their earlier character, the Rawhide Kid, in 1960, a response in part to the popularity of … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Two Origins of the Rawhide Kid
You know the drill by this point, right? It's old pictures of comic book creators from back in the day! Bob Layton at a convention, 1980s. Me, Tom Brevoort, and Jack Kirby at a New York convention, 1990. I had only been at Marvel for six months. A trio of photos of Joe Sinnott from … Continue reading Comics Creators in the Wild 6
The Tom Brevoort Experience 