Now that I had begun to buy THOR regularly, the next time I was in our local drugstore I took the opportunity to go digging around in their Big Bin of Slightly-Older Comics for any THOR releases. I didn't come up with any issues of the eponymous title, but I did find what turned out … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SPECTACULAR #18
Just the same as the last three times: here's a collection of the covers to more international editions of Marvel material that I've gathered over the years. These are often fascinating for how they're colored or the manner in which the publishers used localized talent to do their own interpretations of the Marvel characters. So … Continue reading Great Covers: Marvel Around The World 4
Continuing on with comics I bought during my first trip to Bush's Hobbies in Ronkonkoma. I was a huge fan of the Golden Age of Comics and the histories of the assorted characters that I was following--I wanted to know everything, to read everything. In particular, it had been the original Human Torch who provided … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASY MASTERPIECES #7
There's a long-storied tradition among comics of having the writers and artists of those stories themselves be depicted within the very pages they are producing--creating an idealized heightened version of reality. While this was common across all companies, nobody did it as often or as brazenly as the creators working for Marvel. They truly went … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times Marvel Self-Mythologized
I suspect that this post is going to put some noses out of joint. How can it not, given the subject matter that we're about to get to? So I want to state right up front that I'm not looking to give any insult to anyone. As always, I'm looking to try to ferret out … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Enigmas and Non-Enigmas of FANTASTIC FOUR #8
Bought this issue of MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION featuring the Avengers at my regular 7-11. This cover has always amused me--Hawkeye somehow swinging in with a rope wrapped loosely around his leg so that he can take an upside-down arrow-shot--it's truly a bizarre choice. In this instance, the choice wasn't directly Ernie Chan's, who drew this … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #42
The response to last week's piece on the complicated and complex origins of Spider-Man and all of the behind-the-scenes activity that stretched back for almost a decade before the character would eventually reach comic book newsstands was incredibly well received. In the space of a week, it's become one of the most-viewed posts on this … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Simon & Ditko & Oleck: The Spider and the Fly Extra
It's one of the big, fundamental questions that lies at the heart of the origin-myth of perhaps Marvel Comics' most popular single character, and its one that has been discussed and debated at length by those with some degree of insider information: how much did Jack Kirby have to do with the development of Spider-Man, … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Simon & Ditko & Oleck: The Spider and the Fly
This is a topic that never quite gets exhausted for me. Over this past weekend I had a need to revisit the pieces I had originally devoted to analyzing FANTASTIC FOUR #1 and the assorted art changes and adjustments that I detected therein. And in doing so, a number of new ideas struck me--including one … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: Even More on FANTASTIC FOUR #1
We've spoken in the past about Harvey's short-lived attempt to jump on board the super hero bandwagon of the mid-1960s, and how despite hiring industry legend Joe Simon to put together a slew of new titles for them, the work was ultimately underwhelming and swiftly vanished with a scant track. Well, among that short batch … Continue reading Brand Echh – Fighting American #1
The Tom Brevoort Experience 