BHOC: THOR #253

This is another comic that I'm pretty sure I got from my grade school friend Donald Sims in some long-forgotten trade. We would often swap comics, and I got a number of books from his collection that I really wanted that way. He was pretty much the only other person I knew during this time … Continue reading BHOC: THOR #253

Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett & Brodsky: A Guest Post on DAREDEVIL #1 and Related Matters

In response to yesterday's post concerning DAREDEVIL #1, I received an e-mail from my friend Mark Evanier. Mark is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about classic comics and in particular the people who worked on them. He had a number of insights that he wanted to bring up, not just about yesterday's … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett & Brodsky: A Guest Post on DAREDEVIL #1 and Related Matters

BHOC: MARVEL SPECTACULAR #19

This was the second of the two issues of MARVEL SPECTACULAR I picked up from my drugstore's Big Bin of Slightly Older Comics when I went looking for more Thor adventures, and it was the Thor story that I enjoyed the most up to this point--largely, I expect, because the antagonist wasn't some Asgardian god … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SPECTACULAR #19

Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett & Brodsky: The Long Road to DAREDEVIL #1

Some recent comments by reader and historian Ferran Delgado prompted me to go back and to take a closer look at DAREDEVIL #1, the last of what we would consider the formative Marvel titles to be launched and one that was plagued in its delivery by a variety of delays. I've written about those delays … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett & Brodsky: The Long Road to DAREDEVIL #1

BHOC: MARVEL SPECTACULAR #18

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

Great Covers: Marvel Around The World 4

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

BHOC: FANTASY MASTERPIECES #7

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

5BC: Five Times Marvel Self-Mythologized

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

Lee & Kirby: The Enigmas and Non-Enigmas of FANTASTIC FOUR #8

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

BHOC: MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #42

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