Continuing on in our analysis of the construction of the first three issues of FANTASTIC FOUR, our attention now turns to issue #2. But first, a bit of a statement of purpose. Somebody over the course of the last week asked me why I was writing these pieces, what the point I was trying to … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: FANTASTIC FOUR #2
Seems as though people were pretty interested in the first installment of this particular topic: in the short time that this page has been operating, nothing has drawn anything close to the number of views that piece has. Which is great! What's also great is the amount of discussion that the initial installment generated, as … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: FANTASTIC FOUR #1, Part Two
FANTASTIC FOUR #1 was the beginning of what would grow into the Marvel Age of Comics, where Stan Lee and Jack Kirby revolutionized the field and unleashed a wave of characters and concept that have achieved worldwide popularity and renown in the decades since. So it's now seen as an important issue. And from what … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: FANTASTIC FOUR #1, Part One
On that same weekly trip to the 7-11 I came across and was delighted by this issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA, a title that I didn't normally read. And it had everything to do with this cover, where, rather than Cap's usual masthead partner the Falcon, the co-star in this particular issue was the Human Torch. … Continue reading BHOC: CAPTAIN AMERICA #216
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, both on the left, at the National Cartoonists Society in 1966 A few years ago, over at the Marvel Age of Comics Tumblr account, I did a string of posts over a period of three days analyzing the first three issues of FANTASTIC FOUR, the opening salvo of the Marvel … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: Introduction
We start off this time with a bit of a forgotten masterpiece (despite the fact that it's been reprinted at least once.) This issue of INCREDIBLE HULK, with its horrifying story of children and cannibalism packed a punch and really stayed with you--top notch work by writer Len Wein and illustrators Jim Starlin and Alfredo … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1978
The big bin of slightly-older comics at my local drug store chain continued to toss up additional treasures as the summer went on, often ones older and older than the ones that had preceded it. So the next issue of FANTASTIC FOUR I found therein was this one, the oldest I'd yet encountered. That's a … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #172
1973 was the first year in which i was reading comic books, and only for the back half of the year. But I think i can be forgiven for that--I was only six years old. For the purposes of this survey, however, I've taken into account the entire output for the year, not just those … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1973
In addition to new old issues of FANTASTIC FOUR and MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS, the drug store’s big bin of somewhat older comics had also received copies of a few issues of THE INVADERS, which I picked up as well. This one had a somewhat messy cover–how is it that Captain America is seemingly standing in … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #3
The other issue of MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS that had turned up in my drug store’s big bin of slightly-older comics was this one, the start of a four-part Doctor Doom sequence inspired by the television series The Prisoner. I hadn’t seen the Prisoner at the time when I first bought this issue, so it seemed … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #66
The Tom Brevoort Experience 