When the syndicated Marvel Super-Heroes cartoon debuted in the fall of 1966, it was fashioned in such a way that each individual station could run it in whatever manner they pleased. As every story had been broken up into three 7-minute chapters, there was the freedom to mix and match segments, or to run an … Continue reading Television’s First Captain America
Here's another comic book that I got in that Windfall buying experience, a book I paid 33 cents for in 1988. Rather than plow through all of the issues of ACTION COMICS that were in that horde--which seems as though it would get boring and repetitive quickly--I'm instead going to jump around a bit, work … Continue reading WC: ADVENTURE COMICS #266
As I spoke about yesterday, there were about 150 comics in the long box I got in my big Windfall Comics score, all of the super hero books. One of the most plentiful titles was ACTION COMICS. Which makes sense--ACTION was one of the biggest selling books of that era, and yet interest in these … Continue reading WC: ACTION COMICS #290
By 1966, the super Hero fad of the 1960s was in full swing, propelled to the forefront of popular culture by the debut of the BATMAN television show, which became a short-lived national obsession. BATMAN's mix of straightforward heroics with broad self-deprecating humor made it the poster child for middle America in terms of defining … Continue reading Brand Echh: Mighty Comics #40
Superman has been with us for more that 80 years at this point. He's become an icon, he was the flash-point for the success of an entire industry and he set the standard and the style for the myriad of costumed super heroes who would come after him. He's been the subject of a myriad … Continue reading The Greatest Superman Story Ever Told
It's always good to roll with what works. So here are a bunch more vintage photographs of assorted comic book creators in years past. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, promotional photo, 1940. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (whose name is mispelled on that sign) at a promotional event for the premiere of the first Superman … Continue reading Comics Creators in the Wild 3
Well it just goes to show: you never know what is going to resonate with an audience. Last week's kickoff installment of Comics Creators in the Wild received more notices and attention than I ever would have thought it would. So that being the case, I figured I ought to follow up on it sooner … Continue reading Comics Creators in the Wild 2
In the early 1940s, as a myriad of would-be publishers heard about the overwhelming success of Superman nd rushed into the marketplace offering their own get-rich-quick versions of a comic book super hero, the reality is that nobody quite understood just what factors made Superman work. And so, everything was tried, and creativity--both good and … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Most Unique Super Heroes of the Silver Age
The combination of the super hero fad and a bit of an overlapping nostalgia boom led to the creation of this issue of Archie/Mighty Comics' MIGHTY CRUSADERS #4, one of the best-remembered bad comic books of its era. For in its pages, having brought back a couple of its golden age heroes in prior adventures, … Continue reading Brand Echh: Mighty Crusaders #4
When I think abut the Christmas season, I'm often put in mind of this issue of DETECTIVE COMICS, the seminal issue #500. I bought it on Christmas eve, 1980, and I don't know that any of the gifts I received the following morning were a match for that reading experience. It's all tangled up in … Continue reading Perfect Game – DETECTIVE COMICS #500
The Tom Brevoort Experience 