BHOC: AVENGERS #174

This issue of AVENGERS was, you guessed it, another book that I bought during my trip to Heroes World in Levittown with my grandparents. It sported a very nice cover penciled by George Perez and inked by an infrequent collaborator, Terry Austin. Terry was at this point making John Byrne's work look its best over … Continue reading BHOC: AVENGERS #174 →

The Original Plot For The Unfinished JLA/AVENGERS Crossover

It's one of the great unfinished symphonies in the history of comics. After having successfully teamed up Superman and Spider-Man twice, Batman and the Incredible Hulk, and the X-Men and the New Teen Titans, in 1983 Marvel and DC were prepared to release JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA VS THE AVENGERS, uniting their two flagship teams … Continue reading The Original Plot For The Unfinished JLA/AVENGERS Crossover →

BHOC: DAREDEVIL #144

This is another unfamiliar cover for me. Unfamiliar because the copy of this book that I got had been stripped of its cover, which was sent back to the distributor for credit. However, rather than destroying the remainder of the book as he was required to do, the wholesaler instead sold it and a mountain … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #144 →

BHOC: X-MEN #103

The All-New, All-Different X-Men hit like a lightning bolt out of the blue when the new iteration of the team debuted in GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1. The title had been a reprint book for several years, and so the quantities of the early new issues that made it to the stands were much smaller than most … Continue reading BHOC: X-MEN #103 →

5BC: Five Best Silver Age Character Deaths

As Dave Lister explains to Arnold Rimmer in an early episode of the British science fiction comedy series RED DWARF, "Death isn't the handicap it used to be." Today, it's a given that, in the world of super heroes, death is, at worst, a revolving door, and any character who breathes his or her last … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Silver Age Character Deaths →

BHOC: MARVEL TEAM-UP #62

This issue of MARVEL TEAM-UP was another book that came out of a 3-Bag, those plastic sealed wonders that were sold in department stores and toy stores. And in fact, this issue was likely the reason I bought that particular bag in the first place. You see, ever since first becoming aware of him in … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TEAM-UP #62 →

BHOC: IRON MAN #103

This issue of IRON MAN was another book that I got out of a plastic 3-Bag being sold either in a department store or a toy store. Like the other recent books I picked up under similar circumstances, this issue had initially gone on sale before I'd started to follow Marvel comics, and so the … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #103 →

Brand Echh: Magnus, Robot Fighter #1

As super heroes began to take hold of the comic book marketplace at the beginning of the 1960s, all sorts of different publishers stepped up to provide their own take on series featuring costumed do-gooders. One of the best-remembered was MAGNUS, ROBOT FIGHTER (though today most readers may be more familiar with the character in … Continue reading Brand Echh: Magnus, Robot Fighter #1 →

BHOC: AVENGERS #173

Another month had gone by, and so the subsequent issue of AVENGERS arrived at the spinner rack at my local 7-11 where I bought my new comics. I picked it up on one of my weekly Thursday trips down there for that purpose, Thursday then being the day when new comics arrived in those days. … Continue reading BHOC: AVENGERS #173 →

Comics Creators in the Wild 7

Another awesome assemblage of photographic images of comic book creators taken in years and decades past. Stan Lee with presentation board, circa 1976 John Romita, early 1970s John Romita and Stan Lee, circa 1970 Herb Trimpe, circa 1972 Mark Gruenwald at home, circa 1994 Not 100% certain who this is in the Marvel offices with … Continue reading Comics Creators in the Wild 7 →