Pretty sure that this was another issue that was bought by my brother Ken. He continued to follow the Hulk's adventures regularly for a few months before his attention shifted elsewhere and I wound up picking up both the baton and the issues he'd already bought. It's another reprint of a nine-year-old story from 1969--throughout … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #71
This is the single greatest issue of SUPERMAN ever put together in the character's 80 year history. Closer to home, it's the special Anniversary issue that I'm always jockeying against in my own mind when it comes to put together a book of this sort for the Marvel characters. Of course, I fail to clear … Continue reading Perfect Game – SUPERMAN #400
I've gone over this before, but it bears repeating. In 1978, there were no trade paperbacks, no Marvel Masterworks, no organized system reprinting the comic books of earlier days. There were a few scattered and irregular collections and that was about it. But Marvel, at least, maintained a regular and robust reprint program as a … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #65
I wasn't ever really a big fan of DEFENDERS. Oh, I bought it dutifully for literally years, but it was never a top title in my firmament--and often, I was continuing to buy it out of rote more than any particular love for it. This is due to the fact that, despite the fact that … Continue reading BHOC: DEFENDERS #48
This one really should have been the blockbuster that Stan Lee and Martin Goodman feared that Harvey was going to produce with Joe Simon heading up their attempt to jump onto the super hero bandwagon in 1966. Spyman was the brainchild of future Marvel superstar Jim Steranko. But apart from the odd spot illustration (such … Continue reading Brand Echh – Spyman #1
I saw this posted by its current owner and I thought it was worth both sharing with a wider audience and explaining in a bit greater detail. What you see below is the 3M proof for the cover to FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #5. Also sometimes called a progressive proof, this would have been sent to … Continue reading 3M Cover Proof – FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #5
A genuine sucker punch of an ending topped off this issue of FANTASTIC FOUR, as we learn the outcome of Sue Richards' latest pregnancy. Writer/artist John Byrne is in strong form here, at about the middle of his long run on the title. Good use of the rest of the Marvel Universe and a sympathetic … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1984
I bought this issue of FANTASTIC FOUR on the Tuesday it came out from my local 7-11. Unfortunately, it represents a bit of a nadir in terms of the quality of the title during this period. Regular penciler George Perez was going through some personal crises at the time, and had blown his deadline on … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #190
Visiting my local 7-11, I came across this issue of INVADERS on the spinner rack, and its focus on the Human Torch was enough to get me to buy it. And this wasn’t just any Torch, this was the Torch and Toro from World War II, both of whom I already knew from Jules Feiffer’s … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #21
It was at around this time, during the summer of 1977, that I became aware that Captain America was going to be making a personal appearance at my local Smithhaven Mall. Every year the Mall held a collectibles fair for a week or so, and this year as a part of it, they had hired … Continue reading BHOC: CAPTAIN AMERICA AT THE SMITHHAVEN MALL
