The Death of Bucky!

By 1948, things were growing progressively more difficult for super heroes on the sales front. In te aftermath of World War II, other genres--crime, romance and horror chief among them--were increasingly popular, and the fad for super heroes had just about run its course. Over at Timely Comics, things were no different. As a bulwalk … Continue reading The Death of Bucky!

Captain America Musters Out!

The postwar era provided challenges for many of the super-powered costumed crusaders who filled the pages of the nations comic books as, without a ready-made national enemy to fight, they were faced with a crisis of irrelevancy. And none encountered this existential ennui more directly than Captain America. Cap had been created to win the … Continue reading Captain America Musters Out!

The Last Captain America Story

CAPTAIN AMERICA was a phenomenon when the series debuted in the very last days of 1940. It was by far the best-selling title that publisher Martin Goodman had in his Timely line of comics, and the character would go on to headline in other books as well--ALL WINNERS COMICS, ALL SELECT COMICS, USA COMICS and … Continue reading The Last Captain America Story

Lee & Kirby: The Unused INCREDIBLE HULK #4 Pages

I think it's fair to say that, as a series, the original run of INCREDIBLE HULK was troubled. It wrapped up after a mere six issues, and had Stan Lee and Jack Kirby not had a creator's affection for the character and started using him in the pages of AVENGERS and other titles, it's doubtful … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Unused INCREDIBLE HULK #4 Pages

BHOC: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #226

My Uncle Jerry Blazer was a house-painted by trade. He and his wife, my Aunt Clementine, lived with my grandparents in a big house that they’d all moved into simultaneously around 1955. So he was a constant fixture in my life, though not seen quite so often as my Grandparents were. He was also the … Continue reading BHOC: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #226

Great Covers – BOY COMMANDOS #24

Credited to the Simon & Kirby Studio, this BOY COMMANDOS cover might be the work of Jack Kirby, or it might not. Either way, it makes its impact through the juxtaposition of the immaculate attributes of Superman and the down-to-Earth dead-end kid values of Brooklyn. As always, the yellow background functions like a spotlight.