An awful lot of the production work materials from the comic books created in the formative years of the industry are long gone, discarded as unimportant "work product" on the way to producing finished comic book issues, which were the goal point all along. Fortunately, a lot of the original artwork has survived (though far … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Pencils of FANTASTIC FOUR #49
MS MARVEL was another title that I sampled out of the Big Bin of Somewhat Older Comic Books at my local drug store, and for the same reason: the need to hit a total of 5 purchases so as to be able to get them for a dollar, as opposed to risking the whims of … Continue reading BHOC: MS MARVEL #4
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
A month had gone by, and there was no more welcome sight than a new issue of FANTASTIC FOUR arriving on the Spinner Rack at my local 7-11. This issue was one of those odd books where my younger brother Ken subsequently bought his own copy a week or two later, so there were two … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #195
An old entry from my Marvel blog of the 2000s concerning the role played by the inker. What an Inker does April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General People often ask what an inker does. Back in the days before comic book credits became so complete, most people assumed that … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – What An Inker Does
Here's another issue of MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS that I got in trade with the one and only other person I knew at this point who liked and collected comic books, by school friend Donald Sims. As the years went by, it became more and more socially dangerous to be overt about one's interest in such … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #70
This is yet another book that I got in trade from my comics-reading buddy Donald Sims, and it was a welcome addition to my collection. FANTASTIC FOUR was at this moment my favorite comic book series, and so any opportunity to experience another story from its long history was greatly welcome by me. And in … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #50
Here's another forgotten, fannish collection, a story that was serialized across three issues of the long-running fanzine The ROCKET'S BLAST COMICOLLECTOR. It was produced by artist Brad Caslor, who would eventually go into animation as a storyboard artist and director. But here, he channels the individual styles of close to a dozen other creators to … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: The Massacre of the Innocents
Another book I got out of a 3-Bag during this time. I had only just started reading THOR and I was still on the fence about it. In part, this was because, during the 1970s, while it carried some of the trappings of a super hero title, THOR was being skewed to appeal to the … Continue reading BHOC: THOR #256
An exciting day at the 7-11 when a new issue of FANTASTIC FOUR showed up. This one was the second half of a two-parter featuring Diablo and Darkoth the Death-Demon, and was set during the year when the FF had broken up, with each member going his or her own separate way. I didn't believe … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #194
