As I recounted yesterday, I purchased this issue of MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS as well as the issue before and after it at Bush's Hobbies in Ronkonkoma on Memorial Day following a parade performance by my grade school band. I was indifferent to being in the parade but excited by the prospect of being able to … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #45
A couple noteworthy events happened at around this time. The first is that my Mom took me and my brother to see the movie ALIEN, which had just opened. She was a fan of science fiction and fantasy in film and on television, and so during this time she would regularly want to see any … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #44
The second of the New Universe titles to make its debut (at the same time as STAR BRAND #1) was ultimately one of the line's more troubled outings, right from the get-go. It only lasted a little bit over a year, a casualty of the line being contracted and re-envisioned following Editor in Chief Jim … Continue reading Brand Echh: SPITFIRE AND THE TROUBLESHOOTERS #1
Even at the time, we all knew in my circle of friends that the New Fantastic Four cartoon that was then airing on NBC on Saturday mornings wasn't very good. This despite the involvement of the comic's co-creator Jack Kirby as a designer and storyboard artist and dialogue written by Marvel figures such as Stan … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #209
The Project: P.E.G.A.S.U.S. is rightly remembered as a high-water mark in the 100-issue run of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE. And yet, it wasn't a perfect story. There was a choice or two made that is perhaps a bit regrettable. And for one of those story decisions, this issue tells the tale. That said, it was still the … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #54
My friend David Steckel got a copy before I did. As I've talked about previously, for whatever reason our area didn't get any copies of FANTASTIC FOUR #200, the long-awaited and heavily-promoted anniversary issue. For some reason, none of the oversized Marvel books, such as Annuals, turned up in this period. It was one of … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #200
And now we come to what is generally regarded as the strongest period in the 100-issue run of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE's history. With this newest issue, #53, the six-part Project: PEGASUS Saga kicked off, signaling the arrival of the writing team of Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio. Macchio had created the titular Project; PEGASUS for an … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #53
My year of frustration continued with FANTASTIC FOUR #207, another issue of my favorite title that I first saw out in the world in spinner racks the week that it came out. But having won a free subscription to the series, I had to wait until my copy finally made its way to me through … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #207
It's been a while since we dropped one of these on you. So here are more photographs taken over the years depicting practitioners of the medium, both editorial and creators. As usual, there's a lot of Stan Lee. One of the earliest photographs that survives of Jakob Kurtzburg, who would come to be called Jack … Continue reading Comic Creators in the Wild 12
I'm not entirely certain of the circumstances after all of these years, but I believe it happened as a result of my filling out and sending in a survey concerning Marvel's upcoming ODYSSEY magazine, which eventually reached newsstands as EPIC ILLUSTRATED. Or it may have been some other survey, possibly released through PIZZAZZ magazine or … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #206
The Tom Brevoort Experience 