FANTASTIC FOUR was my favorite series for a long time, and the book that finally got me to take the plunge into the Marvel Universe. So you'd figure that, even in lean times, it would take a lot to dislodge me from following it. And you'd be right. Except that that's totally what happened. This … Continue reading GH: FANTASTIC FOUR #256
As I talked about yesterday, for Christmas 1978 I was given the four existing volumes in the Marvel Origins trade paperback collection that up to that point existed. I had read SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS at my local library, but I was happy to have my own copy to go back to and … Continue reading BHOC: BRING ON THE BAD GUYS
It was right before this issue of FANTASTIC FOUR came out that SUPERMAN THE MOVIE finally opened on December 15, 1978. And strangely, for a film that sits so highly in my personal lexicon, I don't really have a strong recollection of going to see if for the first time. I don't think we got … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #204
This next issue of MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS, #82, presented a bit of a problem for me. MGC reprinted earlier issues of FANTASTIC FOUR from the past, and consequently was very much a must buy title for me at the time. But by the point when this issue hit the stands, I already owned a copy … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #82
As I've mentioned before, I was never a huge fan of the Hulk during my initial foray into the Marvel Universe. And in fact, it was my younger brother Ken who started buying issues of his comic before I did--though I read those issues and eventually ended up with them, and kept carrying on buying … Continue reading GH: INCREDIBLE HULK #283
This issue of FANTASTIC FOUR doesn't at first glance appear to be anything special, just another one-off story in this run. But it has an interesting story behind it. You see, writer/editor Marv Wolfman had been friends with FANTASTIC FOUR co-creator Jack Kirby since Marv was a child. He knew about Kirby's reluctance to draw … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #203
The next week, a new issue of FANTASTIC FOUR was released, thus reassuring me that my having missed the much-coveted issue #200 was a fluke. This was during the period when a new Fantastic Four cartoon series was running on NBC on Saturday Mornings--this was the version that replaced the Human Torch with HERBIE the … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #202
Boy, it's hard to believe that the scantily-clad woman strung up on the center of this THOR cover will one day wield the hammer herself and become the title character. But such are the ways of time and comic books. And female imperilment was a leaned-upon trope in the 1970s when it came to selling … Continue reading BHOC: THOR #279
So after last week's piece on STRANGE TALES #103 where we tried to work out who might have been behind the story therein, Larry Lieber or Jack Kirby, I received, as you'd expect, a lot of pushback from the "Everything Kirby" contingent, who believe that Jack did at least 100% of all of the stories … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Lieber & Hartley & Sinnott: Examining JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #89, 90 & 91
So this next week was the moment it all hit home--when FANTASTIC FOUR #201 turned up on the spinner rack at my local 7-11 and I had to face the fact that I had indeed missed the double-sized anniversary issue of my favorite series, the culmination to a year-long story arc and a book that … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #201
The Tom Brevoort Experience 