It's perhaps difficult to see from the vantage point of so many years later, but this issue of X-MEN was a game-changer when it came out, and cemented the popularity of the series at the top of the Direct Market sales charts for a decade and a half. Powerful, unexpected, emotional, this comic generated both … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1980
Back at the drug store, the big bin of somewhat-older comics continued to yield treasures. To my surprise, I came up with this issue of FANTASTIC FOUR, the oldest one I would find there--a good six months older than the previous earliest issue I had, and two years old in general. That doesn't seem like … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #164
At around this time, the new season of the hit comedy HAPPY DAYS began, with a three-part opening storyline in which the cast went to Hollywood, and the Fonz wound up in a competition to water ski jump over a caged shark in the bay. This episode was the origin of the now-popular term "Jumping … Continue reading BHOC: X-MEN #108
This issue of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE featured John Byrne's first outing with the team as both writer and artist, a time travel adventure that had Ben Grimm coming face-to-face with the earliest version of himself as seen and characterized in FANTASTIC FOUR #1 and #2. Byrne does a great job of capturing the period of the … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1979
Possibly the best issue of WHAT IF and certainly one of the best-looking as a young Klaus Janson inks Gil Kane to great effect. Writer and soon-to-be-Editor in Chief Jim Shooter delivers on all fronts with an emotional story that packs a real wallop to it. A tour de force by writer Paul Levitz and … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1977
Another find in the 3-Bags of new Modern Comics that had appeared at my local Two-Guys department store outlet was this issue of E-MAN, the last issue in its short run as it turns out. That painted cover and the way the piece is framed seems to be trying to conceal that this is a … Continue reading BHOC: E-MAN #10
I was already a big fan of the Doom Patrol from their appearances in SUPER-TEAM FAMILY, and I had seen the ads touting the return of SHOWCASE (as well as publisher Jenette Kahn’s publishorial concerning it) for weeks, so I was totally in the tank for this book when it finally came out. Jim Aparo’s … Continue reading BHOC: SHOWCASE #94
Another book that came in the Modern Comics 3-Packs that I bought that day at Two Guys was this issue of E-MAN, reprinted from the earlier Charlton printing. Like many of the Charlton covers of this era, it had a painted cover, this one by he series artist Joe Staton. I wasn’t a big fan … Continue reading BHOC: E-MAN #9
A pretty great high-contrast PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN cover by John Byrne.
Great conceptual FANTASTIC FOUR cover by John Byrne. What really works about this one is that all of the elements of the trade dress cast shadows as well.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 