GH: ACTION COMICS #543

I really liked Marv Wolfman's run writing ACTION COMICS. He was able to find a way to operate within the strictures of editor Julie Schwartz's likes while still bringing the sort of serialized storytelling and characterization that he'd learned over at Marvel to the stories. It probably didn't hurt that Marv and George Perez's NEW … Continue reading GH: ACTION COMICS #543

GH: FANTASTIC FOUR #256

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

GH: SUPERMAN #382

By 1983, SUPERMAN was feeling a bit like a product of a different age. While some effort was being made to modernize the Man of Steel, including having Gil Kane provide covers as he does here, the actual contents of the magazine were still very much of a piece with the kinds of stories that … Continue reading GH: SUPERMAN #382

BHOC: UNCANNY X-MEN #119

UNCANNY X-MEN was perhaps the first Marvel comic book to display an awards symbol on its front cover, in this case that of the UK Eagle Awards. I can say that, speaking for myself, I had no idea what the Eagle Awards were (nor any inkling just how small they were as compared to similar … Continue reading BHOC: UNCANNY X-MEN #119

GH: UNCANNY X-MEN #171

By 1982 when I was forced to pare back my comic book buying due to a lack of income, there was no more popular series in the land than UNCANNY X-MEN. Following the enormous reaction to the "Dark Phoenix Saga" by Chris Claremont and John Byrne a year or two earlier, the title simply exploded, … Continue reading GH: UNCANNY X-MEN #171

BHOC: AVENGERS #181

This next issue of AVENGERS was also a book that my younger brother Ken bought his own copy of, though in this case that copy vanished somewhere over the years and never made its way to me. It's a well-remembered issue, with the narrative getting back on track after a trio of fill-in jobs due … Continue reading BHOC: AVENGERS #181

GH: INCREDIBLE HULK #283

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

BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #190

After a few shaky months following the successive departures of both writer Len Wein and artist Ross Andru, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN finally felt like it was back in the groove again. New writer Marv Wolfman had started up a number of running subplots in Peter Parker's life, making it feel nuanced and textured again, and the … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #190

GH: AVENGERS #233

I had really enjoyed AVENGERS up to and just past issue #200. Likely a lot of that had to do with the artwork of George Perez and John Byrne. But once Perez left to go to DC, this was a book that took a hard left turn at a certain point, and I just didn't … Continue reading GH: AVENGERS #233

When Was Wolverine Wolverine?

At this point, so long after the fact, and with a bevy of films reinforcing the essential ideas of the character, the specifics of who and what Wolverine are have been very well established. But for a very long time, that simply was not the case. And in fact, it would be almost six years … Continue reading When Was Wolverine Wolverine?