DC in the late 1970s had a bit of a problem, one that they'd start to correct for in the coming years. And that was the changing make-up of the primary audience for comic books. People at DC had realized that there were more older readers than had generally been thought--up to this point, the … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #335
It was clear early on that the most important and successful new super hero character introduced during the Silver Age of Comics was Spider-Man. The work that Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita had put into the series had paid dividends, and the wall-crawler was soon a worldwide icon able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder against … Continue reading 5BC: Five Attempts to Replicate Spider-Man
By this point in time, I was still mostly following SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS, but I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to them. Under editor Julie Schwartz, they both continued to do exactly what they'd been doing since I first started reading comics years earlier--they were utterly dependable to deliver a certain experience, … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #495
DC's Dollar Comics program didn't wind up being the industry game-changer that new publisher Jenette Kahn had hoped it would, but it was a format that the company pursued for several years and resulted in some decently-crafted anthologies. Case in point is SUPERMAN FAMILY, which was never a great comic book but which was a … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #195
As we mentioned yesterday, this issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA was the first in the title's long history not to be edited and overseen by Julie Schwartz. Julie had innovated the series in 1960 and had stayed with it for 19 years. But for the first time, somebody else was at the wheel. That … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #166
MARVEL COMICS #1000 was by far the most difficult editorial and coordination challenge that I've ever undertaken in my 35 years editing comics, and a book that I'm inordinately proud of. It was released in 2019 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Marvel as a comic book publisher, and as such, it was designed from … Continue reading Personal Best: MARVEL COMICS #1000
As much as you might have thought that it would, the public debut of SUPERMAN THE MOVIE didn't really do much of anything to change the contents or direction of the SUPERMAN comics. Oh, sure, Clark Kent was brought back into the Daily Planet as a reporter (in addition to his job as a WGBS … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #334
Continuing our look at the obscure 1966 strip Blooperman, which incorporated a number of parody ideas from comics fandom, many of which had been originated by Marvel writer/editor Roy Thomas years earlier. Once again here, the character's designed Jon D'Agostino draws the small vignette of Blooperman on this cover for GO-GO #5. Writer Gary Friedrich … Continue reading Brand Echh: The Fannish Adventures of Blooperman, Part Three
As opposed to the Flash and the other members of the Justice Society of America whose solo series all were discontinued in the pages of the anthology series they were a part of, Green Lantern actually made his final Golden Age solo appearance in his own title, which outlasted ALL-AMERICAN COMICS' transformation into ALL-AMERICAN WESTERN … Continue reading The Last Green Lantern Story
Even before FLASH COMICS met its end, other members of the Justice Society of America were experiencing their final solo adventures of the Golden Age. Green Lantern was luckier than some--his solo series lasted for a couple of months after his spot in ALL-AMERICAN COMICS had been taken over by western hero Johnny Thunder. But … Continue reading The Last Dr Mid-Nite Story
The Tom Brevoort Experience 