This issue of ACTION COMICS was heavily advertised in DC house ads in the weeks leading up to its release, and so I was prepared for it to show up on the spinner rack at my local 7-11. And as you'd expect, it was being promoted as the for-real, no-fooling story of Superman marrying Lois … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #484
It was the end of an era, though I had no way to know that at the time. A trip to my local 7-11 to pick up the week's new comics landed me this, the final issue of SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS, which had been a real favorite of mine for most of its run. … Continue reading BHOC: SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS #15
The combination of the super hero fad and a bit of an overlapping nostalgia boom led to the creation of this issue of Archie/Mighty Comics' MIGHTY CRUSADERS #4, one of the best-remembered bad comic books of its era. For in its pages, having brought back a couple of its golden age heroes in prior adventures, … Continue reading Brand Echh: Mighty Crusaders #4
This wound up being the last issue of ALL-STAR COMICS from this original run that i was able to find, which is a shame, as i was a great fan of the series. But during this period, DC's distribution seemed to start having difficulty, at least in my area, and finding the books featuring the … Continue reading BHOC: ALL-STAR COMICS #70
I was regularly haunting the section of the Sachem Public Library that contained books on or about comics, not just for that elusive copy of ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS (which I never did find there) but also for anything else of interest. I took out and read a bunch of books from that section, many … Continue reading BHOC: ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME
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
In a time before the British Author Invasion and the rise of Vertigo titles, this issue of GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING was quite possibly the most literate and literary comic book as-yet published. A heartfelt, emotion-driven Steve Gerber story concerning a dead, bullied schoolkid anchors the issue. Gerber experiments with using huge blocks of text on certain … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1975
SUPERMAN #276 gave the comic book reading world something it had been lusting for since around 1940, a battle between the Man of Steel and his publishing arch-rival Captain Marvel. Except that this issue cheated--despite having recently licensed the Big Red Cheese from Fawcett for the new SHAZAM series, here an equivalent stand-in, Captain Thunder, … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1974
Picked up this issue of ALL=STAR COMICS at my local 7-11 as usual. ALL-STAR was a favorite series of mine, so I'd avoid missing an issue if I could. This cover blows the big end surprise of the issue by touting the first appearance of the Huntress within it--unfortunate, as her reveal is literally the … Continue reading BHOC: ALL-STAR COMICS #69
Now that I was able to travel to the 7-11 at will, my subscriptions to JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and FLASH were becoming a little bit troublesome. To wit: I am certain that I saw this issue of JLA on the spinner rack at the 7-11 before my sub copy arrived in the mail. The … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #148
