Of all of the early Marvel super hero titles, it must be said that STRANGE TALES was the one that seemed to be running on fumes the earliest. The title would get a little bit of a pick-me-up once Doctor Strange became a regular feature in its back pages, but before that, one gets the … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #113
This issue of JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY represents the beginning of the fully-formed period of Thor's adventures. While launched over a year before in issue #83, the strip was swiftly handed over by editor Stan Lee to other creators to write and draw--Jack Kirby's talents were needed elsewhere, it seemed--and consequently, the series wasn't working as … Continue reading WC: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #101
It's been said over the years that Marvel's publisher Martin Goodman had an unwavering faith in the sales appeal of Ant-Man. How much of that was due to him hearing about the sell-through numbers on the earliest appearances of the Atom over at rival DC I do not know--but it does account for the reason … Continue reading WC: TALES TO ASTONISH #38
This issue of STRANGE TALES was another book that was in that long box of about 150 Silver Age comic books that I bought in 1988 for $50.00. As the Marvel super hero line began to expand, certain strips tended to stagnate. They also got used a lot of the time as a place to … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #112
One of the myths about the Marvel Age of Comics is that it pretty much happened all at once--that as soon as FANTASTIC FOUR #1 hit newsstands coast-to-coast, the paradigm of comic books changed completely. And that's clearly not the case. In fact, it took a few years for the Marvel approach to storytelling to … Continue reading WC: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #91
This was the second of the pair of issues of MARVEL COLLECTORS' ITEM CLASSICS that I bought on my trip to Heroes World with my grandparents. It was the last issue of the magazine--the following issue, its title changed to the moch zippier MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS, though its contents remained the same: a Fantastic Four … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL COLLECTORS’ ITEM CLASSICS #22
In addition to buying a handful of new comics that hadn't yet reached my area during my trip to the Heroes World outlet in the Levittown Mall, I also stocked up on a few classic back issues. As I was working with a very limited budget, a real boon to me was reprint titles such … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL COLLECTORS’ ITEM CLASSICS #20
SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS was a foundational title launched during the heyday of the dawning Marvel Age of Comics in 1963. Rather than being a super hero series like most of the other Marvel books then garnering attention, it was instead a war series--war comics continued to be strong performers for DC and … Continue reading The Last Sgt. Fury Story
Here's another example of the wasted potential of the short-lived ATLAS COMICS line of the mid-1970s and how they unsuccessfully attempted to compete with Marvel Comics head-to-head, in the worst way possible. As we've talked about before, ATLAS was founded by Martin Goodman and his son Chip following the latter's ouster from Marvel. When Martin … Continue reading Brand Echh: John Targitt…Man-Stalker #2
It's more of the same, additional vintage photographs of the people who worked on the comic books of yesteryear during those earlier halcyon days! As usual, there's an awful lot of Stan Lee. Stan Lee promotional photo, circa 1980 Assorted Marvel and DC creators, including Joe Orlando, Paul Levitz, Don McGregor, , Jenette Kahn, Stan … Continue reading Comics Creators in the Wild 10
The Tom Brevoort Experience 