FREEDOM FIGHTERS #1 was another comic book that I got in trade with my childhood friend Donald Sims. Given that I was a big fan of comic book history, of the Justice Society and the Invaders, and that I liked weird, off-the-wall super heroes, FREEDOM FIGHTERS seems like it should have been a title that … Continue reading BHOC: FREEDOM FIGHTERS #1
When I think abut the Christmas season, I'm often put in mind of this issue of DETECTIVE COMICS, the seminal issue #500. I bought it on Christmas eve, 1980, and I don't know that any of the gifts I received the following morning were a match for that reading experience. It's all tangled up in … Continue reading Perfect Game – DETECTIVE COMICS #500
This issue of BRAVE AND THE BOLD was another comic that I wound up with in trade with my classroom buddy, Donald Sims. Even by 1978, those first ten issues of SWAMP THING had gained a bit of a mythical stature among those in the know, so the character still had a bit of an … Continue reading BHOC: BRAVE AND THE BOLD #122
This is another comic that I'm pretty sure I got from my grade school friend Donald Sims in some long-forgotten trade. We would often swap comics, and I got a number of books from his collection that I really wanted that way. He was pretty much the only other person I knew during this time … Continue reading BHOC: THOR #253
Another book I got out of a 3-Bag during this time. I had only just started reading THOR and I was still on the fence about it. In part, this was because, during the 1970s, while it carried some of the trappings of a super hero title, THOR was being skewed to appeal to the … Continue reading BHOC: THOR #256
I continued to prowl through the 3-Bags at all of our local department stores and toy stores whenever I got the opportunity, and it was always exciting whenever a new batch would show up. They represented another batch of comics that I had missed buying when they were new on the racks that I had … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #208
There's a long-storied tradition among comics of having the writers and artists of those stories themselves be depicted within the very pages they are producing--creating an idealized heightened version of reality. While this was common across all companies, nobody did it as often or as brazenly as the creators working for Marvel. They truly went … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times Marvel Self-Mythologized
During this time, in loose conjunction with its efforts to get its properties onto television in Live Action and Animation, Marvel was making a concerted effort in the bookstore market as well. The success of the ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS series had proven that there was sufficient interest among book-buyers to make such activities potentially … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL NOVEL SERIES #1
An exciting day at the 7-11 when a new issue of FANTASTIC FOUR showed up. This one was the second half of a two-parter featuring Diablo and Darkoth the Death-Demon, and was set during the year when the FF had broken up, with each member going his or her own separate way. I didn't believe … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #194
Comic books are a petty business, it must be said. And the same freedom to imagine and play that allows for the creativity in conceptualizing new stories about characters who, let's face it, were designed to appeal to children also somehow invites the darker side of itself--the version where grown-ups behave like petulant children on … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Mean Caricatures of Comic Book Creators
