During this period of time, my brother Ken developed a fascination with the Incredible Hulk and so began buying comic books featuring the green goliath. Like his other forays into the world of four colors, this one also proved fleeting, and these books all eventually wound up with me. For myself, I found it difficult … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #219
I'm not entirely certain why I bought this issue of CHAMPIONS so early into my time exploring the Marvel books. If I had to take a guess, it's that i recognized Angel and Iceman on the cover from X-MEN #1 in SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS. having read the current issue of X-MEN, I … Continue reading BHOC: CHAMPIONS #17
It's perhaps difficult to see from the vantage point of so many years later, but this issue of X-MEN was a game-changer when it came out, and cemented the popularity of the series at the top of the Direct Market sales charts for a decade and a half. Powerful, unexpected, emotional, this comic generated both … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1980
We start off this time with a bit of a forgotten masterpiece (despite the fact that it's been reprinted at least once.) This issue of INCREDIBLE HULK, with its horrifying story of children and cannibalism packed a punch and really stayed with you--top notch work by writer Len Wein and illustrators Jim Starlin and Alfredo … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1978
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
A new issue of what was rapidly becoming my favorite comic book turned up at my local 7-11, and at this point I was clearly an avowed FANTASTIC FOUR reader, if not truly a full-on Marvel convert quite yet. (That event would take place in a few weeks.) A lot of that had to do … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #188
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
1973 was the first year in which i was reading comic books, and only for the back half of the year. But I think i can be forgiven for that--I was only six years old. For the purposes of this survey, however, I've taken into account the entire output for the year, not just those … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1973
So, having enjoyed the three issues of FANTASTIC FOUR and the three issues of MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS that I had sampled, I then took the next obvious step: I bought the latest issue of FANTASTIC FOUR to see what was going on with the group now. I purchased this issue in Valley Stream while on … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #187
I had skipped the previous two issues of DC SUPER-STARS–#10 I passed up after being challenged by the owner of the short-lived candy store in which I found it, and #9 had contained only a single Superman story backed up by other war, western and science fiction tales focusing on firearms–not enough to make me … Continue reading BHOC: DC SUPER-STARS #11
The Tom Brevoort Experience 