Quality Comics was one of the best and most consistent publishers of comics books during the years of the Golden Age. The firm is largely forgotten now, but in its heyday, it featured a whole line of memorable characters such as Plastic Man, Blackhawk, The Ray, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, the Human Bomb, Quicksilver, the … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: UNCLE SAM QUARTERLY #2
It's somehow a little bit too self-aggrandizing for me to talk about any of the comics I've edited over the years as a PERFECT GAME, the category that I might have featured this issue under. Given that it won the Eisner Award for Best Single Issue in 2016, though, I feel as though there's a … Continue reading Personal Best: SILVER SURFER #11
From the mid-1960s all the way through the earliest days of the 1980s, Warren Publications provided a bit of an alternative to the mainstream comic book marketplace dominated by Marvel and DC (as well as Archie and Harvey and Gold Key, etc.) Warren's particular forte was in doing horror magazines, very much influenced, at least … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: EERIE #32
There was no greater success story in the world of comic books in the 1950s as MAD Magazine. Even in the world of magazine publishing, the only thing that perhaps bettered it was the rise of PLAYBOY. When Harvey Kurtzman and Bill Gaines switched the dying EC line's breakout hit from a comic book to … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: LUNATICKLE #2
The wrap-up to our sequence on this self-published book Stan Lee put out in 1947 giving detailed information about the comic book business (albeit detailed information aimed at a relatively young readership.) Al Jaffee just celebrated his 100th birthday last month, and was a regular and celebrated contributor to MAD Magazine for many decades, responsible … Continue reading Secrets Behind the Comics 6
Because he was such a popular and influential comic book creator, most everything that Alan Moore wrote for mainstream publishers has been reprinted and in virtually continuous print since he first started writing in the very late 1970s. But occasionally, there's a little bit of something that's been overlooked--partly because it appeared in an oddball … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: THE DAREDEVILS #8
We've spoken before about how Wally Wood, the master illustrator and cartoonist, was wooed by new start-up company Tower to create a series for them. What Wood and his collaborators came up with was THUNDER Agents, a fun hybrid of spies and super heroes that is fondly remembered by those who read them, even though … Continue reading Brand Echh – T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #9
By the late 1960s, a whole new niche market had opened up on the newsstand for comics. That was the niche of the black and white magazine, a format primarily pioneered by Warren Publications but one that almost every publisher and would-be publisher would experiment with. The great value in producing a black and white … Continue reading Brand Echh – Hell-Rider #1
It’s the final comic book format issue of MAD before its transition into one of the most popular magazines of the 20th Century, and artist and editor Harvey Kurtzman eschews any visuals in order to get MAD’s particular philosophy across.
So simple, but it tells you everything you need to know about the magazine. MAD cover by Harvey Kurtzman and Leonardo Da Vinci
The Tom Brevoort Experience 