Continuing on with our survey of the "Spirit Jam", the all-new story featuring Will Eisner's celebrated golden age character produced Jam-style by a bevy of top cartoonists and comic book artists and writers of the era, under the auspices of publisher Denis Kitchen and associate editor Cat Yronwode. Picking things up where we left off, … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: THE SPIRIT #30, Part Two
Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT is rightly hailed as one of the masterpiece comic series of all time. Between 1940 and 1952, Eisner and his studio of assistants produced a weekly comic book as a newspaper insert, as a hedge for newspapers against the growing readership of comic books. While the lead character of the Spirit … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: THE SPIRIT #30
This is the single greatest issue of SUPERMAN ever put together in the character's 80 year history. Closer to home, it's the special Anniversary issue that I'm always jockeying against in my own mind when it comes to put together a book of this sort for the Marvel characters. Of course, I fail to clear … Continue reading Perfect Game – SUPERMAN #400
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
I don’t remember all that much about this issue of BATMAN FAMILY, in that at some point I traded it to my neighbor Johnny Rantinella for some other comic or comics I wanted more. This despite the fact that the issue featured one of my favorite Batman villains of the 1960s, the Outsider. I’ve written … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN FAMILY #13
The next comic I bought was a regular on my list: BATMAN FAMILY. The switch-over to all-new material hadn’t dampened my enthusiasm for big, oversized comics. This lovely Jim Aparo cover is a hair deceptive, though–indicating that Robin, Batgirl and Man-Bat will all be sharing linked stories in this issue, which wasn’t the case. But … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN FAMILY #12
This was the first all-new issue of BATMAN FAMILY, eschewing reprints in favor of completely original content. I’m pretty sure that this was another comic book that my family had two copies of when my younger brother Ken subsequently bought a copy as well, something he would do from time to time for no earthly … Continue reading BHOC: BATMAN FAMILY #11
The next issue of DETECTIVE COMICS wrapped up the saga of the Calculator, which had been winding through the assorted back-up stories for several months. And it looked more like a Justice League adventure than a strictly Batman one, so I bought a copy. The story goes that editor Julie Schwartz took a lot of … Continue reading BHOC: DETECTIVE COMICS #468
I bought this issue of SUPERMAN FAMILY at a supermarket of all places–a clear sign of the aggressiveness with which new DC publisher Jeanette Kahn was pushing her new initiative. Having come to the conclusion that one of the things that was causing the comic book business such ills was that the books weren’t as … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #182
Quite possibly at the same time that my brother Ken got yesterday’s copy of G.I. COMBAT, I bought this issue of DETECTIVE COMICS, thus beginning a short stint of regularly buying the title. Some of it, I’m sure, is that I knew the Signalman from a reprint in an issue of BATMAN FAMILY. Can you … Continue reading BHOC: DETECTIVE COMICS #466
The Tom Brevoort Experience 