BHOC: SUPERMAN #335

DC in the late 1970s had a bit of a problem, one that they'd start to correct for in the coming years. And that was the changing make-up of the primary audience for comic books. People at DC had realized that there were more older readers than had generally been thought--up to this point, the … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #335

BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #195

DC's Dollar Comics program didn't wind up being the industry game-changer that new publisher Jenette Kahn had hoped it would, but it was a format that the company pursued for several years and resulted in some decently-crafted anthologies. Case in point is SUPERMAN FAMILY, which was never a great comic book but which was a … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #195

BHOC: SUPERMAN #334

As much as you might have thought that it would, the public debut of SUPERMAN THE MOVIE didn't really do much of anything to change the contents or direction of the SUPERMAN comics. Oh, sure, Clark Kent was brought back into the Daily Planet as a reporter (in addition to his job as a WGBS … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #334

BHOC: SUPERMAN #333

Like with ACTION COMICS, I had also taken a three-month hiatus from buying SUPERMAN. I don't really remember why--possibly a feeling that my money was better spent on other titles. So there was a little gap in my collection. But as off-handedly as I left, I returned right as 1978 was on the way out, … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #333

GH: SUPERMAN #382

By 1983, SUPERMAN was feeling a bit like a product of a different age. While some effort was being made to modernize the Man of Steel, including having Gil Kane provide covers as he does here, the actual contents of the magazine were still very much of a piece with the kinds of stories that … Continue reading GH: SUPERMAN #382

GH: SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #9

As I got older, my tastes in comics began to change, or at least to grow more expansive. And so I wound up trying titles that might have done nothing for me before, like SAGA OF THE SWAMPO THING, The series was a bit of a hybrid, existing in a world halfway between that of … Continue reading GH: SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #9

BHOC: SUPERMAN #329

Picked up this latest issue of SUPERMAN during my regular weekly Thursday run to the 7-11 for new comics. It was a book that I'd followed steadily for some time. And yet, this turned out to be the last issue of the book that I bought for a few months. I don't quite recall what … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #329

BHOC: SUPERMAN #328

As usual, I picked up the new issue of SUPERMAN on my weekly trip down to my neighborhood 7-11, the main source for my regular comic book fix. Earlier, comic books had been more readily available in card and candy stores dotted around the area, but one by one, they had stopped carrying them, so … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #328

BHOC: SUPERMAN #327

It would have been at about this time that I read the Pete Hamill column in the New York Daily News that is reproduced at the link below, which had a huge impact on me. As I describe in that piece, while Hamill's writing about his friend Casey was intended to underscore the emptiness and … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #327

BHOC: SUPERMAN #326

This issue of SUPERMAN is another new book that I picked up during my visit to the Heroes World outlet in Levittown, New York. It was written by Marty Pasko, whose work on the Man of Steel I really enjoyed. Pasko's time on SUPERMAN was just as goofball in a Bronze Age way as anything … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #326