We were in the twilight days of the Marvel reprint line, even though certain titles, mainly MARVEL TALES, would continue on indefinitely for another decade and a half. But the need to carve out rack space on mainstream Newsstands was diminishing as the number of mainstream outlets carrying comic books in 1979 continued to shrink, … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #82
In 1988, Eclipse comics was celebrating its ten-year anniversary as a publisher. Founded by Jan and Dean Mullaney, Eclipse was one of the earliest entrants into the nascent Direct Sales marketplace of Comic Book specialty shops. The company was also a proponent of creator-ownership and offered a better publishing arrangement than the mainstream outfits of … Continue reading Brand Echh: TOTAL ECLIPSE #1
Eventually, my subscription copy of FANTASTIC FOUR #208 turned up in my mailbox, inevitably a week or two after copies had appeared on the spinner rack, frustrating me. This is about the point where the series started to come off the rails a little bit, in part due to the fact that a space epic … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #208
My friend David Steckel got a copy before I did. As I've talked about previously, for whatever reason our area didn't get any copies of FANTASTIC FOUR #200, the long-awaited and heavily-promoted anniversary issue. For some reason, none of the oversized Marvel books, such as Annuals, turned up in this period. It was one of … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #200
I would occasionally venture over to my friend Don Sims' house across town, located several blocks behind my regular 7-11 haunt (which became a communal space for us on Thursdays) down on the access road that paralleled the Long Island Expressway. Don had a nice little collection of comic books, including a bunch that had … Continue reading BC: FOREVER PEOPLE #1
Here's a look at more of the Program Book for the first Mighty Marvel Comic Convention, held on March 22-24 in 1975. This was one of two New York conventions that Marvel put on by itself--thereafter, the company was content to leave the convention organizing to others and simply make appearances as guests. Possibly the … Continue reading MIGHTY MARVEL COMIC CONVENTION Program Book, Part Two
The next issue of AMAZING SPIDER_MAN that came out introduced a character who would prove to possess remarkable staying power over the years, though it didn't really seem that way the first couple of years. This was the Black Cat, a sexy sneak thief who would go on to become a recurring love interest for … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #194
It was at about this point that my family went to see the film BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY at the local movie theater. We didn't realize it at the time--well, I didn't, at least--but this film was actually the pilot movie for a new television series that would debut in a couple of … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL NOVEL SERIES #5
My year of frustration continued with FANTASTIC FOUR #207, another issue of my favorite title that I first saw out in the world in spinner racks the week that it came out. But having won a free subscription to the series, I had to wait until my copy finally made its way to me through … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #207
This era of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is often overlooked but I remember enjoying it tremendously. Part of the reason for that is that once he got his sea legs under him, writer Marv Wolfman began to focus on running plotlines based more around the character's life as Peter Parker than his costumed alter ego. I also … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #193
The Tom Brevoort Experience 