FSC: MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #3

I have to admit that, during the period when it was first being serialized in the pages of EPIC ILLUSTRATED magazine, I was really knocked out by Jim Starlin's running science fiction serial Metamorphosis Odyssey. No doubt in part due to the fact that I had yet to read a significant amount of science fiction … Continue reading FSC: MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #3

BC: FANTASTIC FOUR #56

As I've mentioned before, I first really met my friend David Steckel when the both of us attended the once-a-week gifted student education program in our school district. It was designed to give the top students in the community more creative and hands-on learning opportunities, and was a terrific program that did a lot for … Continue reading BC: FANTASTIC FOUR #56

BHOC: SHOGUN WARRIORS #8

SHOGUN WARRIORS is a good example of a kind of comic book that you simply don't see too often these days. It was based on a line of disparate toys imported from Japan under that umbrella marketing name and was used to give the localization of those different elements a cohesive backstory. In essence, it … Continue reading BHOC: SHOGUN WARRIORS #8

BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #55

The well-remembered Project Pegasus Saga was continuing to run through the pages of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, breathing new life into a series that had been moribund for the better part of a year. Newly installed writers Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio were determined to do something worthwhile with the title and to make it better than … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #55

BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #83

MARVEL SUPER-HEROES continued to feature reprints of Incredible Hulk stories from only a relatively few years earlier, but the character was popular enough that the title kept going even throughout this period when most of the other Marvel reprint series began to wind down. The weekly Incredible Hulk television show on CBS undoubtedly contributed to … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #83

BHOC: DAREDEVIL #160

DAREDEVIL was a series that I had been buying and enjoying for about a year, but right around here it started to steadily get better and better--in such a gradual way that you almost didn't notice it happening. Most of this was down to the arrival of new penciler Frank Miller. As these books were … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #160

Brand Echh: SPEEDBALL #1

There were other concepts that were originated with the intention that they would be a part of the New Universe initiative but were left by the wayside as the parameters of that concept changed and evolved. One of them went on to become one of the lesser lights of the Marvel Universe. This was Speedball, … Continue reading Brand Echh: SPEEDBALL #1

FSC: WOLVERINE Limited Series #1

At the very end of the 1970s, comic books began to take a cue from network television. There, the concept of a limited series of broadcasts had become popular as important destination viewing, garnering ratings that proved such programming to be attractive to potential viewers. Accordingly, first DC and them Marvel began to experiment with … Continue reading FSC: WOLVERINE Limited Series #1

BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #45

As I recounted yesterday, I purchased this issue of MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS as well as the issue before and after it at Bush's Hobbies in Ronkonkoma on Memorial Day following a parade performance by my grade school band. I was indifferent to being in the parade but excited by the prospect of being able to … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #45

Brand Echh: STRIKEFORCE: MORITURI #1

Not every title originally conceived for the New Universe initiative wound up being released under its auspices. Certain titles fell out as the parameters of the new line shifted during the development process. One such series was STRIKEFORCE: MORITURI, a super hero war series set in the future. As pitched by writer Peter B. Gillis … Continue reading Brand Echh: STRIKEFORCE: MORITURI #1