The first run of Topps' Marvel-themed super hero stickers had been a solid success, which meant that they decided to do another run the following year. Like the first run, these stickers came five-to-a-pack with a piece of stiff chewing gum, and each one featured the image of a Marvel hero with a quasi-comical word … Continue reading The 1975/1976 Topps Marvel Super Hero Stickers
IRON MAN was quietly becoming a really good comic book back in 1979, a change that at once seemed both gradual and instantaneous. The creative team of writer David Michelinie, co-plotter and inker Bob Layton and penciler John Romita Jr. transplanted the character to the modern era, dispensing with a lot of the Cold War … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #121
It's tough to find a Marvel comic from this period that didn't feature any cover copy whatsoever, but this latest issue of FANTASTIC FOUR fit the bill. It probably could have used some, honestly, if only to contextualize what the FF were fighting. But it's a nice action piece either way. And I didn't need … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #205
DEFENDERS from here on out was rough sledding for a very long time, and I'm surprised that my younger self stuck with it for as long as he did, especially since I had no problem dropping other books that I wasn't enjoying. (Well, in some cases. I bought GHOST RIDER for years too, for reasons … Continue reading BHOC: DEFENDERS #70
I turned twelve years old around this time, and while I don't especially remember anything about that event, there were two other things that happened in that same week that I'll never forget. I first saw an advertisement for the live action LEGENDS OF THE SUPERHEROES specials in one of my family's regular newspapers--we got … Continue reading BHOC: LEGENDS OF THE SUPERHEROES AND CAPTAIN AMERICA
It's pretty plain to see in retrospect that UNCANNY X-MEN was the best ongoing comic book series being produced during this time. It was in the middle of a run that's become legendary over time, the collaboration between Chris Claremont and John Byrne (with editor Roger Stern an important third leg of that triumvirate, and … Continue reading BHOC: UNCANNY X-MEN #120
If you were a kid growing up in the 1970s, then these Topps stickers are going to be familiar to you. These things were everywhere--stuck up in all manner of places by industrious kids who bought them either because they had a love for the Marvel Super Heroes of that period, or just because they … Continue reading The 1974/1975 Topps Marvel Super Heroes Stickers
This issue of MARVEL TALES reprinted the story where the series concluded its transition from the Silver Age into the Bronze Age. The book had been there for several months already at this point, with writer Gerry Conway taking over for Stan Lee. But this was the first issue in forever not illustrated by John … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #102
With a big Omnibus collecting all of them coming out any time, my mind has been drawn to the assorted authorized crossovers undertaken by rival companies Marvel and DC over the years. Some of those stories were triumphs, sagas that compared and contrasted the characters involved skillfully, and which were just crackerjack entertaining in their … Continue reading 5BC: Five Middling Marvel/DC Crossover Books
It was almost the end of the road for INVADERS, though I didn't know that at the time. But looking back, it seems almost inevitable. The artwork had been progressively getting less and less polished, and editor and series creator Roy Thomas had been letting other people write his baby. I can't imagine that the … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #39
The Tom Brevoort Experience 