I've always liked the concept of the mystery villain. The notion that there'd be some figure in a story who was pulling the strings and whose identity you might be able to work out if you were clever enough and could make sense of all the clues. This is pretty much the premise behind any … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #26
This new week also brought a new issue of IRON MAN, a series whose fortunes were improving by the issue. I've always really liked this cover, as it's a very simple concept with an almost visceral hook to it. And in a relatively rare move for the period, it's devoid of any cover copy explaining … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #118
By the fifth issue of Fantaco's CHRONICLES series, the bloom was off the rose in terms of their relationship with Marvel and Editor in Chief Jim Shooter, and so access to materials and permissions had been severed. This would be the final issue of the magazine devoted to Marvel, although Fantaco would publish one more … Continue reading FANTACO CHRONICLES #5: Fred Hembeck interviews Roger Stern
The next week, a new issue of FANTASTIC FOUR was released, thus reassuring me that my having missed the much-coveted issue #200 was a fluke. This was during the period when a new Fantastic Four cartoon series was running on NBC on Saturday Mornings--this was the version that replaced the Human Torch with HERBIE the … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #202
It's interesting how time will change your perspective on something. When this run of UNCANNY X-MEN was coming out, nobody reading it thought that they were following a stint that would become an acknowledged classic. As a reader, I knew that I liked the series, but if you'd asked me then, I don't think it … Continue reading BHOC: UNCANNY X-MEN #117
In the space of just a few issues, I had really connected with NOVA. From the original house ads that I had seen and the name of the series, I had assumed at first that it was some science fiction thing, like JOHN CARTER, WARLORD OF MARS, in which I'd have little interest. But when … Continue reading BHOC: NOVA #23
This was the last issue of STRANGE TALES that I had gotten in the box of Silver Age comics that made up my Windfall purchase in 1988. As we've spoken about before, the series felt more and more like an afterthought, one that simply wasn't as important to the line as books like FANTASTIC FOUR, … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #129
I'd been waiting for this one, the second half of the Death of Gwen Stacy storyline, a saga that was already legendary by 1978 when I first got to read it. With Stan Lee having retired from scripting AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, incoming writer Gerry Conway and plotter and artist John Romita were looking to do something … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #99
This week brought a new issue of INVADERS to the spinner rack in my local 7-11, a series that I was still quite a fan of, even though its quality had been dipping in recent months. Artist Frank Robbins had departed the title, and despite the fact that many fans of the era would cheer … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #36
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, INCREDIBLE HULK went through a consistent pattern with me: it would start with some storyline that I was interested in, then segue into a bunch of issues that left me cold, to the point where I'd be on the verge of dropping it, then a story would come along … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #231
The Tom Brevoort Experience 