So after last week's piece on STRANGE TALES #103 where we tried to work out who might have been behind the story therein, Larry Lieber or Jack Kirby, I received, as you'd expect, a lot of pushback from the "Everything Kirby" contingent, who believe that Jack did at least 100% of all of the stories … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Lieber & Hartley & Sinnott: Examining JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #89, 90 & 91
I believe that it's inarguable that, when it comes to the creation of the early stories and characters of the Marvel Universe, Jack Kirby was for many years denied his rightful due, reduced to the level of a mere penciler of other people's stories and ideas. Clearly, Kirby was more than that--he was an equal … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Provenance of STRANGE TALES #103
I had skipped the last couple of issues of PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, having come to the conclusion that the series was relatively superfluous to the life of Marvel's wall-crawling hero. The stories were mostly fine, but nothing of any particular consequence seemed to happen in them, I can recall looking at both issues … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #25
It must have been becoming clear to editor Stan Lee that the quirky back-up strip that he'd let artist Steve Ditko introduce was growing in popularity among the readership. So while it would still be several months before Doctor Strange would headline a STRANGE TALES cover all on his own, he had gone from carrying … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #121
It was immediately apparent once the trio of writer David Micheline, penciler John Romita Jr. and inker/co-plotter Bob Layton came on board the series over the course of two months that something good was beginning to happen in IRON MAN. The series had, for a long while, been a bit out of step with the … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #117
So this next week was the moment it all hit home--when FANTASTIC FOUR #201 turned up on the spinner rack at my local 7-11 and I had to face the fact that I had indeed missed the double-sized anniversary issue of my favorite series, the culmination to a year-long story arc and a book that … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #201
Here's a very nice cover to JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY that features Wally Wood inking Jack Kirby's cover pencils. Kirby and Wood didn't really get to work together much during the Marvel Age--Wood was way too valuable as a penciler in his own right, given that he was capable of plotting as well, a skill set … Continue reading WC: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #122
Continuing on our survey of the fourth and final issue of FOOM, Marvel's fan club magazine, put together by Jim Steranko. As was pointed out in the comments, this cover image was done by Jack Kirby for a Marvelmania poster, not by Steranko at all. It's pretty impressive that, at a time when Kirby was … Continue reading FOOM #4, Part Two
The release of this issue of X-MEN represented something of an existential crisis for me. You see, I had somehow missed the previous issue, #115, which was unthinkable to me. What's more, I had dutifully gone to the 7-11 every single week on Thursday in-between when #114 came out and when #116 dropped. I wasn't … Continue reading BHOC: UNCANNY X-MEN #116
The Tom Brevoort Experience 