My appreciation for this classic run of UNCANNY X-MEN kind of snuck up on me. Certainly, I liked it as a title from the start, and followed it regularly. But I didn't separate it from the pack--it wasn't any more or less of note to me than AVENGERS or IRON MAN or HULK or whatever. … Continue reading BHOC: UNCANNY X-MEN #114
Now this was a cover that captured my attention immediately. Ever since, years before, I had first read FLASH #225 featuring Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash https://tombrevoort.com/2016/05/29/i-can-remember-the-rush-of-adrenaline-when-i-came/ I had been fascinated by evil twins, dark doppelganger versions of the main hero. And I wasn't the only one apparently, as this particular ersatz Thor would turn … Continue reading BHOC: THOR #276
I picked up another issue of MARVEL TALES on my latest weekly jaunt to the local 7-11, the ongoing reprint series re-presenting stories from earlier issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. This one, though, was a double reprint. You see, in order to pick up some time on the schedule, new ASM writer Gerry Conway had decided … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #96
After the success of the two-volume X-MEN COMPANION project proved it to be a profitable venture that helped to underwrite some of Fantagraphics other more high-minded publications, the company looked around for similar things that could be done that might likewise bring in some operating capital. By this point, the earlier amicable relationship with Marvel … Continue reading FOCUS ON JOHN BYRNE
I still had a real liking for INVADERS and these all-new tales of Marvel's earliest super hero characters set back during the era in which they were initially conceived, World War II. But around this time, my enthusiasm for the series began to wane a little bit, for reasons I wouldn't have been able to … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #33
Continuing our look at the first regular issue of MARVELMANIA Magazine, the fan publication put out by the short-lived fan club and merchandising operation of the same name back in 1970. This is a page from the story "Melvin and the Monster" penciled and inked by Tom Palmer and originally intended for publication in SILVER … Continue reading MARVELMANIA Magazine #1, Part Two
The week's trip to the 7-11 on Thursday for the new releases brought me this latest issue of INCREDIBLE HULK, a title whose purchase I had picked up from my younger brother Ken. But by this point, it was simply a regular part of my monthly purchases, and so any thought of it being something … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #228
For the final interview in THE X-MEN COMPANION, interviewer Peter Sanderson looks to the future, for what is poised to be an extremely eventful couple of months for Marvel's mutant heroes. He speaks at length with both Chris Claremont and X-MEN editor Louise Jones (better known as Louise Simonson today) concerning a variety of upcoming … Continue reading THE X-MEN COMPANION #2: Chris Claremont and Louise Jones (Simonson) Interview
Next we come to a somewhat seminal issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, the story in which Peter Parker finally graduates from college. Peter had begun his sojourn in Higher Education back in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #31 in 1965, so writer/editor Marv Wolfman may have thought that it was time to move his life ahead a bit. In … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #185
In 1953, after an absence on the newsstands of four years, Martin Goodman resurrected his company's three big successful super hero characters from the 1940s; Captain America, the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. By all accounts, this decision to bring back these heroes appears to be in response to the strong reaction the new ADVENTURES … Continue reading The Last Sub-Mariner Story (of the 1950s)
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