UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN was the series that brought me to the attention of fandom, the first truly successful title that I worked on, at least from a critical standpoint. And this didn't have so much to do with me as it did Kurt Busiek and Pat Olliffe, the creative team that produced most of … Continue reading Personal Best: UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1, 1996
There was a bit of a stigma attached to Marvel's regular reprint titles among at least the comic book readers in my community in the 1970s--despite the fact that we all bought and read them. That's because we wanted to experience the stories. But the prevailing wisdom at the time was that these reprints were … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #73
The place where i regularly bought my comic books on a weekly basis was a 7-11 in the center of town. It was close enough to home that even at a young age, I was able to bike there regularly. This led me to work out that new comic books were put out on Thursday, … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #12
In the late 1970s, things were not looking good for the comic book industry in general or for Marvel in particular. As "mom & pop" stores were steadily replaced by large chain outlets such as 7-11, the venues for comic book sales continued to dwindle. Comics were a small-margin business, and even those places that … Continue reading PIZZAZZ #1
This issue of THOR was another book that came to me inside a plastic 3-Bag along with two other comics, likely ones we've already covered. I had started to follow THOR by this point, although I was still a bit ambivalent about it. As I've said before, it still felt too much like a barbarian … Continue reading BHOC: THOR #264
As Dave Lister explains to Arnold Rimmer in an early episode of the British science fiction comedy series RED DWARF, "Death isn't the handicap it used to be." Today, it's a given that, in the world of super heroes, death is, at worst, a revolving door, and any character who breathes his or her last … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Silver Age Character Deaths
By now, I imagine that you all know the drill here: this was another book that I got in a 3-Bag purchased from either a department store's toy section, or a toy store proper. SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN was very much a series without a mission statement in these early days (apart from selling more Spider-Man comic … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #11
In the latest issue of the fantastic magazine THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR published by TwoMorrows Publications (and available at this link: ) https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_57&products_id=1562&zenid=b1816d55c0c77183a6dd6e0571fa38f5 ...writer and comics historian Will Murray contributes a piece taking a closer look at INCREDIBLE HULK #1. Murray's contention is that the character of the Hulk originally had a different name, which … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Mysteries of INCREDIBLE HULK #1
Here we go, yet another book that I bought in a 3-Bag at either a department store or a toy store, and definitely the reason why I would have picked up the 3-Bag in question. FANTASTIC FOUR was by this point my favorite comic book series, and so an opportunity to get in on this … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #73
One of the things that I tell people when we're talking about the history of Marvel Comics is that one of the amazing things about what those earlier pioneers created is the fact that, if you wait long enough, even the failures become successes. It was true of the Hulk, it was true of the … Continue reading WC: TALES TO ASTONISH #37
The Tom Brevoort Experience 