5BC: Five Times DC Referenced Marvel Characters in Interesting Ways

We've been talking a lot about the unofficial crossovers between characters and the homages that were done. But beyond that, there's a whole other category of instances in which one company either appropriated or parodied or referenced the characters of another. These instances tended to take many different forms--there was one memorable instance, for example, … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times DC Referenced Marvel Characters in Interesting Ways →

BHOC: CAPTAIN AMERICA #221

I bought this issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA on my regular weekly trip to the 7-11 on New Comics Thursday, as I had the previous two issues. As we'll see, this was a bit of a patchwork issue, the result of pages not being completed in time for the prior one. Marvel was having shipping difficulties … Continue reading BHOC: CAPTAIN AMERICA #221 →

BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #180

I bought this, my second regular issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN on one of my regular weekly Thursday trips to the spinner rack at the 7-11. I had started following the wall-crawler's adventures the previous month but I was still somehow a bit lukewarm on them. It wasn't until I wound up buying a copy of … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #180 →

BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #55

This was another book that came out of the drugstore's Big Bin of Affidavit Return Comics and the first point when I learned that before it had featured the Hulk exclusively, MARVEL SUPER-HEROES had been split between the Green Goliath and the Sub-Mariner just as TALES TO ASTONISH had been years before. More than anything, … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #55 →

BHOC: CAPTAIN MARVEL #40

This issue of CAPTAIN MARVEL was another book that I got out of the drugstore's Big Bin of Slightly Older Comics, though this purchase didn't go quite so well. There was something about this comic that I didn't like, that made me vaguely queasy, and I traded it away the first opportunity that I got. … Continue reading BHOC: CAPTAIN MARVEL #40 →

BHOC: MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #25

Back at the drugstore, I pulled this book out of my usual haunt: their large bin of comics that had been reported destroyed, but which instead had been sold off the back of the truck. As I've talked about many times here, that bin was a welcome source of comics that I had missed for … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #25 →

BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #39

The next issue of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE turned up at my 7-11 this next week, with what would be the final chapter of a story that had been running for three issues now. This part is written by Roger Slifer, who had not worked on the preceding issues and it goes off in some strange directions--enough … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #39 →

BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #71

Pretty sure that this was another issue that was bought by my brother Ken. He continued to follow the Hulk's adventures regularly for a few months before his attention shifted elsewhere and I wound up picking up both the baton and the issues he'd already bought. It's another reprint of a nine-year-old story from 1969--throughout … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #71 →

5BC: Five Best Unofficial Marvel and DC Crossovers

As the 1960s turned into the 1970s, two things were going on in the world of comics. Upstart publisher Marvel was gaining ground on its rival, the massive DC Comics, then known as National Periodical Publications. And a new generation of creators was coming into the field, one that had grown up reading comics as … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Unofficial Marvel and DC Crossovers →

BHOC: INVADERS #28

Picked up INVADERS #28 from the 7-11 as usual. This one's got a rare Frank Robbins cover on it. Robbins' style was so divisive among the readership and so much on the very outskirts of what people thought that a Marvel comic should look like that they rarely allowed him to do covers for the … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #28 →