Lee & Kirby: The Mystery of FANTASTIC FOUR #6

In an article printed in THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #61, a writer by the name of Michael Breen makes the assertion that FANTASTIC FOUR #6 had not only been penciled and largely plotted by Jack Kirby, but the final lettered script was written by Jack as well. This was at a point before the Marvel … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Mystery of FANTASTIC FOUR #6 →

BHOC: GODZILLA #8

My brother Ken was a fan of monster movies. Whenever Channel 7's 4:30 movie would cycle around to monster week, he'd be there, glued to the set. For me, they didn't do much, but for him, they were of great interest. So it's no great surprise to me that he wound up buying this issue … Continue reading BHOC: GODZILLA #8 →

BHOC: DAREDEVIL #151

I had fallen into becoming a regular reader of DAREDEVIL based on the two previous issues of the title and the stories reprinted in SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS, so when this new issue arrived at my local 7-11, I snatched it up unhesitatingly. At the time, DAREDEVIL was a title in transition, though … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #151 →

Your Comics Code at Work: ASTONISHING #50

Saw this one over at the very fine blog http://marvelsilverage.blogspot.com/ and I thought it was worth showing to a wider audience. On the right is the cover to ASTONISHING #50, published by Timely/Atlas/Marvel in 1956. And on the left is its UK reprinting in Alan Class's CREEPY WORLDS--except there, they shot from the uncorrected original … Continue reading Your Comics Code at Work: ASTONISHING #50 →

BHOC: X-MEN #100

Finally, we come to the last comic that I bought on that fateful first trip to a comic book store--the Heroes World in Levittown. I had only just begun reading X-MEN, but this was both an issue #100 (which I already understood to be a milestone issue regardless of the title) and also had the … Continue reading BHOC: X-MEN #100 →

BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #67, 68 & 69

Continuing to go through the comics I bought during my first trip to my very first comic book store, the Heroes World outlet in Levittown, I also grabbed up these three consecutive issues of MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS. These were the rest of the story begin in issue #66, which I'd previously bought and represented good … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #67, 68 & 69 →

5BC: The Five Best Comic Books of 1989

1989 was the year in which I entered the field, so this will be the final installment of this topic, as I don't think it's possible to be objective past this point. Grant Morrison begins his revelatory run on DOOM PATROL by hearkening back to the earliest stories and remembering that these characters are more … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Best Comic Books of 1989 →

More On Color Separations – AVENGERS #10 and FANTASTIC FOUR #110

As a brief follow-up to the earlier post concerning the 3M cover proof, I've got a pair of examples to show here that may make understanding how the three primary colors were mixed to make the 64 available colors for printing back in the 1960s and 1970s. Here, I've got two examples where, for a … Continue reading More On Color Separations – AVENGERS #10 and FANTASTIC FOUR #110 →

BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #24

At this point, you'd be right to detect a pattern here. We're still talking about the comics I purchased during my very first visit to my very first comic book shop, Heroes World in Levittown. I had bought the earliest issues of FANTASTIC FOUR and FLASH that I could manage, and so I turned my … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #24 →

BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #51

As I mentioned earlier, my first trip to an actual comic book store, a Heroes World outlet in Levittown, was a huge game-changing event for me. On the way there, I had intended to purchase the earliest issue of FANTASTIC FOUR that they had. This plan was foiled when the oldest FF issue they had … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #51 →