It's been bettered but never equaled, the granddaddy of all inter-company crossovers. At a time when a comic book featuring Superman and rival Spider-Man sharing the same pages was a positively shocking idea, this enormous tabloid spent its 100 pages synthesizing the narrative styles of both the DC and Marvel house approaches into a single … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Marvel/DC Crossovers
Another instant masterwork from the typewriter of Alan Brennert, this issue of BRAVE AND THE BOLD brings the story of the original Batman of the 1930s and 40s (i.e. the Earth-2 model) to a satisfying and emotional conclusion, as he finds his soulmate in Selina Kyle as the two battle the Scarecrow. As usual, Brennert … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Best Comic Books of 1983
Another reprint title, also purchased at my local 7-11. I can remember coming home with it, stopping off at a friend's house along the way. As MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS reprinted classic Fantastic Four stories, it was a no-brainer for me to pick up; at this moment, FANTASTIC FOUR was probably my favorite comic book, a … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #75
It seems appropriate, though a fluke, to be talking about this issue of MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION on this weekend, when the AVENGERS: ENDGAME film is shattering box office records worldwide. Having edited AVENGERS for far longer than anyone else, it's all pretty relevant to me--back in the day, when Stan Lee would facetiously talk about … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #39
I think it's fair to say that, as a series, the original run of INCREDIBLE HULK was troubled. It wrapped up after a mere six issues, and had Stan Lee and Jack Kirby not had a creator's affection for the character and started using him in the pages of AVENGERS and other titles, it's doubtful … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Unused INCREDIBLE HULK #4 Pages
The first entry in Marvel's line of European-style albums, released under the sobriquet "Marvel Graphic Novels", THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL remains as effective and affecting today as it was when it was first published. A good deal of that is down to the subject matter, which sees the titular Mar-Vell dying not in battle … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1982
The early Marvel titles are filled with all manner of mysteries, large and small. The greatest of these concern who among the various contributors were they key creative minds behind the success of the imprint--and that's a conversation that I don't think is ever going to abate, given that every faction has their own favorites … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ditko: The Minor Mystery of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #8
There was another 7-11 in my local area, one that was further away than my regular haunt and which was in a more secluded out-of-the-way area. So it was a place that I didn't go to regularly, but every once-in-a-while I might find myself there. It was definitely a place that I would check if … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #149
This one's one of the more memorable early Marvel comic books that I bought and read. So much so that it's another book where for some reason my younger brother Ken later bought his own copy. As I've mentioned here before, the Marvel of 1977 was having a tough time making its deadlines, leading to … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #24
I continued, as opportunity and funds allowed, to explore the Marvel characters whose exploits I had enjoyed in the SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS volume I had read at my local library. The next of these that I picked up was DAREDEVIL, here celebrating his landmark 150th issue. This was a pretty decent place … Continue reading BHOC: DAREDEVIL #150
