BHOC: THE SPIRIT #18

As I talked about yesterday, this was the second of two magazine-sized issues of THE SPIRIT that I got for Christmas 1978, ordered out of the Superhero Merchandise catalog. And like yesterday's issue, this one offered a batch of classic Will Eisner Spirit stories from the long-running Newspaper circular that had run in the Golden … Continue reading BHOC: THE SPIRIT #18

Brand Echh: Quack #1

For a hot moment in the mid-1970s, it seemed as though funny animal comics were poised to make a comeback. A lot of this interest stemmed from the huge demand for HOWARD THE DUCK #1, which drove up the back issue prices of that issue. Nobody yet entirely realized how manipulation at the distributor level … Continue reading Brand Echh: Quack #1

Forgotten Masterpiece: THE SPIRIT #30

Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT is rightly hailed as one of the masterpiece comic series of all time. Between 1940 and 1952, Eisner and his studio of assistants produced a weekly comic book as a newspaper insert, as a hedge for newspapers against the growing readership of comic books. While the lead character of the Spirit … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: THE SPIRIT #30

Brand Echh: Vanguard Illustrated #7

One of the areas in which the nascent Pacific Comics publishing firm made some unexpected inroads was with a series of comics devoted primarily to horror and science fiction themes--titles in keeping with the well-regarded EC books of the past. Nobody else was quite doing this material in this fashion, and certainly nobody else was … Continue reading Brand Echh: Vanguard Illustrated #7

5BC: Five Best Comics of 1987

The entirety of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's BATMAN: YEAR ONE story was must reading, and this final installment wrapped the story up beautifully--a story more of hard-boiled cop Jim Gordon than really of Batman (who doesn't appear in costume all that much throughout it. ) Mazzucchelli channels the best attributes of Alex Toth in … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1987