SHOWCASE was a bit of an institution in the latter half of the 1950s and the 1960s. It was a series that birthed a great number of characters and series that would go on to star in their own titles. It was the experimental laboratory in which DC tested out new ideas for comic books, … Continue reading WC: SHOWCASE #39
There was no question for the first bunch of years after it launched that PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN was, at best, a secondary title. While it contained adventures of the popular wall-crawler, it wasn't the book that was driving the character's narrative. At best, it was operating around the fringes, and at worst it … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #20
Here's another book that came into my hands through parlay with my grade school friend Donald Sims. And boy, you can't imagine a cover on a comic today having such an overt plug for a film not connected in any way with the publisher. But in the 1970s, it was fine, all part of the … Continue reading BHOC: PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #2
This issue of MARVEL TEAM-UP was yet another book that I got from my comic reading grade school friend Don Sims. And it was a weird issue of MARVEL TEAM-UP as well, the concluding chapter to a four-part saga the rest of which I wouldn't read for many years, and which is about as far … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TEAM-UP #44
Even with the limited output allowed to them under the terms of their distribution deal with Independent News (which only permitted the Marvel of the 1960s to release a certain number of titles every month), Marvel often ran into situations where the talent they had on hand in order to complete everything wasn't enough. During … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Everett & Grandinetti & Friends – The Messy Story of Tales to Astonish #84
The regular INCREDIBLE HULK television series debuted on Friday, March 10, 1978, the week before I would have bought this issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN at my regular 7-11 haunt. This was another one of those issues where my younger brother Ken would eventually pick up his own copy as well. He was also a lot … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #181
A post from my old Marvel blog concerning early Marvel titles that I purchased which didn't hook me as a reader. Bad Comics I Bought pt. 3 April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General Continuing our week-long survey of Marvel issues I purchased as a young child which put me … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – Bad Comics I Bought Part 3
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
Just as with DC, Marvel also had a history of introducing new super heroic characters in the pages of their stories. Some of these went on to long and storied careers. Others faded after only a few, or even one, appearances. Here are the five best forgotten Marvel heroes. RAZORBACK: The creation of writer Bill … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Forgotten Marvel Heroes
By the late 1960s, a whole new niche market had opened up on the newsstand for comics. That was the niche of the black and white magazine, a format primarily pioneered by Warren Publications but one that almost every publisher and would-be publisher would experiment with. The great value in producing a black and white … Continue reading Brand Echh – Hell-Rider #1
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