Among the other comic books that I borrowed from my grade school friend Donald Sims in order to read them was WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #200. I was interested in it mostly due to my understanding of how centennial issues were managed: they always contained a seminal story for the series involved, and so they were … Continue reading BC: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #200
This issue of FANTASTIC FOUR, #31, was another book that I got in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988, in which I wound up buying a long box of about 150 Silver Age comics for the dirt-cheap price of $50.00. I had read this story previously in its later MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS reprinting, but it … Continue reading WC: FANTASTIC FOUR #31
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
It was a sad reality of the 1970s that for most of that decade, IRON MAN was a book that just wasn't very good. Today he's at the forefront of worldwide consciousness about Marvel thanks to Robert Downey Jr's performance as Tony Stark in the films--but in the 1970s, his series trundled along, a lower-middle … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #81
One of the more overlooked pioneers of what would come to be called the Direct Sales comic book market was Mike Friedrich. He'd started his career as a writer for DC and Marvel, among others, and eventually became first Marvel's first executive in charge of Direct Sales and thereafter an artists representative. But in-between, he … Continue reading Brand Echh: Star Reach #1
This was another book that I bought at Bush's Hobbies, the hole-in-the-wall collectibles store that had a good stock of vintage comic book back issues, and which was not all that far from my home. I picked up this issue because I was interested in reading the Origin of the Justice League, one of the … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #97
With the sheer number of stories published about some of the characters, it's a wonder that there aren't more stories that feature developments that don't work, don't stick or are simply just plain weird. Here, then, are five more forgotten Marvel story developments. THE FALCON IS REALLY "SNAP" WILSON, LOWLIFE. CAPTAIN AMERICA #186 - There's … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Forgotten Marvel Story Developments
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
Another similar thing that I did during my first trip to my very first comic book shop, Heroes World in Levittown, was to buy the oldest issue of THE FLASH that I could. As with FANTASTIC FOUR, there were some older releases on the wall--I seem to recall that SHOWCASE #13 with its pirate torpedo … Continue reading BHOC: FLASH #158
The Tom Brevoort Experience 