One of the new mainstay players in the emerging Direct Sales market comprised of comic book specialty stories in the 1980s was First Comics. An outfit out of Chicago, First boasted an initial eclectic line-up but slowly and surely crystalized into a reliable player in the field. Debuting in 1982, among the series First published … Continue reading FSC: E-MAN #2
Having dedicated themselves to making strides within the new Direct Sales marketplace, an arena in which Marvel had up to this point been overwhelmingly outselling pretty much everybody, DC produced a number of issues of DC SAMPLER, an overview and preview of their line intended to be given out at comic book specialty stores across … Continue reading DC SAMPLER #3
E-MAN #4 was another issue of the series that came into my possession sealed within one of the plastic 3-Bags of reissued classic Charlton releases put out by Modern Comics in the late 1970s and sold in discount department stores, supermarkets and the like. There was a feeling of these books being a bit "off-brand" … Continue reading BHOC: E-MAN #4
E-MAN was definitely popular with somebody who was making the selections for what to reprint as part of the Modern Comics 3-Bag offerings that would be distributed through discount department stores and supermarkets. Of the ten-issue run of the series, six of them were reissued by Modern, albeit in a haphazard order. I really think … Continue reading BHOC: E-MAN #3
This first issue of E-MAN was another book among the second batch of releases put out by Modern Comics in plastic 3-Bags that were sold in discount department stores and supermarkets and similar outlets. They were somewhat like off-brand comic books, and they pulled from Charlton releases from more than a decade, cherry-picking the most … Continue reading BHOC: E-MAN #1
Here we are with the third and final segment of this behind-the-scenes instructional booklet about making comic books produced by Charlton and sold by direct mail order only (though it was also offered as a subscription premium.) These descriptions of the various types of comic book stories are a bit funny in just how far … Continue reading The Comic Book Guide For The Artist-Writer-Letterer 3
Continuing our review and presentation of the Comic Book Guide For The Artist-Writer-Letterer which was produced by Charlton in 1973 and sold by direct order only (It was also offered as a freebie if you subscribed to any Charlton titles) These days, I would advocate for no more than 25 words per balloon, rather than … Continue reading The Comic Book Guide For The Artist-Writer-Letterer 2
In 1973, there was a growing segment of comic book fandom made up of people who aspired to enter the field themselves. A number had already crossed that threshold in the later 1960s, but the floodgates were thrown open wide in the early 1970s--for all that the field was in pretty bad shape and getting … Continue reading The Comic Book Guide For The Artist-Writer-Letterer
Another batch of vintage photographs of comic book creators taken in years past. As usual, there are a number of these that revolve around Stan Lee, probably the most photographed creator of the era. Roy Thomas wearing the first Spider-Man personal appearance costume at a comic convention in 1966 A sleepy Herb Trimpe in the … Continue reading Comics Creators in the Wild 5
One more book from the Modern Comics 3-Bags reprinting vintage Charlton releases, VENGEANCE SQUAD was very much of a kind with a lot of Charlton’s output during the 1970s: it resembled a low-budget television show, it lacked in personality and individuality, and it was a bit shoddy and dull. The key thing that got it … Continue reading BHOC: VENGEANCE SQUAD #6
The Tom Brevoort Experience 