Quality Comics was one of the best publishers during the Golden Age of Comics, and true to their name, the quality level of all of their titles was high. In part, this was due to the fact that Will Eisner did editorial work for the early Quality line and helped to innovate a number of … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: MILITARY COMICS #1 and the Death Patrol
Here's another classic old newspaper story related to comic books, this one from the Burlington Free Press edition released on November 2, 1965 and concerning the famous (in the world of comic books) Rutland, Vermont annual Halloween parade which was every year filled with marchers in super hero costumes. The parade (and subsequent Halloween party) … Continue reading Halloween Encounter With Dr. Strange and Plastic Man
In the early 1940s, as a myriad of would-be publishers heard about the overwhelming success of Superman nd rushed into the marketplace offering their own get-rich-quick versions of a comic book super hero, the reality is that nobody quite understood just what factors made Superman work. And so, everything was tried, and creativity--both good and … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Most Unique Super Heroes of the Silver Age
As interest in comic books and super heroes began to grow in the 1960s, several fly-by-night companies attempted to get in on the action. One such organization was Super Comics, published by Israel Waldman. Waldman's M.O. was to try to make a buck as cheaply as possible, and so for his Super Comics output, he … Continue reading Brand Echh – Plastic Man #16
If there's one thing that DC has loved to do over the years, it's to explore strange story avenues and then abandon them. In some ways, that's become their history ever since CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS--it feels that you can't go but a few years anymore until everything you've read is thrown out and they … Continue reading 5BC: Would You Believe Five More Forgotten DC Retcons
As we spoke about earlier, the deaths of super hero characters didn't really become a thing until the 1960s, and didn't become an industry-wide trend until the 1980s. Nowadays, virtually every character has died and been resurrected at least once over the years, but back in the day, this was relatively unthinkable. The Comet was … Continue reading The Death of #711
The recent series I did on how reprinted Plastic Man stories were altered by the Comics Code got me thinking about when the last original Golden Age Plastic Man story might have been done. So I did some quick research, and now I present it for your entertainment. It was in PLASTIC MAN #52 cover-dated … Continue reading The Last Plastic Man Story
Finishing up our look at the three Plastic man stories reprinted in PLASTIC MAN #63 in 1956 after the advent of the Comics Code, and how they were edited and modified to pass muster so that they didn't destroy the moral foundations of society's youth the way the original printings had. Here's the final story, … Continue reading Your Comics Code at Work – Plastic Man #63 pt. 3
All three of the stories presented in PLASTIC MAN #63 in 1956 were reprints of earlier Plas adventures. And all three of them ran up against problems withe the relatively new Comics Code, requiring them to make revisions. Obviously, these revisions were imperative to prevent the sort of chaos and murder that was generated when … Continue reading Your Comics Code at Work – Plastic Man #63 pt 2
The Comics Code was introduced in 1955 and marked a sea change for the comic book industry. In an attempt to stave off concerns that comics were warping the young minds who were reading them (to say nothing of the minds of the many adults who would occasionally peruse one) the industry created the Comics … Continue reading Your Comics Code At Work – Plastic Man #63
The Tom Brevoort Experience 