5BC: Five Middling Marvel/DC Crossover Books

With a big Omnibus collecting all of them coming out any time, my mind has been drawn to the assorted authorized crossovers undertaken by rival companies Marvel and DC over the years. Some of those stories were triumphs, sagas that compared and contrasted the characters involved skillfully, and which were just crackerjack entertaining in their … Continue reading 5BC: Five Middling Marvel/DC Crossover Books

BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #175

One more comic book that came to me in a plastic 3-Bag bought at either a toy store or a department store. It has a very typical cover for the era, one in which all of the characters have word or thought balloons explaining everything that is going on, and on which the hero is … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #175

BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #162

I had passed up this issue and the one prior to it, also featuring Nightcrawler, in my drugstore's Big Bin of Slightly Older Comics on several occasions. But eventually, having become more enamored of the new X-Men I went in search of the two. But by that time, whatever copies of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #161 there … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #162

5BC: Five Times Marvel Misappropriated Characters

Most long-running comic book companies, if they're in business for long enough and have a wide enough diversity of creators working on their releases, reach a point at which those creators begin to pull inspiration for their stories and characters from other media. Comics in general have a long history of reflecting the trends of … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times Marvel Misappropriated Characters

5BC: Five Best Marvel/DC Crossovers

It's been bettered but never equaled, the granddaddy of all inter-company crossovers. At a time when a comic book featuring Superman and rival Spider-Man sharing the same pages was a positively shocking idea, this enormous tabloid spent its 100 pages synthesizing the narrative styles of both the DC and Marvel house approaches into a single … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Marvel/DC Crossovers