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 a post that you can credit (or blame) entirely to Mark Waid. Mark sent me these two old Quality Comics releases with instructions to read a particular story inside each one. And now I'll share that story with all of you--another example of how the Comics Code of America was protecting the corruptible youth … Continue reading Your Comics Code at Work: LOVE SECRETS #48
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
We've talked about Quicksilver in the past, and how this perennial back-page filler for Quality Comics' NATIONAL COMICS was brought back decades later by writer Mark Waid in the pages of FLASH and transformed into a virtually new character, Max Mercury. Quicksilver had never been a headliner, but he was a reliable supporting player, and … Continue reading The Last Quicksilver Story
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
Quicksilver was one of the many second banana super heroes who profligated throughout the Golden Age of Comics, filling up the back pages of assorted anthology titles and providing thrills but not being so memorable or distinct that they ever became stars themselves. Occasionally, one of these back-page crime-busters would break out and become a … Continue reading The First Quicksilver Story
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
This one's a little bit of a cheat, as the story I'm about to share with you doesn't concern Robotman, Elasti-Girl or negative man in any way, nor does it have any direct relevance on the World's Strangest Heroes apart from the similarity of name. But as the Doom Patrol's creators seemed to take inspiration … Continue reading The First Doom Patrol
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
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 Tom Brevoort Experience 