As the potential audience for comic books opened up in the early 1980s with the rise and advent of the direct sales market, it wasn't just young new would-be publishers who noticed. Some of the most established firms were just as aware of this new venue, and they geared up to enter it. One of … Continue reading Brand Echh: The Fly #1
The above Rich Buckler cover is something I didn't get to see back in the 1970s. That's because, like other books I've been covering here recently, I got BLACK LIGHTNING #1 in one of the bundles of coverless comics that my local Drug Store chain had begun to sell in lieu of their Big Bin … Continue reading BHOC: BLACK LIGHTNING #1
I must confess, it feels a bit odd to be doing another piece on DEMON HUNTER #1 after having featured it in a Brand Echh segment here: https://tombrevoort.com/2020/12/31/brand-echh-demon-hunter-1/ But it would have been the next comic book that I picked up, and so I'll need to remain true to the self-imposed rules of this feature. … Continue reading BHOC: DEMON HUNTER #1
I dutifully picked up this next issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, one of my favorite titles when I was even younger than I was at its time of release. But since the departure of writer Steve Englehart, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA was going through something of a slump--new author Gerry Conway was crafting solid … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #156
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
We've talked about CHARLTON PREMIERE in the past. It was Charlton's attempt at a SHOWCASE-style series that would debut a different character or concept every issue. A try-out comic, in other words. No series that appeared in CHARLTON PREMIERE ever graduated into its own book, but a few of the stories are noteworthy in some … Continue reading Brand Echh: Charlton Premiere #3
Over the years, DC Comics (mostly while still operating under the name National) would occasionally buy out the rights to characters and titles from other publishers who had either gone out of business or were about to. This is how the original Captain Marvel and his family, Plastic Man, G.I. COMBAT, YOUNG ROMANCE, the Blackhawks … Continue reading 5BC: Five Characters Marvel “Adopted”
I've written here before of the short-lived Atlas Comics line of titles that appeared for a brief year in 1975 before vanishing without a ripple. But just to recount the basics for newcomers: after Martin Goodman sold Marvel to Cadence Industries, his expectation was that his son Chip, whom he'd been grooming for the role … Continue reading Brand Echh – Demon Hunter #1
I hadn't really been wowed by the previous issues of DEFENDERS that I had sampled, so I don't know what made me pick this one up on my regular weekly trip to the 7-11, apart from it possibly being a small week for new comics and me thinking about how much better AVENGERS got once … Continue reading BHOC: DEFENDERS #60
The year 1977 had given way to 1978, and in the first days of the new month, the mailman arrived with another subscription copy of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA for me. I would end up with two copies of this issue--a few weeks later I'd be having a birthday, and as a gift my friend … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #153
