BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #237

This issue of INCREDIBLE HULK was another comic book that my household owned two copies of growing up. As had happened in the past, for some reason my younger brother Ken bought himself a copy of this issue at some point after I'd gotten mine. This may have simply been an opportunistic purchase on his … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #237

BHOC: AVENGERS #185

This next issue of AVENGERS was the first part of a well-remembered storyline--not so much for the plot per se as for the revelations it set up for prominent Avengers Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch about their lineage. It's worth setting the table a little bit, though. When they were introduced, Wanda and Pietro were … Continue reading BHOC: AVENGERS #185

BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #53

And now we come to what is generally regarded as the strongest period in the 100-issue run of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE's history. With this newest issue, #53, the six-part Project: PEGASUS Saga kicked off, signaling the arrival of the writing team of Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio. Macchio had created the titular Project; PEGASUS for an … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #53

BHOC:INCREDIBLE HULK #236

I expect that I picked up this issue of INCREDIBLE HULK on my weekly bicycle trip down to my neighborhood 7-11 on Thursday afternoon, which is when the new comic books arrived back in those days. It was a series that I was following, more because it was a part of the larger Marvel Universe … Continue reading BHOC:INCREDIBLE HULK #236

5BC: Five Attempts to Replicate Spider-Man

It was clear early on that the most important and successful new super hero character introduced during the Silver Age of Comics was Spider-Man. The work that Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita had put into the series had paid dividends, and the wall-crawler was soon a worldwide icon able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder against … Continue reading 5BC: Five Attempts to Replicate Spider-Man

BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #235

He'd been teased over the course of the previous month, but this issue of INCREDIBLE HULK firmly brought Jack Kirby's creation Machine Man into the Marvel Universe proper. The character had debuted in the last couple of issues of Kirby's 2001 and possessed ties to the mythos of that film. But after 2001 had run … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #235

The Fifteen Best Projects That I Edited

So here's the sort of mental exercise that I undertake on days when I'm trying to ignore the larger world. I just recently celebrated my 35th Anniversary of being hired to work in Editorial at Marvel. Over the course of those 35 years, I've had the pleasure of working on a huge variety of projects. … Continue reading The Fifteen Best Projects That I Edited

Why Did The 1983 JLA/AVENGERS Crossover Not Happen?

The question came up again this week, prompting a bunch of discussion (often blaming one person in specific for perceived slights): why did the announced and eagerly-anticipated 1983 crossover book starring the Avengers and the Justice League of America never see print and remain uncompleted? There are a bunch of fan rumor and innuendo and … Continue reading Why Did The 1983 JLA/AVENGERS Crossover Not Happen?

Forgotten Masterpiece: The French TV Terror and the French Spider-Man

I've been meaning to write a little bit about these French-produced Spider-Man stories for a while, but when Newsletter reader Mark Bowen posted a link to this one, which he'd translated over on his blog, I thought that it was worth cross-posting. Mark's original post can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/french-spider-man-16-t-v-crazy-telejunior-1978-AdKR5nP The French publication TELEJunior had … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: The French TV Terror and the French Spider-Man

BHOC: UNCANNY X-MEN #120

It's pretty plain to see in retrospect that UNCANNY X-MEN was the best ongoing comic book series being produced during this time. It was in the middle of a run that's become legendary over time, the collaboration between Chris Claremont and John Byrne (with editor Roger Stern an important third leg of that triumvirate, and … Continue reading BHOC: UNCANNY X-MEN #120