Back at Christmas 1978, I was working my way through the fourth and latest release in the ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS line of Trade Paperbacks from Simon & Schuster: THE SUPERHERO WOMEN. This book was a bit more of a mixed bag than the earlier ones and relied more on material that was more contemporary--the … Continue reading BHOC: THE SUPERHERO WOMEN
The first DC SAMPLER must have proven to be a success, because for the next couple of issues, DC did it again--producing a free comic book-sized magazine promoting all of their upcoming series. You can really see that the switch-over to what DC would become was in full swing by this point, and there's a … Continue reading DC SAMPLER #2
Over the years, both Marvel and DC have built up a steady stream of ancillary income by licensing out their characters for what are known as "custom comics"--comics dedicated to promoting a company, a perspective or an ideal (or sometimes a specific product or individual.) These books are produced to-order for the client, meaning that … Continue reading The Amazing Spider-Man vs The Prodigy
Well, it had happened again: I had missed an issue of a beloved comic book series, this time THE FLASH. While my ardor for it had cooled somewhat as my attention was taken up with my exploration of the Marvel Universe, the character and the book remained a sentimental favorite. But in recent months, my … Continue reading BHOC: THE FLASH #270
A good deal away from my family's home in Farmingville was the Sun-Vet Mall, situated at the intersection of Sunrise Highway and Veteran's Highway. It was too distant to be any sort of regular shopping destination for my parents, but they did wind up going there occasionally despite the distance--there must have been some specific … Continue reading BHOC: FLASH #179
Next we come to a somewhat seminal issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, the story in which Peter Parker finally graduates from college. Peter had begun his sojourn in Higher Education back in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #31 in 1965, so writer/editor Marv Wolfman may have thought that it was time to move his life ahead a bit. In … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #185
If there was a super hero title during the Silver Age of Comics that organized comic book fandom just didn't care for, then WONDER WOMAN was that series. Year after year, it would be voted the title most in need of improvement, its silly and often hallucinatory stories not really appealing to the slightly-older fan … Continue reading WC: WONDER WOMAN #107
Fifth grade had just ended and I was staring down the pleasant runway of a well-cherished multi-month vacation from schoolwork. As anybody who has grown up knows--and statistics show that most of you readers fit that category--nothing was more welcome for a kid than the prospect of a long summer vacation ahead. A time without … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #184
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
Among the more memorable strips DC launched during the Silver Age of Comics was Metal Men. The brainchild of writer Robert Kanigher and artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, the Metal Men was a team of robots, each one crafted out of a particular element, who battled super-scientific menaces under the direction of their creator, … Continue reading WC: SHOWCASE #40
The Tom Brevoort Experience 