Like with ACTION COMICS, I had also taken a three-month hiatus from buying SUPERMAN. I don't really remember why--possibly a feeling that my money was better spent on other titles. So there was a little gap in my collection. But as off-handedly as I left, I returned right as 1978 was on the way out, … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #333
This was the second issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN that came in the SUPERHERO GIFT PACK that I was given for Christmas in 1978. This was another issue where I had read the concluding chapter already, so this set-up part was just a little bit perfunctory. This was the issue that introduced the Rocket Racer, a … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #172
This was the first of two issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN that was in the SUPERHERO GIFT PACK that I received for Christmas in 1978. It was also the second half of a two-part story, but one that had begun in a different title entirely. Unless I miss my guess, this is the first time when … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #171
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
The Tom Brevoort Experience 