The fannish desire for a unified field theory of fictional comic book universes is strong, and a fun game to play--especially when considering meetings between characters at rival publishing houses, characters who in all likelihood will never get to interact on the page (or at least not in the way the fans might desire.) Some … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Times Marvel Referenced DC Characters In Interesting Ways
I know that I bought this issue of MARVEL PREMIERE from out of my local drugstore's Bib Bin of Should Have Been Pulped Slightly Older Comics, but I really have no idea after all this time why I picked up this book. I wasn't really interested in all of the assorted monster titles that Marvel … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL PREMIERE #27
Throughout the 1970s and beyond, one of the foremost new genres in comics turned out to be sword and sorcery. Inspired by the paperback book sales of Conan and his ilk in the mid-1960s, Marvel licensed the character from the Robert E. Howard Estate. After a slow start, the series really took off in a … Continue reading The Coming of Crom!
It was the scourge of the decade, and virtually every comic book collector of the period experienced it on one occasion or another. You would go to your local newsstand outlet, drug store or convenience store that stocked a spinner rack, pick through it to find exciting new releases, then pay for your books and … Continue reading A Guide To Marvel’s Unannounced 1970s Reprint Issues
This obscure issue of Charlton's BLUE BEETLE series--not the version re-conceptualized by Steve Ditko but the earlier, super-powered version, seems like any other throw-away Charlton comic of the era--good for a few moments of entertainment, but not at all memorable for any particular reason. But this issue is noteworthy for being one of the earliest … Continue reading Brand Echh – Blue Beetle #54
This issue of INCREDIBLE HULK was another book that I got from my 5th and 6th grade friend Donald Sims. He was a sporadic source of issues that came out before I started reading, in particular Marvel titles, which was very valuable in these days before trips to back issue outlets became more common. This … Continue reading BHOC: INCREDIBLE HULK #176
Continuing on with more comics that I bought as back issues on my first trip to Bush's Hobbies in Ronkonkoma. I don't believe that I had any idea that INVADERS had debuted in a Giant-Size issue first, but when I came across this beauty in the bins, I had to have it. As I've said … Continue reading BHOC: GIANT-SIZE INVADERS #1
There's a long-storied tradition among comics of having the writers and artists of those stories themselves be depicted within the very pages they are producing--creating an idealized heightened version of reality. While this was common across all companies, nobody did it as often or as brazenly as the creators working for Marvel. They truly went … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times Marvel Self-Mythologized
I'm not 100% certain what made me decide to pick up this issue of THOR, a series I hadn't previously followed. I had read one issue of THOR several years earlier and not found it to my liking. But in this period, I was beginning toe explore the assorted Marvel releases, and so it was … Continue reading BHOC: THOR #272
Bought this issue of MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION featuring the Avengers at my regular 7-11. This cover has always amused me--Hawkeye somehow swinging in with a rope wrapped loosely around his leg so that he can take an upside-down arrow-shot--it's truly a bizarre choice. In this instance, the choice wasn't directly Ernie Chan's, who drew this … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #42
