FANTASTIC FOUR #1 was the beginning of what would grow into the Marvel Age of Comics, where Stan Lee and Jack Kirby revolutionized the field and unleashed a wave of characters and concept that have achieved worldwide popularity and renown in the decades since. So it's now seen as an important issue. And from what … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: FANTASTIC FOUR #1, Part One
Tag: Roy Thomas
BHOC: INVADERS #23
Summer was winding down when I bought this issue of INVADERS at my regular 7-11 haunt. It's one of those days that I can recall vividly for no particular reason, biking back up Granny Road with my new purchase. I still hadn't branched out into Marvel any further than the Human Torch, but it was … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #23
BHOC: INVADERS #10
In the mid-1970s, Marvel Comics had a big problem in getting its books completed and off to press on time. In those days, because press time was booked well in advance, you were going to pay for it whether you printed a title or not, so there was no margin for error. But error there … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #10
BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #170
Another older issue of FANTASTIC FOUR that showed up one day in the drug store's big bin of slightly-older comics. This was the oldest issue I had found to date. Reading these stories, particularly in this sequence, was a little bit like putting a puzzle together. There'd be some bit of information presented in one … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #170
BHOC: INVADERS #2
Another older issue of INVADERS that turned up in the drug store's big in of slightly-older comics. I was able to find a few of these over the next couple of weeks as the bin would get restocked--and inevitably, most of them tended to be older the longer this went on, as though the supplier … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #2
BHOC: INVADERS #15
I got this issue of INVADERS at the same time as the other two, from the drug store's big bin of slightly-older comics. It's got the best cover of the three for sure (though Tommy Lightning and Spitfire seem like giants in the background there.) And because I bought them both at the same time, … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #15
BHOC: INVADERS #3
In addition to new old issues of FANTASTIC FOUR and MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS, the drug store’s big bin of somewhat older comics had also received copies of a few issues of THE INVADERS, which I picked up as well. This one had a somewhat messy cover–how is it that Captain America is seemingly standing in … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #3
BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #176
Back at the Drug Store, I was astonished and elated to find this issue of FANTASTIC FOUR in my latest dive through its big bin of somewhat-older comics. And the reason is that this issue pre-dated all four of the FANTASTIC FOUR issues that I’d previously found there. It was evidence that it was possible … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #176
BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #181
One of the wonderful things about that big bin of somewhat-old comic books that was at my local drug store was that from time to time new books would be added into the mix. So I would dig through it every time I was in the place, and I soon began to pull up additional … Continue reading BHOC: FANTASTIC FOUR #181
BHOC: INVADERS #22
So, when I bought the previous issue of INVADERS from my local 7-11, it must have been on sale for some time, because before you knew it, the next issue showed up, sooner than the next issue of FANTASTIC FOUR. And again I bought it, at that same 7-11. It was clearly going to have … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #22










