CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE #2: SHOWCASE #106

We're continuing our trek through the pages of CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE #2, a collection of material intended to be published by DC in the late 1970s but which got spiked from publication due to the DC Implosion that saw 40% of teh line cancelled. The two issues of this series were hand-copied and distributed to … Continue reading CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE #2: SHOWCASE #106

CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE #2: SHOWCASE #105

Continuing on in our survey of CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE #2, the hand-printed collection of material created by DC Comics and left unpublished in the aftermath of the business contraction known as the DC Implosion. A scant number of copies were made and provided to contributors as well as the Library of Congress so as to … Continue reading CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE #2: SHOWCASE #105

5BC: Five Best Silver Age Character Resurrections

During the Silver Age of Comics, it was still a rare thing for a character of any significance to be killed off in super hero comics. Only two decades later, having realized the audience appeal that the demise of a beloved favorite would have, companies would turn death into a revolving door situation more promotional … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Silver Age Character Resurrections

WC: DETECTIVE COMICS #349

This was the latest issue of DETECTIVE COMICS that I wound up with in my 1988 Windfall Comics purchase, where I bought a box of close to 150 Silver Age comic books for $50.00. And it represents a bit of a quantum leap forward from the earliest one that was in that purchase, the strongest … Continue reading WC: DETECTIVE COMICS #349

Lee & Kirby: When Challengers of the Unknown Presaged Fantastic Four

When we talk about the forces that came into play in the creation of the original Marvel super heroes, in particular the Fantastic Four and attempt to apportion credit (or blame) between the two men who worked on those early strips, one earlier feature that is inevitably invoked is Jack Kirby's series for DC, CHALLENGERS … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: When Challengers of the Unknown Presaged Fantastic Four

The First X-Men Parody

We covered one of the previous SHOWCASE issues featuring the Inferior Five not that long ago--and in fact, here's a link to that piece for anybody who missed it. https://tombrevoort.com/2022/10/15/the-first-hulk-parody/ But the gist is that the Inferior Five were the brainchild of writer E. Nelson Bridwell, originally conceived as a satire of the Fantastic Four … Continue reading The First X-Men Parody

The First Hulk Parody

By 1966, there was no way for industry leader DC/National Comics to be unaware of the growing appeal of upstart publisher Marvel--especially given that both companies' output was distributed by an outfit owned by National's owners. Marvel's growth was often scoffed at and decried as a passing fad, but as the firm started making inroads … Continue reading The First Hulk Parody

WC: SHOWCASE #40

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

WC: MYSTERY IN SPACE #55

This issue of MYSTERY IN SPACE, another book that I got in my Windfall Comics purchase of 1988, sports another of those great halftone covers that DC production man Jack Adler was experimenting with. The added texture does give the piece a nice painterly quality, as well as far more subtlety than the typical DC … Continue reading WC: MYSTERY IN SPACE #55

The First Book-Length Superman Adventure

A short while back, we covered an issue of SUPERMAN that I had purchased in 1988 as a part of my big Windfall Comics buy. That issue featured a single full-length Superman adventure rather than the usual three shorter stories that the title typically ran. (That story was broken up into three discrete chapters so … Continue reading The First Book-Length Superman Adventure