This cover to TALES OF SUSPENSE #46 has always struck me as odd. For one things, we don't actually see the title character in costume--that inset image of Tony STark donning his armor feels like an afterthought to me, an add-on. Additionally, the crimson Dynamo who is so touted here bears only a marginal resemblance … Continue reading WC: TALES OF SUSPENSE #46
One of the myths about the Marvel Age of Comics is that it pretty much happened all at once--that as soon as FANTASTIC FOUR #1 hit newsstands coast-to-coast, the paradigm of comic books changed completely. And that's clearly not the case. In fact, it took a few years for the Marvel approach to storytelling to … Continue reading WC: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #91
In the latest issue of the fantastic magazine THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR published by TwoMorrows Publications (and available at this link: ) https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_57&products_id=1562&zenid=b1816d55c0c77183a6dd6e0571fa38f5 ...writer and comics historian Will Murray contributes a piece taking a closer look at INCREDIBLE HULK #1. Murray's contention is that the character of the Hulk originally had a different name, which … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: The Mysteries of INCREDIBLE HULK #1
And we are back, with the last of our sequence looking at Marvel's archived stats from FANTASTIC FOUR #1 to see what they might tell us about how the book and the stories had been put together. Before we get into the fourth and final section of the issue, though, I want to share something … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: THE STATS OF FANTASTIC FOUR #1, Part 4
There really wasn't a lousier time to try to start up a new color comic book line than the very early 1970s, but this didn't stop Skywald. Skywald was a joint venture of Israel Waldman, who had previously been behind the I.W./Super comics line of unauthorized golden age reprint titles distributed directly to department stores … Continue reading Brand Echh – The Heap #1
Even with the limited output allowed to them under the terms of their distribution deal with Independent News (which only permitted the Marvel of the 1960s to release a certain number of titles every month), Marvel often ran into situations where the talent they had on hand in order to complete everything wasn't enough. During … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Everett & Grandinetti & Friends – The Messy Story of Tales to Astonish #84
In response to yesterday's post concerning DAREDEVIL #1, I received an e-mail from my friend Mark Evanier. Mark is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about classic comics and in particular the people who worked on them. He had a number of insights that he wanted to bring up, not just about yesterday's … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett & Brodsky: A Guest Post on DAREDEVIL #1 and Related Matters
Some recent comments by reader and historian Ferran Delgado prompted me to go back and to take a closer look at DAREDEVIL #1, the last of what we would consider the formative Marvel titles to be launched and one that was plagued in its delivery by a variety of delays. I've written about those delays … Continue reading Lee & Kirby & Ditko & Everett & Brodsky: The Long Road to DAREDEVIL #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
It's the coloring by Stan Goldberg that really makes this UNCANNY TALES cover stand out. By doing everything in duotone, the eye is focused directly on the guy handing from the tiny ledge over this vast pit. And the circular top of the pit serves to precisely pull attention to the shadowy figures who presumably … Continue reading Great Covers – UNCANNY TALES #45
The Tom Brevoort Experience 