This issue of MARVEL TALES was yet another book that came to me in a 3-Bag bought at either a Toy Store or a Department Store, and like the other books I've covered, it would have been about nine months old when I purchased it. It contained a reprint of an issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #84
Now here was a beauty! This issue of TALES OF SUSPENSE features only the 4th appearance of Iron Man, the super hero who took over the title, ushering it into the Marvel Age of Comics. Like every book covered in this feature, I acquired this issue as part of my Windfall Comics purchase, where through … Continue reading WC: TALES OF SUSPENSE #42
The Blue Beetle is one of the longest running character-concepts in the world of comic books. The character was initially conceived in 1939 as a take-off of the Green Hornet, but the approach swiftly changed to better suit the needs of a burgeoning marketplace. The Beetle got a regulation super hero costume and even a … Continue reading The Last Blue Beetle Story
This is another comic book that I got out of a 3-Bag, and almost certainly the reason why I bought it in the first place, given that I was obsessed with the Fantastic Four at that point. I have a dim recollection that it was bought in a local Two Guys department store that my … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #72
STRANGE TALES had been a long-running suspense/monster series that transitioned into becoming a super hero title as the Silver Age got under way. But it was a lesser Marvel title, especially at the early part of that transition, and so back issues were relatively plentiful and relatively affordable when compared with FANTASTIC FOUR or AMAZING … Continue reading WC: STRANGE TALES #111
This issue of MARVEL TALES was another book that I got out of a 3-Bag from a department store or toy store. It reprinted AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #99, a story that I've seen an argument for being the Silver Age end of the story begun in AMAZING FANTASY #15. Scripter Stan Lee would write one more … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #80
At this point, there's interest in pretty much any comics from the 1960s and the early Marvel period, but that hasn't always been the case. In particular, the western and girl humor titles of that period remained affordable for years, as did the pre-hero monster/suspense books. As did this series, SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING … Continue reading WC: SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS #8
When we left things off last week, we were talking about a pair of issues that I got in those plastic-wrapped bundles of coverless comics my local drug store had begun to sell. When this story was originally printed in the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, the Comics Code Authority of the time wouldn't approve it, … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #79
Now this is a comic that I did purchase deliberately, albeit without this cover and in one of those plastic wrapped bundles of assorted coverless comic books my local drug store had taken to selling. I bought both this issue of MARVEL TALES and the next at the same time, giving me two parts of … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TALES #78
Another book that came to me out of one of those plastic-sealed bundles of 5 or 10 coverless comic books being sold by my local drug store. I was reading INCREDIBLE HULK by this point, but it wasn't a particular favorite, so this reprint wouldn't have been what I picked up the bundle for. But … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #64
The Tom Brevoort Experience 