So at around this point, I finally got my hands on a copy of the first volume of the MARVEL POCKET BOOKS paperback collections of early AMAZING SPIDER-MAN stories. Some months earlier, I had bought a copy of Volume 2 and loved it, but the first volume was by that point simply no place to … Continue reading BHOC: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN POCKET BOOKS Volume 1
The world of super heroes is never a stationary place, despite feelings among certain fans that nothing ever seems to change. And primary among the places where alteration can be seen is in the attire of classic characters. Giving a lagging hero a costume redesign can sometimes enhance their appeal and help carry them to … Continue reading 5BC: Five Terrible Marvel Super Hero Costume Redesigns
Over the course of comic book history, the fortunes of super heroes as a genre waxed and waned as tastes changed and the marketplace shifted. This led to moments where a series that was once popular had fallen upon hard times or was seen as being out of step with the era, and needed to … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times Two Heroes Were Better Than One
Super heroes as a genre were on their way out as the 1960s turned into the 1970s and the super hero fad that had driven success throughout the silver age fell away. But this meant that publishers were more encouraged to experiment than they had been previously in an attempt to stave off cancellation--and every … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Best Comic Books of 1970
This issue of MARVEL SUPER ACTION was, I believe, my first real encounter with the work of Jim Steranko. He had done earlier pieces that I had seen--the cover to the Olshevsky FANTASTIC FOUR index for one, and of course his two volumes of THE STERANKO HISTORY OF COMICS. But this was the first comic … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL SUPER ACTION #13
By 1971, Stan Lee's career scripting comic books was winding down. While he'd remain in place as Marvel's Publisher for the remainder of the decade, he ceased scripting pretty much everything he had been working on, except for an occasional and far-between assignment. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #96 is the first part of the last truly great … Continue reading 5BC: The Five Best Comic Books of 1971
For the past couple of years, DAREDEVIL had been one of the best and strongest titles in the industry, mainly under the guiding hand of writer/penciler Frank Miller. Miller completely shifted the emphasis and the tone of the series, making it into much more a crime noir book, and being inventive with his storytelling and … Continue reading GH: DAREDEVIL #193
Back at Christmas 1978, I was working my way through the fourth and latest release in the ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS line of Trade Paperbacks from Simon & Schuster: THE SUPERHERO WOMEN. This book was a bit more of a mixed bag than the earlier ones and relied more on material that was more contemporary--the … Continue reading BHOC: THE SUPERHERO WOMEN
FANTASTIC FOUR was my favorite series for a long time, and the book that finally got me to take the plunge into the Marvel Universe. So you'd figure that, even in lean times, it would take a lot to dislodge me from following it. And you'd be right. Except that that's totally what happened. This … Continue reading GH: FANTASTIC FOUR #256
As I talked about yesterday, for Christmas 1978 I was given the four existing volumes in the Marvel Origins trade paperback collection that up to that point existed. I had read SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS at my local library, but I was happy to have my own copy to go back to and … Continue reading BHOC: BRING ON THE BAD GUYS
The Tom Brevoort Experience 