There's really no question that Bill Everett was the most accomplished and polished cartoonist to be featured in the early issues of MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS, the initial offering from Timely Comics. In general, the quality level of many of the artists of this period was questionable at best. But Everett was already an accomplished master, … Continue reading The Second Sub-Mariner Story
By the time this issue of IRON MAN came out, there was no mistaking the qualitative improvement the series had experienced, and it became a title that I really enjoyed every month. Whereas the IRON MAN of most of the prior decade had always felt a bit underpowered, prone to attacks from one medical condition … Continue reading BHOC: IRON MAN #120
This issue of INFERIOR FIVE doesn't contain a literal crossover at all. It was a parody comic in the same sort of vein as Marvel's NOT BRAND ECHH, albeit with a series of continuing characters. But the depictions of the Marvel characters being parodied in this one are so thin that I think an argument … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: INFERIOR FIVE #10
KID KOMICS was a bit of a hybrid production of Timely Comics, at least at the start. Launched in 1943, it split its focus between super hero adventure strips like the cover-spotlighted Captain Wonder and comedy series such as the unfortunate Whitewash and Knuckles, starring two of the Young Allies. Eventually, within a few issues, … Continue reading The First Subbie Story
In 1953, after an absence on the newsstands of four years, Martin Goodman resurrected his company's three big successful super hero characters from the 1940s; Captain America, the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. By all accounts, this decision to bring back these heroes appears to be in response to the strong reaction the new ADVENTURES … Continue reading The Last Sub-Mariner Story (of the 1950s)
A post from my old Marvel blog concerning how a Sub-Mariner story that I'd held in my files for a decade finally came to see print. And Speaking of Ten Years... April 8, 2009 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General Next week sees the publication of SUB-MARINER COMICS, the second in our … Continue reading Blah Blah Blog – And Speaking of Ten Years…
It's been a while since we did one of these round-ups of vintage Marvel merchandise from years past, primarily the formative 1960s and 1970s. So what say we look at a few more pieces of this stuff? This INCREDIBLE HULK/AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ADVENTURE CITY playset from 1978 features cardboard stand-ups of teh Green Goliath, the wall-crawler … Continue reading Make Mine Marvel Memorabilia 3
UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN was the series that brought me to the attention of fandom, the first truly successful title that I worked on, at least from a critical standpoint. And this didn't have so much to do with me as it did Kurt Busiek and Pat Olliffe, the creative team that produced most of … Continue reading Personal Best: UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1, 1996
Here was another somewhat older issue that I got out of a 3-Bag at a department store or a toy store, where such things were sold in the late 1970s. In fact, it was likely the reason that I bought the 3-Bag in question. As spoken about before, I had become a massive fan of … Continue reading BHOC: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #28
I'm fairly certain that I came across these documents at Scott Edelman's blog. In any case, Scott was one of those who found these documents preserved in the back of a drawer in the Marvel offices and hung onto them. Around 1966, as Marvel was beginning to make its first faltering in-roads into other media, … Continue reading Lee & Kirby: THE CHARACTER WRITE-UPS OF STAN LEE
The Tom Brevoort Experience 