Suburban Long Island, where I grew up as a kid, was an extremely whitebread area. There was only one African-American kid in my class during my grade-school years–his name was Alonzo Cook, which I remember solely because of his uniqueness. Consequently, I had (and perhaps still have) a cartoonish understanding of Black culture, formed primarily … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #222
Outside of a few sure-bet favorites, I was I think pretty typical in my comic book purchasing habits: I would pick up whatever looked good among what was available on whatever outing made it possible for me to purchase a comic book. At this point, I knew that what I wanted was super heroes (and … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #220
I didn’t purchase this Treasury Edition at one of my regular comic book haunts, but rather at a department store, likely the now-long-gone Two Guys store my family regularly frequented. And almost certainly, I got it because it was about the only comic book they had in the place, as I wasn’t a huge fan … Continue reading BHOC: LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION #C-49
I have no great memories of FOUR STAR SPECTACULAR #4. It was a perfectly fine comic book, one of hundreds that I’d purchase in the years to come, but not especially noteworthy to me apart from the minutes of entertainment that it provided. This may have been because, while I liked them all just fine, Superboy, … Continue reading BHOC: FOUR STAR SPECTACULAR #4
The supermarket my mother would sometimes frequent occasionally carried some comics. It was never many, and there didn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to what ended up on their shelves. One title they seemed to get semi-consistently was SUPERMAN FAMILY, and that’s how I wound up with this issue, one earlier than the … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #176
Bought this issue of FOUR-STAR SPECTACULAR at my regular 7-11 (to which I still could not journey myself; I needed to wait for some adult to be going there in order to get comics.) The attraction here, apart from it being another big reprint collection, was the Green Lantern story, the Emerald Crusader having become … Continue reading BHOC: FOUR STAR SPECTACULAR #3
Direct from the 7-11 came this next issue of SUPER-TEAM FAMILY, a giant-sized reprint series that was very much my meat during my early collecting days. Every issue featured team-up stories between different heroes, so here we get Batman and Eclipso and Superman and Superboy, all wrapped up in a fairly uninspired cover by Ernie … Continue reading BHOC: SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #5
The first SECRET ORIGINS OF SUPER-VILLAINS treasury edition must have done some business, because before you knew it, this follow-up was on the stands and in my hands. The cover, while very nicely executed, is a little bit confusing, as of the three villains placed most prominently on the piece, two of them (Bizarro and Captain … Continue reading BHOC: LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION #C-45
I missed the first issue of FOUR STAR SPECTACULAR, which is a shame, as it reprinted among other things a redrawn Golden Age Flash story. But I was there for when the second issue arrived at my 7-11–and while a Kid Flash story was maybe not as compelling as one featuring Jay Garrick, it was … Continue reading BHOC: FOUR STAR SPECTACULAR #2
Another big Treasury Edition was the next book I brought home, from my favorite 7-11 outlet. This SECRET ORIGINS SUPER VILLAINS (no of) contained five stories starring a number of favorite characters of mine, including the oldest Silver Age Flash story I had read up until this time. The first story up was “The Man Behind … Continue reading BHOC: LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION #C-39
The Tom Brevoort Experience 