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
I’m pretty sure that this issue of SUPERMAN was actually bought for my brother Ken initially. Every so often, he would want a comic book when I got one, rather than some candy or a slurpee or whatever. But eventually, it found its way into my collection, as did pretty much all of his books … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #286
The switch-over from 100-PAGE SPECTACULARS to GIANTS didn’t have any effect on my purchasing habits–I would inevitably go for a large comic book over other offerings first, even if it was a title that I wasn’t all that fond of, such as SUPERBOY. As I was still getting comic books bought for me infrequently, it … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #208
We’re getting near to the end of the era of the 100-Page Spectaculars, not that I knew that at the time. This issue of SUPERMAN represents one of the last I’d ever purchase, bought as usual from my local 7-11. I’ve had two or three copies of this book over the years–not quite sure what … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #284
Oh, perfidy! Here is that horrible moment when I was first faced with that recurring bane of a comic book collector’s existence: a periodic price increase. Throughout the 1970s when I was first collecting, this seemed to happen with frightening regularity. You could always tell when one was in the offing because the price would … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #206
