This issue of ACTION COMICS was heavily advertised in DC house ads in the weeks leading up to its release, and so I was prepared for it to show up on the spinner rack at my local 7-11. And as you'd expect, it was being promoted as the for-real, no-fooling story of Superman marrying Lois … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #484
Saw this cover the other day for the first time since it was originally published and was struck by how simple and how powerful the image here is. It's really a case where less is more, and the juxtaposition of the background American flag and the burning Superman cape forge an inescapable connection. Great use … Continue reading Great Covers: SUPERMAN #145
The fannish desire for a unified field theory of fictional comic book universes is strong, and a fun game to play--especially when considering meetings between characters at rival publishing houses, characters who in all likelihood will never get to interact on the page (or at least not in the way the fans might desire.) Some … Continue reading 5BC: Five More Times Marvel Referenced DC Characters In Interesting Ways
While as we've seen, Marvel was relatively quick to begin to self-mythologize its creative staff and editorial Bullpen, rival publisher DC (then known as National Periodical Publications in an attempt to disguise the fact that they published evil comic books in the aftermath of the senate hearings) wasn't as quick to follow suit. Even creator … Continue reading 5BC: Five Times DC Self-Mythologized
Here was another regular issue of SUPERMAN that I bought during one of my weekly Thursday 7-11 new comics drop-ins. It's not a wonderfully drawn cover, for all that the purple background does help it to pop. But for some reason, the reproduction on a lot of DC's covers in this period was muddy, with … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #324
This was the fourth chapter in Superman's clash with the super-powered android Amazo, a conflict designed as the backdrop through which to introduce a new and marketable new piece of Kryptonian lore to the mythos: the Supermobile. Having accomplished that over the past two issues, it was time to get this story wrapped up this … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #483
If there's one thing that DC has loved to do over the years, it's to explore strange story avenues and then abandon them. In some ways, that's become their history ever since CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS--it feels that you can't go but a few years anymore until everything you've read is thrown out and they … Continue reading 5BC: Would You Believe Five More Forgotten DC Retcons
I bought this issue of SUPERMAN FAMILY at my regular 7-11 haunt. Not quite sure why I kept up with the title, to be honest--I had bought two earlier issues because the Superman of Earth-2 was a guest star in one of the stories and I was a sucker for Earth-2. But I had no … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN FAMILY #189
Bought this issue of SUPERMAN in the same weekly 7-11 run as the MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS issue I wrote about yesterday. That's a nice cover by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, an incredibly talented artist who worked for DC for decades but who has been somewhat overlooked--primarily because he did relatively few regular stretches on titles, … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #323
Beyond just inspiring mischievous creators to come up with ways to have characters at rival companies Marvel and DC meet, the anarchic and rebellious spirit of the Bronze Age extended beyond the bounds of the immediate industry, prompting writers and artists to come up with ways to appropriate other characters outside of what was permissible … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Unofficial DC Crossovers
