BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #143

Another subscription copy of the giant-sized JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA turned up next. This one featured a rare cover by interior artist Dick Dillin, here inked clunkily by Jack Abel. Dillin’s figures were always just a little bit peculiar, but he was the iron man of JLA, illustrating issue after issue and even handling the … Continue reading BHOC: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #143

BHOC: THE STERANKO HISTORY OF COMICS

I’ve owned three different copies of THE STERANKO HISTORY OF COMICS Volume 1 over the years. It’s an important milestone book in the development of the hobby, but it’s also more oversized magazine than book, with saddle-stitched binding and a cover that tended to crack down the spine and separate. It fell apart easily. For … Continue reading BHOC: THE STERANKO HISTORY OF COMICS

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #469

Now that is a cover. You really have to wonder what the folks in charge of some of the comic books of this era were thinking when they commissioned such a piece. It’s certainly attention-getting, but only because it’s so downright weird. I picked up this issue of ACTION COMICS having already purchased and read … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #469

BHOC: SUPERMAN #311

Apropos of nothing except giving a sense of the timeframe, but shortly before I bought this issue of SUPERMAN, I saw the film ROCKY in theaters for the first time. It was the birthday party for my next door neighbor Johnny Rantinella, and among other festivities, a gaggle of kids were taken out to the … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #311

BHOC: ACTION COMICS #470

It had been a while since I’d picked up an issue of ACTION COMICS, but for whatever reason, after passing up the previous few issues, this one made the trip home. Might have been as simple as there being slim pickings on the rack that week in terms of new super hero comics of the … Continue reading BHOC: ACTION COMICS #470

BHOC: THE GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES

In January of 1977, I turned ten-years-old. And around that time, I would up getting my second book collection of vintage comic book stories–a book that, up until that point I didn’t even know existed. We found it in the remaindered section at Two Guys, a regional low-rent department store chain, kind of like the … Continue reading BHOC: THE GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES

BHOC: SECRET ORIGINS OF THE SUPER DC HEROES

It was an unimaginable 41 year ago today, on Christmas day of 1976, that I finally got my hands on this much-desired beauty, a gift from Santa Claus. And actually, having asked for it specifically on the Christmas list that my mother would demand that each child write (usually sourced out of the Sears Christmas … Continue reading BHOC: SECRET ORIGINS OF THE SUPER DC HEROES

BHOC: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #243

Another issue of WORLD’S FINEST COMICS about which I remember very little. This is another book that might have originally been bought for my brother Ken, but I’m not sure. I do know that I wouldn’t normally have picked up an issue of WORLD’S FINEST without good reason as I’d already identified it as one … Continue reading BHOC: WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #243

BHOC: SUPERMAN #305

So at this stage of my life, I still wasn’t permitted to venture as far from home as the local 7-11. This was due to the fact that the 7-11 was across Horseblock Road, a main thoroughfare. I cold go as far as the shopping center across the street, but not across to the 7-11 … Continue reading BHOC: SUPERMAN #305

BHOC: SUPER HEROES BATTLE SUPER-GORILLAS #1

Back at that same far-off stationary store maybe a week later to pick up whatever we had ordered for Cub Scouting, I came across this beauty, which never showed up at my regular 7-11. I’d seen the ads and so I was primed to read it. But to start with, boy, what an ugly mess … Continue reading BHOC: SUPER HEROES BATTLE SUPER-GORILLAS #1