Blog

STRANGE CASE OF BATMAN #227 Ask any collector what makes a comic book valuable and they will tell you (besides condition) that it being a "key" of some sort is probably the #1 element.   First appearance by a character as we see with most #1 … [Read more...]

CHALLENGE OF THE SUPERHEROES It's hard to describe to someone growing up today in this world of one big budget superhero movie after another on the silver screen that in the mid to late 1970s there was a superhero live action drought and we took … [Read more...]

FLASHBACK!  MAY 1958 FLASHBACK!  Let's take a look at the comics that share your birthday! Cover date and year of when you were born (note these were not necessarily the books on the stands since comics usually have a three month lead time for … [Read more...]

CONFESSIONS OF A BRONZE AGE COMIC-READER Cue the Way-Back Machine, no it's not one of Teddy's Journey's back to the Depression era of buying comics and going to a first run Jimmy Cagney movie at the Picture Show.   I'm not as crusty as Teddy Bear … [Read more...]

Comic fans can be a contemptuous and argumentative lot;  who can take who, what's more desirable an Action Comics #1 or a Detective Comics #27 (that's an easy one, Tec all the way), but no debate is more hotly contested than what is the first … [Read more...]

BEST LIVE ACTION ADAPTIONS I'll need to quantify my answer to this great question;   first, I don't read any modern superhero comic books so I'm not up with what is going on with Spider-Man or Batman like I was when I was a regular reader (yikes- … [Read more...]

BATMAN TV SERIES: CAMP OR FAITHFUL ADAPTION? The 1950s ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN TV series starring George Reeves had been a money maker for National Comics (now known as DC Comics) since having the character appear on the new medium of television … [Read more...]

THE GREAT HOSTESS AD CAMPAIGN We all know Ted's love of PSA's in comics and while I like them too, because who doesn't want to learn that old people can be your friend too, there's nothing that tops the real star of Bronze Age Comics-- The Hostess … [Read more...]

WACKY COMIC IDEAS: MIKE MURDOCK! They can't all be winners. DAREDEVIL came along in his own title (Apr 1964) by Stan Lee and Joe Orlando and to say he struggled to find his footing would be an understatement.   RIght from the get-go, the idea of … [Read more...]

THE ORIGIN OF THE PENGUIN Batman bad guy The Penguin is enjoying a level of interest thanks in no small part to his appearance in Matt Reeve's blockbuster film THE BATMAN (2022), as portrayed by actor Colin Farrell, is a far cry from The Penguin … [Read more...]

CRAZY COMIC BOOK COVERS Comic Book Covers sell books!  There can be no question about that-- a good cover will make you take out your wallet without giving it much thought, a crazy cover might make you scratch your head but you have to admit, … [Read more...]

BATMAN'S CRAZIEST ADVENTURES: TALKING FLOWERS Batman's been around for a lot of years first appearing in March of 1939, but it's often in those earliest stories that he had some of his craziest adventures, let's take a closer look. DETECTIVE … [Read more...]

When Jim Steranko was let loose after starting with Jack Kirby's breakdowns Marvel Comics knew they had a force of nature at loose. Steranko dominated Nick Fury Agent of Shield with amazing page layouts, design, storytelling, power and energy-- the … [Read more...]

CREATOR SPOTLIGHT: WILL EISNER Willam Erwin Eisner was born on March 6, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. From an early age Will had an affinity to art, and his father, Samuel, encouraged him by buying him art supplies and give him advice, much to his … [Read more...]

BATMAN'S TOUGHEST TEN YEARS Batman first blasted his way into the comic pages as the bloodthirsty avenger known as The Bat Man blasting his enemies with his .45 automatic or pushing the bad guys into a vat of acid with little remorse. A year later … [Read more...]

SPOTLIGHT: DICK SPRANG, BOB KANE'S FAVORITE GHOST Richard W. Sprang was born July 28, 1915 in Fremont, OH. From his teen years Sprang worked as an illustrator in pulps for publishers like Columbia and Street & Smith before joining a daily … [Read more...]

THE AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS Marvel Comics and DC Comics have had a long rivalry that goes beyond who has the better characters, or which universe is more interesting. Both companies had been around since the 1930s, DC First in 1935 and Marvel … [Read more...]

CREATOR PROFILE: CURT SWAN (1920-1996) Ask most people who read comics in the Silver and early Bronze age of comics to picture the comic book Superman in their head, the vast majority will come up with Curt Swan's iconic looking Man of … [Read more...]

CREATOR PROFILE: GEORGE PEREZ (1954-2022) George Perez burst on the scene in the 1970s when he was assigned to THE AVENGERS for Marvel Comics.  His ability to render highly detailed and what would be over-crowded panels by another artist made him a … [Read more...]