The Marvel Age of Comics was marked by scintillating storylines full of careening colorful characters. Still, those four-color feasts might have gone unread if not for the pulchritudinous panache employed by the marketing mavens who put together the “Bullpen Bulletins” … Continue reading Mighty Marvel Checklist HyperboleCheck: Captain America #131
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. Let me concede right up front that the term “youth” is … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: The Thing by Dan Slott and Andrea DiVito
“Anyway, the fascinating thing was that I read in National Geographic that there are more people alive now than have died in all of human history. In other words, if everyone wanted to play Hamlet at once, they couldn’t, because there aren’t enough skulls!” –Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, 2005 “GUESS I’M JEST GONNA HAFTA SNEAK UP BEHIND ‘IM WHILE HIS BACK IS TURNED–AN’ CLOBBER ‘IM A GOOD ONE! THIS SORT’A MOVE AINT EXAC’LY KOSHER IN THE SUPER-HERO’S HANDBOOK–BUT I CAN TURN IN MY GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL—AFTER I SAVE THE FLIPPIN’ WORLD!” –Len Wein, MARVEL FEATURE, Vol. … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
Bend your brain back to the scintillating, swingin’ sixties when Marvel was moving major muscles to make their monthly mags manifestly mandatory. The proof was in the panels, but there was a scintilla of selling that had to happen, usually … Continue reading Mighty Marvel Checklist HyperboleCheck: Daredevil #36
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. As the list below the “Previously…” down there attests, I was … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Justice League by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire
Back when the mighty mavens of Marvel certified their sovereignty over the spinner rack, they had a sparkling specialty for making every one of their monthly mags sound like unmissable masterpieces. The primary platform for this tantalizing touting was the … Continue reading Mighty Marvel Checklist HyperboleCheck: The Amazing Spider-Man #53
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. I was a Marvel devotee from the very beginning of my … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Avengers by David Michelinie and George Perez
“I snuck in between some boats that were being repaired and lit a cigarette; I had no idea what time it was, but I felt relaxed. From my hideout I could watch her at my leisure, without risk: she seemed terribly sad, like a tree that had suddenly sprouted from the seawall, a mystery of nature. And yet, when some precise spring-loaded mechanism set her in motion again, that impression disappeared, leaving only a trace like a photo and one thing for sure: solitude.” –Roberto Bolaño (as translated by Chris Andrews), The Skating Rink, 1993 “NEXT, AMID SNOW-PEAKED GRANDEUR: A … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
One of the famed fundamentals of the monumental meridian of the Marvel Age of Comics was a scintillating skill for self-promotion. Every edition was cause for a colossal cacophony of courageous crowing, typically found in the Mighty Marvel Checklist. For … Continue reading Mighty Marvel Checklist HyperboleCheck: Avengers #44
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. I used to be a sucker for limited series. While this … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Hawkeye by Mark Gruenwald
Coffee for Two 