Meet Beta Ray Bill: Thor 337-340

Thanks to Walter Simonson every time I see a horse my mind invariably drifts to a super hero with a similar appearance and many of the same qualities of those Clydesdales - Beta Ray Bill. Walt Simonson’s critically acclaimed run on Thor ran from issue #337 thru issue #382. He started with this Beta Ray Bill story and followed it up with the introduction of Malekith the Accursed Ruler of the Dark Elves (issue #344), who was the villain in the second Thor movie. Not a bad way to start your new job! Simonson’s run really breathed new life into this title and the many accolades he received are justified.
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Joseph Hillenbrand

I’ve already discussed the work of Sid Barron, one of Educational Projects main artists, elsewhere and in this post I’d like to look at another, Joseph Hillenbrand, even though there is little information available about him apart from the comic book work he left behind.
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Epic Illustrated

Last week I came across an almost complete run of the 1980's Marvel Magazine Epic Illustrated in ultra- high grade raw shape. So I bought them all! Now Epic Illustrated has been on the radar ever since it was announced that Marvel was doing a movie version of Jim Starlin's Vanth Dreadstar character from Metamorphosis Odyssey.
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Undervalued Spotlight #202

Jungle Action #6, Marvel Comics, September 1973. Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966) featured the 1st appearance of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's the Black Panther (T’Challa), comicdom’s 1st African American super hero. The Black Panther followed comicdom’s 1st African American hero Lobo, D.J. Arneson’s creation published by Dell Comics a year earlier, click here for my Lobo post.
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I am Wolverine; X-Men Days of Future Past

The latest installment of the X-Men film franchise hit theatres this past weekend. To help celebrate the event, Big B Comics had a table set up at the Cineplex Odeon Galaxy in Barrie. My cosplay teammate Stephanie and I showed up at the theatre to help out Big B, dressed as X-Men. This was going to be a challenge for me. Stephanie has many costumes in her repertoire - Rogue being one of them - but I don't have much stuff when it comes to X-Men.
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Bell Cover Stars

For this post let’s stick to the Bell heroes as they appeared on the cover of six of the seven titles; we’ve got to make an exception of The Funny Comics because it featured one central character, Dizzy Don, who got every cover appearance for the 20 issue run with Bell. Also, the first 13 issues of Commando Comics feature generic soldier covers as one would expect and there are a couple of more generic soldier covers in the runs of the other titles (e.g., Dime 18 and 19, Wow 21). So let’s just look at the covers for the runs of Wow, Triumph, Dime, Active, and Joke Comics and see which characters are most featured on their covers.
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Review | Afterlife With Archie 1-4

I first heard about the new comic book series Afterlife with Archie at Fan Expo Vancouver, which took place last month. I never followed Archie comics very much but I was intrigued by the concept of a zombie apocalypse occurring in Archie’s world. I am also aware that this whole concept is gimmicky because it has already been done by Marvel and it has been done countless of times in other media. However, I did read some good press about Afterlife with Archie, so this convinced me to pick up the issues from my local comic book store.
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A break, A Decision And How I Collect

This past year has been a hectic one for me. Because of all the change in my life, some of my hobbies suffered and that includes comics. So, here I am, at the end of all the craziness and as my focus gets back to what it should be I realize....wow, I have a lot of comics to catch up on. Not having a pull list at my local shop has done some damage, and now my hunt for the issues missing from my collection begins.
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