In 1956, National Periodical Publications, a.k.a. DC Comics, acquired the rights to Quality Comics’ Blackhawk. The adventures of the “Magnificent 7” were still popular with the fans, even though more than ten years had passed since their heyday as World War II Nazi-fighters. So, while N.P.P. allowed most of the other Quality titles it had purchased to die quietly, keeping the Blackhawks in the air seemed to be a bankable proposition.



However, almost…

Inspired by an Entertainment Weekly list, I devised my own list of the 100 greatest comic book characters of the last 20 years. I’ve been detailing the entries in alphabetical order and the first half of the list appeared in last week’s column. Here’s the…

It began in a London air-raid shelter . . . .



“Lord Ha-Ha’s Last Laugh”, from Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos # 4 (Nov., 1963), is best known for being the story in which Howler Junior Juniper was killed in action. The death of a regular featured character stunned the readers and signified a shift in the attitude of the series. Awash in the shock of that development, most fans probably paid little attention to another milestone of that…

At the end of May, Entertainment Weekly came out with their list of the 100 greatest characters of the past 20 years. The list mostly included characters from film and television, though they threw in a few from novels, plays and video games. Inspired by their list, I decided to come up with one of my own: the 100 greatest comic book characters of the past 20 years. These lists are always more debate-inducing…

Last week, I talked about the introduction of the Black Widow and her recurring rôle as an Iron Man foe in Tales of Suspense. She started out as an exotically beautiful seductress who used her feminine wiles as a spy for the Godless Commies. But after only four appearances in the traditional femme-fatale mould, she was “upgraded” to a costumed villainess. Instead of manipulating behind the scenes, Madame Natasha was in the midst of the action and…

Justice League: Generation Lost (DC)

by Keith Giffen, Judd Winick, Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan…

Outside of the old serials from the '40's, I'm not what you'd call a connoisseur of super-hero movies. I've seen a few, mostly under protest, like Superman: the Movie, and, most recently, Iron Man (because, believe it or not, the Good Mrs. Benson wanted to see it). But I've given a pass to nearly all the others. But I don't live on the dark side of the moon, either, so I know that the upcoming sequel Iron Man 2 includes a large…