Comic Cuts, 29 November 1919

Comic Cuts was, for a time, synonymous with comics in general. Indeed, no one is likely to be hanged for suggesting that it's the source of the word "comic" when applied to the medium that today we call comic-books and comic-strips: Comic Cuts was originally a compilation of amusing cartoons taken from other publications... that …

Captain America: The Great Gold Steal

A follow-up to The Avengers Battle the Earth Wrecker, which was the first novel based on a Marvel comic, Captain America: The Great Gold Steal was published by Bantam Books in July 1968. Clunky title aside, it's actually a rather good adventure. It's better written than the Avengers novel, but the plot's a little more …

Superman: The Movie promo card

If you were a Star Wars fan back in the 1970s there was no end of tie-in merchandise available. Toys, t-shirts, lampshades, pyjamas, comics, books, rhino saddles, all sorts of branded stuff was yours for the buying as long as you had the money, but that certainly wasn't true for all big movies. I was …

Stan Lee, 1922 – 2018

Stan Lee was the first comic-book creator whose name I knew. I was about six and a half years old when I was given my very first superhero comic... this one: That's The Mighty World of Marvel issue #5, dated November 4, 1972. So a little over forty-six years ago. By some miracle, my copy …