by tombatiuk | May 30, 2015 | Komix Thoughts
With Starbuck Jones successfully launched, the Martin brothers immediately began thinking about a follow-up title. Starbuck Jones alone wasn’t enough on its own to keep their presses running full time and press time was money. They took their head (and only) writer...
by tombatiuk | Apr 11, 2015 | Komix Thoughts
The results were in and Starbuck Jones, the first comic book published by the fledging Batom Comics and the brainchild of writer Flash Freeman, was an astoundingly modest success – which was more than the publishers Barry and Thomas Martin had dared hope....
by tombatiuk | Oct 18, 2014 | Komix Thoughts
It was July of 1954. Elvis Presley had just made his radio debut in Memphis with “That’s All Right [Mama]”, DC Comics launched a new Superman-family book with Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, and Batom Comics published its first comic book with what can only be described...
by tombatiuk | Jul 18, 2014 | Komix Thoughts
The fifties were a really star crossed time to start a comic book company, and 1954 in particular was the hands down worst year in the decade. The industry was reeling from attacks by parents groups, state and local legislatures, and, in April of that year, from a...
by tombatiuk | May 31, 2014 | Komix Thoughts
Prologue In the spring of 1972, federal agents entered the converted warehouse on West Third Street in Cleveland that housed the editorial offices of Batom Comics. They were looking for Barry Martin, Batom’s publisher and they found him busy at work in a small...
