Separated at Birth: And Homaging a Cover is Half the Battle

L: G. I. Joe, A Real American Hero #21 (March 1984), art by Larry Hama and Klaus Janson
R: Deadpool #42 (July 2000), art by James Calafiore and Mark McKenna
(Click picture to merc-mouth-size)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 164

Panel from Ultimate Fantastic Four #10 (October 2004), script by Warren Ellis, pencils by Stuart Immonen, inks by Wade Von Grawbadger, colors by Dave Stewart, letters by Chris Eliopoulos

Saturday Morning Cartoon: The Fantastic Four "The Way It All Began"

The Fantastic Four "The Way It all Began" (1967), starring the voices of Gerald Mohr (Reed Richards), Jo Ann Pflug (Susan Storm), Jack Flounders (Johnny Storm), Paul Frees (Ben Grimm), and Joseph Sirola (Dr. Doom)

Bully's Sketchbook: Spike

Hey, let's count down Bully's Top Ten Favorite Spikes!

10. Spike Lee!
9. Spike Jonze!
8. Spike the Bulldog!

7. Spike Jones!
6. Spike by Puffy AmiYumi!
5. The Golden Spike in the Transcontinental Railroad!

4. Spike by Elvis Costello!
3. Snoopy's brother Spike!
2. Spike Milligan!

And the number one of my favorite Spikes...

1. Spike!

Yes, I love Spike, the creator of webcomic Templar, Arizona, who (whom? ) I met at last year's MoCCA (you know, the one that was even hotter than this year's). Kind Spike not only agreed to pose with me as seen above (one of the highlights of the show for me—don't tell anyone, but I've got a little stuffed crush on Spike!), but she drew this wonderful sketch of me. (Do you think she knew I was a little infatuated with her?)



Golly! She was sweet. And her comics are pretty wonderful, too! You too can pick up Spike's Templar, Arizona collections here. Don't let on that I really, really like her! I'd be so embarrassed I'd blush.

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 163

Pages from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #13 (December 1986), written by Mark Gruenwald and Peter Sanderson; main portrait pencilled by John Byrne, inked by Josef Rubenstein, colored by Andy Yanchus, plus previously published panels from various Marvel comics

(Click any picture to Weight-class-1000-size)

Bully's Sketchbook: Carissa Halston

One of the great things about having a sketchbook of moi is the wide range of portrayals of America's second most popular stuffed animal blogger: how each artist interprets me is a continuous source of delight, amazement, and jumping-up-and-down- and-saying-wow to me! take, f'r instance, this wonderfully swirly portrait by writer, artist, singer, performer, and all-around cool person Carissa Halston:



I love the swirly bits, don't you? Thanks, Carissa! I'm not 'llowed to read your books yet (tho' Randi tells me they're great!) but you can order 'em through Carissa's well-designed and well-stocked online shop. I would like a Mexican Sugar Skull, please—them's good eating! Also: scary.

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 162

Panel from Dazzler #2 (April 1981), script by Tom DeFalco, art by John Romita Jr., inks by Alfredo Alcala, colors by Ken Klaczak, letters by Jim Novak

(Click picture to Tidy-Bowl-size)

Bully's Sketchbook: Batton Lash

Hey, do you like sketches of little stuffed bulls? (Sure, we all do!) That's why you've come to the right place tonight (and all this week) as I feature artwork of yours little stuffed truly, the photogenic...er, make that pen and pencilgenic bovine. Tonight's sketch comes from the talented pen of Batton Lash, the man whose name sounds like a pirate's, but who's actually a wonderfully delightful comics writer, artist, and fabulous all-around-human-bean! I got to meet Mister Lash at last year's San Diego Comic Con 2008, and he's captured me here in all my black-and-whiteness, not sparing a pun that made me giggle until milk came out of my nose (and here's the funny thing...I wasn't even drinking milk at the time!)



Thanks for capturing me in a pensive mood, Mister Lash! (Say, d'you think Bat is his brother?) If you're lucky enough to run into Batton Lash at a convention or comics show, shake his hand, thank him for his cool work, and maybe if you're lucky he'll draw you a sketch too!

But if you can't get to meet Batton Lash in person, well, the next best thing is picking up some of his work, especially the weird and macabrely delightful Supernatural Law (aka Wolff and Byrd, or some of his fabulous Archie comics (including the delightful Archie: Freshman Year miniseries. You can order 'em all right here on Batton's website, so stop by and tell him a little stuffed bull sent you.

One of Batton Lash's greatest works that isn't in trade paperback, however, is a comic you nevertheless oughta seek out, as it's one of the zaniest, craziest, wildest, Most Fun Comics of All Time: Archie Meets the Punisher! Seriously...it's one fabulously fantastic comic! (You can read more about it on Scott Shaw!'s "Oddball Comics" website here.) You can likely find a back issue of Archie/Punisher if you search your LCBS or convention, but hey, get off your rears and get this back in print, Archie and Marvel...you will never look at Archie Andrews or Frank Castle the same way again!

Thanks for the sketch, Batton Lash!

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 161

L: Little Stuffed Bull. R: Benjamin J. Grimm (aka The Thing), from the Marvel Superhero Squad by Hasbro. It's the best toy a LSB could ever have or want! The package also comes with a Marvel Superhero Squad She-Hulk, which my kid sister Marshall is playing with. And now for the Secret Wars, Marshall...or to put it another way...It's clobberin' time!!!

Bully's Sketchbook: Lilli Carré

Hey, it's shaping up to be Sketchbook Week here on Comics Oughta Be Fun! (Which is another way of saying, whoo boy, it's a busy week, so bask in the joy that is primarily illustration-based posts!) So set your flux capacitors for that far-in-the-past era of October 2008, when I packed up my tiny carpetbag (full of tiny carpets) and hied it down to Washington, DC for SPX: The Southern Pajama Expo! Oh, wait...I've mixed up my conventions again, I think. It was actually the Small Press Expo, at which I was delighted to shake the talented hand (and she my jelly-smeared hoof) of Miss Lilli Carré, who was there promoting her brand-new fearsomely frantic Fantagraphics folio title The Lagoon, a delightful and beautiful graphic novel even tho' it did not have anything to do with, as I first thought, the Skipper, Gilligan, the Professor and the rest.

Lilli sketched me in my ever-present sketchbook, and what a sketch!

Golly! I look worried there! It is certainly another side of the Bully personality, because after all I am a Very Small Animal and apt to be eaten alive at any moment with nasty pointed teeth by Hoozles, Whuffalumps, or Ozzy Osbourne. Oh yeah, like you've never worried the same thing yourself!



Thank you, Lilli Carré, for the beautiful sketch! And believe me, folks, her books are just as gorgeous! Why not order one, or two, or a bunch of them up today? C'mon!! You know you wanna!

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 160

Panels from Marvel Comics Presents #105 (1992), script by Skip Dietz, pencils by Joel Zulueta, inks by Tim Tuohy, colors by Ariane Lenshoek, letters by Michael Higgins

Bully's Sketchbook: Stephanie Yue

Hooray for MoCCA 2009! It was fun as usual to run up and down the aisles of New York's finest indie and art comics festival, buying cool stuff, saying hi to friends new and old and occasionally posing to have my picture sketched by some of the wonderful artists at the show! This past weekend I sat as still as possible while Stephanie Yue drew me in my little sketchbook along with one of her ultra-cute Tai Chi mice, both of us practicing our training positions! The mouse was very patient in teaching me this relaxing and strengthening movement...it's a bit difficult with hooves! Why, I almost felt like I was being trained by a Yang master! A very small fuzzy one, but a master none the less.

I'm a firm believer in supporting the work of our talented MoCCA exhibitors, so I picked up the Novasett Island collection Stephanie's drawn with the writing of Zack Giallongo, and some of her cool and funny autobiographical minicomics (Queezie vs. Grapefruit and Irrefusable Dinner Engagement). Plus some nifty buttons featuring the characters from Novasett Island!



They're all great fun...I especially loved the adventures of the perilous prawn cult (defeated in a most citrusy way!), the nature guidebook pages to the Island and especially "Ronald, Part 1," with Stephanie's dramatic and dynamic use of solid blacks and fluidly moving characters to hike up the spookiness and excitement. In short, as I like to say, these comics are fun! You can...(and oughta!)...pick up some of Stephanie's wonderful work at her JellyCity.com store. Tell her a little stuffed bull sent ya!

So thank you very much, Stephanie...I had loads of fun hanging about with you and your talented mice, and your work is a delight! Hope to see you next year at MoCCA '10!

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 159

Cover of Alter Ego #26 (July 2003), art by Joe Sinnott

Thirty of a Kind: When up from the ground came a bubblin' a monster (Mole Man's monster, that is)

I'm sure I've missed some (I'm told there's a scene in an episode of the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes cartoon series that duplicates it, as well as other scenes within comics. Here's three more lovely homages that aren't comic book covers, but let's add 'em to the lineup:

• JDH replaces "Clobberin' Time!" with "Good Grief!"
• Katie Cook reminds us that a thousand little green monsters can't be wrong!
• Marco de Alfonso puts the full-body wrestling slam on the FF! (link broken; sorry)

All those covers, all those homages and parodies and salutes to Jack Kirby's iconic cover of Fantastic Four #1...and we still don't know who the heck tied up Reed.

(More Ten of a Kind here.)