Separated at Birth: Another Jenny Craig Success Story

L: Animal Man #1 (September 1988), art by Brian Bolland
R: The Last Days of Animal Man #1 (July 2009), art by Brian Bolland
(Click picture to big-boned-size)

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 199

Panels from Ultimate Fantastic Four #8 (August 2004), script by Warren Ellis, pencils by Stuart Immonen, inks by Wade Von Grawbadger, colors by Dave Stewart, letters by Chris Eliopoulos
(Click picture to two-ply-size)

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Bert and Harry Piel at the Hockey Game

Piels Brothers animated beer commercial (1950s), featuring the voices of Bob & Ray (Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding) and animated at UPA (United Productions of America) by Gene Deitch.

Read more about Bert and Harry Piels and the Piels Brothers ad campaign (and see more Piels Brothers commercials!) here, and read an excerpt from Gene Deitch's autobiography here about the complaint letter that almost killed the characters!

What If™...Nick Fury had been drafted into the Army as a company clerk?

Well? What if he had? Huh? Huh?

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 198

Panels from Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #100 (July 1972), script by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Mike Esposito, letters by Artie Simek

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 197

Final panel from Secret Wars #12 (April 1985), script by Jim Shooter, pencils by Mike Zeck, inks by John Beatty, colors by Christie Scheele, letters by Joe Rosen

MmMmMmmm rmmmmMMMmm pow! pow! MMMMMmmmMM

Hi hi hi folks! I'm busy bein' a mighty Jedi Knight!



My schedule is very full at the moment hunting down wretched hives of scum and villainy, so I'll be back on Friday. May the Force be with you!

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 196

Panel from Fantastic Four #58 (January 1967), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, letters by Artie Simek

That fatal kiss is all we need

Hey, as long as we're talking about the Eiffel Tower...


Duran Duran music video for "A View to a Kill" (1985),
featuring footage from the James Bond movie starring Roger Moore

Dizaines d'une sorte: Might as well leap!

Bonjour, mes amis! Eet is moi, Batroc ze Leapair! And eef zair is a day which makes ze Leapair's heart jump jus' that petit extra, eet is today, Bastille Day! Ah, Bastille Day, where there zhall be much rejoicing in ze streets of ma beloved Paree, ze petite enfants running zhruogh ze parks zetting off firecrackers. Blam, zey go! Boom! It ees alzo ze day when le président, 'e ceases with ze ethnic slurs for just ze one day. Pairhaps un jolie mademoiselle zhall spy Batroc as 'e drinks 'is café au lait, lonely at ze restaurant where 'e bides away ze Bastille Day by 'imself. Pairhaps she zhall step up to Batroc and she zhall say..."Bonjour, m'sieur! Je m'appelle Marie. Ca va?" And zen I zhall say, 'Ca va." And I will sweep hair into my arms and make ze mad passionate love to her entire body. Because Batroc ees not only ze leapair...Batroc is also ze lovair!

While Batroc ees doing that zhing, merci enjoy zee le blog de petit taureau, for 'e 'as allowed me...Batroc ze Leapair...to once again create a Dizaines d'une sorte for all of you, all featuring l'Tour Eiffel! Eet even begins with Batroc 'imself on one of ze covairs! Zo remembair...Bastille Day, eet is not just for ze cutting of zee neck...eet is alzo for ze beating of ze heart!





















Regardez celui-ci également. Et.

(Sacre orange! Zair is more Dizaines d'une sorte dans cet endroit.)

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 195

Panel from Thing & She-Hulk: The Long Night one-shot (May 2002), script by Todd DeZago, pencils by Bryan Hitch, inks by Paul Neary, colors by Paul Mounts, letters by Randy Gentile

Happy Birthday, Colleen Coover!

"It is a truth universally acknowledged," wrote somebody famous named Jane who wasn't Jane Wiedlin, "that all the best people have birthdays in July." It's true! Starting on July First with Missy Elliott, Alan Ruck, Debbie Harry, Leslie Caron, and a way cool guy some of you may be familiar with, all the way up to July Thirty-First with J. K. Rowling, Ted Cassidy, and Dean Cain...with Kate Bush, Phil Proctor, Beatrix Potter, Gracie Allen, Mick Jagger, Arthur Treacher, Raymond Chandler, Diana Rigg, Patrick Stewart, Marty Feldman, Mitch Miller, we will not let you go (let him go!) Mitch Miller! We will not let you go (let me go) will not let you go (let me go) will not let you go...oh, wait a minute.

My point, and I do have one, is that the hippest cats and the top bananas all have their birthdays in July. And smack-dab in the middle of the month is one of the coolest of 'em all: my pal Colleen Coover is celebrating her birthday today! Hooray! Hooray! (throws confetti up in the air, fires up a light stick to wave around, attempts to get Small Favors off the top shelf without success).

In addition to creating some of the most fun and beautiful stories in the Marvel Universe recently (the Marvel Girl backups in X-Men: First Class, the origin of Throg in Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers, and the wonderful debut of the Hydraettes in Fantastic Four: Giant-Size Adventures) and Banana Sunday, the Most Fun Comic of 2005, Colleen has also been extraordinarily kind to yours little stuffed truly, and sent me a wonderful birthday present of my own. HOLY COW LOOK IT'S ME!:


Click image to bubble-size

In the words of one of the greatest detectives of all time one of the greatest detectives of all time, wowzers! I've been lucky enough to have some extremely talented creators draw me, and Colleen's wonderful portrait of a young bull at his leisure is a delightful addition to my collection. Thanks, Colleen!

I do not have anything half as exciting to give Colleen for her birthday except my best wishes and some fluffy good wishes for many happy returns! Drop on by her blog and wish her the same, wontcha?

Happy birthday, Colleen! You have been very good and kind to me, and I thank you so much! Even if I had not gotten to know you, I'd still be a big little stuffed fan of your wonderful work. Thanks for all the fun!

Do you think the FF are swooning...

...because The Invincible Man isn't wearing any pants?

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 194

Panels from Sub-Mariner #8 (December 1968), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Dan Adkins, letters by Sam Rosen

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 193

Panel from Marvel Apes #1 (November 2008), script by Karl Kesel, pencilled and inked by Ramon F. Bachs, colored by Javier Mena Guerrero, lettered by Jared K. Fletcher

Ten of a Kind: That's what you get for waking up with bacon

Can you find the two characters who are actually the same character?

(More Ten of a Kind here.)