Friday Night Fury Freakout: S.U.M.M.E.R.* of Love

Can your brain contain the refrain of pain that's the inhumane bane? (Answer: are you insane?) Well, that's exactly what happens in tonight's Friday Night Fury Freakout, the comics blogosphere's first and only weekly focus on stuff that makes Mama Fury's little boy Nicholas go stark ravin' mad! Tonight: When Nick goes undercover at Max Yasgur's Bethal farm to investigate the claims that HYDRA is infiltrating America's tune in-drop out bell-bottom youth culture by posing as dirty commie hippies (inhale), he makes the mistake of accepting what he thinks is a simple "aspirin" from one of the youthful, bearded concert-goers. Let's watch!:


Full-page panel from Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #7 (December 1968), plot and dialogue by Archie Goodwin; plot, pencils and inks by Frank Springer; letters by Artie Simek

Whoa! Now Nick will never catch Sha-Na-Na's amazing act! Why, he was barely conscious for Sweetwater!

Join us next week when Nick Fury accidentally licks what he thinks is a "postage stamp" taken from Countess Valentina Allegro de Fontaine's purse and spends the rest of the day cowering under his desk, loudly declaring that he is a squirrel and he wants his nuts back. Oh, how they laughed and laughed in the S.H.I.E.L.D. canteen over that one! Why, Nick couldn't show his face for a week without everyone making chipmunk sounds behind his back!


*S.H.I.E.L.D.** Universal Mood-Modifier, Electroencephalographic Reverie

**Screwy Headgames in Experimental Lunacy and Delirium

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 219

Panel from Fantastic Four #209 (June 1980), script by Doug Moench, breakdowns by Bill Sienkiewicz, finishes and inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by George Roussos, letters by Jim Novak

Pantone Strips of the Marvel Superheroes

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 218

Panel from Stan Lee Meets the Thing one-shot (December 2006), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Lee Weeks, inks by Nelson DeCastro, colors by Paul Mounts, letters by Dave Lanphear

I'm just a Peeping Tom on my own for far too long, problems with the booze, nothing left to lose

In the Marvel Universe, we've got The Watcher, who keeps an eye on matters of humanity at all times. But who do they have watching them over in the DC Universe? Why, that's an easy answer, because as we all know...

Darkseid likes to watch.

Say, whaddaya think old Helmet-Head there is peeping in on through the window, anyway?:



So, what do ya think about seeing that, Darkseid?




Well, that'll teach ya, Stoneface.


Panels are from The New Gods #4, Angel Love #1, and The Hunger Dogs.

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 217

Panel from Marvel Two-in-One #12 (November 1975), script by Bill Mantlo, pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Vince Colletta, colors by Janice Cohen, letters by Karen Mantlo

Dumbass Things You Shouldn't Do in the Marvel Universe, Number 23

Hey! You know enough not to be a dumbass, right? It's one of those things your mama taught you, right...like not putting your elbows on the table or licking the television screen. Sadly, as we can see each and every day in our ordinary lives, out and about in public, there's a plethora (thanks, Word of the Day Calendar!) of dumbasses, especially in the workplace. Why, that even extends to job interviews! Remember that jerk who put you through your last job interview by making you talk about your biggest fault? And you said "Well, I sleep during the day and I like to steal office supplies," and suddenly you're not in the running anymore. Whatever happened to honesty is the best policy?!?. (PS: Don't steal office supplies.)

Now, one of the places where you'd think people wouldn't be dumbasses is the Marvel Universe, right? After all, this is the universe that gave us the Superhuman Registration Act and prejudice against mutants and the Sons of the Serpent and...wait, on the other hand, one of the places you'd think people would be total dumbasses is the Marvel Universe. And you'd be right. Because even in regular ordinary everyday job interviews, big bullies (in the worst sense of the word) pick on perfectly respectable job applicants, taunting them like that guy who kicks sand in the face of Mac at the beach. Sure, this red-shirted guy has big muscles and big eyebrows, but does he have a big brain? A: He does not.


Panels from Avengers #23 (December 1965), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Don Heck, inks by John Romita, letters by Artie Simek

See, when you have a job interview that goes badly thanks to a dumbass interviewer, take a cue from Blondie here...sock the jerk in the glass jaw with a solid WONK! (That tactic is in all the good job interview books...go ahead, look it up! I dare ya!



And that, dear friends, is how Steve "Chuckles" Rogers started off his new career of punching people out in the countryside, working for a carnival showman straight out of the 1890s. Sadly Steve's new position would quickly evaporate, so fast that he didn't even have a chance to fill out his W-4 form and get his photo taken for his business cards and company ID, because just like he always does...dumbass that he is...

Kang attacks!

Yep. That'll happen!

So, to repeat: don't be a dumbass. Don't try to be all high and mighty making fun of a prospective job applicant, and don't bend all of space-time in a galactic quest to resurrect your high school girlfriend who wiped out on Dead Man's Curve on prom night. Don't be that guy.

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 216

Panel from Mini Marvels story in Amazing Spider-Man Family #3 (February 2009), by Chris Giarrusso

Favorite Elvis Songs of the Marvel Silver Age Western Stars

Hey, Kid Colt, Outlaw!
What's your favorite Elvis song?

Panel from Kid Colt, Outlaw #103 (March 1962), script by Stan Lee, art by Jack Keller

Well, thank you muchly for the answer, Blaine! So let's send the following platter out as a long-distance dedication to the man who cleaned up the Wild West until he was sent time-traveling to a post-apocalyptic future and then whose body later wound up mounted and stuffed in a museum...wait a minute, I think I got my Wikipedia articles mixed up. In any case, this one's going out to you, Kid Colt!

That's it for another exciting installment of "Favorite Elvis Songs of the Marvel Silver Age Western Stars"! Join us next time when The Rawhide Kid chooses his favorite Elvis song! Until then...thank yuh! Thank yuh verra much!

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 215

Still from Fantastic Four "Three Predictions Of Dr. Doom" (1967)

Ten of a Kind: My aim is true

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 214

Carl Ciarfalio as The Thing in Roger Corman's never-released The Fantastic Four movie (1994).

Pretty fright-inducing, huh? Well, that photo is child's play next to the nightmare material that is a photo of the headless, naked Corman-movie Thing rubber suit. Click only if you have a strong stomach! Blurghhhhhh...

Separated at Birth: Their bark is worse than their bite

L: Justice League of America #9 (February 1962), art by Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson
R: Justice League Europe #37 (April 1992), art by Ron Randall and Murphy Anderson
(Click picture to giant-sequoia-size)




Addendum on 8/3/09: Check out this other man-to-tree-amorphosis sent in by illustrious blogger and my pal Sleestak, he of the check-it-out Lady, That's My Skull blog!:


Fantastic Stories of Imagination Volume 11, Number 12 (December 1962), art by Robert Adragan

Hmm, December 1962. I know there's a long lead time on magazines and comics, but d'ya think cover artist Adragan coulda been influenced by the 2/62 JLA cover? Hmmmmmmmmm!

Thanks so much and a tip o' the nose ring to ya, Sleestak! Consider yourself the honored winner of The Hayley Mills Bull-Prize!

365 Days with Ben Grimm: Day 213

Main title from Fred and Barney Meet the Thing (NBC, 1979).
Hey, why isn't this out on DVD? Oh, yeah...because it stinks.

Saturday Morning Bullyfilm: Go West