Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Twain and Einstein meet Team America!

When anyone mentions the dynamic duo of Mark Twain and Albert Einstein, I hope you think of the Fantagraphics-published comics of Michael Kupperman, which regularly team-up these two wild-haired, hard-hitting action adventure heroes: Twain and Einstein!


Panels from Tales Designed to Thrizzle Volume 2 (November 2012); script, pencils, inks, colors, and letters by Michael Kupperman

You really should not miss Twain and Einstein's wacky, way-out adventures, and you can find them in the Tales Designed to Thrizzle comic, which we can only hope Mister Kupperman is going to produce more issues of. I can't live without this!:


Or this!


In fact, Kupperman's adventures of Twain and Einstein span not only all of time and space but all comics genres!


At the same time, though, I often wonder if Kupperman's twenty-first century comics were influenced or by inspired by a different comic book from 1982...Captain America #269!


Panels from Captain America (1968 series) #269 (May 1982); script by J.M. DeMatteis; pencils by Mike Zeck; inks by John Beatty, Mike Zeck, and Joe Rubinstein; colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Jim Novak

There's Twain, and herrrrrrrre's Einstein!


The Adventures of Twain and Einstein! As we sometimes say about Batman...Captain America Did It First!


Bonus Special Weirdness Element to This Issue: it guest-stars Team America!


I cannot do justice to this issue unless I quote liberally from its plot summary at the Grand Comics Database.
Cap is taking part in a charity motorcycle event with Team America when a giant monster appears and captures a Nobel Prize winner who is in the audience; Cap and Team America follow the monster through a transporter tube and find themselves in a quaint little town peopled by the world's greatest thinkers from the past. This is all part of the Mad Thinker's agenda to surround himself with suitable companions to stimulate his intellect, but when Cap finds the missing Nobel members about to be turned into robots, he and Team America bring an end to the Thinker's Machiavellian plan.


Okay, Michael Kupperman, it's your move...now I want to see Twain and Einstein team up with Norwegian classical composer Edvard Grieg!


4 comments:

Jayunderscorezero said...

I can't quite place the source of that 'babysitters' cover homage and it's driving me crazy.

Bully said...

Be crazy no more, Jay!

Frank Santoro said...

that was awesome

Jayunderscorezero said...

Many thanks!