Bully Eats Food: At last, a beer for the discerning stuffed bull

Today in Comics History, August 6, 1951: Newspaper hits porch so hard it's seeing stars

from "Newspaper items" in Big Town #11 (DC/National, November 1951), by Mort Drucker

Today in Comics History, August 4, 1952: Plan Eight from Outer Space is unsuccessful

from "The 1950 Hamilton A.F.B. California Case" in Weird Science-Fantasy (1954 series) #26 (EC, December 1954), script by Al Feldstein, pencils and inks by Wally Wood, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Jim Wroten

Today in Comics History, August 4, 1914: Great Britain vows with all its might to protect those delicious waffles

from Tolkien: Lighting Up the Darkness (Ablaze, February 2024), script by Willy Duraffourg, art by Giancarlo Caracuzzo, colors by Flavia Caracuzzo and Joël Odone

Today in Comics History, August 2: Happy birthday, Peter O'Toole!

Born on this day in 1932: acclaimed British actor Peter O'Toole (insert joke from Diamonds Are Forever by Sean Connery), who you've seen in such movies (if you're lucky!) as The Lion in Winter, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year, Man of La Mancha, What's New Pussycat?, Lawrence of Arabia, Troy, and, ahem, Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage (and lots more).


photo cover of Goodbye, Mr. Chips one-shot (Gold Key/Western, June 1970)

Today in Comics History, August 1: Happy birthday, Claudius!

Ave Claudius! And happy birthday to ya too, because today's your birthday (born August 1, 10 BC), Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus! Better known to the world as jus' plain Claudius, which makes it easier to write birthday cards to him, especially when you had to chistle 'em into slate tablets. "Happy birthday, Claude!" (thunk) Not that he wasn't mighty enough to pick 'em up:


from "[I Made an Airplane]" in Kid Eternity (1946 series) #5 (Quality, Spring 1947), pencils and inks by Pete Riss (?) or Witmer Williams (?)

Fun with Comics: How Bertie Wooster would have handled Nazis

from the Junior Rangers story in Headline Comics v.1 #7 (Prize, Spring 1944), art by Henry Kiefer (?)

The August 1968 2024 Calendar for This Menacing Year

Come on, man! Time to answer your landline to participate in a Republican-backed phone poll that will be presented as representing 100% of the population of America instead of the sliver of percentage who answer blind calls and still have a telephone that won't fit in your pocket. Lookin' at you, Mom. Anyway, this little stuffed bull gives you the permission to ignore your phone all month.


from Spider-Man: Marvels Snapshots #1 (one-shot) (Marvel, December 2020); script, pencils, and inks by Howard Chaykin; colors by Jesus Aburtov; letters by Ken Bruzenak
Instead, why not cool off in August by divin' into the pool of a complete stranger as suggested by this real calendar you can use all thru this month of August 2024, huh? Wow, McGruff the Crime Dog can't get to Dennis's neighborhood fast enough.


"August 1968" from Dennis the Menace Giant #51 [Dennis the Menace Christmas Special] (Hallden/Fawcett, Winter 1967), creators unidentified and unknown

Remember: don't pick up your phone! It might just be Ghostface.

(And oh yeah, PS: here's a calendar you can use if you're only gonna be around the last two weeks of August. Like, say, if you come out of a coma on the 18th or somethin'.)


from Spider-Gwen: Gwen-Verse #2 (Marvel, June 2022), script by Tim Seeley, pencils and inks by Jodi Nishijima, colors by Federico Blee, letters by Ariana Maher

Today in Comics History, July 26: Earth is embarrassed to go to the prom after it gets a big pimple

from Children of the Vault #1 (Marvel, October 2023), script by Deniz Camp, art by Luca Maresca, colors by Carlos Lopez, letters by Cory Petit

Today in Comics History, July 26: Happy birthday, Helen Mirren!

Happy birthday today to actor Dame Helen Mirren (The Queen, The Long Good Friday, Excalibur, Calendar Girls, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, The Mosquito Coast, Prime Suspect, The Fate of the Furious, F9, Fast X, and many other movies that don't involve racing cars.)

She sneaks into this feature celebrating her birthday by the skin of her English teeth, because she technically is in comic books:


"DC Nation" from DC Comics cover-dated May 2023
Happy birthday, Helen! Try to fit in a guest appearance in a Batman something this coming year, okay?

Today in Comics History, July 26: Happy birthday, Sandra Bullock!

Born on this day: actor Sandra Bullock, who has a pretty cool last name as far as I'm concerned. You may remember her from such films as Demolition Man, Speed, Hope Floats, Miss Congeniality, The Net, Gravity and others, but you may not remember her from M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, because she wasn't in that.

Let's take a look at Sandra Bullock in comic books, shall we?


from "You Ought to be in Pictures" in Archie's Spring Break #5 (Archie, 2000), script by Bill Golliher, pencils by Jeff Shultz, inks by Jim Amash, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida
Aw man, that's not Sandra Bullock, that's just anotgher one of Archie's Generic Celebrities.

Oh well. Until I can leaf through these other comics and find an actual appearance by her, let's check in on this thinly-disguised version of Sandra Bullock.

Today in Comics History, July 26, 1918: J.R.R. Tolkien eagerly awaits for his order of bologna to arrive

from Tolkien: Lighting Up the Darkness (Ablaze, February 2024), script by Willy Duraffourg, art by Giancarlo Caracuzzo, colors by Flavia Caracuzzo and Joël Odone

The July 1968 2024 Calendar for This Menacing Year

Here's your ready-to-use July Calendar!


from Spider-Man: Marvels Snapshots #1 (one-shot) (Marvel, December 2020); script, pencils, and inks by Howard Chaykin; colors by Jesus Aburtov; letters by Ken Bruzenak
Aw, that's no good! For one thing, you can't read the numbers. And also, who still uses a land line and answering machine these days? (Looks up at the panel) The Dutch, that's who!

Here's a real calendar you can use this month of July 2024, courtesy of Your Friendly Neighborhood Pre-Pubescent Menace:


"July 1968" from Dennis the Menace Giant #51 [Dennis the Menace Christmas Special] (Hallden/Fawcett, Winter 1967), creators unidentified and unknown

Shoot off those firewworks if you got 'em, kids! Right into Mr. Wilson's house.

There Is No Hope in Crime Alley 2024: Hand over those three rocks, lady

Long-time readers of this blog will know that pretty much everytime June 26 rolls around, I commemorate the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne by showing off panels of that iconic origin of Batman, because it's been portrayed in comic books two or three times.


from "The Batman Wars Against the Dirigible of Doom" in Detective Comics (1937 series) #33 (DC, November 1939), script by Bill Finger, figure pencils and inks by Bob Kane, background pencils and letters by Sheldon Moldoff
However, this year let's mix it up a little bit and show a happier ending to that trip through Crime Alley:


Nancy (United Feature Syndicate, October 10, 1953), by Ernie Bushmiller
I'm pretty sure Sluggo still got shot, but still...

Today in Comics History, June 26, 1903: Massive debt undertaken to decorate aft end of ship

from "Most Dangerous Passage" in True Comics #65 (Parents' Magazine Press, October 1947), creators uncredited and unknown