Separated at Birth: All I do is grunt and groan/Hurts me to walk anywhere

L: Incredible Hulk Special #1 (October 1968), art by Jim Steranko and Marie Severin
M: Incredible Hulk v.3 #34 (January 2002), art by Kaare Andrew
R: Incredible Hulk v.3 #112 (January 2008), art by Arthur Adams and Laura Martin
(Click picture to spigelian-size)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 150

Cover from Fantastic Four #513 (July 2004), pencils by Mike Wieringo, inks by Karl Kesel, colors by Richard Isanove

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Brisk Iced Tea commercial

Lipton Brisk Ice Tea commercial (2001), created by Ken Lidster of Loose Moose, featuring stop-motion James Brown, Elvis Presly, Willie Nelson, and Coolio. Read more about it.

And then there was the time Bugs Bunny got a MySpace page.

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 149

Panel from Fantastic Four #45 (December 1965), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, letters by Artie Simek

Peter Parker, Player

Hey, who's the most lovable loser in the Marvel Universe? The guy who things never work out for? The guy we're all supposed to feel sorry for? The guy who's had eight knock-out girlfriends?!?


Pin-up page from Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16 (1982), script by Roger Stern, pencils by John Romita, Jr., inks by John Romita, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Jim Novak
Oh, cry me a freakin' river about your poor love life, Parker.

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 148

Panel from Fantastic Four #219 (June 1980), script by Doug Moench, breakdowns by Bill Sienkiewicz finishes and inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by George Roussos, letters by Jim Novak

Spam Oughta Be Fun: Comics Based on Spam Subject Lines

Today's actual spam subject: "Be a Mr. Irresistible with a Submariner SS watch."

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 147

Panels from Marvel Team-Up #6 (January 1973), script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Mike Esposito, letters by Jean Izzo

Fantastic Fourniversary!

Hey, Benjamin J. Grimm! What time is it?



That's right, Mister G! It's the Bully Blogiversary! Yes, today (well, yesterday really, but I wanted to post a Memorial Day tribute instead) is the fourth anniversary of Comics Oughta Be Fun! Can ya bullieve it? On May 25, 2005, I kicked off this blog with a review of The Amazing Spider-Man in which Peter was married to Mary Jane, issues from two series (Hulk and JLA) that have been cancelled and restarted in the meantime, and a cheap swipe at J. Michael Straczynski. In other words, nothing important has changed.

So, grab your toasting beverage of choice...



...and let's take a quick trip down Memory Lane, or, as it's been re-named by the Bullyville Chamber of Commerce, Some of My Favorite Posts of the Last Year!

• Who's a Skrull? Everybody!
• Project Runway: featuring Wolverine
• What If...Bully Created the Endless?
• The Marvel Universe visits the Marvel Bullpen: Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4
• Don't let the Cyclops drive the plane
• Ten Things You Didn't Know About the Hulk
• Sgt. Bighead Donegan of the 31st Precinct
• Pepper Potts, Fashion Critic
• The Mysterious Mailing Tube
• Don't mention his wife!
• Don't leave home without your Avengers Communicard.
  

• For some reason I spent much of a week reading Star Wars comics. Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3
• Love Actually in (Sorta) Real Time. (Yes, I will finish this!)
• The Amazing Spider-Maps
• The Punisher's Battle-Pig!
• If I Ran Marvel Comics
• Dr. Doom's Top Ten New Year's resolutions
• My favorite post I did this past year: Esquire interviews Spidey.
• Let's buy some FF crap!
• The Fantastic Photo-World of Jack Kirby
• Lois Lane haiku
• Who is the new Black Panther? Huh? Who is it?
• Neil Gaiman's Batman
• Arrooo!
• I forgot this movie came out. But I loved the ice cream!
• Hawkeye, Hawkeye, or Hawkeye?
• Don't tell mom the babysitter's Wolverine
• Comics Marketing 101 with Ant-Man
• No, Johnny, No!
• The Return of Evil Bully
• The Uncanny Goofus and Gallant
• Jane's Recognition Guide to Inconspicuous Nazi Weaponry of the Fourth Reich
• Marvel Mayors
• Quote possible my favorite day with Ben Grimm so far.
• Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect 200 Quatloos

Whew! That's a lotta good posts! (And even more crappy ones.) But by far the highlight of this past year was meeting one of my greatest heroes, a person who I've been longing to meet for a long, long, time...


Oh, no. Not that guy. But rather...MISS JANE WIEDLIN!:


But, no matter the highlights of a year, I always enjoy lookin' forward to the one coming up. I want to thank you all for following along, sending me great comments, and for laughing at my lame jokes. I also want to single out one of my perpetually favorite commenters and thank her: C'mon up on stage and get a big Bully hug, Miss SallyPM! Sally consistently and frequently comments with humor and enthusiasm on a very large majority of my posts, and it's always a delight to see her comments pop up on screen. Thank you Sally, thank you everyone for reading along this year.

But especially and most of all, thank you, Randi. I luv you with all my little satin stuffed heart!


So! Thanks for hangin' out here in 2009, hope you'll stick around through 2010 and beyond, and most of all...keep reading comics!!

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 146

Panels from Fantastic Four #34 (January 1965), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Chic Stone, letters by Artie Simek

Never forget them.

Bill Mauldin "WIllie & Joe" cartoon from Stars and Stripes, July 3, 1944

"We have shared the incommunicable experience of war. We have felt—we still feel—the passion of life to its top. In our youths our lives were touched by fire." — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., in an address delivered on Memorial Day, May 30, 1884, speaking of about his Civil War experiences

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 145

Panels from Black Panther #31 (December 2007), script by Reginald Hudlin, art by Francis Portela, colors by Val Staples, letters by Virtual Calligraphy's Cory Petit

The Fast Fifteen: No one knows just how he does it but it's true they say/He's the master of going faster

Ten of a Kind is on vacation this weekend. But luckily, his speedy pal, The Fast Fifteen, offered to rush in to take his place! Take it away, FF!

































Need more? Well, the Fast Fifteen is nothing if not about excess!:


Superman (The Animated Series): "Speed Demon" (1997), featuring the voices of Timothy Daly, Dana Delaney, and Charlie Schlatter



Excerpt from Justice League "A Better World" (2003), featuring the voices of George Newbern and Michael Rosenbaum



Smallville "Run" (2004), starring Tom Welling and Kyle Gallner

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 144

Page from Ultimate Fantastic Four/X-Men #1 (February 2006), script by Mike Carey, art by Pasqual Ferry, letters by Chris Eliopoulos
(Click picture to Taz-size)