Separated at Birth: Get ready 'coz here I come

L: Fantastic Four #265 (April 1984), art by John Byrne
R: Fantastic Force #13 (November 1995), art by Dante Bastianoni
(Click picture to mystery-guest-size)

PS: The Spoiler says:

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 178

Panel from Fantastic Four #551 (January 2008), script by Dwayne McDuffie, pencils by Paul Pelletier, inks by Rick Magyar, colors by Paul Mounts, letters by Rus Wooton

Casper the Jerky Ghost

If there's only one thing...

...that I've learned about Casper the Ghost...

...it's that he's completely, utterly, totally...

Immaterial.

Which makes this a really evil move.

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 177

Panel from Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Comics Magazine #8 (September 2001), written, pencilled, and inked by a buncha guys...here, just look for yourself.

Yes, folks, you thought it couldn't happen: Ben Grimm made awesomer than he already is. How can it be done? A: Give him Captain America's shield.



I know that Marvel is promising Steve Rogers is coming back...but really, after this, I'd say his shield is in great hands already, wouldn't you?

On a hot day like this, even Harvey Dent deserves a cool refreshing treat

Isn't that right, Harv?

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 176

Panel from Ultimate Fantastic Four #27 (April 2006), script by Mark Millar, pencils by Greg Land, inks by Matt Ryan, colors by Justin Ponsor, letters by Randy Gentile

No, folks, your baby blues do not deceive you, nor have shape-shifting aliens turned this feature into 365 Days with a Skrull. That is, in fact, Ultimate Ben Grimm in the Super-Skrull armor!

Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man and My Mom

Q: What better way to spend a pleasant June evening than hanging around on the farm with Spider-Man as he tells cow jokes? A: Lots of ways.




"Wit of the Web-Slinger" by Julie Mishkin, from Spidey Super Stories #29 (December 1977)

In the panel after that last one, Spider-Man was gored by my dad.

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 175

Panel from Wolverine v.3 #73 (July 2009), script by Jason Aaron, pencils by Adam Kubert, inks by Mark Farmer, colors by Justin Ponsor, letters by Cory Petit

Welcome to the jungle, we got fun 'n' games! We got everything you want!

In this panel from Jungle Action #18 there are forty Wakandan warriors. None of them can be seen. In this post we hope to show you how not to be seen.


All panels from Jungle Action #18 (November 1975), script by Don McGregor, pencils by Billy Graham, inks by Bob McLeod, colors by Don Warfield, letters by Dave Hunt

This is Mrs. L. J. M'kando of Central Wakanda City. Mrs. M'kando has chosen a most cunning way to conceal herself: through the use of camouflage.

(Click pixchur 4 x-tra kittehs)

Mrs. M'kando has learned the first lesson in how not to be seen: keeping herself from being...heh heh heh...easily spotted.

Bonus Jungle Action #18 fun!:

True or false: The title of this story is 'Epilogue!':



A: False! What you think is the title is actually a rare cloud formation native to the land of Wakanda that to some people might appear to spell out letters than the human mind tricks into thinking it looks vaguely like the word "Epilogue"!



At certain times during rainy season on the Wakandan plains, this cloud formation can be seen for many miles, unless you're in Northern Wakanda, in which case it would spell 'EUGOLIPE'.



Native superstition says that 'when epilogue cloud hangs low in the sky, a woman by laser arm attack will die.' It's an oddly accurate prophecy.



It would be many years until Queen Ororo Munroe came to Wakanda and, through the use of her mutant weather powers, discovered that the mysterious cloud was actually an advertising campaign for Epilogue Motors, home of T'Khandra's Wacky Wednesday Wheels-a-Rama Sale. That's Epilogue Motors, conveniently located in Wakanda City, just off Panther Highway, behind the Appleby's!

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 174

Cover art to the paperback novel Fantastic Four: War Zone (August 2005), by Greg Cox, cover art by Glen Orbik

How about an extra bonus...a Ben Grimm appearance in prose?:

You wanna read the rest? Of course you do! So make with the clickety-click, bub, and get yourself a copy!

The History of Comic Book Sharing, 1977: Early experiments with jpegs

The year is 1977! And NASA launches the last of America's deep space probes the new electronic age dawns with the introduction of the first color computer, the Apple II, and the foundation of ARCnet begins the rapid development of the modern Internet! This is also the year that (between lining up for Star Wars), comic book fans begin using this startling new technology and experimenting with progressive and modern techniques to transfer and share comic books via the new medium of...computers!

Unfortunately, early experiments with the jpeg format could only produce a resolution of 4 pixels per inch, rendering comic books two-dimensional and unintelligible, as shown below—at this low image quality, even true fans can't discern the difference between Dr. Strange and Incredible Hulk comic books!:


Panel from Incredible Hulk Annual #6 (November 1977), plot by Len Wein, plot and script by David Anthony Kraft, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito, colors by Janice Cohen, letters by Gaspar Saladino

So once again, Scans_Daily is thwarted...and the safety of comic book copyright is preserved safely from rabid fans intent on sharing files illegally. But for how long... for...how...long?

Next time, on The History of Comic Book Sharing...Enter the Mimeograph!

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 173

Panels from Strange Tales #101 (1987), plot by Stan Lee, script by Larry Lieber, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Art Simek, and featuring #3,254 and 3,255 of the 5,000 Hats of Jack Kirby!

Ten of a Kind: Glide, Goblin, glide upon your mystery ship

House ad from Marvel Comics cover-dated February 1986
Click to Santa-size

I also think there was an image homage in the '94 Spider-Man TV cartoon, and in one of the movies. Now where's my DVDS?

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 172

Panels from teaser preview story in Marvel Age Annual #3 (1987), written by Steve Englehart, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Joe Sinnott