Separated at Birth: In Through the Bat Door

L: DC Super-Stars #17 (November-December 1977), art by Joe Staton and Bob Layton
R: Huntress: Darknight Daughter trade paperback (December 2006), art by Brian Bolland

(Click picture to parent-size)

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 72

Panel from [Uncanny] X-Men #43 (April 1968), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by George Tuska, inks by John Tartaglione, letters by Sam Rosen

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Mickey Mouse in "The Grocery Boy"

Mickey Mouse in The Grocery Boy (1932), directed by Willfred Jackson

Enemies Namor doesn't fight anymore

Panel from Sub-Mariner #37 (May 1971), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Mike Esposito, letters by Artie Simek

Later, of course, as we all know, Leech reformed, became a hero, and joined the X-Men.


Page from X-Force Annual #1 (1992)

And now you know...the rest of the story.

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 71

Page from New X-Men #146 (November 2003), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Phil Jimenez, inks by Andy Lanning, colors by Chris Chuckry, letters by Rus Wooton

So It's Come to This

Panels from Lorna the Jungle Queen #1 (July 1953), script by Don Rico, art by Werner Roth; reprinted in Jungle Action #1 (October 1972)

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 70

Panel from [Uncanny] X-Men #113 (September 1978), co-plot and script by Chris Claremont, co-plot and pencils by John Byrne, inks by Terry Austin, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Annette Kawecki

More Things Namor Doesn't Say Anymore...and His Little Deuce Coupe

Hey, remember the days when Namor, the Sub-Mariner, roamed around America, heading down the highway, looking for adventure, a hard-traveling hero with tiny itty-bitty wings on his ankles which meant he could fly where ever he went? Of course you do.

So why the Sam Scratch did he need The Sub-Mariner-Mobile?!?





One foot on the brake and one on the gas, hey!
Well, there's too much traffic, I can't pass, no!




So I tried my best illegal move
A big black and white come and crushed my groove again!




Go on and write me up for 125
Post my face, wanted dead or alive




Take my license n' all that jive
I can't drive...55!




So I signed my name on number twenty-four, hey!
Yeah, the judge said, "Boy, just one more,"




I'm gonna throw your ass in the city joint
Looked me in the eye, said, "You get my point?"
I said "Yeah, oh yeah!"




Write me up for 125
Post my face, wanted dead or alive




Take my license, all that jive
Oh, yeah!




I can't drive...

55!!!

!








Now fire this up and read it again!

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 69

Panels from World War Hulk: X-Men #1 (August 2007), script by Christos Gage, pencils and inks by Andrea DiVito, colors by Laura Villari, letters by Joe Caramagna

Monday Tuesday Night Murals: Larger than life and twice as ugly

Well hello there, Monday Night Murals! Thanks for rescheduling our appointment for Tuesday instead of Monday night...Ben Grimm's adventures at the Oscars just couldn't wait to be posted! So, then, what have you got in store for us tonight in the wonderful world of interlocking cover images? Could it be...Avengers #379-382? Mmmmm...could be!



Wha...what the Sam Scratch is goin' on here?!? I know I'm not the best there is at puzzles, but that don't even match! Even the logos change partway through the comics from a classic title to one of my least favorite logos that The Avengers has ever had! Hmmmm! Did I do it backwards?

Well, yes. All I have to do is turn the comic books over and...


Covers of Avengers/Marvel Double Feature #379-382 (October 1994-January 1995), art by George Perez

Whoa, that's much better! Yes, this is the brief era when Avengers became a "Marvel Double Feature" book; a flip comic that had The Avengers on one side and a Giant-Man serial on the other. The story depended on which side of the book you were holding up—if you accidentally kept plowing right through the Avengers into Giant-Man backwards, you'd see Hank Pym get hit by his wife, shrink down to ant-size, and have his series Tales to Astonish cancelled with issue #35.

Taken by themselves, each of these covers is kinda strange, isn't it? Well, at least the first two had Hank's eye on it...but #381 isn't exactly the sort of cover that inspires great interest. "Oh boy, this month we find out all about Hank Pym's chin!" But I do like the little happy Wasp cavortin' around with a chain o' ants on the final issue. Ah, happier days. Well, at least you could paste them all together and make yourself a Giant-Man mask for Halloween 1994! (Just watch out for...RAID!

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 68

Panel from Avengers #180 (February 1979), script by Tom Defalco, pencils by Jim Mooney, inks by Mike Esposito, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Denise Wohl

Today in Comics History, Oscar Night: Benjy Goes to Hollywood

Are you a fan of Ben Grimm? You really oughta be, ya know. If you were, you might have caught his adventures last night at the Academy Award ceremonies!




Who knows where Ben Grimm will wind up next?

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 67

Panel from Avengers Two #1 (May 2000), script by Roger Stern, pencils by Mark Bagley, inks by Greg Adams, colors by Tom Smith, letters by Sharpefont and SC

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 66

Pin-up from Marvel Swimsuit Special, art by George Perez

Huge Amazon Graphic Novel Sale!

I don't know whether it's a glitch, a sale, or just plain "Crazy Eddie" insanity, but there's a huge number of omnibus and archive-sized graphic novels on sale right now at Amazon for $15 each or less. (Since all the affected publishers are distributed to Amazon by Diamond, I'm guessing it may have been brought about by errors in the datafeed that Diamond has provided to Amazon, but that's just a hunch.)

EDIT, 3/7/10: Looks like it's all over but the shouting by fanboys, folks, as the prices and life returns to normal. I'll leave the links up a little while longer and then take them down later, so if you're still buying, check your prices in your shopping basket. Hope you got some good deals. Remember that it's entirely possible Amazon may cancel your order and refund your money (this unexpected situation would have left them without enough or any stock to fill these massive orders). And as Gail Simone so wisely tweeted: "Everyone who does buy something from this sale should make a point to go buy something cool at their local comic shop, as well."

EDIT #2, 3/7/10: Looks like everything has reverted or is changing back to normal, folks, so I've removed the links. You can try surfing around to see if anything is still marked down, but at this point it's likely you may get a nice "Sorry, we can't fill your order, here's your credit back" email from Amazon.

EDIT #3, 3/8/10: Part of my order has shipped, and the rest still shows as "Shipping Soon" or "Not Yet Shipped."



EDIT #4, 3/9/10: The rest of my order has been cancelled. Ah well, life. You pays for your ticket and you takes your chances.