Same Story, Different Cover: You come and go, you come and go

L: Marvel Team-Up #100 (December 1980), art by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson
R: Marvel Tales #250 (June 1991), reprinting MTU #100, art by Marshall Rogers

(Click picture to double-size anniversary-size)

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 205

Panel from X-Men #50 (March 1996), script by Scott Lobdell, pencils by Andy Kubert, inks by Cam Smith, colors by Joe Rosas with Digital Crayon Enhancements, letters by Richard Starkings

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Tony the Tiger versus a Bull

Sugar Frosted Flakes commercial featuring Thurl Ravenscroft as the voice of Tony the Tiger

Good Soldier

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 204

Panels from House of M: Iron Man #1 (November 1964), script by Greg Pak, pencils by Pat Lee, inks and colors by Dream Engine, letters by Rus Wooton

The Strange Racist Insults of Sgt. Nick Fury

Panel from Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #74 (January 1970), written by Archie Goodwin, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by John Severin, letters by Jean Izzo

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 203

Panel from [Uncanny] X-Men #8 (November 1964), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Chic Stone, letters by Richard Starkings and Sam Rosen

Pepper Potts Explains It All For You

And now it's time for installment #53 in the continuing advice column



Hello, Pepperheads! It's me, your fabulous role model, Pepper Potts, with another column of my internationally syndicated lifestyle column for the go-getter young woman of the 21st century. If you've been reading my advice, you're modern, stylish, sexy, fantastic, and best of all, inside and out you're Pepperiffic! Because a Pepper Girl doesn't just moan about what she wants...she takes it! Yeah! Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper, too? Don't think too hard, girls—the answer: yes.

Let's take a look at today's letter, from a Miss J. Foster of Manhattan, New York!

Dear Pepper,

I'm desperately in love with my handsome boss—a prestigious New York doctor—but he never seems to have eyes for me aside from business! It's always "Nurse Foster, bring me those files," or "Nurse Foster, please bring in the next patient," or "Nurse Foster, isn't that the Mighty Thor over there?" I try to corner him in the off hours to chat with him, but he closes his door, plays his recording of a thunderstorm, and when I go in to see him, the window is open and he's gone! Worse yet, the only time he perks up around a woman is the times when this six-foot tall Danish or Swedish brunette drops by to visit him, wearing this god-awful white miniskirt dress with a purple cape and (get this) carrying a sword! Then he's all "come in, my dear," and "how lovely to see you again." How do I fix it so that Scandanavian buttinski goes back to her wooden shoes and her tulips, leaving the handsome Donald Bl doctor I referred to earlier all to myself?

J. Foster, you poor dope. Snap out of it! This hunky love-object doctor of yours is obviously so attractive to gorgeous Amazon women that he couldn't beat them away with a wooden cane, even if he had one! So it's time for you to use all the feminine wiles and pepperosity at your command. Why, I myself was in a similar situation recently when my boss, Mister "S," hired a curvy new assistant who vamped her way across the office trying to get into his pants and his heart. Uh-uh, you Russian floozy! Only one who gets to touch Mr. "S"'s heart is yours pepper-truly.



So, as i instruct my Pepperheads to do in every eventuality: do what Pepper does. Confuse the little harlot, whether she's from Moscow or Reykjavik, by baffling her wee little strumpet senses—just tell her an out-and-out fib. Like she's gonna even know...her bra is bigger than her brains!


Panels from Tales of Suspense #51 (March 1964), written by Stan Lee, pencils and inks by Don Heck, letters by Artie Simek

Then, to keep the Muscovite Minx from checking your tiny, harmless, little white...it's not even a fib, it's a figure of speech...just make sure that she thinks your boss has no interest in her, her fabulous body and her enormous pointy bosoms:



Later, of course, when your boss checks to see if Miss Jezebel Tartmeister stopped by, you can say with complete honesty and candor that there certainly hasn't been a beautiful woman by to see him. You don't even have to keep your fingers crossed, because we all know beauty comes not only from our fabulous designer clothes, expensive hairstyles, and elaborate make-up, but also from "inside." You know, that spleen operation you had last year so that he'd take notice of what a beautiful spleen you had, in the hopes that some day he'd hold you in his manly arms and whisper, "Why, Miss Potts, what a gorgeous spleen you have." Like he ever notices.



In no time at all it'll be you escorting Mr. "S" to that afternoon cheap-seat matinee of Wicked! Make sure he buys you the big popcorn, that cheapskate!



However: beware the dreaded switcharoo:



So there you go, Nurse Foster...a clever mistruth, a caustic insult, a classic bit of misdirection, and don't forget cutting her brake lines, and you'll be hopping into the boss's lap in no time! Say goodbye to the dreary working week and hello to Fabulous City, Arizona in your new role as The Boss's Wife! It's Pepper-tested and Pepper-approved, and if it doesn't work for you, you obviously fudged it all up. So don't forget there's always a plan B:



So until next time...stay fabulous, stay sexy, stay Pepperiffic, girls!

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 202

Panels from Uncanny X-Men #337 (October 1996), script by Scott Lobdell, pencils by Joe Madureira, inks by Tim Townsend, colors by Steve Buccellato, letters by Richard Starkings and Kolja Fuchs

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 201

Panel from What If? v.2 #106 (March 1998), script by Tom DeFalco, pencils by Leo Fernandez, inks by Robert Jones, colors by Glynis Oliver, letters by Chris Eliopoulos

Monday Night Murals: I'm not uptight, not unattractive

Hey, kids, tonight: Meet Radioactive Man!:



No, no, no, not that Radioactive Man. I'm talking about the Bongo Universe's premier superhero, the idol of millions, and Bart Simpson. Yes, it's Radioactive Man! When millionaire socialite Claude Kane III is caught in a mega-bomb explosion, his head is pierced by a radioactive shard of lightning-bolt-shaped metal, which gives him strange, marvelous powers beyond that of mortal men! Nuclear powers! And we all know how safe those are, don't we, Mister Burns?

Also, he's a comic book character. Which means, of course...he's the focus of tonight's mural, a triptych made up of three different series of Bongo Comics, a summer 2009 crossover event that meant we had to buy all three comics or risk not completing the story...or the mural! Pretty sneaky, Matt Groening!

Covers of Simpsons Comics #155, Bart Simpson #48, and Simpsons Super Spectacular #9 (June 2009), art by Bill Morrison, Jason Ho and Mike Rote
Click image to Jeff Albertson-size

Looks like a lot of the super-hero lovin' population of Springfield, USA turned out for the Radioactive Man event, huh? Also, I dare you to look at this and not hum to yourself "The Sim...psons... (dah dah dah dah dah...)"

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 200

Panels from X-Men #13 (October 1992), script by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Art Thibert, inks by Art Thibert and Dan Panosian, colors by Marie Javins and Joe Rosas, letters by Lois Buhalis

Ten of a Kind: Though you've grown beyond your years, you still retain the fears of youth

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 199

Panels from X-Men: First Class v.2 #4 (November 2007), script by Jeff Parker, pencils by Julia Bax, inks by Kris Justice, colors by Val Staples, letters by Nate Piekos

Sunday Morning Silents: 1920s Star Wars

1920s Star Wars ("A Battle in the Sky") (2007), directed by Ulrico Gonzato, produced by Rabbitrevolver