Same Story, Different Cover(s): Once...Twice...Three Times an Invasion

L: Fantastic Four Annual #1 (1963), art by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers
R: Fantastic Four King-Size Special (Annual) #8 (December 1970), reprinting FF Annual #1, art by John Romita and John Verpoorten
Bottom: Fantastic Four Special Edition #1 (May 1984), reprinting FF Annual #1, art by John Byrne

(Click picture to Giganto-size)

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 261

Page from X-Men: The Brotherhood of Monsters children's book (January 2006), written by Brent Sudduth, illustrated by Scott Stewart

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Yogi Bear "Missile Bound Yogi"

A dramatic and moving cinematic plea to end mankind's senseless proclivity to make war on one another. This motion picture, made in the months after the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion, highlights the failure of American troops to capture territory when foiled by the less-technically sophisticated forces of relative primitive rebels. Which only goes to prove: never get involved in a land war in Asia. Especially in "Risk."


Yogi Bear "Missile Bound Yogi" (1961) featuring the voices of Daws Butler as Yogi and Don Messick as Boo-Boo

Sadly, only a few years after this, Yogi and Boo-Boo, their squadron commander Jerry "The Mathers" Beaver, and Corporal Gumby, were killed in Vietnam.

What can we say? It was the nineties.

Hey kids...it's
Li'l Phoenix 'n' Li'l Cable!


Panel from Uncanny X-Men Annual #17 (1993) script by Scott Lobdell, pencils by Jason Pearson, inks by Mark Farmer, colors by Kevin Tinsley and Ericka Morgan, letters by Chris Eliopoulos

Yes, it's Chris Claremont's bondage fantasies and Rob Liefeld's love of preposterously giant guns, both transplanted to toddlers. How does that make you feel about comic books now?

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 260

Panel from Dark X-Men: The Confession one-shot (November 2009), script by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost, pencils by Bing Cansino, inks by Roland Paris, colors by Edgar Delgado and Brian Reber, letters by Rob Steen

The Fabulous Life of Namor McKenzie

It was F. Scott Fitzgerald, creator of popular superhero Doctor T. J. Eckleburg ("He can see the evil...inside you!) who coined the phrase "The rich are not like us,", but he might as well have been talking about the Atlanteans! Especially Atlantis's poster boy for bad behavior, Mr. Mark Harris!


Man from Atlantis #1 (February 1978), art by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott

No, wait, I've made another one of my silly mistakes. I'm talkin' 'bout Namor!


Sub-Mariner #38 (June 1971), art by Marie Severin and John Severin

Can it be? Prince...no more? Man, he's gonna regret saying those words someday, I betcha.


Panel from Avengers #262 (December 1985), script by Roger Stern, breakdowns by John Buscema, finishes by Tom Palmer, colors by Christie Scheele, letters by Jim Novak

Anyway! Any similarity between these Namor McKenzie and Mark Harris is completely on porpoise.

So: let's look back at 1954, on the day when Subbie happened to hear The Silhouettes perform their hit doo-wop classic, "Get a Job"—all the way from 1957. (You think he has those pointy ears for nuthin'?)


Panels from the Sub-Mariner story in Young Men #27 (April 1954), by Bill Everett

Remember: when interviewing for a job, always wear a suit that will blend into your natural underwater surroundings.

As per usual, Namor totally lands on his feet. Say, where was this job the summer I had to build a lemonade stand and I didn't have any wood? Or nails? Or lemons.



Just for fun, read the Sub-Mariner's word balloon in that panel above in the voice of late great sportscaster Howard Cosell.

But once Namor's done working his way through this arresting assemblage of effeminate elegance, he'll discover his real target: his cousin, the Dreamboat of the Deep, Namora!



Yes, the same Namora that he re-encounters fifty-plus years later in the pages of Agents of Atlas. Let me let Ken Hale, the gregarious Gorilla-Man, say what we're all thinking:


Panel from Agents of Atlas #6 (August 2009), script by Jeff Parker, pencils and inks by Gabriel Hardman, colors by Jana Schirmer, letters by Nate Piekos

And the same Namora who's dead and a crab tries to marry Namor to her. Uh...what?


Panels from Sub-Mariner #50 (June 1972), script, pencils and inks by Bill Everett, letters by John Costanza

Anyway, turns out the whole...um...aquashow...is a plot by bad guys to steal some jewels from under the sea or something. Seriously, you ought to know your new boss is a crook when his name has an umlaut in it. Also, if the villain's henchwench looks like a character from Chester Gould's Dick Tracy.



And, since its the fifties, the villain is of course a communist. Better dead than red, comrade! (Actually, I have no idea what that means.)



Also, there are ghost pirates.



So there ya go: the much-more fabulous life than yours of Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Play us off, Agents of Atlas!

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 259

Panel from Ultimate X-Men #16 (May 2002), script by Mark Millar, pencils by Adam Kubert, inks by Danny Miki, colors by David Stewart, letters by Chris Eliopoulos

HUH!

Panel from Spidey Super Stories #47 (July 1980), script by Steven Grant and Jim Salicrup, pencils by Win Mortimer, inks by Ricardo Villamonte

Huh!

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 258

Page from X-Men: Manifest Destiny #1 (November 2008), written by James Asmus, pencils and inks by Chris Burnham, colors by Nathan Fairbairn, letters by Joe Caramagna

And now here's something we hope you'll really like

...the beautiful cursive handwriting of Prince Namor!


Panel from the Sub-Mariner story in Young Men #25 (February 1954), by Bill Everett

Be sure to tune in next time when...Captain America learns calligraphy!

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 257

Panel from Captain America #264 (December 1981), written by J.M. DeMatteis, pencils by Mike Zeck, inks by Frank McLaughlin and Quickdraw Studios, colors by Don Warfield, letters by Jim Novak

Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man and Bully

Page from Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth (1990), script and painting by Charles Vess, letters by Gaspar Saladino

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 256

Panel from Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Comics Magazine #3 (April 2001), written, pencilled, inked, colored, and lettered by all sortsa guys

Frankly My Dear (in which me 'n' Shelly review Gone with the Wind)

This ain't the only blog I hang out at, no no no! (No.) I've also been doin' some film review posts for my pal DB over at his blog Unseen Films, reviews and spotlights of movies you may not have seen or even heard of!

But you have heard of the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind, because it's part of Unseen Films' "On Further Review" Week: movies that have gotten so much critical acclaim they've kinda become sacred elephants! So me and my otter pal Shelly skewer GWTW...elephant-kebab style!

You can click on the image below to take you to the first part of our two-post GWTW post:



I've also written reviews of Send for Paul Temple and Calling Paul Temple (two British mystery films based on the popular radio detective) and of Spice World and the '07 remake of St. Trinian's. But you should really check out the full blog to get your movie mojo running: if you think you see a lotta movies, you don't know DB!

Ten of a Kind: I'll come driving fast as wheels can turn

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 255: Punch a Skrull in the skull

from The Avengers #209 (Marvel, July 1981), written by J.M. DeMatteis, pencils by Alan Kupperberg, inks by Dan Green, colors by Ben Sean, letters by Janice Chiang

Sunday Morning Silents: The Count

The Count (1916), starring and directed by Charlie Chaplin