Today in Comics History, November 10, 1946: John Marais has four small Cokes from the hotel minibar

from Fairest #7 (DC/Vertigo, November 2012), script by Lilah Sturges; pencils, inks and colors by Shawn McManus; letters by Todd Klein

Same Story, Different Cover: Workin' on our knight moves

Left: Tales of Suspense v.1 #73 (January 1966), pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Jack Abel, letters by Sam Rosen
Right: Marvel Super-Heroes #28 (October 1970), pencils by Marie Severin, inks by Bill Everett, letters by Sam Rosen

(Click picture to paladin-size)

Today in Comics History, November 10, 1959: Best episode of Kitchen Nightmares ever

from Watchmen #4 (DC, December 1986), script by Alan Moore; pencils, inks and letters by Dave Gibbons; colors by John Higgins


from Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan #1 (DC, October 2012), script by J. Michael Straczynski, pencils and inks by Adam Hughes, colors by Laura Martin, letters by Steve Wands

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 315

Panel from "Guided Tour: The Batcave" in Batman Secret Files #1 (October 1997), script and pencils by Graham Nolan, inks by Bob McLeod, colors by Tom McCraw, letters by Albert DeGuzman

More Cow/Bull Month, Day 10: Ghost Rider begins to regret eating all those cheeseburgers

Panel from The Champions #11 (February 1977), script by Bill Mantlo, pencils by John Byrne, inks by Bob Layton, colors by Don Warfield, letters by Bruce Patterson

James Bond Lives Down Our Street

Happy James Bond Day! That is, of course, because the twenty-third 007 movie, Skyfall, premiered today in the US. I was of course there to see it at the afternoon matinee, and wow, what a thrill ride it is! I'm honor-bond by the code of the British Ministry of Spoilers not to reveal the startling beginning, middle or ending to you, but I will let you know Daniel Craig says this in the movie:



But so much for good James Bond adventures...let's focus on one of 007's...shall we say...lesser cases, and it may not be totally new to you, as I covered it in one of my most popular posts ever, Fifteen Things You Never Knew About James Bond. It's from one of those absolutely insane Indian Bond comic books, and it goes a little something like this...an adventure Ian Fleming probably would have titled something lyrical like The Golden Dragons or Misfortune Comes Alone but this comic book creators have called...


from James Bond: Chinese Riddle (1988), creators unknown, published by Everest Publications/SP Ramanathan, Madras, India
Yes, everything looks eminently Chinese about that cover.

It opens just like every James Bond adventure ever...if you ignore the thrilling, exciting, edge-of-your-seat stunt-stuffed (please do not attempt to say that three times fast) pre-credits opening...with 007 meeting M at MI-6 headquarters. M kindly points out where China is on the map in case Bond, and indeed the audience, didn't know. And now we do! China is there.



Something secret is going on, and by gosh, Her Majesty's Secret Service doesn't like that! Me, I'd just suggest they get the News of the World to bug some phones, but instead, James Bond will go to China and relieve himself. (Wait, what?)



Bond hops on an airplane without noticing where it is going! Luckily it's heading in the right direction. Hey, why isn't he flying in first class up front? Do you suppose he got the middle seat between a fat tourist and a crying baby? Do you think he got a choice of beef or chicken? What was the in-flight movie? I bet it was Tin Cup. It's always Tin Cup. Bond loves Kevin Costner.



Immediately upon checking into his hotel, a big strong guy comes and starts to wreck the place! Really, it's Bond's own fault for asking for the "Wrecking Suite" when he checked in.



...and, it just pretty much goes on like that for a whole page. Guy walks into Bond's room, wrecks the place, walks out. Bond stands back and watches him do it. Oh no! He even wrecked the minibar and everything in it! That will cost Bond approximately £78,000 in smashed honey-roasted peanuts and four-ounce cans of Coke.



Enter the sexy Chinese room service attendant! And Bond doesn't even make one move to seduce her! She, of course, isn't thrown or startling by the extensive damage to the room, as this hotel is regularly host to the Who and the Rolling Stones.



Later, she shows up again as a fellow secret agent! Great disguise!



Then, some of that patented James Bond double-entendre dialogue occurs.



What's-er-name flies 007 to the mysterious island of the evil Dr. Saviz! (Trust me on this one.) Bond is still not certain whether to trust her. In a Bond movie or novel this would be an excellent chance for him to seduce her now...



...instead, he takes a nap. Who's playing Bond in this version? Sean Connery in 2012? Luckily, they are only turning. They are not crashing.



Then, they crash.



ACTION SEQUENCE! For a panel, at least.



Bond and Tsu-Chai (oh, that's her name!) are taken captive by the evil Dr. Saviz, who is building killer robots. Bond, as usual, after seeing the robot explode into gears and electronics and being told he is a robot, asks the logical question: "Is he a robot?" Fast on the uptake, our Bond is.



It isn't a 007 story without a long pause for the villain to explain his deadly and devious evil plot, which in this case seems to involve making soldiers be robots so that no one need truly die during warfare and...hey, wait, he's a great benefactor towards mankind! He has not thought out his evil plan very well. Perhaps this is why S.P.E.C.T.R.E.* rejected his evil application for evil membership.



Time for James Percival Bond to snap into action, to stop this terrible plot against all the nations of the free world and save Britain from the terrible threat of...oh, wait, the robots are blowing up by themselves.



It's Tsu-Chai! Sheblew up the robots. Or, in other words, James Bond has done nothing in this adventure. I sure hope the story doesn't try to tell us that he saved the world.



OH FOR PETE'S SAKE, STORY.



Movie James Bond ends a film in bed with a woman. Indian comic book James bond winds up being shipped back to London in the cargo hold of a 747.



Roll credits, recue Top Ten theme tune, display JAMES BOND WILL RETURN IN FOR YOUR VINDALOO ONLY.

And hey, here he is returning already! Naw, I just can't resist the following two panels that perfectly sum up Indian comic book James Bond. In the first panel, 007 poses as a journalist and phones up a glamorous actress to try and gain her confidence, using a false and not-all-together-convincing name...


from James Bond: Death of a Spy (1988), creators unknown, published by Everest Publications/SP Ramanathan, Madras, India

And in the very next panel, she calls Bond by his real name. THE WORLD'S GREATEST SECRET AGENT, ladies and gentlemen!




That, ladies and gentlemen, is Indian comic book James Bond...perhaps the greatest Bond of them all. Nobody** does it better! Play us off, Indian James Bond Theme!



*Society for the Protection of Evil Conquerors, Thugs, Really-Bad-Guys and Evil-No-Goodniks

**Actually, almost everybody does it better.

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 313

hey, let's celebrate today with one of the greatest screen Alfreds of all time: Batman '66's Alan Napier!


Batgirl (Yvonne Craig) giving Alfred (Alan Napier) what she never gave Batman or Robin: a kiss!...in the Batman episode "Enter Batgirl, Exit Penguin" (September 14, 1967), scripted by Stanford Sherman, directed by Oscar Rudolph
Lucky Al!

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 314

Panels from Batman: The Lost Years #1 (January 1998), script by Hillary Bader, pencils by Bo Hampton, inks by Terry Beatty, colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Tim Harkins

More Cow/Bull Month, Day 9: Cow is beginning to wish she'd stayed in Wisconsin

Panel from Dark Reign: The List: Hulk one-shot (December 2009), script by Greg Pak, pencils and inks by Ben Oliver, colors by Veronica Gandin, letters by Simon Bowland

Q: How do you make Veronica Lodge mad?

A:

Panels from Cheryl Blossom Special #1 (1995), script and pencils by Dan Parent, inks by Mike Esposito, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida

More Cow/Bull Month, Day 8: In other news, Mrs. Dish and her children were cruelly abandoned by her husband

Panels from "The Case of the Mother Goose Mystery" in World's Finest Comics #83 (July-August 1956), script by Bill Finger, pencils by Dick Sprang, inks by Stan Kaye

Today in Comics History, November 8: Judy has the dream about the unicycling clowns and the giant mice with the ham sausages again

cover of Weird War Tales (1971 series) #2 (DC, November 1971), pencils and inks by Joe Kubert, letters by Gaspar Saladino

I don't have a post for you tonight...

...so here is a Batman tortilla chip.


from Batman Collected, photograph by Geoff Spear (November 1996)

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 312

House ad from Detective Comics #438 (December 1973-January 1974)

More Cow/Bull Month, Day 7: Steers come runnin' for the great taste of opium

Panel from American Century #24 (July 2003), script by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman, pencils and inks by John Severin, colors by Sheri Van Valkenburgh and Jamison, letters by John Costanza

Today in Comics History, November 7, 1957: Laika objects to her dumb nickname

from the Super 8 story insert in DC Comics cover-dated August 2011; story by J.J. Abrams and David Baronoff, script by Peter Tomaso, pencils, inks and colors by Tommy Lee Edwards; letters by John Workman

What's in love is now in debt on your birth certificate

Gosh! Since you ask so nicely, Mister Trump, here you go!




Panels from Web of Spider-Man v.1 #19 (October 1986), script by David Michelinie, pencils by Marc Silvestri, inks by Bob McLeod, colors by Nel Yomtov, letters by Rick Parker

There you go! He's an American citizen, so please stop "bugging" him. (Haw!)

Comics News for November 6, 2012

Election Day: Don't be like Ambush Bug!

from Ambush Bug Nothing Special one-shot (DC, September 1992); plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, script by Robert Loren Fleming; inks by Al Gordon; colors by Anthony Tollin; letters by John Costanza

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 311

Two-page pin-up from Detective Comics #607 (Late October 1989), painted art by Norm Breyfogle

More Cow/Bull Month, Day 6: Cows should not wear lipstick

Panels from "George Washington's Teeth!" in Herbie #8 (March 1965), script by Shane O'Shea, pencils and inks by Ogden Whitney, letters by Ed Hamilton

Today in Comics History, November 5: Nothing you could say can tear me away from my Guy

Hullo folks hullo! And especial greetings to all the people in the UK who are tonight carousing in the streets and burning things in huge piles! To you, I say...Seriously, folks, stop rioting! You missed your window of opportunity in 2011. Oh, and also there are people out celebrating Guy Fawkes Night, an English annual tradition of which I mainly know about thanks to More about Paddington (and thank you, HarperCollins, for recently bringing that book back into print, altho' I guess it was because of the excellent Paddington movie). Of course, I'm 100% behind any holiday which involves me going around to all the homes near my London abode of Bullingham Mansions...


...and getting pennies from people for the Guy. Hoorah!

Now, when you are a comic book fan and you think about Guy Fawkes, you probably think of this fella:


from V for Vendetta #1 (DC, September 1988), script by Alan Moore, pencils and inks by David Lloyd, colors by David Lloyd and Siobhan Dodds, letters by Jenny O'Connor
But actually I was thinking of a tale where national monuments of England don't get blown up, thanks to the helping hands of Superman!


from "The Revenge That Took Three Hundred Years" in Superman #79 (November-December 1952), script by Alvin Schwartz, pencils and inks by Al Plastino