Today in Comics History, February 23, 1936: Shadows get food poisoning

from Doc Savage #4 (Marvel black-and-white magazine, April 1976), script by Doug Moench, pencils by Marie Severin and Tony DeZuniga, inks by Tony DeZuniga

Psylocke Psaturday #6: I don't care what my teachers say, I'm gonna be a supermodel

Remember when Betsy's career was being a professional pilot? Well, forget about that. She's now...wait for it...a model! I wonder if that particular career path has been taken by any other of the supermodels of our time. And what colour is her hair now? Well, this bein' a Marvel UK black-and-white title, we don't know. Get out your crayons and make up your own Psylocke Pshade!


Panel from Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #243 (October 5, 1977), co-plot by Larry Lieber, co-plot and script by Jim Lawrence, pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Mike Esposito, letters by Irving Watanabe
Look, Betsy is being glamour-photog'ed by the Chris Claremont of the seventies!


Be sure to tune in next week when we find out what colour Psylocke's hair is now!

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 54

House ad for Justice League of America v.1 #4 (April-May 1961); printed in Batman #139 (April 1961)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Murphy Anderson, letters by Ira Schnapp

Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp
The inset art on the ad is taken from the splash page of JLA #4:


Splash page of Justice League of America v.1 #4 (April-May 1961), script by Gardner Fox, pencils by Mike Sekowsky, inks by Bernard Sachs, letters by Gaspar Saladino
Hey, how'd GA earn his way into the JLA? (Huh, that kinda all rhymes!) By shooting a big diamond with another big diamond. He's got a diamond as big as a Ritz as an arrowhead.


How much does this comic book love diamonds? So much that this page appears to teach you all about diamonds!


So, thank you, diamonds, for making this story possible!


Man, Snapper Carr could not die fast enough, could he?

Also in this issue, on the letters page: a missive from the Emerald Archer himself!:


Me, I'm not certain that is Green Arrow writing in. Heck, that may as well be the Capitol City Goofball who penned that message. What's my first clue that this isn't by Oliver Queen?


JLA #4 also features a letter from another famous guy in comics before he joined up with one of the big teams:


Roy Thomas actually loved that JSA "Invasion from Fairyland" story so much that he scripted a modern-day version that never got published (he discusses it in Alter Ego #100).

But hey, what of that big-ass diamond arrowhead? Brad Metzer more recently retconned it to be a diamond-tipped arrow.



Panels from Green Arrow v.4 #19 (January 2003), script by Brad Metzer, pencils by Phil Hester, inks by Ande Parks, colors by James Sinclair, letters by Sean Konot
Sure, Ollie. Blame it on poor Mike Sekowsky.

So...diamonds! A comic book's best friend. Take it away, Miss Shirley Bassey!

Today in Comics History, February 23, 1947: Holograms are invented

"'True' Ghost Armies" in Forbidden Worlds #12 (ACG, December 1952), writer and artist unknown
Oh well, we missed 1997. See you at La Angostura Pass in 2047!

Back in the funky '70s the party didn't ever stop

Hey, remember when Spider-Man went to the opening night of Star Trek: The Motion Picture?

Nope, me neither.


Panels from The Amazing Spider-Man #203 (April 1980); script by Marv Wolfman; breakdowns by Keith Pollard; finishes by Mike Esposito, Jim Mooney, and "Friends"; colors by Bob Sharen; letters by Jim Novak
Despite being cover dated 1980, how seventies is this comic? Well, besides ST:TMP(TGOFTL), this ish also guest-stars...The Disco Dazzler! Why, it's the most seventiest comic book of them all!


Hey, look in that last panel...Klingons! That's Marv Wolfman's wily plug in the pages of this Spider-Man for his own Star Trek comic!


Page from Star Trek #1 (Marvel series, April 1980), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Dave Cockrum, inks by Klaus Janson, colors by Marie Severin, letters by John Costanza
Oh, ho ho ho ho, it's a comment on the insanity of blockbuster movies and theatergoers in the 1970s!


Spider-Man, Dazzler, and William Shatner's hairpiece were arrested on multiple counts of being too seventies for the eighties. In a moment, the results of that trial.

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 53

House ad for a buncha DC Comics Harvey Dent woulda liked; printed in House of Mystery #252 (May-June 1977)

Today in Comics History, February 22: Crimson Avenger is miffed his balloon comes after Superman's

from the Crimson Avenger story "The Red Letter Day Crimes" in Detective Comics #65 (DC, July 1942), script and pencils by Jack Lehti, inks and letters by Charles Paris

My first appearance ever in a comic book

I'm really far in the background, but you can see me talking:


from the Golden Gladiator story "The Invisible Wall!" in The Brave and the Bold (1955 series) #3 (DC, December 1955), script by France Herron, pencils and inks by Russ Heath

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 52

House ad for DC Special Series #11 [The Flash Spectacular] (1978); printed in Batman #299 (May 1978)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez
Ad designed and lettered by Gaspar Saladino

Today in Comics History, February 21: Batman hates bricks

from Batman #404 (DC, February 1987), script by Frank Miller, pencils and inks by David Mazzucchelli, colors by Richmond Lewis, letters by Todd Klein

Comics News for February 20, 2013

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 51

House ad for Hawkman #1 (April-May 1964); printed in Detective Comics #326 (April 1964)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Murphy Anderson, letters by Ira Schnapp
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

Today in Comics History, February 20, 1962: Supergirl makes her public debut; Superman becomes the first obsessive collector to take photographs off his TV screen

from "Superman's Romance with Lana Lane!" in Lois Lane #41 (DC, May 1963), script by Jerry Siegel, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein

Today in Comics History, February 19: How Edie Got Her Groove Back

from X-Statix #10 (Marvel, June 2003), script by Peter Milligan, pencils and inks by Philip Bond, colors by Laura Allred, letters by Nate Piekos
You go, girl! I mean, U-Go Girl!

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 50

House ad for DC Special #7 (April-June 1970); printed in Detective Comics #398 (April 1970)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Murphy Anderson, letters by Gaspar Saladino
Ad designed and lettered by Gaspar Saladino

Batman Did It First: That Batman and Robin sure play a mean pinball

No doubt you remember the universal mantra of animated comedy that South Park taught us (and Family Guy has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt): Simpsons already did it.


But wait: can you apply this TV animation rule to comic books? Why yes. Yes you can. With the easy recitation of these four simple words:

BATMAN DID IT FIRST.

For example: consider the supervillain who tries to kill his prey using a freakin' huge pinball machine and I know who you think about first: Pinball Wizard, that cosmic entity and distant relation of the Watcher who captured Ben Grimm and all the universe's greatest pinball players and forced them to play with their actual planets in Marvel Two-in-One #117.

And then I know who you think about second: Arcade. Yes, Arcade! Before he was snuffing teenagers left and right, he was a million-dollar-a-hit hired assassin who would capture superheroes using a (hee hee hee) garbage truck and then he put them inside his giant pinball machine. Of Death! Just like he did with Spider-Man and Captain Lion Britain:

Panels from Marvel Team-Up #66 (February 1978), script by Chris Claremont, pencils by John Byrne, inks and colors by Dave Hunt, letters by Tom Orzechowski
(Click second panel to extra-ball-size)
Yes...Arcade sure did that thing. Then he did it again with the X-Men! With the exact same pinball machine! Also, with the same author and artist. Geez, Arcade, get somebody new to write your material!

Panels from [Uncanny] X-Men #123 (July 1979), co-plot and script by Chris Claremont, co-plot and breakdowns by John Byrne, finishes by Terry Austin, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Tom Orzechowski
Yep, that's the story where all the X-Men died and nobody ever saw them, ever again.

Great deathtrap, huh? Exciting story, suspenseful plot, innovative visuals. That is, if we didn't already know one universal truth:

BATMAN DID IT FIRST.

Panels from "Gamble with Doom!" in Batman #44 (December 1947-January 1948), pencils and inks by Jim Mooney, letters by Ira Schnapp
So there you have it, folks: not only did Batman run the gauntlet of the giant pinball machine first, the Joker has his invention stolen by Arcade. Good thing Joker hasn't noticed the theft of his intellectual property...if it was publicly known, the Joker might lose face! Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! That was a little "Death of the Family" joke for all of you. At no extra cost!

I do hope you've enjoyed the first installment of Batman Did It First, a brand-new series of posts here on Comics Oughta Be Fun! I'd ask you to be here next time and join me for the following installment, but

BATMAN DID IT FIRST.

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 49

House ad for Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil limited series (2007); printed in Detective Comics #827 (March 2007)
Ad art from the cover of Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (April 2007), pencils and inks by Jeff Smith, colors by Steve Hamaker

Ten of a Kind: You don't have to put on the red light

(See also for even more red covers! And, even more Ten of a Kind here.)