365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 131

House ad for Star Spangled Comics #65 and Adventure Comics #113 (both February 1947) printed in Detective Comics #120 (February 1947)
Comic cover art: Star Spangled #65: pencils and inks by Win Mortimer
Adventure #113: pencils by Stan Kaye, inks by George Roussos

Today in Comics History, May 11, 1904: Wolverine's baby brother George is born

from "Batman — Boss of the Big House!" in Detective Comics #169 (March 1951), pencils by Bob Kane (some Batman and Robin figures) and Lew Sayre Schwartz, inks by Charles Paris

Kick in the Crotch Month, Day 11: Riddle Me This, Wolverine!

Panel from Wolverine v.3 #72 (June 2009); script by Mark Millar; pencils by Steve McNiven; inks by Dexter Vines and Jay Leisten; colors by Morry Hollowell, Nathan Fairbairn, and Paul Mounts; letters by Cory Petit

Today in Comics History, May 11, 1939: The day before the warden sees Peter Rafferty again

from "Brothers in Crime!" in Batman (1940 series) #12 (DC, August 1942), script by Don Cameron, pencils and figure inks by Jerry Robinson, background inks and letters by George Roussos

Comics News for May 10, 2103: Special All-Fantastic Four Edition

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 130

House ad for Hawkman #1 (August 1986); printed in Detective Comics #565 (August 1986)

Ad art taken adapted tilted from the cover of Hawkman #1:


Cover of Hawkman #1 (August 1986); pencils by Richard Howell, inks by Dick Giordano

Today in Comics History, May 10, 1941: Hettie discovers that London is just a backdrop, just like Tombstone, Arizona in "Spectre of the Gun"

from The Dreaming (1996 series) #32 (DC/Vertigo, January 1999), script by Peter Hogan, pencils by Steve Parkhouse, inks by Dick Giordano, colors by Steve Oliff, color separations by Tracey Anderson, letters by Todd Klein

Kick in the Crotch Month, Day 10: I remember Kara was very keen on boxing, until she learned to walk, then she took up putting the knee in the groin

Page from Supergirl v.5 #15 (May 2007), script by Joe Kelly, pencils by Ian Churchill, inks by Norm Rapmund, colors by Rod Reis, letters by Comicraft (which is funny, because I didn't know an incorporated business could letter comics)

Today in Comics History, May 10: Batman reluctantly stops himself from punching a hippie in the face

from "The Commune of Defiance" in The Brave and the Bold #102 (DC, June 1972); script by Bob Haney; pencils, inks, and letters by Jim Aparo

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 129

House ad for Batman #203 (August 1968); printed in The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #107 (July-August 1968)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Neal Adams, letters by Gaspar Saladino (?)
Ad designed and lettered by Gaspar Saladino
And now...The Blueprints of Batman!

Batcave '48!

Panel from "The 1000 Secrets of the Batcave!" in Batman #203, originally published in Batman #48 (August-September 1948), script by Bill Finger, pencils and inks by Jim Mooney, letters by Ira Schnapp

The Batplane II!

Panel from "The Birth of Batplane II!" in Batman #203, originally published in Batman #61 (October-November 1950), script by David Vern Reed, pencils by Dick Sprang, inks by Charles Paris, letters by Ira Schnapp

Batcave '68!

Right: "Secrets of the Batcave—1968" two-page spread in Batman #203, artists unknown
(Click picture to giant-penny-size)

In this story, Batman is hobbled by his own sense of honesty and honor. Never make a deal with a criminal, Batman! Never make a deal!


Panel from "The Flying Bat-Cave!" in Batman #203, originally published in Detective Comics #186 (August 1952), script by David Vern Reed (?), Batman and Robin figure pencils by Bob Kane, all other pencils by Lew Sayre Schwartz, inks by Charles Paris

Batman is nothing if not pedantic. He won't set foot in Gotham for a week, thanks to the...

FLYING BAT-CAVE

Batman has made the Flying Bat-Cave so much like home. How much like home has he made the Flying Bat-Cave?

HE BROUGHT ALONG THE GIANT PENNY

And why did he bring along the giant penny?

BECAUSE, THIS

And now

THE ROGUES GALLERY OF BATMAN #203

PUTTYFACE

THE SCOWLER

ACE HARDWARE CONSTRUCTION-LEVEL HEAD

FAMOUS LAST WORDS GUY

So: Batman #203, won't you?

Kick in the Crotch Month, Day 9: CLANG

Panels from Wolverine #308 (August 2012), script by Cullen Bunn, pencils by Paul Pelletier, inks by Dave Meikis and Cam Smith, colors by Rain Beredo, letters by Cory Petit

Today in Comics History, May 8, 1954: Katrina's blind date with William Holden does not go well

from "Where Walks a Snowman" in Batman #337 (July 1981), script by Gerry Conway, plot assist by Roy Thomas, pencils by José Luis Garcia-López, inks by Steve Mitchell, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by John Costanza
(And that word was..."plastics.")

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 128

House ad for Wonder Woman #269-271 (July-September 1980); printed in Batman #325 (July 1980)
Ad designed and lettered by Gaspar Saladino

The comics featured in the ad are Wonder Woman #269-271 and spotlight one of the most ornery, ticked-off versions of Wondy, ever. Why now, cool those britches, little lady! (braces myself to get slapped by Wonder Woman)




Covers of Wonder Woman #269-271 (July-September 1980), pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Dick Giordano
But after this storyline, Wonder Woman would never again give up the red, blue and gold of her superhero costume, not for...


Cover of Wonder Woman v.2 #93 (January 1995), pencils and inks by Mike Deodato, Jr., colors by Tatjana Wood
OH FOR PETE'S SAKE DIANA

Kick in the Crotch Month, Day 8: Now Thanos has to call and cancel his date with Death tonight

Page from X-Factor #248 (February 2013), script by Peter David, pencils and inks by Paul Davidson, colors by Rachelle Rosenberg, letters by Cory Petit

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 127

House ad for Super Friends! trade paperback (May 2001); printed in Superman Adventures #55 (May 2001)
Ad art from the front cover of Super Friends! graphic novel, painted art by Alex Ross,
based on this:


Cover of Limited Collectors' Edition #C-41 [Super Friends] (December 1975-January 1976), pencils and inks by Alex Toth, Superman face repenciled by Curt Swan and reinked by George Klein, colors by Sol Harrison

Kick in the Crotch Month, Day 7: A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a castrato

Panels from Kill Shakespeare #12 (June 2011), script by Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col, pencils and inks by Andy Belanger, colors by Ian Herring, letters by Chris Mowry

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 126

House ad for the 10¢ cover price of DC Comics (1961); printed in Detective Comics #291 (May 1961)
Ad artwork and lettering by ?

Eight months later with issues cover-dated December 1961, DC's cover price for regular-size comics would rise to 12¢.


Cover of Detective Comics #298 (December 1961), pencils and inks by Sheldon Moldoff, lettering by Ira Schnapp

Today in Comics History, May 6, 1954: Happy birthday, Astrid Olafson! Too bad about August 29.

from World's Finest Comics #322 (DC, December 1985), script by Dwight J. Zimmerman, pencils by Keith Giffen,inks by Karl Kesel, colors by Nansi Hoolahan, letters by Duncan Andrews

Kick in the Crotch Month, Day 6: Logan taught her that move*

Panels from "Pearl Harbor A.D. 2011" in Fear Itself: The Home Front #7 (December 2011), script by Fred Van Lente, pencils and inks by Alessandro Vitti, colors by Javier Tartaglia, letters by Dave Lanphear

*He used to use it all the time on Scott Summers.

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 125

House ad for Batman & Robin movie tie-in comics (1997);
printed in Batman/Wildcat #3 (June 1997)
Ad art taken from the covers of Batman: Bane, Batman: Batgirl, Batman: Mr. Freeze, and Batman: Poison Ivy; all painted by Brian Stelfreeze

(Click picture to Clooney-size)

Today in Comics History, May 5, 19XX: Sorry about that, Katherine Riordan

from Nightwing 80-Page Giant #1 (DC, December 2000); script by Chuck Dixon; pencils by Mike Collins and Manuel Gutierrez; inks by Sean Parsons, John Stanisci, Wayne Faucher, and Steve Bird; colors by Tom McCraw, letters by John Costanza

Kick in the Crotch Month, Day 5: What Hunter S. Thompson probably wanted to do to Warren Ellis

One of my favorite comic book kicks-in-the-crotch:


Panels from Transmetropolitan #11 (July 1998), script by Warren Ellis, pencils by Darick Robertson, inks by Rodney Ramos, colors by Nathan Eyring, letters by Clem Robins

Today in Comics History, May 5: Comic book artists breathe a sigh of relief that they won't have to draw Jack of Heart's costume anymore

from Avengers #500 (Marvel, September 2004), script by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils by David Finch, inks by Danny K. Miki, colors by Frank G. D'Armata, letters by Albert W. Deschesne and Richard Alan Starkings

A Grand Day Out: Free Comic Book Day!

I sure you hope had an amazing Free Comic Book Day! Me 'n' Shelly the Little Otter Puppet certainly did, altho' I think at first we got the wrong idea and we were protesting to free the captive comic books.


We were at our fav'rite comic book shop in the universe, Bergen Street Comics in beautiful Brooklyn!


Our protest drew quite a little crowd! Thanks for coming out to support freeing the comics, folks!


Of course once we got inside and Tom and Tucker gave us some comics for free we got the point immediately. Oh, free comics!


Then, we had milkshakes!


And draft beer.



Later on, everyone agreed it had been the best Free Comic Book Day ever.