Saturday, December 21, 2013

Psylocke Psaturday #24: Betsy wishes you a Merry X-Mas

'Dear Father Christmas: Please bring me a ninja outfit. Love, Betsy.'

Subscription house ad header from Uncanny X-Men #255 (Mid-December 1989)

Today in Comics History, December 21, 2005: zMail is invented

'I've...been...dying...to...get...this...to...you.'

from Hellblazer #214 (DC/Vertigo, January 2006), script by Mike Carey, pencils and inks by Leonardo Manco, colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Jared K. Fletcher

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 355: In space, no one can hear Superman being a jerk

House ad for Lois Lane #81 (February 1968); printed in Detective Comics #372 (February 1968)
Ad designed and lettered by Gaspar Saladino

'I never meant to cause you any sorrow. I never meant to cause you any disgrace. I only wanted to one time see you laughing. I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple space.'

'I never meant to cause you any sorrow. I never meant to cause you any disgrace. I only wanted to one time see you laughing. I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple space.'

Cover of Lois Lane #81, pencils and inks by Neal Adams, letters by Gaspar Saladino
Wha...this can't be? It surely must be some sort of mistake or misinterpretation!

Well, yes.

'That's my story and I'm sticking to it, Lois. And no normal-strength human can say otherwise. Riiiiiiiiight?' 'Uh...yes, Superman. Y-y-y-y-yes!'

'That's my story and I'm sticking to it, Lois. And no normal-strength human can say otherwise. Riiiiiiiiight?' 'Uh...yes, Superman. Y-y-y-y-yes!'

Panels from "No Witnesses in Outer Space!" in Lois Lane #81, script by Leo Dorfman, pencils and inks by Kurt Schaffenberger
There's no way that this isn't The Greatest Lois Lane Story Ever.

A Four Color Christmas, Day 21: Scary Zombie Santa wishes you a deadly merry Christmas

Cover of Four Color #91 [Santa Claus Funnies] (December 1945), painted cover by Arthur E. Jameson (?)

Friday, December 20, 2013

Henry Boltinoff Does Not Want You to Die This Christmas, Day Five

Wow, Mr. Terrific was kind of a nerd in his first appearance.

"Have a Durable Christmas" PSA from Justice League of America (1960 series) #51 (February 1967); written, pencilled, inked, and lettered by Henry Boltinoff

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 354: Heroes with A-peel

Featuring the new superheroes Halo and Bananaman!

Wow, this is the craziest James Bond title sequence ever.

House ads for Showcase #77 [Angel and the Ape] (September 1968); printed in (top) The Brave and the Bold #78 (June-July 1968); (bottom) Wonder Woman (1942 series) #176 (May-June 1968)
Ads designed and lettered by Gaspar Saladino

This ad already bought five copies for speculation purposes.

This ad already bought five copies for speculation purposes.

House ad for Angel and the Ape (1968 series) #1 (November-December 1968);
printed in Wonder Woman (1942 series) #179 (November-December 1968)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Bob Oksner
Ad designed and lettered by Gaspar Saladino

Sam's jacket is made out of leftover DC Go-Go Checks!

Sam's jacket is made out of leftover DC Go-Go Checks!

House ad for Angel and the Ape (1968 series) #2 (January-February 1969);
printed in Wonder Woman (1942 series) #180 (January-February 1969)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Bob Oksner
Ad designed and lettered by Gaspar Saladino

No, Sam! Don't eat Angel's leg!

House ad for Angel and the Ape (1991 limited series) #1 (March 1991);
printed in [Batman:] Legends of the Dark Knight #15 (February 1991)
Ad art: pencils by Phil Foglio, inks by Keith Wilson, colors by Tom Ziuko

See also.

Today in Comics History, December 19, 1986: Two-Face's giant coin is placed on display in Boston Courthouse

Geez, get some Matt Murdock or Jennifer Walters in here, spice this thing up a little.

from Spitfire and the Troubleshooters #6 (Marvel/New Universe, March 1987), script by Gerry Conway and Cary Bates, pencils by Vince Giarrano, inks by Tony DeZuniga, colors by John Wellington, letters by Rick Parker

A Four Color Christmas, Day 20: Oh, you never will believe where those Keebler cookies come from

On his Christmas list is an elf-help book.

Cover of Four Color #1062 [Walt Scott's Christmas Stories] (December 1959), painted cover by Walt Scott

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Henry Boltinoff Does Not Want You to Die This Christmas, Day Four

Special guest penciller Carmine Infantino stepped in to help out with the drawing of the sideway. Haw! I will never get tired of that joke.

"Have a Durable Christmas" PSA from The Brave and the Bold #70 (February-March 1967); written, pencilled, inked, and lettered by Henry Boltinoff

Today in Comics History, December 19, 1986: Large bales of tobacco are flown into Boston to greet Margaret Thatcher

Night?!? That's not a yuletide spirit in the air, that's a nuclear detonation!

Today in Comics History, December 19: Hawkeye finally figures out how to run his new-fangled electronics...

...get a nine-year-old to do it for him.

'Put on Dog Cops, Rawkeye!'

from ~~Hawkguy~~ Hawkeye (2012 series) #6 (Marvel, February 2013), script by Matt Fraction, pencils and inks by David Aja, colors by Matt Hollingsworth, letters by Chris Eliopoulos

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 353: For all of you Captain Compass fans out there

Wait, Detective Comics didn't begin five hundred years ago...oh wait, it doesn't say that! Whew.

House ad for Detective Comics #500 (March 1981); printed in Detective Comics #499 (February 1981)

Cover of Detective Comics #500 (March 1981); pencils and inks by Dick Giordano,; Joe Kubert, Carmine Infantino, Walt Simonson,Tom Yeates, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Bob Smith
(Click picture to detectivize)

Here's 'Tec 500's text page, featuring a look at the jam cover in progress!

Its says it right in this page: 'created by Bob Kane and BILL FINGER.' So there!

Its says it right in this page: 'created by Bob Kane and BILL FINGER.' So there!

A Four Color Christmas, Day 19: Either that logo follows Santa around, or the monkey is breaking the fourth wall

Here's the flip-book back cover of Four Color #259, of which we saw the front cover yesterday!

Santa's FIRST mistake was putting the lion in the same sack as the other animals.

Santa's FIRST mistake was putting the lion in the same sack as the other animals.

Cover of Four Color #259 [Santa and the Angel] (December 1949), pencils and inks by Morris Gollub
What, no Christmas Zebra?

Or maybe the Christmas Lion ate the Christmas Zebra.

Or maybe the Christmas Lion ate the Christmas Zebra.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Henry Boltinoff Does Not Want You to Die This Christmas, Day Three

"Have a Durable Christmas" PSA from Action Comics #346 (February 1967); written, pencilled, inked, and lettered by Henry Boltinoff

Today in Comics History, December 18: Someone misses Dr. Druid, for the first and last time ever

Insert theme from 'Mission: Impossible' here.

from ~~Hawkguy~~ Hawkeye (2012 series) #6 (February 2013), script by Matt Fraction, pencils and inks by David Aja, colors by Matt Hollingsworth, letters by Chris Eliopoulos

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 352: Neil Gaiman Wants You to Die This Christmas

At last, the role Zooey Deschanel was born to play.

House ad for "Death Month" (November-December 1993); printed in Sandman Mystery Theatre #10 (January 1994)

A Four Color Christmas, Day 18: Closer than my peeps you are to me, baby

'Good morning, Angels!' 'Good morning, Santa!'

Cover of Four Color #259 [Santa and the Angel] (December 1949), pencils and inks by Morris Gollub
What's this? "Turn to back cover?" Well, I will! Tomorrow!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Today in Comics History., December 17, 1916: Rasputin dies infamously, giving Len Wein the inspiration for another ethnic character name

RA RA RASPUTIN / Lover of the Russian queen! / There was a cat that really was gone / RA RA RASPUTIN / Russia's greatest love machine!

from "The Principle," in Time Warp (2013 series) #1 one-shot (DC/Vertigo, May 2013); script by Dan Abnett; pencils, inks, and colors by I. N. J. Culbard, letters by Jared K. Fletcher

Henry Boltinoff Does Not Want You to Die This Christmas, Day Two

Wow, not only is that thin ice, there's poison under there as well.

"Have a Durable Christmas" PSA from Batman #189 (February 1967); written, pencilled, inked, and lettered by Henry Boltinoff

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 351: Here, have some Big Red Cheese with your Christmas dinner

Chosen from among all others by the mightiest spirits of the Yule...Santa! Holly! Angels! Zebra!* Artificial tree! Merry!...Billy Batson and his mentor, Mentor, travel the highways and byways of the land on a never ending mission: to right wrongs, to develop understanding, and to seek justice for all!

In Christmastimes of dire need, young Billy has been granted the power by the holiday spirits to summon awesome seasonal forces at the utterance of a single word!:

A word which transforms him, in a flash, into that merriest of holiday beings...

Christmas Marvel!

House ad for Shazam (1973 series); printed in Justice League of America (1960 series) #103 (December 1972)
Ad art: pencils and inks by C. C. Beck
*Yes, the Christmas Zebra. Beloved striped equid of popular Christmas lore. What, you wanna argue with Christmas Marvel about it?
He'll have a gnu Christmas without you.

Today in Comics History, December 17: Hawkeye invests heavily in the wrong media format again*

'I wonder if my six-disc CAD version of 'The Lion King' is in this box!''

from ~~Hawkguy~~ Hawkeye (2012 series) #6 (February 2013), script by Matt Fraction, pencils and inks by David Aja, colors by Matt Hollingsworth, letters by Chris Eliopoulos
*Well, I'm not gonna make fun of him. Because so did I. Anybody wanna buy some used laserdiscs?

A Four Color Christmas, Day 17: The agony of de feet

'Oh mah darlin', oh mah darlin', oh mah darlin', ClemenAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!'

Cover of Four Color #1054 [Huckleberry Hound's Winter Fun] (December 1959), pencils and inks by Harvey Eisenberg

Monday, December 16, 2013

Henry Boltinoff Does Not Want You to Die This Christmas, Day One

Instead, make sure you move to Minneapolis, which has skybridges over its snowy streets.

"Have a Durable Christmas" PSA from The Atom #29 (February-March 1967); written, pencilled, inked, and lettered by Henry Boltinoff

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 350: Worlds will live, worlds will die...

...but hey, we're okay here on Earth-Prime, right?

It began with a year-long saga into the Watcher of Earth-1, the Monitor (he had to be color-corrected before you could use him, I think) peering into the lives of the DC heroes and villains, past and present, on Earths-1, 2, 3, X, 5, 6, S, Q, C, C-Minus, Earth-Haney, Earth-162 (home of Superman-Red/Superman-Blue), Earth-12 (home of the Inferior Five), Earth-28 (home of Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Bob Hope), and Earth-616, (home of the...hey, wait a minute!):

Geez, where'd she get that outfit? Frederick's of Qward?

Geez, where'd she get that outfit? Frederick's of Qward?

Panels from DC Comics Presents #78 (February 1985); script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Dave Hunt, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by Ben Oda

Today in Comics History, December 16: Hawkeye realizes he can just go buy some more Band-Aids™

from ~~Hawkguy~~ Hawkeye (2012 series) #6 (February 2013), script by Matt Fraction, pencils and inks by David Aja, colors by Matt Hollingsworth, letters by Chris Eliopoulos

Today in Comics History, December 16: Cafeteria Lady's grandson is born. Also: Young Albino Murderer murders twenty in their sleep.

from The Bellybuttons, v.5: One Hell of a Couple (Dupuis, scanlated, 2011), script by Maryse Dubuc; pencils, inks, and colors by Marc Delafontaine

A Four Color Christmas, Day 16: Feliz Navidad, Americanos

So Santa was also the Big Bopper? 'Hey bayyyyyyyybeeeeeee!'

Cover of Four Color #867 [Santa Claus Funnies] (December 1957), painted art by unknown
Allegedly, this painting of old Saint Nick is a swipe of a photograph of Fidel Castro. I couldn't find the exact photograph, so I had to make do in the Bully Photoshop Labs with making you this:

'I asked him for cigars; what did YOU ask him for?'

'I asked him for cigars; what did YOU ask him for?'

On the other hand, I imagine Castro would not have been flattered by the comparison, judging from the official position of the Cuban government on Santa Claus: