Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun!

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Twain and Einstein meet Team America!

When anyone mentions the dynamic duo of Mark Twain and Albert Einstein, I hope you think of the Fantagraphics-published comics of Michael Kupperman, which regularly team-up these two wild-haired, hard-hitting action adventure heroes: Twain and Einstein!

You can always tell them apart because Twain is the one who has an 'E' on his belt buckle.

You can always tell them apart because Twain is the one who has an 'E' on his belt buckle.

Panels from Tales Designed to Thrizzle Volume 2 (November 2012); script, pencils, inks, colors, and letters by Michael Kupperman
You really should not miss Twain and Einstein's wacky, way-out adventures, and you can find them in the Tales Designed to Thrizzle comic, which we can only hope Mister Kupperman is going to produce more issues of. I can't live without this!:

I'm pretty certain this is the best secret origin of all time.

I'm pretty certain this is the best secret origin of all time.

Or this!

Man, that first gun is practically KirbyTech.

In fact, Kupperman's adventures of Twain and Einstein span not only all of time and space but all comics genres!

For best results, store these comics in Mylar snugs, along with a slice of ham.

For best results, store these comics in Mylar snugs, along with a slice of ham.

At the same time, though, I often wonder if Kupperman's twenty-first century comics were influenced or by inspired by a different comic book from 1982...Captain America #269!

'Good grief! It's Hal Holbrook!'

Panels from Captain America (1968 series) #269 (May 1982); script by J.M. DeMatteis; pencils by Mike Zeck; inks by John Beatty, Mike Zeck, and Joe Rubinstein; colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Jim Novak
There's Twain, and herrrrrrrre's Einstein!

They got that hair from those knock-em-over dolls at a carnival.

They got that hair from those knock-em-over dolls at a carnival.

The Adventures of Twain and Einstein! As we sometimes say about Batman...Captain America Did It First!

How come those straps on Cap's shield don't flap all over the place when he throws it? Are they made out of adamantium-laced unstable-molecule elastic?

How come those straps on Cap's shield don't flap all over the place when he throws it? Are they made out of adamantium-laced unstable-molecule elastic?

Bonus Special Weirdness Element to This Issue: it guest-stars Team America!

Wolverine, Peter Parker, and Rahne Sinclair are not amused.

I cannot do justice to this issue unless I quote liberally from its plot summary at the Grand Comics Database.

Cap is taking part in a charity motorcycle event with Team America when a giant monster appears and captures a Nobel Prize winner who is in the audience; Cap and Team America follow the monster through a transporter tube and find themselves in a quaint little town peopled by the world's greatest thinkers from the past. This is all part of the Mad Thinker's agenda to surround himself with suitable companions to stimulate his intellect, but when Cap finds the missing Nobel members about to be turned into robots, he and Team America bring an end to the Thinker's Machiavellian plan.

Okay, Michael Kupperman, it's your move...now I want to see Twain and Einstein team up with Norwegian classical composer Edvard Grieg!

Or maybe this is Ambrose Bierce?