Comics News for July 5, 2014

Bear Attack! Month 2014, Day 5: Toonces, no!

Inside cover gag strip from Felix the Cat (Dell 1948 series) #27 (October-November 1949), scripter and artist unknown

Today in Comics History, July 4: Ma Bell's "Reach Out and Murder Someone" promotion is surprisingly popular

from "Dial...City Morgue!" in Strange Tales #4 (Marvel/Atlas, December 1951), pencils and inks by Sol Brodsky, letters by Joe Letterese

Today in Comics History, July 4, 1979: Crimson Dynamo successfully prevents Peter Parker from romance*

from Marvel Team-Up Annual #2 (Marvel, December 1979), script by Chris Claremont, breakdowns by Sal Buscema, finishes by Jack Abel, colors by Roger Slifer, letters by Joe Rosen

*There's a much more succinct phrase for the same thing, but I'm not allowed to use it.

Today in Comics History, July 4, 1776: HULK SMASH GEORGE THREE!

variant cover of Indestructible Hulk #11 (Marvel, September 2013), art by Michael Del Mundo

At 13th Dimension: Captain America Scares the Pants Off Us

It's the Fourth of July, and you know what that means...blog posts about Captain America! Which this year, take the form of something my star-spangled pal John wrote over at 13th Dimension: "Captain America Scares the Pants Off Us!" Yep, it's the true tale of how Cap uses both fear and hope to convince Bucky...and us...to invest in America's future against the Axis powers.

Even so, seems to me that John left out this terribly frightening moment from that ish of Captain America:


Panels from "The Crocodile Strikes!" in Captain America Comics (October 1942); script by Stan Lee (?), pencils by Al Avison, inks by Syd Shores
EWWWWW CAP STOP LICKING BABIES

76 of a Kind: Ev'ry time that flag's unfurled / They're coming to America

76 of a Kind for 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013

Bear Attack! Month 2014: I Just Wanna Be Your Deady Bear

What's more patriotic on the Fourth of July than to post panels of a United States President bravely fighting a wild bear? Answer: a undead zombie President punching out a bear in a zoo! It's Roosevelticious!



Panels from "We Fought a Zoo" in Deadpool (2013 series) #2 (January 2013), script by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn, pencils and inks by Tony Moore, colors by Val Staples, letters by Joe Sabino
Hey, this also counts as an arrooo in comics!

Today in Comics History, July 3, 1984: Batman picks Spider-Man's pocket

from Detective Comics #543 (DC, October 1984), script by Doug Moench, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Alfredo Alcala, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Ben Oda

Bear Attack! Month 2014, Day 3: Na na na na na na na na Bat-Bear

Panels from Batman '66 (digital series) #18 (March 2014), script by Jeff Parker, pencils and inks by Ted Naifeh, colors by Tony Aviña, letters by Wes Abbott

Bear Attack! Month 2014, Day 2: They got Bill Sienkiewicz in just to draw that one sound effect

Panels from Uncanny X-Force (2013 series) #27 (August 2013), script by Sam Humphries, pencils by Adrian Alphona, inks by dexter Soy, colors by Chris Sotomayor and David Curiel, letters by Cory Petit

Happy Birthday to Me 2014!

Hey, it's my birthday today! I am six. Which is a very good age to be.



I had birthday pies!...

Today in Comics History, July 1, 1920: The Forbidden Temple finally opens. For an entrance fee.

from Trillium #1 (DC/Vertigo, October 2013); script, pencils, and inks by Jeff Lemire, colors by José Villarrubia, letters by Carlos M. Mangual

Bear Attack! Month 2014, Day 1: Wonder Woman's Fighting Bare Bear

Hello and welcome to July, faithful readers! And just in case you've been wondering what we've got bruin up for you this month...it's a return of Bear Attack! Month with, as Marvel Now! would say, All-New Bears and All-New Attacks! Kicking off thirty days of ursine unruliness is The Girl with the Tiara all the way from Themyscira (hey, that rhymes!)...the all-new Wonder Woman!



Panels from Wonder Woman (2011 series) #27 (March 2014), script by Brian Azzarello, pencils and inks by Cliff Chiang, colors by Matthew Wilson, letters by Jared K. Fletcher
Be sure to join us each day this month as...Bears Attack!

Ten of a Kind: How Many Tickles Does It Take to Make an Octopus Giggle?*

In salute of the late great Paul, the World Cup-predicting octopus...



...here's Ten of a Kind comic book covers featuring Octopi! (Octopusses? Octopolis? Octopotamous?)












(More Ten of a Kind here.)

*Ten tickles.

Here, fixed that for you

I've been reminded that the covers of the L.L. Miller Captain Marvel books were in color and that's likely what Gargunza was looking at here. I still stand by my decision to poke some fun at Marvel, though!

So here's a panel from the original black-and-white version of Marvelman in the UK's Warrior:


Panel from the Marvelman story "A Little Piece of Heaven" in Warrior (Quality Communications 1982 series) #20 (July 1984), script by Alan Moore, pencils and inks by Alan Davis, letters by G. George
Now can you predict what Marvel did when they recolored the art for their recent Miracleman republishing? Why, of course you can.


Panel from the Miracleman story "A Little Piece of Heaven" in Miracleman (Marvel 2013 series) #7 (August 2014), script by Alan Moore The Original Writer, pencils and inks by Alan Davis, colors by Steve Oliff, relettering by Joe Caramagna
D'OH

(Not that the 1987 Eclipse version did it any better...)


Panel from the Miracleman story "A Little Piece of Heaven" in Miracleman (Eclipse 1985 series) #5 (January 1986), script by Alan Moore, pencils and inks by Alan Davis, colors by Ron Courtney, letters by G. George
So that's why I'm going to introduce a new feature I like to call

Here, Fixed That For You

The moral of the story is HIRE A LITTLE STUFFED BULL TO WORK AT YOUR COMIC BOOK COMPANY.

Over on Twitter, Avram Grumer makes the excellent point that this could well be the cover of an L.L. Miller Captain Marvel comic, which would have been in color.

I stand by my decision to make fun of Marvel, though.