Paper Doll Month, Day 6: The Fashions That Made Tarzan Do That Yell

"Jane: Jungle Doll" from Dell Giant #25 [Tarzan's Jungle World] (November 1959); pencils, inks, and letters by Tony DiPaola

What If™...Michael Bay Made a Comic Book Version of Glen Campbell's Classic Song "Wichita Lineman?"

Cover of Battle Fire #2 (Magazine Management (Australia), January 1956), artist unknown

Paper Doll Month, Day 5: Na na na na na na na na Flatman

Not technically a paper doll, but it is a doll and it's paper and it's my blog and I wanna post it.


"Flatman Action Figure" from GLX-Mas Special one-shot (February 2006), script by Dan Slott, pencils by Mike Wieringo, inks by Karl Kesel, colors by Wil Quintana, letters by Dave Lanphear

Batman Is Present at the Great Disasters of the Past: Oh, the Batmanity

And now for the debut of a little feature we like to call Batman Is Present at the Great Disasters of the Past! The concept is simple and straightforward: Batman is present at...well, you get the picture.

Tonight: Batman Is Present at the Hindenburg Disaster!


Panels from Detective Comics #519 (October 1982), plot by Gerry Conway, script by Paul Kupperberg, pencils by Don Newton, inks by John Calnan, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Ben Oda


(Too soon?)

Also in this historic issue: Dick Grayson's unbearably adorable snowsuit! Bruce won't let him go out to play in the snow until he's all wrapped up in it!


Say, haven't you ever wondered: what is the only thing that Batman can do?

Paper Doll Month, Day 4: Mopsy!

Hey, it's Mopsy! (Not pictured: Flopsy, Cottontail, Peter.)




"Mopsy Modes" from Mopsy #19 (St. John, September 1953), pencils and inks by Gladys Parker

Mopsy! She's the sexy-sweet heartthrob of a generation! But sadly, this current generation has mostly forgotten all about her.


Cover of Mopsy #19 (St. John, September 1953), pencils and inks by Gladys Parker

The immigration situation at Riverdale High

Panel from "The Unwanted" in Archie at Riverdale High #50 (December 1977), script by Frank Doyle, pencils by Stan Goldberg, inks by Jon D'Agostino, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida

Paper Doll Month, Day 3: Wait, when did this happen? I don't remember this

"Mary Jane Watson Paper Doll" from Marvel Age #54 (September 1987), pencils by John Romita Sr., inks by Vince Colletta, colors by Janet Jackson. Why the Sam Scratch are they credited in reverse on the page, huh?

Homicidal Zing!

Panels from Sherlock Holmes: Moriarty Lives #5 (July 2014), script by David Liss, pencils and inks by Carlos Furuzono, colors by Josan Gonzalez, letters by Joshua Cozine

Paper Doll Month, Day 2: Glx sptzl glaah!

"Pint-Size Pin-Ups" from Sugar and Spike #46 (April-May 1963), art by Sheldon Mayer

Corner Box Thor Is Just Happy to See You

Today in Comics History, September 1, 1989: The Gotham Gazette just gives up and distributes a Xerox™ed newsletter

from Detective Comics #608 (DC, November 1989), script by Alan Grant, pencils by Norm Breyfogle, inks by Steve Mitchell, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Todd Klein
Also in this issue: Batman goes FRATCH!


Fratch, everybody! Fratch.

Paper Doll Month, Day 1: We'll miss you, Stan Goldberg

It's September 1! (Did you remember to say "rabbit, rabbit" first thing this morning?) That means it's time for another month-long feature to amuse and edumacate you while I try to untangle all the files that make up the long-on-hiatus 365 Days of KirbyTech feature. This month, all month, you'll need a printer, cardboard, a glue-stick, and sharp scissors (or, a parent or guardian with sharp scissors). That's right, it's a month during which you can create your very own personal papyrus platoon based on this feature — it's Paper Doll Month! And I absolutely promise you: no Katy Keene!

That said, it's a bittersweet beginning to the feature as we salute one of the greatest artists of comics in all genres (but especially teen and comedy books), Stan Goldberg, who passed away yesterday. Stan was an extraordinary artist who, altho' he frequently drew within a publisher or line's house style, gave his own distinctive and energetic feel to his work. Even if he was uncredited (or, in the case of Marvel's teen/comedy/romance titles, frequently credited as Sol Brodsky), you could identify his art. Just as Carl Barks was commonly known as "The Good Duck Artist" in Disney comics before creator credits were printed, I've always considered Stan Goldberg as "The Good Archie Artist." (I really like Dan DeCarlo too, but so many fo my favorite stories are by Goldberg.)

He was an accomplished colorist responsible for the vast majority of the covers of the Atlas and early Marvel Age, and he was fluent in several styles. Here's examples of his paper doll work for Marvel's Patsy Walker and supporting characters:




Paper doll pages from Patsy and Hedy #107 (August 1966), art by Stan Goldberg, letters by Sam Rosen
Okay, okay, maybe these aren't "technically" paper dolls and they don't have tabs, but it's my blog and I say it's paper dolls and to heck with it.

Ten of a Kind: It wasn't a rock

Hey, why is it that any time cartoonists and comic book artists draw live lobsters, they still color ‘em red, instead of green? (They don’t turn red until you boil ‘em so you can eat their delicious, delicious flesh.) And interestingly enough (if’n you’re into that thing), somebody at Western Comics/Gold Key musta noticed, because when they eventually reprinted that Moby Duck comic, they color-corrected the lobsters!:



The only covers in the Ten of a Kind above that don’t actually violate this rule are 2000 AD (which is in black-and-white), Archie (which doesn’t show a lobster) and Marvel’s Fallen Angels, which shows two lobsters: one green and one blue. The green lobster is Bill the Cyborg Lobster…

Pages from Fallen Angels #8 (November 1987), script by Jo Duffy, pencils by Joe Staton, inks my Tony DeZuniga, colors by Petra Scotese, letters by Bill Oakley
(Click picture to LobsterFest-size)
...and the blue one is Don the Mutant Lobster, who I think really oughta be on the teaching staff at the Jean Grey Academy. Marvel Comics: unfair to 1980s miniseries lobsters! Still, we can thrill to the fact that they were considered worthy of an entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe! Now that's comic book validation!

from Marvel Pets Handbook one-shot (August 2009), art by Kerry Gammill
(Click picture to 1989-Deluxe-Edition-size)

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

Batman's Great Escapes Month, Day 31: Batman says goodbye

Panels from Batman: The Dark Knight (November 2011 New 52 series) #17 (April 2013), script by Gregg Hurwitz, pencils and inks by Ethan Van Sciver, colors by Hi-Fi, letters by Dezi Sienty
Special End-of-the-Month Bonus Links!: Check out these riffs on Batman's Great Escapes by the titanic Ty Templeton and the devilish David "Dumbing of Age" Willis!

But sadly, this feature now has to disappear into the dark (k)night. What's in store for September, you ask? Could it be a month full of...Professor X's Shiny Bald Head?!?*

*No.