Angel Love, Interpol Agent

Panels from "Double Dealers!" in Primus #1 (Charlton, February 1972), script by Joe Gill, pencils and inks by Joe Staton, colors by Christie Scheele, letters by Charlotte Jetter
and from Angel Love #1 (August 1986); script and pencils by Barbara Slate, inks by John William Lopez, colors by Bob LeRose, letters by Bill Yoshida

Fun with Comics: That's not a lion, dude

cover of Pocket Western Library (1966? series) #8 (Thorpe & Porter/Top Sellers UK), artist uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, April 4, 1960 (Oscar Night): Charlton Heston clubs a damn dirty ape to death with his Oscar

Hey look, it's Celebrity in Comics Charlton Heston, making on of his early and rare four-color appearances years before he would get a title of his own in Marvel's Planet of the Apes series! Don't shoot us, Chuck! Heh heh heh heh. Ehhhhh.


from Back to the Future: Biff to the Future #2 (February 2017), co-plot and script by Bob Gale, co-plot by Derek Fridolfs, pencils by Alan Robinson, inks by Alan Robinson and Jaime Castro, colors by Maria Santaolalla, letters by Chris Mowry

Comics at Housing Works: What bargains you'll find!

I put out a bunch of comic books for sale today at Housing Works Bookstore and Café! Check out the Comics Rack for some dandy backissues!

Ten of a Kind: What Do You Know About My Image Duplicator?

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

The title of this ten take-downs of Roy Lichtenstein (notice how every one of 'em has better lettering than the Larcenous Mr. L) is from this 1963 Lichtenstein artwork. You probably recognize the laid-back dude in it.


"What Do You Know About My Image Duplicator?" is...let's be frank and use the right word...plagiarized, as is most of Lichtenstein's comic-based art, from the good work of comic book writers and artists. So yeah, that's what I know about your fershluggin' image duplicator, Roy: it stinks.

Here's "Image Duplicator"'s original sources:


Panels from (L): The X-Men (1963 series) #1 (September 1963), sript by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Paul Reinman, letters by Sam Rosen
(R): "The Return of General Immortus" in My Greatest Adventure (1955 series) #84 (December 1963), script by Arnold Drake, pencils and inks by Bruno Premiani
Ooooh boy, big man Roy, rippin' off Kirby and Arnold Drake. I extend my fuzzy bare butt in your general direction.

Curiously, Roy Lichtenstein actually exists within the Marvel Universe, as seen in this set of panels from Web of Spidey #73:


Panels from Web of Spider-Man (1985 series) #73 (February 1991), script by John Byrne, pencils by Alex Saviuk, inks by Keith Williams, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Rick Parker
Didja spot Lichtenstein-616? He's the one living in the panel that's been Lichtensteinated.


We can but hope that Lichtenstein-616 died painfully under a pile of his trash paintings when the Incursion of May 2015 destroyed the Earth.

Sure, I'm as disappointed as you are that John Byrne didn't have Peter Parker punch the daylights out of Lichtenstein, but I guess he was too busy with changing to Spider-Man and saving Alicia Storm-Masters when villains attack her art exhibit.


Me, I'm just wondering why Alicia didn't ask "Peter, why are you wearing gloves now? And why does your voice sound muffled?"

Anyway, to wrap up, what do you think about high art, Calvin and Hobbes?

Bully Eats Food: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

We're having John's birthday dinner (a couple days late) at Dinosaur-Bar-B-Que right here in Brooklyn!


Why yes, I am gonna eat all this.

Today in Comics History, April 1, 1948: Jealous of Batman's success, Green Lantern also gets himself a joke-themed nemesis

from "The April Fool's Day Crimes!" in Comic Cavalcade #27 (DC, June 1948), script by John Broome, pencils and inks by Alex Toth
Oh hey! Today also appears to be the day Doiby Dickles was killed by gangsters.

Other heroes that Green Lantern appear to be jealous of include Fawcett's Captain Marvel, what with Billy Batson working in a radio station...


And, despite the fact that they would not premiere for another thirteen years...the Fantastic Four and their trademark flare alert!


Jealous, jealous, Alan Scott. No wonder they called him the Green Lantern!

That supervillain the Fool certain is some kind of criminal joker, isn't he? (nudge nudge wink wink)


Eh, on closer inspector, he really is much more of a Riddler. Your compulsion to leave clues will continue to be your downfall, guys! I'm jus' sayin'.


Anyway, all's fool that ends fool! Happy April Fool's Day!

The 1990 2018 Marvel Age Calendar: Fantastic Four

"The 1990 Marvel Age Calendar: April" from Marvel Age #88 (May 1990); text by Chris Eliopolous and Barry Dutter, art by Ron Zalme, colors by Gregory Wright
(Click picture to Aprilize)

A Year of Mxyzptlk 3: Hey, Did You Happen to See the Most Beautiful Girl in the World?

It's April Fool's Day, so what better time than to check in on Mr. Mxyzptlk (or indeed, even Mxyztplk) for his long-overdue appearance in this blog. Well, after all, it has pretty much been 90 days, right?

When we last left our dimensional imp, he had been busy overseeing the superhuman romance of Miss Dreamface and the Metropolis Ace, which is not something we call him that much anymore, but it's kind cool when you can make it rhyme. But let's not be too alarmed over Kal-El and his beautiful belle. After all, you really can't fool Superman, can you? You couldn't fool Superman on the foolingest day of your life if you had an electrified fooling machine. that means you, Luthor


Panels from the Superman daily newspaper comic strip (June 14, 1944), script by Whitney Ellsworth, art by Wayne Boring.
(From this point on, I'll identify the date of strip or panels within the alt-text of each image.)

The Adventures of Bully: Monthly Sweater Change

It's the first of the month, and time for my monthly sweater change!

Bully and His Pals: Happy Easter, everyone!

Look at the cool stuff the Easter Bully brought us!