What's Bully (Re*)Reading? 2024 #20-21: Hawkeye: My Life As a Weapon and Hawkeye: Little Hits by Matt Fraction, David Aja, and Javier Pulido

Not only were these the best dozen or so issues of a superhero comic in the 2000s, I'd call them the best dozen or so issues of a superhero comic from Marvel.


Also, for some reason, I am now dressed as a black sheep.


*I have read these stories previously in floppy comic format.

Today in Comics History, April 6: Happy birthday, Gil Kane!

Born on this day in 1926: Gil Kane, prolific and influential comics artist on Strange Adventures, Green Lantern, All Star Western, Mystery in Space, Conan the Barbarian, Rex the Wonder Dog, The Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Atom, Marvel Team-Up, Big Town, Detecrive Comics, Iron Man and so many, many more! He co-created the Silver Age Green Lantern and Atom, Green Lantern Corps, the Guardians of Oa, Sinestro, Guy Gardner, the Floronic Man, Iron Fist, Morbius, the Bug-Eyed Bandit, and more!


from Mighty Marvel Calendar 1979 (Marvel, 1978)

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1917: Shortest history ever of World War I

from "Too Tough To Live" in Thrilling Comics #68 (Pines, October 1948), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, April 6, 1864: Ghost unable to make South rise again

from "A Very Special Spirit" in Ghosts (1971 series) #97 (DC, February 1981), Script script by Mimai Kin, opencils and inks by Michael Netzer, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Albert DeGuzman
This post was suggested by faithful reader and frequent commenter Blam, who's provided a lot of date references in comics that I'll spotlight throughout 2024 in this series. Thanks, Blam!

Today in Comics History, April 5, 2024: You've had twelve months to rizzvip

Yes, this was published in 2023...but the Fifth of April was a Wednesday in 2023. Thsi must take place today!


from Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2023 series) #5 (Marvel, June 2023), script by Jordan Ifueko, pencils by Alba Glez, inks José Marzán Jr. (credited) Colors KJ Diaz (credited) Letters Travis Lanham
Have fun at the Heroes Among Us Gala, Lunella Lafayette! Hope, unlike most of the guests at the Hellfire Gala, you survive the experience!

Today in Comics History, April 5: Happy birthday, Victor Gorelick!

Born on this day in 1941: Editor-in-Chief of Archie Comics Victor Gorelick!




from (top) "Editor's Notebook" in Archie (1959 series) #369 (Archie, August 1989);
(middle and bottom) Marvel Age #136 and #138 (Marvel, April 1994 and July 1994)

Today in Comics History, April 5, 1997: Wow, he's really wasting a lot of space in his "What's Going On With Allen Ginsberg" diary

from Zero #18 (Image, July 2015), script by Ales Kot, pencils and inks by Tula Lotay, colors by Jordie Bellaire, letters by Clayton Cowles

Today in Comics History, April 5: Happy birthday, Renee Witterstaetter!

Born on this day: Renee Witterstaetter, Marvel editor, writer, and colorist! Her work includes: being head editor of Marvel Age! Okay, that makes her cool in my book!


from Marvel Age #88 and 100 (Marvel, May 1990 and May 1991), text by Barry Dutter and Chris Eliopolous (#88) and Mike Lackey (#100); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Gregory Wright (#88) and Renee Witterstaetter (#100)

Today in Comics History, April 5, 1994: Is he shouting or just talking in French?

from "Eurohit '94" in The Punisher Annual (1988 series) #7 (Marvel, October 1994); script by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning; pencils by Doug Braithwaite; inks by Al Williamson, Fred Fredericks, and Art Nichols; colors by Christie Scheele; letters by Ken Lopez

Today in Comics History, April 5: Happy birthday, Arthur Adams!

Born on this day: Arthur Adams! Creator of Monkeyman & O'Brien and co-creator of Longshot, Mojo, Spiral anf Jonni Future, Art has done gorgeous pencils for hundreds of comics, including drawing himself into The X-Men (tall guy with red hair)!


from "I Want My X-Men!" in [Uncanny] X-Men Annual #12 (Marvel, 1988). Pictured from left to right: Mojo, editor Bob Harras, inker Bob Wiacek, colorist Glynis Oliver, penciller and birthday boy ARTHUR ADAMS, scripter Chris Claremont, and letterer Tom Orzechowski!
Curiously enough, Art is blond in his other appearance in the Marvel Universe (with Ann Nocenti)!


from Longshot #3 (Marvel, November 1985), script by Ann Nocenti, pencils by Arthur Adams, inks by Whilce Portacio with assists by Scott Williams, colors by Christie Scheele, letters by Joe Rosen
Happy birthday, Art!


cover of Art Adams' Creature Features (Dark Horse, August 1996), pencils and inks by Arthur Adams, colors by Laura Allred

Today in Comics History, April 5, 1939: Fight fought by fighting fighters

"The Boxing Hall of Fame" from Fight Comics #2 (Fiction House, February 1940), text by Jim Topps

Today in Comics History, April 4: Happy birthday, Joe Orlando!

Born on this date in 1927: artist, writer, editor and publisher Joe Orlando, whose extensive work at EC, DC, MAD, and Atlas have cemented his status as a grand master of comics art.


from Weird Fantasy (1951 series) #12 (EC, March 1952), written by Al Feldstein

Today in Comics History, April 4: Happy birthday, Bob Rozakis!

Born on this day: Bob Rozakis, DC Comics writer (Action Comics, The New Adventures of Superboy, Detective Comics, World's Finest comics, The Batman Family, 'Mazing Man, Freedom Fighters and lots more), editor, and "The Answer Man"; DC's Executive Director of Production, co-creator of Mister E, Bumblebee, 'Mazing Man, Hero Hotline, Quakemaster, and more!


from Amazing World of DC Comics #1 (DC, July 1974)

Today in Comics History, April 4, 1968: I can literally hear the sound effect at the end of this page

from Quantum Leap #1 (Innovation, September 1991), script by George Broderick, art by Mark Jones, colors by Scott Rockwell, letters by Vickie Williams

Fun with Comics: Milt Caniff gets MAD

Milton Caniff's salute to MAD magazine's tenth anniversary:


from MAD #74 (October 1962), by Milton Caniff

Today in Comics History, April 2, 1860: What, you mean he's gonna miss St. Joseph's annual bath night?

from "Riders of the Plains: The Pony Express!" in Real Life Comics #46 (Pines, November 1948), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, April 1, April Fools' Day: Hopey you had a great April Fools' Day

from "Easter Hunt" in Love and Rockets (1982 series) #42 (Fantagraphics, August 1993), script by Gilbert Hernandez; pencils, inks, and letters by Jaime Hernandez

Today in Comics History, April 1, April Fools' Day: Jimmydickery

from "Superman's Enemy!" in Jimmy Olsen #35 (DC/National, March 1959), script by Otto Binder, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Ray Burnley

Today in Comics History, April 1, 1956: Bucky pants a guy

from Captain America (2005 series) #11 (Marvel, November 2005), script by Ed Brubaker, pencils and inks by Steve Epting, additional inks by Mike Perkins, colors by Frank D'Armata, letters by Randolph Gentile

Today in Comics History, April 1: Happy birthday, Tom Raney!

Born on this day: Tom Raney, comic book artist on many books, including Stormwatch, Thor, Outsiders, Uncanny X-Men, Green Lantern, Mutant X, Black Widow, Avengers Academy and more! And this...his first artwork in print!



from Marvel Age #94 (Marvel, November 1990)

Today in Comics History, April 1, 198X, April Fools' Day: Joker Regrets He's Able to Lunch Today

from Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer #1 one-shot (DC, February 1986), script by Robert Loren Fleming, pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Bob Oksner, colors by Anthony Tollin, letters by John Costanza

Today in Comics History, April 1, April Fools' Day: As flies to wanton boys are we to Ernie Bushmiller

Nancy (United Feature Syndicate, April 1, 1950, 1952, and 1958), by Ernie Bushmiller
A special tip 'of the three rocks to Johnny Callicutt for bringing these strips to my attention. Johnny runs the absolutely essential and unofficial Nancy Comics by Ernie Bushmiller feeds on Twitter and Bluesky! Thanks, Johnny!

Today in Comics History, April 1, 1991: Oh crumbs, they're moving

from The Complete Crumb Comics v.17: Cave Wimp (Fantagraphics, July 2005), by Robert Crumb

Today in Comics History, April 1, April Fools' Day: Hey, it's April Fools' day, not April Menaces' Day

from (top) "April Antics" in Dennis the Menace Bonus Magazine Series #151 [Dennis the Menace Yearbook] (Hallden/Fawcett, April 1976), creators uncredited and unknown;
(bottom) Dennis the Menace Bonus Magazine Series #160 [Dennis the Menace Yearbook] (Hallden/Fawcett, January 1977), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, April 1, 2036: Boy, these Gladiator sequels just get weirder and weirder

from eJunky (Scout, September 2023), script by Nicholas Tana, art by Kyle Faehnrich

Today in Comics History, April 1, April Fools' Day: Just like the Columbia Record Club, you will never be able to unsubscribe

from "Crime-of-the-Month Club!" in Batman (1940 series) #110 (DC/National, September 1957), script by Dave Wood, pencils by Dick Sprang, inks by Charles Paris, letters by Pat Gordon

Today in Comics History, April 1, April Fools' Day: Into the mouth of madness

from "The Joker's Crime Costumes" in Batman (1940 series) #63 (DC/National, February 1951), script by Bill Finger, pencils by Dick Sprang, inks by Charles Paris, letters by Ira Schnapp

Not Today in Comics History, April 1, April Fools' Day: Well, I don't know where to put this so I guess it gets posted today

This is literally the one day I shouldn't post these panels — well, aside from the fact that I shouldn't be readin' this in the first place. But where else am I gonna put it?


from "Back in Business" in Image! 30th Anniversary Anthology #6 (Image, October 2022); co-script by Jimmy Palmiotti; co-scripot, pencils, inks, and letters by Amanda Conner; colors by Paul Mounts
I suppose since it is "no where near April Fools," this entry actually should be posted the furthest away from it, i.e. October 1. Then again, it was hard enough to do that math, especially when you're counting on hoofs.

Today in Comics History, April 1, 1944, April Fools' Day: Fairy Godfather more effective in politics than actual humans

Barnaby (Field Enterprises Syndicate, April 1, 1944), by Crockett Johnson

Today in Comics History, April 1, 1955: Happy birthday, Sillarochca!

No, I didn't know who he was either.


from Psi-Force #26 (Marvel/New Universe, December 1988), pencils by Graham Nolan

Today in Comics History, April 1, April Fools' Day: Even today, poor Alfred has to clean all that up

from Batman: Dark Victory #7 (DC, June 2000), script by Jeph Loeb, pencils and inks by Tim Sale, colors by Gregory Wright, color separations by Heroic Age, letters by Richard Starkings
(Click bottom picture to pity-the-fool--size)

The April 1968 2024 Calendar for This Menacing Year

Hey, it's calendar time! An' that's no April Fool! Mainly because...yes, I have a calendar for you.

But who woulda thunk it came from the corner of a WWII-era Batman comic?


from "The Mayors of Yonville!" in Batman (1940 series) #24 (DC/Detective Comics, August 1944), script by Don C. Cameron, pencils and inks by Dick Sprang, letters by George Roussos
Hey, down in front you guys! Eh, they're not gonna move; they're all long dead.

Instead, have a Dennis the Menace calendar that perfect for April 2023 in all aspects except one. Can you guess what's off about this 1968 calendar if you wanna clip it out and paste it up on your wall this month?

"March 1968" from Dennis the Menace Giant #51 [Dennis the Menace Christmas Special] (Hallden/Fawcett, Winter 1967), creators unidentified and unknown
(Click picture to eggs-er-size*)

*Ouch.
That's correct: never feed eggs to a rabbit, Joey. They are herbivores.

Today in Comics History, April 1, 1972, April Fool's Day: The only April Fools' prank in the 'Nam is whoever told Ed that mustache looked good on him

from The 'Nam #71 (Marvel, August 1992), script by Don Lomax, pencils and inks by Wayne Vansant, colors by John Kalisz, letters by Phil Felix
Also on this day, this did, or didn't, happen. You make the call!


from The 'Nam #77 (Marvel, February 1993), script by Don Lomax, pencils by Mike Harris, inks by Frank Percy, colors by John Kalisz, letters by Michael Higgins