Today in Comics History, February 2, 2022: Gift of a check suddenly tremendously ages Aunt Petunia Grimm since Fantastic Four #238

from Clobberin' Time #3 (Marvel, July 2023), story and art by Steve Skroce, colors by Bryan Calenza, letters by Joe Sabino

Today in Comics History, June 30: It's a wrestlin' thing

Roll up, roll up tonight for the biggest bodacious brawl between beast and Ben! Ben Grimm, that is!


from The Thing (1983 series) #28 (Marvel, October 1985), script by Mike Carlin, breakdowns by Ron Wilson, finishes by Brett Breeding, colors by Michael Higgins, letters by Jack Morelli
Weird enough that this poster sez June 30, because the cover teases an altogether different date...or dates:


cover of The Thing #28; pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Brett Breeding
This cover suggests Ben's big wrasslin' match takes place on June 5th, and (since that word before "5th" is clearly "and"), probably also on at least the 4th as well. He, make up yer mind, wrestling promoters!

Still, at least Ben isn't shredding the poster off the wall as he's angrily done for another arena match:


cover of Fantastic Four #92 (Marvel, November 1969), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, letters by Sam Rosen

Today in Comics History, December 26, 2018: Happy anniversary, Ben and Alicia!

And many more!


next issue page from Fantastic Four (2018 series) #4/649 (January 2019)

Today in Comics History, March 7, 20XX: Bruce Wayne points a gun directly at us, the readers

from Batman (2016 series) #47 (DC, July 2018); script by Tom King; pencils by Tony S. Daniel; inks by Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki, and Sandu Florea; colors by Tomeu Morey; letters by Clayton Cowles
Now here's the thing...


from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #51 (Marvel, June 1966), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, letters by Artie Simek
...Bruce is telling Booster to take him back to the night of his parents' murder. Since when did that become March 7? It has always been June 26 until this story, and I refuse to change my mind and calendar on that unassailable fact!

(Durn Flashpoint!)

365 Days of Defiance, Day 342: The Last Stand of Johnny Storm

Panels from Fantastic Four #587 (March 2011); script by Jonathan Hickman; pencils by Steve Epting; inks by Rick Magyar, Mike Perkins, and Steve Epting; colors by Paul Mounts; letters by Rus Wooton

365 Days of Defiance, Day 199: IT'S COBBLESTONIN' TIME!

Panels from Secret Wars (2015 series) #6 (December 2015), script by Jonathan Hickman, pencils and inks by Esad Ribic, colors by Ive Svorcina, letters by Chris Eliopoulis

365 Days of Defiance, Day 170: Tempus Fugitive

Tempus! He's a guy made out of clock ice or crystalized time or somethin' and while he's certainly not one of the Fantastic Four's most famous foes, he gave 'em a good fight back in the funkadelic seventies. And it's all due to Willie Lumpkin having a gambling problem, which I'm not gonna explain. There's no...ah ha ha ha ha...time.


Panels from "Cataclysm!" in Giant-Size Fantastic Four #2 (August 1974), script by Gerry Conway, layouts by John Buscema, finishes by Chic Stone, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Joe Rosen
Mind you, this is an adventure that took place in Marvel's double-paged Giant-Size series of the mid-70s, so, like Marvel Annuals of the period, they were all self-contained stories (and eventually, all reprints). So I don't blame you if you had ignored or didn't read this story. But hey, look: Mister Fantastic in William Shatner's aging makeup from "The Deadly Years." He's old, y'all!


How will the wolf FF survive? Well, by that little-known secret weapon of the Fantastic Four, one you don't get to see in action too often but never forget it's a powerhouse: the rocky orange brain of Benjamin J. Grimm!


Hey Thing, what time is it? Ah, never mind: you're way ahead of me.


The punches themselves aren't sufficient to defeat Tempus (the deliciously quiescent summertime cooling treat), but it does give Reedd enough time to fire up his big rubber brain and come up with a truly brilliant plan, which is...oh, for Pete's sake, Reed, you're just punching him again! Ben already came up with that plan!


Yay! Success! Altho' reed, always a bringer-downer, reminds the FF and Willie Lumpkin, time-travelin' mailman, that like Santa and that chocolate cake that was sitting this morning on the kitchen counter, there's a little bit of Tempus is inside all of us. In fact, you might even say we just ate Tempus, and he's in our stomachs...right now! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!...Wait, scratch that one.


I can't use my usul joke of "And nobody ever saw Tempus ever again" here, because he has quite a wide-ranging, if ineffective, history of time-related villany across the Marvel Universe. Later on, he fought Thor, the West Coast Avengers, some guys from various What Ifs, Rick Jones, and the Annihilators. I'm imagining that at any moment in the Marvel Universe Gwenpool will be pantsing him. So yeah, getting introduced in a Giant-Size has decreasing returns for villainy over the years.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 160: You don't pull the mask off that Amazing Spider-Man / And you don't mess around with Thing

Panels from Giant-Size Fantastic Four #3 (November 1974), plot by Gerry Conway, script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Joe Rosen
Context for Ben's "Ozzie's Girls" reference.

Today in Comics History, March 23, 1983: Ben Grimm accidentally invents TiVo

from Marvel Two-in-One #100 (Marvel, June 1983), script by John Byrne, pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Frank Giacoia and Kevin Dzuban, colors by George Roussos, letters by Joe Rosen

Today in Comics History, February 14, 1974: Ben Grimm is in big trouble with Alicia for forgetting Valentine's Day

from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #160 (July 1975), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Chic Stone, colors by Janice Cohen, letters by Ray Holloway

365 Days of Defiance, Day 25: Nobody beats the Thing

If'n I could own just one page of original Jack Kirby art...it'd prob'bly be this one.


Panels from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #40 (July 1965), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Vince Colletta, colors by Stan Goldberg (?), letters by Artie Simek

365 Days of Defiance, Day 19: Last Line of Defense

One of my very favorite interpretations of Ben Grimm. He will never, never, ever give up.



Panels from Startling Stories: The Thing one-shot (October 2003), script by Ron Zimmerman, pencils by Don Kramer, inks by Scott Hanna and Sandu Florea, colors by Studio F, letters by Dave Sharpe
Note the dialogue reference to the classic Fantastic Four #40!

365 Days of Defiance, Day Fantastic 4: If I could save Thing in a bottle

Panels from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #30 (September 1964), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Chic Stone, letters by Artie Simek

Separated at Birth: Get Well Soon

Left: Marvel Two-in-One (1974 series) #96 (February 1983); layouts by Ed Hannigan, pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Frank Giacoia
Right: Silver Surfer (2016 series) #4 (July 2016); pencils and inks by Michael Allred, colors by Laura Allred
(Click picture to Man-Size-Kleenex-size)

366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 288: I'm snapping off the lamppost at the corner of the street / In case a certain little lady comes by

Panels from "J. Jonah Jameson" in Civil War II: Choosing Sides #3 (September 2016), script by Derek Landy, pencils and inks by Filipe Andrade, colors by Miroslav Mrva, letters by Clayton Cowles
Never any reason to snap a lamppost? Aw, man, is Ben Grimm gonna be disappointed.


Panels from "J. Jonah Jameson" in Fantastic Four (1961 series) #18 (November 1962), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, letters by Artie Simek

A Month of... Pancakes! Day 13: Ben Grimm Wants Pancakes, Part 3

Okay, let's try this thing one more time. Third time lucky to get Ben Grimm some pancakes? Old Blue Eyes is even making them himself, comics!



Panels from Marvel Two-in-One #69 (November 1980); script by Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio, pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Gene Day, colors by George Roussos, letters by John Costanza
I object to the portrayal of Ben Grimm using pre-boxed pancake mix! He oughta have a great made-from-scratch recipe that Aunt Petunia taught him! Anyway, thanks Suzie, fer savin' the pancakes. IT'S SLOBBERIN' TIME!

A Month of... Pancakes! Day 12: Ben Grimm Wants Pancakes, Part 2

In which all of the Fantastic Four (excluding Reed, who's not even paying attention) are jerks to each other over breakfast:



Panels from "Anniversary" in Fantastic Four (1998 series) #50/479 (February 2002); script by Carlos Pacheco and Rafael Marin, pencils by Tom Grummett, inks by Scott Koblish, colors by Liquid!, letters by Richard Starkings

A Month of... Pancakes! Day 11: Ben Grimm Wants Pancakes, Part 1

Panels from Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Comics Magazine #7 (August 2001); plot by Erik Larsen and Eric Stephenson, script by Tom DeFalco, layouts by Erik Larsen, pencils by Graham Nolan, inks by Al Milgrom, colors by Eric Stephenson, letters by Comicraft
Tomorrow: maybe Ben Grimm will get a pancake. Yes, you heard me. One.

A Month of... Pancakes! Day 2: Based upon the actual eating habits of Jack Kirby

Panels from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #67 (October 1967); co-plot and script by Stan Lee, co-plot and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, letters by Artie Simek

Today in Comics History, June 11, 1982: Another slow news day in the Marvel Universe

from Marvel Two-in-One Annual #7 (Marvel, 1982); script by Tom DeFalco; pencils by Ron Wilson; inks by Bob Camp, Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Dan Green, Armando Gil, and Chic Stone; colors by George Roussos; letters by Jim Novak