Today in Comics History, August 17: Happy birthday, Rachel Pollack!

Towards the middle of 1992, as Grant Morrison began to wind down their groundbreaking run on Doom Patrol, a curious set of missives began to appear on its letters page:



from letter columns in Doom Patrol (1987 series) #57 and 60 (DC, July and October 1992)

Today in Comics History, February 14, Valentine's Day: From all of us to all of you, Happy Valentine's Day!

Me an' Shelly the Little Otter Puppet an' my kid sister Marshall the Tiny Stuffed Cow wish you a Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you got plenty of cards and flowers and treats! Mostly treats!

Today in Comics History, March 21, 1983: BullQuest

I've been behind several months on reading my digital new comics (that darn iPad touchscreen doesn't work so well with hooves). It came out last year, but I only recently read and very much enjoyed the new Swordquest miniseries, continuing the tale of those classic early-80s Atari 2600 8-bit cartridges — and yes, I had Earthworld and Fireworld to play on my Sears Video Arcade with real simulated wood panelling! Even more than those original classic games, I loved the set of DC minicomics included with art by George freakin' Pérez. My little brain full of oatmeal and pins is properly blown.

The new Swordquest comics are written by Chad Bowers and my good pal Chris Sims, creators of X-Men '92, so I knew this was gonna be good, too. Also: another good pal, Josh Krach, did the lettering! Lettering: without it comics themselves would be nearly impossible!

What I didn't expect was that Chad 'n' Chris would so thoughtfully place a Today in Comics History in the first issue for me to use! I know they did this specifically thinkin' of me. Thanks, guys!


from Swordquest (2017 series) #0 (Dynamite, May 2017 and hey, Dynamite, why you not put publication month on your comic books? it bugs me that you don't); script by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims; pencils, inks, and colors by Ghostwriter X (Scott Kowalchuk); color flats by Karl Fan; letters by Josh Krach
Yay! Thank you, C&C Comics Factory! And imagine my surprise when I got to issue #2 only to find that these guys had actually guest-starred me, your favorite little stuffed bull, in a few glorious panels drawn by Ghostwriter X who I think is the leader of the New Mutants now. here's let me show you the page and see if you can spot me, Bully the Little Stuffed Bull, in the panels below!


from Swordquest (2017 series) #2 (Dyanmite, August 2017); script by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims; pencils, inks, and colors by Ghostwriter X (Scott Kowalchuk); color flats by Karl Fan; letters by Josh Krach
I...I am honestly touched, guys, that it's such an accurate and faithful portrayal of me.

In all seriousness, I do heartily recommend Swordquest, which cleverly mixes the mythology inside the original games and comics with the real-life drama of Atari's creation and marketing of the cartridges. Bully says DON'T ASK: JUST BUY IT! Well, actually, you should ask, nicely, at your local comics store, where you can buy the Swordquest collected trade and probably back issues of the series. If, like me, you're into e-literature, check here on Comixology for the trade "paperback" and individual issues.

No, really: it's me. So lovely.

366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 183: J. Jonah Jameson is a real stand-up guy

Let's swing into the second half of our amazing year of the spectacular J. Jonah Jameson by teaming-up, marvelously, with the most ill-advised point-of-sales gimmick since the first issue Archie Comics Digest for Kids Who Are Wailing Uncontrollably in the Supermarket Check-Out Aisle #1. Lead us in with the chin, Peter Parker!


Panels from Spider-Man Team-Up #1 (December 1995), script by Mark Waid and Tom Peyer with special thanks to Scott Lobdell, pencils by Ken Lashley, inks by Vince Russell and Al Milgrom, colors by Tom Smith, color separations by Malibu, letters by Richard Starkings
What the--?! (to quote the title of another goofy nineties comic book series). Just who the Sam Scratch thought it was a good idea to promote the even-then-dying medium of print journalism by hacking down even more trees? This bold strike against the Lorax would never work. I mean, just who would stop and look at the cardboard cut-out of a hated public figure and maybe even have their picture taken with it?


Um. Mea bullpa.

Fixed it for ya

If I Ran Marvel Comics

Cover of Silver Surfer (2016 series) #1, art by Mike Allred.
I cannot tell a lie: I put the Bully figure into this cover, and it's drawn by Roger Langridge.

I'll teach you all this in eight easy years

Please excuse the self-reference of a little stuffed bull, but I can't help blowing my little tin horn: it's the eighth anniversary of this here puppet-town cow blog! Yep, eight years ago today I started to talk about comics, post silly panels, and refer to myself online as yours little stuffed truly. Eight whole years! An' I'm only six years old myself. I believe that tachyons are involved in that somehow. Anyway, please have yourself a cupcake (or eight, as I am) to celebrate! Tell 'em Bully sent you! (To the cupcake store.)

As we usually do on such occasions, let's take a quick tour through some of my favorite posts of the previous year (so you don't have to read them again later)!


LISTS 'N' FEATURES

• I really loved spending 366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth. Here's one of my favorite Alfred appearances, and here's the 366th and final installment paying homage to the great man himself.
• The second annual Grover Groundhog Day, which also gave us the greatest team-up in comics history:

• I started my Comics News feature. Here's my favorite news item:

• I did a lot of "Ten of a Kind" posts, but this one on anger management is my favorite.

WRITIN' 'BOUT COMICS

• Jimmy Olsen is no James Bond.
• Speaking of 007, here's the Return of the Indian James Bond comic book.
• With apologies to Mike Sterling: AW GEEZ, DON'T DO THAT, RALPH DIBNY!

• No matter what you do, Batman did it first.
• Catchphrases of the Super-Heroes. I haven't yet gotten to "It's clobberin' time."
• An ode to monsters in little pants.
• Lois Lane killed a dog.

• Johnny Cash is more badass than Darth Vader.
• Who's that girl, who's that girl? It's Jess!

• Everything you wanted to ask about Marvel NOW! but were afraid to ask.
• In 2012 Marvel killed off Professor Charles Xavier (again), and I had quite a bit of fun with it. (Well, more fun than he did.) R.I.P. (Really Inhuman, Professor) • Nothing's more fun than flipping off the Reaper • A Supposedly Human Thing Xavier'll Never Do Again

• DC seemed to think that the Superman/Wonder Woman romance was revolutionary. I remind them about the times they've been romantic before.
• Ten other comic book characters who will be appearing in "Age of Ultron."

HISTORY, HOLIDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES

• Guy Fawkes Day! With Superman!
• Remember when that one guy shot Abe Lincoln?

• Comics Oughta Be Fun was the Official Comics Blog of the 2012 Olympics!
• In honor of her Diamond Jubilee: Queen Elizabeth II's comic book appearances. Part One • Part Two.
• The two hundredth anniversary of Pride and Prejudice. In comic books.

• Halloween in Rutland, Vermont. (Like so many, I never did complete this feature! sigh)
• That day Superman dropped LSD.

THINGS BULLY DID

• I spent 24 days trying to assemble eensy-weensy Lego Star Wars Christmas kits.

• In tribute to Pal Dorian's brilliant long-running feature, I cosplayed Flop.
• I grew a mustache!

MY FAVORITE POSTS OF THE YEAR

• 100 Things That Make Star Trek Great. And that was before Into Darkness!
• Fifty Shades of Jean Grey.
• I outed a long-closeted DC character.
• What If Taylor Swift Lived in the Marvel Universe?

Now is the time of Blogiversary when we dance do a Ten of a Kind with comic book covers based on the number of years this blog has been around! This is gonna get more difficult around year seventeen, but for now here are Ten Covers About Eight!












(More Ten of a Kind here.)

Before I sign off, let me thank all of your who read my blog and who comment on it, with special laurels tossed onto the lovely heads of mega-commenters Sally P. and Blam, both of whom have commented so many times that their comments add up to a bigger blog than mine is. I'm not certain how they do that, either. Thanks, Sally, Blam, and all! Very special little stuffed hugs go out to all my very supportive pals in The Bureau Chiefs, to Jane Wiedlin and Keira Knightley, to my kid sister Marshall and my pal Shelly the Little Otter Puppet, but 'specially to the Queen o' My Heart, the lovely Randi. Finally, this blog itself would be unpossible without the dandy online reference that is the Grand Comics Database, which helps me research those four-color favorites of yesteryear, provide the credits of each story, and without which "Ten of a Kind" would be a very, very short-lived feature. So thanks y'all, and speaking of Ten of a Kind: don't forget to come back here next year to celebrate my ninth blogiversary when you'll see me posting this comic book cover:

Bully's Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar Countdown 2012: Day 22

IT'S DAY TWENTY-TWO!


LOTSA PIECES!


OH COME ON STAR WARS ADVENT CALENDAR YOU'RE NOT EVEN TRYING ANYMORE



(I think it's an A-Wing Fighter. A very basic A-Wing fighter. Some things don't lend themselves to tiny, tiny Lego versions, do they? Well, let's see what we're in for tomorrow. Tomorrow.)

Bully's Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar Countdown 2012: Day 21

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Bully's Advent Colander!


I've been waiting for weeks to make that joke.

No, no, seriously (hee hee hee), let's peep in and see what's goin' on with my Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar! Today: Day 21!


Hmmm. I don't know what this is going to be, but it looks like it has a pretty cool hat.


I am attempting to mind-meld with this packet of Lego bits and guess what it will be. Then again, there's no wrong way to build a Lego model! Um, except that way. Please don't do that.


Hey! It's a cheeseburger deluxe with an olive on the side! The favorite meal of all Jedi! Oh, wait, no, I'm made another one of my Star Wars mistakes. 'Tis actually that bucket of bolts beloved across the galaxy, the Millennium Falcon!


Like our hapless TIE fighter pilot yesterday, Chewie is baffled about how he will get into the Falcon. Don't worry, Chewbacca...it's bigger on the inside. (Or am I thinking of something else?)



Tomorrow! Something else very tiny that a minifig can't fit in, I'm guessing. Either, that, or another colander pun! tee hee hee hee hee