Today in Comics History, June 14, Flag Day Bonus: You'll put your eye out with that thing, Bucky

from "North Africa — Ahoy!" in Young Allies #8 (Marvel/Timely, July 1943); pencils by George Klein, Al Gabriele, or Mike Sekowsky; inks by Allen Bellman; or Don Rico

Today in Comics History, Flag Day Bonus: Betsy Ross murders George Washington

cover of Wimmen's Comix #6 (Last Gasp, December 1975), by Shary Flenniken

Today in Comics History, June 14, Flag Day Bonus: Son quickly learns to stop asking his dad questions

PSA comic "New Stars for "Old Glory" from DC Comics cover-dated November 1959, script by Jack Schiff, pencils and inks by Bernard Baily, letters by Ira Schnapp

Today in Comics History, July 14, Flag Day Bonus: Betsy Ross sues Superboy for trademark theft

from "George Washington's Drum!" in Superboy (1949 series) #2 (DC/National, May 1949), pencils by John Sikela, inks by Ed Dobrotka

Today in Comics History, June 14: Flag Day Bonus: Batman: Fightin' Mad About Flags

from "The First American Detective!" in Batman (1940 series) #44 (DC/National, December 1947), script by Bill Finger (?), pencils by Jim Mooney, letters by Ira Schnapp

Today in Comics History, June 14: Flag Day Bonus: This Totally Am Not Flag Day

from "The Shame of the Bizarro Family!" in Adventure Comics #285 (DC/National, June 1961), script by Jerry Siegel, pencils by Wayne Boring, inks by Stan Kaye

Today in Comics History, June 14: Happy Flag Day!

Just don't forget that according to the MMFTVMU (Marvel Made-for-TV=Movie Universe) that FLAG stands for "Full Latent Ability Gain!" How does that make you feel about Cap now?


from Marvel Age #90 (Marvel, July 1990), text by Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter, pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Renee Witterstaetter

Today in Comics History, June 14, 1777: The Founding Fathers skin and display Captain America

from "The Story of Old Glory" in Real Life Comics #4 (Pines, April 1942), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, June 13, 1941: Oh yeah, better get in plenty of sleep for all the big celebrations tomorrow

from "Meet the Flag" in Our Flag Comics #2 (Ace, October 1941), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, June 14: Flag Day Special: Correct and Incorrect Flag Display Etiquette in a Comic Book Universe

Correct flag display in a comic book universe:

Incorrect flag display in a comic book universe:

Do not leap through flag.





Do not shoot flag.





Do not set flag on fire.





I said, do not set flag on fire.





What did I just tell you?!?





Do not erect any flags higher than the American flag.





If you win a a big comic book crossover battle,
don't use the flag to be a total dick about it.





Do not use the flag as a cheap variant cover stunt.

What will happen if you use incorrect flag display in a comic book universe:

This guy will get pissed at you.

Today in Comics History, June 14, 1920: Underwhelming superhero with world's stupidest birthmark is born

from Our Flag Comics #2 (Ace, October 1941), pencils by Harry Anderson
Then, twenty-one years later...


WHOA THAT'S QUITE A JUMP CUT


Man, Lincoln there looks like he's about to hand down the death sentence, doesn't he? Luckily, Flag McFlagg not his real name knows what to do with this amazing new superpower: financially benefit himself! Oh, wait, no, fight crime.


Thus began the popular criminal custom of burning the American flag.

Monday Night Murals: Callin' all my superfriends and puttin' you on notice

Does it count as a proper comic book cover interlocking mural if both parts come from different variants of the same comic book issue? Eh, whatever! Since today is Flag Day, I'm just happy to find a comic book mural with a bright red-white-and-blue American Flag stretching across it from sea to shining sea cover edge to shining staple. (Seriously, you need to get on this mural covers thing, Captain America creators!)

Covers of Justice League of America v.2 #1a and 1b (October 2006), art by Ed Benes, Mariah Benes, and Alex Sinclair
Click image to...um...well, super-size!

I';m not a huge fan of this era of the JLA, but ya gotta admit that's a nice image. Except, where's Booster and Beetle? Oh, wait, traveling through time and dead, respectively. Nevermind. And another question: if everybody who's anybody in the Justice League is in the picture, then who is handing out the membership cards? I like it think it's Snapper Carr. And if'n you wanna see it really big, and in the single poster-format from DC, why, all you need to do is click here. Now that's service for you! Why, it's so big you can see the All-New Atom! He's the one in the matchbox.

Which reminds me, why doesn't the Justice League have a butler? I think that maybe Alfred could do that on his days off.

This new Justice League of America series is chock-full of not only murals but also alternate and variant covers. Here's two other version of the #1 issue using the same art, one framed to fit it all in, the other giving us a nice widescreen cover.



Throughout the series there's several multiple covers to single issues that form interlocking images, but this one, with its sheer super-assembly of super-heroes, is my favorite. (And how about the understated way Power Girl isn't being displayed right out in 3D spectacle?)

Still, even tho' that's a pretty impressive assemblage, I still prefer this gathering of the JLA:



And here's a fun variation that makes me giggle like a schoolgirl!:



But the one that captures the power and the intensity of a buncha guys in spandex longjohns, without whom the DC Universe woulda kicked the bucket a dozen times over, is here:



Yep. In the words of Miss Gaynor Hopkins, we do need a hero. Actually, a whole league of them.

Today in Comics History, June 14, Flag Day: Ben Franklin...Plagiarist!

On this patriotic holiday, so you think you know the origin and history of our proud American star-spangled banner? Well, think again, bub! All that the teachers taught you weren't cool! That story about Betsy Ross being bitten by a radioactive starfish and thirteen snakes? Bullhockey propaganda implanted in your puny mind by Commies! Or, maybe the Red Skull. Come to think of it, how can you be sure your kindly history teacher wasn't a Skrull, pallie?!?

No, on this special day, you deserve to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the true origins of our American flag. And who better to depict that amazing day in American history than the King himself, Jack Kirby? Let's call it: Old Glory: Who She Is and How She Came to Be!

Okay, first, Captain America travelled back in time...wait, wait, work me me on this one:


from Marvel Treasury Special Featuring Captain America's Bicentennial Battles one-shot (Marvel, September 1976), script and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Herb Trimpe, colors by Phil Rachelson, letters by John Costanza
...meets Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross, upon whom he makes quite an impression...


Now you an' I can see this coming a mile away...


...but poor Cap is acting like he's never seen an episode of The Twilight Zone. Don't freak out, Cap...it's only temporal causality!


Hmmm, d'you think Jack was having a little joke at Marvel's expense about the nature of work for hire here? Anyway, run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes, Ben...she's a grand old flag!