Liberty Bell March, Day 31: "I've noticed a tendency for this blog to get rather silly. Now I do my best to keep things moving along, but I'm not having things getting silly. Those two posts earlier got very silly indeed, and that last one about Captain Fegg was even sillier. So let's put an end to it!"

The end of Liberty Bell March? Say it ain't so! Play us off, Jarvis Poker, the British Joker!:



from Knight and Squire #5 (DC, April 2011), script by Paul Cornell, pencils and inks by Jimmy Broxton, colors by Guy Major, letters by Steve Wands
Tomorrow begins a new month and a new once-a-day feature! What's it gonna be about? Well, it's April...and it's strong! Make yer guesses and come back tomorrow for the beginning of April [REDACTED]!

Liberty Bell March, Day 30: And you thought a Red Lantern's superpowers were gross

Last week I featured Dr. Fegg's Nasty Book of Knowledge and promnised you another one. Well, here it is, and a much different comic! Are you prepared for....Captain Fegg?



"Captain Fegg" from Dr. Fegg's Nasty Book of Knowledge (Methuen, 1974), creators unknown
Were you prepared? No. No, you were not.

Liberty Bell March, Day 29 and Today in Comics History, March 29: Happy birthday, Eric Idle!

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published March 29, 2015.

Born on this day: Monty Python comedian Eric Idle!


from Comics: Monty Python one-shot (Bluewater, April 2014), script by Chris Canibano, pencils and colors by Juan Luis Rincón, letters by Gary Scott Beatty
Hey, he knows George Harrison!


from Rock 'n' Roll Comics: The Beatles Experience (Revolutionary/Bluewater, 2010), script by Todd Loren, art by Mike Sagara
Also, a magazine known primarily for its covers of naked lady van art did an interview with Eric:


"A Brief (and Very Silly) Interview with Eric Idle" in Heavy Metal Magazine v.25 #3 (Heavy Metal, July 2001), interview by Steve Ringgenberg
Happy birthday, Eric!

Liberty Bell March, Day 28: "Trust me, madam. Your underwear is in good hands."

Tonight and on this very stage: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen!


covers of (L) King Classics #17 (King Features, 1978), painting by Antonio Bernal, and
(R) Classics Illustrated #146 (Thorpe & Porter UK, 1962), art by Denis Gifford
Hey, both those covers spotlight the same scene? Okay, Denis and Antonio...somebody step forward and admit he's the plagiarist!

Liberty Bell March, Day 27: The Mouse Problem

We haven't had quite as much Terry Jones in this feature as I'd like, so now here's something only a little bit different. Not quite a comic book appearance, but a charming preface to the delightful and passionate series Mouse Guard, a book that bucked a lot of story conventions and also comics storing conventions, since it's square. And it's an appropriate choice for an introduction writer: Terry Jones is well-beloved not only as a comedian but as a serious scholar and historian of medieval history.


from Mouse Guard v.3: The Black Axe (Boom!/Archaia, June 2013), written by Terry Jones
And he knows a thing or two about a thing or two about mice:


"The Mouse Problem" from Monty Python's Flying Circus album (BBC/Pye, November 1970)

Liberty Bell March, Day 26: Nobody expects the return of the Spanish Inquisition Sketch

If you had to pinpoint any one of the New Teen Titans as being a Monty Python fan, I bet it would be Changeling (aka Beast Boy), right? Altho' I kinda think Raven would enjoy The Meaning of Life.


from Legends #4 (DC, March 1987), plot by John Ostrander, script by Len Wein, pencils by John Byrne, inks by Karl Kesel, colors by Tom Ziuko, letters by Steven Haynie
The Spanish Inquisition Sketch was featured on Day 2 of this series, so here's a different performance: video of Python's last stage appearance in 2014. Did you expect that? Probably not!

Liberty Bell March, Day 25: Aw geez, John Cleese!

Can you make a comic story out of photographs? Sure, we all do! Italian photographic comics ("fumetti") have been around for over a hundred years, and the genre has been copied across the world. It's never been as successful in the English language, but you can point to 2000 AD's "Starlord" photos comics or some of TV Century 21's "Thunderbird," adventures, or even in the mainstream with 1984's Marvel Fumetti Book or Stan Lee's constant, constant attempts to make still pictures with funny word balloons happen. And it was an ongoing feature in Harvey Kurtzman's satirical magazine Help! Here's the cover of #24, which we're gonna be looking at (a little of it) today:


cover of Help! #24 (Warren, May 1965), model is John Massey, photograph by Terry Gilliam
Help! features work by Terry Gilliam in his not-yet-a-Python days, most notably the fumetti "Christopher's Punctured Romance," which starred John Cleese, also not-yet-a-Python, although he'd been featured in musical stage revues and as a star of the BBC Radio sketch show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (which also featured future Goodies and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue panelist Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie).


from "Christopher's Punctured Romance" in Help! #24, script by Terry Gilliam and Dave Crossley, photography by Martin Iger, Christopher played by John Cleese, Wilma played by Cindy Young
Christopher is outraged and yet intrigued with his daughter's "Barbee" doll (an odd Americanism, since the leading fashion doll of 1960s Britain was the competitor Sindy, "the doll you love to dress.")



It's those dresses that lead Christopher into his obsession with Barbee...not to mention her realistic...um..."things."


That's about all of "Christopher's Punctured Romance" that I can safely reproduce here, not because it gets pornographic (only mildly saucy), but because hey, I'm only seven. Hey! John Cleese! Leave that doll alone!

Now knowing that, how do you feel about John Cleese now? Uh, pretty much the same as I'm thought o him for the past few years.

Liberty Bell March, Day 24: Oh, a cowboy needs a horse, needs a horse, needs a horse

Wanna see somethin' from a book that has greatly influenced my comedy style for almost fifty years (a nice trick when you're only seven)? It's my well-worn copy* (in fact, the cover's even missing, but I laminated the first page so it won't fall apart!) of Dr. Fegg's Nasty Book of Knowledge (Amazon ad), written by the two best Pythons, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Ostensibly presented as an almanac of facts and history, it contains features like "Football: My Way, by the Supremes," "Parlour Games: Pass the Bengal Tiger," "Learn to Speak French in Four Minutes!," "The Famous Five Go Pillaging," "Europe on One Pound a Year," "I Fought the Mighty Anaconda and Lived!," "Dr. Fegg's Useless Page" ("This page can be scrumpled up and thrown away without damaging or interfering with the rest of the book"), and a couple of comic strips, one of which I'll show you now (and the other, probably next week!)

*I may actually have "borrowed" it from high school pal Tommy G., who probably is still wondering where his copy went. ... I've got it, Tom.

I'm not certain who wrote it (Jones or Palin or some unholy comglomeration of the two, a kind of Jonalin), but it's drawn by Frank Bellamy, one of the greats of British comics art. He's best known for his work on The Eagle, Thunderbirds, Dan Dare, and Steve Dowling's long-running adventure strip Garth. But I think you'll agree "A Cowboy Story" is one of his finest comics masterpieces, and acurately captures the energy, action, and non-stop excitement of the legends of the American West.



"A Cowboy Story" from Dr. Fegg's Nasty Book of Knowledge (Methuen, 1974), art by Frank Bellamy

Liberty Bell March, Day 23: Shake your body, turn it out if you can, man! Shake it out, man!

If you watch The Simpsons long enough (and hey, hasn't it been on the air for just that amount of time?), you'll spot the entire world against its background. That goes double for the Simpsons comic book, where panels are often filled with with a Where's Waldo level of detail and number of identifiable pop culture characters. Such as this parade of invading Brits, including John Cleese as the Minister of Silly Walks!



from Simpsons Comics #87 (Bongo, October 2003), script by Ian Boothby, pencils by James Lloyd, inks by Steve Steere Jr., colors by Nathan Kane, letters by Karen Bates


"The Ministry of Silly Walks" on Monty Python's Flying Circus episode "Face the Press," series 2, episode 1 (15 September 1970), written by John Cleese and Graham Chapman

Liberty Bell March, Day 22: Midnight sunshine, silent thunder, sky as black as day...only a dream away

In the 1980s, during the last few years before the arrival of the VHS and Beta videocassettes, Marvel put out a lot of comics in the genre that would soon mostly killed off: the movie adpatation comic book. They ranged from the extraordinary (Dune and...um...surely some others I'll think of later) to the forgettable (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dragonslayer, For Your Eyes Only, Blade Runner, Howard the Duck, Buckaroo Banzai, Annie, The Muppets Take Manhattan, 2010, Willow, Xanadu (really?), Dark Crystal, Sheena, Masters of the Universe, Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night (huh.), House II...) A genre of comic that had worked pretty well in the 1950s and 60s for Dell and Gold Key (especially in their Walt Disney movie adaptations) became passé when you could see the movie again later whenever you wanted on chunky VHS. You could5 really see Marvel throwing everything against the wall, hoping for another Star Wars-sized hit.

Still, during this period they published what I think is the only collaboration between Marvel and Monty Python...sort of. Time Bandits (1981) is not an official Python film, but it's pretty close, with script and direction by Terry Gilliam, appearances by John Cleese and Michael Palin (who also co-wrote the script), and it's produced by HandMade Films, the closest thing there is to an official Python movie studio, having been founded by George Harrison (yes, that one!) and Denis O'Brien to finance Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Liberty Bell March, Day 21: Herc is stuck on Band-Aids, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on him

from Secret Empire #5 (Marvel, August 2017), script by Nick Spencer, pencils by Andrea Sorrentino and Rod Reis, inks by Joshua Cassara and Rachelle Roseberg, colorist uncredited, letters by Travis Lanham


from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Python (Monty) Pictures, 1975), directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones

Liberty Bell March, Day 20: Collectors' Mentality

Of course Deadpool is a Python fan in this panel with two (count 'em!) references to the British comedy: to the Dead Parrot Sketch (seen here) and the "Bring Out Your Dead" scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.


from Marvel Universe vs. the Avengers #3 (Marvel, February 2013), script by Jonathan Maberry, pencils and inks by Leandro Fernandez, colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Cory Petit


from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Python (Monty) Pictures, 1975), directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones

Liberty Bell March, Day 19: Suck on this, Scott McCloud!

You may not have seen this if you don't own a copy of the wonderful but long out-of-print but lucky-for-you-it's-been-recently-re-released The Brand New Monty Python Bok (Amazon ad). Originally its was published with a printed on fingerprint-smudged cover, but I've worked in bookstores and I know exactly how dangerous it can be when publishers design a cover to look distressed on purpose: customer loudly complaining that they can't find a copy in mint condition and hitting you about the head with a Danielle Steel hardcover.

There's plenty of adaptations of Python skits and sketches as well as a slew of new stuff only seen here, like "Let's Talk About Bottoms," "The Python Book of Etiquette," "The Anagrams Gape," and the justly-famous "Page 71." If'n your a Python fan, it's well worth tracking this one down (used copies abound at much less expensive prices than the new edition) as well as the companion Monty Python's Big Red Book "Special new hardcover edition" (in paperback with a blue cover.)

Anyway: comics by a Python instead of just about them, for once:


from The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok hardcover (Eyre Methuan, 1973), by Terry Gilliam

Liberty Bell March, Day 18: DON'T DATE ROBOTS!

Tonight's installment of Liberty Bell March is brough to you live from the Grill-O-Mat Snack Bar in Paignton, and was suggested to me by pal Greg A. on Twitter! Thanks, Greg! You receive the coveted No-Bull Prize, filled to the rim with Spam.


from Young Justice in No Man's Land #1 one-shot (DC, July 1999), script by Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty, pencils by Andy Kuhn, inks by Chris Ivy, colors by Digital Chameleon, letters by Comicraft


"Nudge Nudge" from And Now for Something Completely Different (Python (Monty) Pictures, 1971), written by Eric Idle

Oh, and...


from "I Dated a Robot" on Futurama, season 3, episode 15 (The Curiosity Company/20th Television, May 13, 2001), written by Eric Kaplan

Liberty Bell March, Day 17: And Now for Something Completely Elseworlds

Superman: True Brit is a 2004 DC original graphic novel that poses the puzzling question: What if Baby Kal-El had landed in England instead of Kansas?


from Superman: True Brit graphic novel (DC, December 2004), script by Kim "Howard" Johnson "with some help by" John Cleese, pencils by John Byrne, inks by Mark Farmer, colors by Alex Bleyaert, letters by Bill Oakley and Jack Morelli
There's a lot of talent attached here: It's based on ideas by Python John Cleese, John Byrne's on art, and long-time Monty Python historian and biographer Kim "Howard" Johnson wrote the script. And with a pedigree like that you probably know right away that this is not going to be a staunch, serious Elseworlds like USSR Superman (plus Batman and his furry hat). No, it is...rather silly. Which is fun! We don't get enough of that silliness in a Superman story much anymore.

The book includes several verbal and visual nods to the Pythons, their sketches and movies, and their various side projects. I won't include videos for them, but I bet you can identify most of the references! Have fun, and remember: "The Universe consists of a billion, billion galaxies...77,000,000,000 miles across, and every galaxy is made up of a billion, zillion stars and around these stars circle a billion planets, and of all of these planets the greenest and the pleasantest is the planet Earth, in the system of Sol, in the Galaxy known as the Milky Way."










And that's just the ones I found on my recent re-read. I am pretty sure that in keeping with the theme of this month, this comic has the most Monty Python references ever in a single comic book. Including some copies of Monty Python's Two-in-One.

Liberty Bell March, Day 16: Parrot Sketch Not Included

from Doctor Who Free Comic Book Day 2017 one-shot (Titan, May 2017), script by Alex Paknadel; pencils and inks by Mariano Laclaustra, Pier Brito, and Nico Selma; colors by Carlos Cabrera and Brittany Peer; letters by Richard Starkings

"Dead Parrot Sketch" on Monty Python's Flying Circus episode "Full Frontal Nudity," series 1, episode 8 (7 December 1969), written by John Cleese and Graham Chapman

Liberty Bell March, Day 15: One swallow does not a summer make

from "Pipeline, Chapter One" in Detective Comics #854 (DC, August 2009), script by Greg Rucka, pencils and inks by Cully Hamner, colors by Laura Martin, letters by Jared K. Fletcher


from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Python (Monty) Pictures, 1975), directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones

Liberty Bell March, Day 14: More dangerous than Sonic

L: original pencils to cover of Daredevil (1964 series) #27 (Marvel, April 1985), by Barry Windsor-Smith
R: finished cover of Daredevil #217
(Click picture to from snout to anus-size)

(Scroll to 19:38)
from "The Piranha Brothers (Ethel the Frog)" on Monty Python's Flying Circus episode "Face the Press" (15 September 1970)

Liberty Bell March, Day 13: The Stamp of Approval

This is obviously a riff on the classic final moment of the opening credits of Monty Python, but what I'm getting out of it is...geez, Sersi, pull up your pants! We're not heating the whole outdoors, here!



from Eternals Annual (2009 series) #1 (Marvel, January 2009), script by Fred Van Lente, pencils by Pascal Alixe, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Ed DukeshireX

Liberty Bell March, Day 12: Put the lime in this thing, and drink 'em both up

from Animal Man (1988 series) #23 (DC, May 1990), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Chas Truog, inks by Doug Hazlewood, colors by Tatjana Wood, letters by John Costanza


from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Python (Monty) Pictures, 1975), directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones