Today in Comics History, May 15, 1941: There's absolutely no way that 1941 can be sad now!

from "The Clipper Bows Out: The Real Story of Joe DiMaggio" in Baseball Thrills #3 (Ziff-Davis, Summer 1952), script by Ed Silverman (?), pencils and inks by Alex Kotzky (?), letters by Ben Oda

Today in Comics History, May 15: Happy birthday, Nicholas Hammond!

A very spidey birthday to Nicholas Hammond, who was television's second live-action Spider-Man (after The Electric Company)! He played Peter Parker (and shh, don't tell Jonah) in 13 episodes of CBS's The Amazing Spider-Man TV series from 1977-1979.


from "Aunt May's Photo Album" in Marvel Treasury Edition #18 [The Astonishing Spider-Man] (Marvel, 1978), text by Jim Salicrup (?), letters by Jim Novak (?)
Well, aside from that, Mr. Lee, how did you enjoy the show?


from Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir (Simon & Schuster, January 2019), script by Peter David and Stan Lee, art by Colleen Doran
Over in the UK, fans got to see the pilot on the big screen! Because the BBC wasn't "hip" enough to run the series!

from Spider-Man Summer Special 1979 (Marvel UK, Summer 1979), text by Sam Deli
(Click top picture to tarantula-size)
Happy birthday, Nicholas Hammond!

Today in Comics History, May 15, 1942: Insert Indiana Jones theme here

from Young All-Stars #11 (DC, April 1988), script by Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas, pencils by Michael Bair, inks by Malcolm Jones III and Grant Miehm, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by Agustin Mas

Today in Comics History, May 15: Venom patiently waits for several hours for Comic-Con to open

from "Planet of the Symbiotes, Chapter Two: Lurkers!" in Spider-Man Super Special #1 (one-shot) (Marvel, July 1995), script by David Michelinie, pencils by Joe St. Pierre, inks by Greg Adams, colors by Tom Smith, letters by Bill Oakley and NJQ

Today in Comics History, May 15, 1941: Fliers compete for a Distinguished Flying Cross via intense staring contest

from "Snatched from Death" in Real Heroes #3 (Parents Institute Press, March 1942), creators unidentified and unknown

Today in Comics History, May 15: Happy birthday, John Verpoorten!

Born on this day in 1940: John Verpoorten, Marvel's production manager in the 1970s: beloved both in real life and on the comics page as a four-color larger-than-life figure.


from (L) Fantastic Four Annual #7 (Marvel, November 1969),
(middle) 1975 Mighty Marvel Convention Program Book (Marvel, 1975), photograph by Michele Wolfman, and
(right) Foom #15 (Marvel, September 1976)

Today in Comics History, May 15, 1999: The Queen has her swimming pool filled with blueberry Jell-O

from The Invisibles (1999 series) #8 (DC/Vertigo, August 1999), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Sean Phililips, inks by Jay Stephens, colors by Daniel Vozzo, letters by Todd Klein

Today in Comics History, May 15, 1922: Tippy O'Hara Jr. will not enjoy his morning

from "Marked for Death" in Crime Must Pay the Penalty #19 (Ace, April 1951), pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Louis Zansky (?)

Today in Comics History, May 15, 50 BC: There's no possible way his retirement can go wrong*

from Asterix and the Chieftain’s Daughter (NBM, July 2020), script by Jean-Yves Ferri, art by Didier Conrad, colors by Thierry Mébarki
*Well, not entirely...

Today in Comics History, May 15: Never meet with a guy with the nickname "Nose," especially if you have to write it in quotes

from Amazing Spider-Man #231 (Marvel, August 1982), script by Roger Stern, pencils by John Romita Jr., inks by Jim Mooney, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Joe Rosen

Today in Comics History, May 14: If you go down to Times Square today, you're sure of a big surprise

from Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man #3 (top and middle) and #4 (bottom) (Marvel, October-November 2009); script by Brian Reed; pencils by Rob DiSalvo (#3) and Chris Bachalo (#4); inks by Tim Townsend, Jaime Mendoza, Jon Sibal, Mark Irwin, and Walden Wong; colors by Chris Bachalo, Andres Mossa, and Antonio Fabela; letters by Jared K. Fletcher

Today in Comics History, May 15, 1986: Here we go again

from Back to the Future: Citizen Brown #1 (May 2016), script by Erik Burnham; pencils and inks by Alan Robinson; colors by Maria Santrolalla; letters by Shawn Lee


from Back to the Future: Citizen Brown #2 (IDW, June 2016), same creators


from Back to the Future: Citizen Brown #5 (IDW, September 2016), same creators

Today in Comics History, May 15, 1982: Jessica Jones reads the biography of Andy Kaufman to her baby; everyone is saddened by it

from New Avengers (2005 series) #29 (Marvel, June 2007), script by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils and inks by Leinil Francis Yu, colors by Dave McCaig, letters by Richard Starkings and Albert Deschesne

Today in Comics History, May 15, 2013: Wolverine finally remembers where he buried his Tamagotchi

from Wolverine and the X-Men (2011 series) #29 (Marvel, July 2013), script by Jason Aaron, pencils and inks by Ramón Pérez, colors by Laura Martin, letters by Joe Caramagna
Hey, this one isn't really comics history, because it takes place today! Yep, today, Wednesday, May 15, 2013, Wolverine and his students buried a time capsule on the grounds of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. This event was mandatory, which meant that none of them were able to duck out down to Salem Center for new comic book day. Hey, Quentin Quire needs that copy of Red Hood and the Outlaws #20, Logan! Geez.

On the other hand, since this scene is happening twenty-five years in the future, perhaps this post should be titled "Tomorrow in Comics History." Wait, on the other other hand, (as Arex might say) this scene takes place twenty-five years in the future but it's an event that happened today, so logically it should be "Yesterday in Comics History." On the other other other hand...

Ow. My little stuffed brain hurts. I bet Wolverine understands time travel a lot better.


from Age of Ultron #8 (Marvel, July 2013), script by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils and inks by Brandon Peterson, colors by Paul Mounts, letters by Cory Petit
See?

Today in Comics History, May 15, 1959: Superman smooshes Lois and Lana into one girl and marries her*

from "Superman's Romance with Lana Lane!" in Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane (1958 eries) #41 (DC, May 1963), script by Jerry Siegel, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein
*This is not too far off from what happens in this book, actually.

Yes, truly, this was The Greatest Lois Lane Story Ever.

Today in Comics History, May 15: DC Comics editors chooses the new Batman costume

from Batman #405 (DC, March 1987), script by Frank Miller, pencils and inks by David Mazzucchelli, colors by Richmond Lewis, letters by Todd Klein

Ten Fourteen of a Kind and Today in Comics History, May 15: It seems the artichoke is steamed

On this very day in 1856, 155 years ago, long before me or you were born (well, me at least), was born L. Frank Baum, the very first (but never the last) Royal Historian of Oz. Presenting the premiere Oz adventure in 1900 with the classic The Wizard of Oz, Baum produced 14 Oz novels plus several dozen other books, poems, stories, and plays, as well as becoming a movie studio owner, producer, and screenwriter. You may never have heard of Gerald Winston Bey, Louise Merrick, Elizabeth De Graf, and Patsy Doyle, Phil and Phoebe Daring, King Bud, Rob Joslyn, or Prince Zingle, all characters from his non-Oz books—but you probably know Dorothy Gale, her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry, the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion, the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda, the Good Witch, and the humbug Wizard of Oz. You might not know the Gump, Professor Wogglebug, the Hungry Tiger, Tik-Tok, the Woozy, Button-Bright, the Nome King, the Frogman, Cap'n Bill and Trot, Bungle the Glass Cat, Scraps the Patchwork Girl, the Shaggy Man, Billina the Hen, or Professor H. M. Woggle-Bug, T.E.—all characters created by Baum in later Oz novels, among some of the great fantasy characters of childrens' literature. Baum wrote fourteen Oz books (other authors continue the series from 1920 through today)—set's celebrate Baum's Oziversary with a Ten of a Kind that features fourteen comic book covers referencing, celebrating, or homaging that magical, rectangular, five-colored country called Oz.





























Whoa, wait just one yellow-bricked minute there! I haven't ever seen a Marvel Treasury version of Ozma of Oz...and neither have you? It was never published, although it was advertised in Marvel's adaptation of the second Oz book, The Land of Oz:



This book, sadly, belongs, like Jack Kirby's The New Gods #12-300, 'Mazing Man #13-50, NextWave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #13-200, The All-New Atom #26-1,000,000, or Thor the Mighty Avenger #9-12, to the Pantheon of Comics Cancelled Before Their Time. You can find the story behind the cancellation of the fully-completed Ozma of Oz in an Oz discussion forum with contributions by good Bully-Pal Eric Gjovaag and some authoritative discussion by Oz scholar, artist, and writer Eric Shanower.

What? You want more Oz-related comic booky goodness? Well, then check your common sense and canon at the door (don't lose your claim ticket!) and cast your peepers at the The World's Greatest Super Friends stranded on "The Planet of Oz"!



The World's Greatest Super Friends "The Planet of Oz" (November 10, 1979), written by Jeffrey Scott

Oooooooookay. Anyway, Happy Birthday to the very first Royal Historian of Oz, Mr. L. Frank Baum! And may your journeys always end with a happy return home!




Want more posts about Oz? Sure, we all do! See this one about Captain Carrot in Oz. And here's a page of Eric Shanower's Oz-Pastiches of famous comic book illustrators! And wouldja believe...Ben Grimm in Oz?


(More Ten of a Kind here.)

Today in Comics History, May 15: Lions and tigers and bunnies, oh my!

Today is May 15th, and on this day in 1856, Mr. L. Frank Baum, the creator and author of the fourteen original Oz books, was born in Chittenango, New York. We here at Comics Oughta Be Fun were raised on the Oz books, one of the original shared-fantasy-universe concepts (Baum populated his Oz books with characters from his other novels and vice-versa), thus providing us comic book fans with a springboard for the fantastic and the magic, not to mention your little dog, too. So sit back, put on your silver slippers, raise a glass of Oz-chohol and let's salute Baum through the magic of our favorite medium: comic books. There's certainly been no scarcity of comics based on the Oz characters and stories, some more faithful to the source material than others...


...including more than a few that take the Oz concept into decidedly non-kid-lit directions...


But one of my favorite series of Oz comics of all time is DC's 1986 miniseries, Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! In The Oz-Wonderland War Trilogy. Whew! That's quite a mouthful, so let's just call it The Oz-Wonderland War from now, on shall we?


The concept's simple, fast, and fun: it merges characters and plots from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and L. Frank Baum's first three Oz books (the only ones in the public domain at the time the comic was produced) and mixing in DC's funny animal superheroes Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew (whose own book had been cancelled a couple years back). Rodney Rabbit (the mild-mannered cartoonist alter-ego of Captain Carrot) is visited by the Cheshire Cat, who calls for the Zoo Crew's help in defeating the evil Nome King (the villainous underground monarch Baum created in Ozma of Oz). Nomes live in the darkness of caverns and mine precious jewels, and are as tough and ancient as the hills themselves. Their only weakness: eggs are deadly to them. Too bad one of the Zoo Crew isn't a chicken!


from The Oz-Wonderland War #1-3 (DC, January-March 1986), script by E. Nelson Bridwell, script by Joey Cavalieri, art and additional dialogue by Carol Lay, lettering by Carl Gafford
At a council of war led by Oz's Professor H.M. Wogglebug, T.E. (Highly Magnified, Thoroughly Educated), the Zoo Crew join characters from Wonderland and Oz to plot a strategy against the Nome King, who had kidnapped many of Oz's denizens and turned them into knick-knacks (a plot first used by the Nome King in Ozma of Oz as well).


Carol Lay's beautifully detailed artwork is a delight: the Oz characters are portrayed in the same style in which they appear in the classic Oz book illustrations by John R. Neill, and the Wonderland folk are patterned after the artwork of John Tenniel. It's a credit to Lay's skill and design sense that not only do the two styles mesh wonderfully, they also work dynamically in the same panels as Captain Carrot and his band of animal heroes.


The story gives Bridwell a chance to write (and Lay a chance to portray) some of the most famous Oz characters like the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion, but also some unfamiliar to you if your only exposure to Oz is the Judy Garland movie. Here, Yankee Poodle teams up with Tik-Tok, the mechanical man and Professor Wogglebug to battle Baum's giant hammering robot from Ozma of Oz:


Like all Oz authors after Baum, Bridwell also takes an opportunity to add new creations to the mythos: in this case a quartet of magically-mutated Nomes whose appearance and powers are probably more than familiar to most comic book readers:


Four super-powered Nomes? Unbeatable! Unless, of course, you gather the most amazing heroes ever to wiggle their fluffy tails! Captain Carrot is magicked away to fight these Nomish villains, along with the greatest rabbits in fantasy fiction: Hoppy the Marvel Bunny and Millie; Diana Prance, Wonder Wabbit; the Easter Bunny, the White Rabbit of Wonderland, the March Hare, Bo Bunny (from DC's comic book Funny Stuff), a rabbit from Walt Kelly's Pogo, and there's even a jackalope skulking around the edges. (Hey, where's Bugs?)


Desperate times require Captain Carrot to team up with the World's Mightiest Mammal! Chosen from among all others by the immortal elders—Salamander, Hogules, Antlers, Zebreus, Abalone and Monkury—Hoppy the Marvel Bunny travels the burrows and warrens of the land on a never ending mission: to right wrongs, to develop understanding, and to seek justice for all! In time of dire need, young Hoppy has been granted the power by the immortals to summon awesome forces at the utterance of a single word...SHAZAM!:


As the story progresses, our heroes gradually discover the enchanted artifacts that were once the leading lights of Oz....


...encountering the big names of the canon (Scarecrow! Tin Woodsman!) as well the lesser-known but still beloved, like the patchwork flying creature known as the Gump:


Finally, in the ultimate face-off against the Nome King, all appears to be lost...until Captain Carrot unveils the ultimate weapon of mass destruction: an egg. Wonderland's Humpty Dumpty, to be precise!


The Nome King is defeated, Princess Ozma of Oz is restored, and all is good and right in the Land of Oz, thanks to our stalwart heroes:


End of story? Well, sorta...until Captain Carrot returns home to Earth-C, turning his attention from fighting underground despots to fighting a comic book deadline, only to be interrupted in the final panel by the arrival of Earth-12's Inferior Five, setting us up for the next Captain Carrot mega-crossover...


...which, sadly, never occurred. The good Captain and his Crew remained unseen until their recent appearance in Teen Titans and the apocalyptic miniseries The Final Ark, which is a pity. Cap Carrot remains one of the gleefully delightful and satisfyingly silly characters and concepts of the DC Multiverse, and it's a pity a home couldn't' be found for them on at least one of DC's new 52 Earths. (In the meantime, Cap gets to nuzzle up close to Zatanna, and that's not a bad fate as fates go, after all.) I'm a long-time Oz fan and I'm ever-delighted by comics that don't take their superheroic tropes too seriously, so I've long considered The Oz-Wonderland War to be among The Most Fun Comics Ever. With more kids than ever before reading classic fantasy novels and comics, it's the perfect time to reissue this series in a trade book format. How about it, Johnny DC? Do us Cap Carrot fans a favor, and salute Mister L. Frank Baum (and Mister Lewis Carroll) at the same time. In the meantime, remember that somewhere over the rainbow, there's a magical land where rabbits, dogs, pigs and turtles fight crime. It's not a place you can get to by a boat or a train. It's not too far, far away—it's waiting for you, in the back issue bins of your local comic book shop.

Happy birthday, L. Frank Baum!