Today in Comics History, Friday the 13th: What's the worst that can happen

Happy Friday the Thirteenth! Hope you're not having as bad luck as Superman is!

cover of Action Comics #721 (DC, May 1996), pencils by Kieron Dwyer, inks by Denis Rodier, colors by Patrick Martin
(Click picture for the how-bad-can-it-be reveal)
But how bad can it be for Superman? For the answer to that question, click the image above.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Today in Comics History, June 17: Happy birthday, Charles Gounod! (or, "Lois Lane Should Never Babysit")

Born on this date in 1818: French composer Charles Gounod, who wrote the operas Faust, Roméo et Juliette and others, and many short pieces including the popular Funeral March of a Marionette ("The Alfred Hitchcock Theme")! And because we don't want to go to the opera tonight (geez, it's a Friday, let us rest!) here's another patented BullysNotes Guide to the Famous Operas! Memorize it and forget it!


"Famous Operas: Faust" in Classics Illustrated #74 (Gilberton, August 1950), creators unkcredited and unknown

A Year of Mxyzptlk 3: Hey, Did You Happen to See the Most Beautiful Girl in the World?

It's April Fool's Day, so what better time than to check in on Mr. Mxyzptlk (or indeed, even Mxyztplk) for his long-overdue appearance in this blog. Well, after all, it has pretty much been 90 days, right?

When we last left our dimensional imp, he had been busy overseeing the superhuman romance of Miss Dreamface and the Metropolis Ace, which is not something we call him that much anymore, but it's kind cool when you can make it rhyme. But let's not be too alarmed over Kal-El and his beautiful belle. After all, you really can't fool Superman, can you? You couldn't fool Superman on the foolingest day of your life if you had an electrified fooling machine. that means you, Luthor


Panels from the Superman daily newspaper comic strip (June 14, 1944), script by Whitney Ellsworth, art by Wayne Boring.
(From this point on, I'll identify the date of strip or panels within the alt-text of each image.)

A Year of Mxyzptlk 2: The Super Case of Miss Dreamface!

Continuing our year-long coverage of the history of Mister Mxyzptlk (or, in this era, Mxyztplk) by reading, enjoying, and making a little bit of fun at the very first Mxy story in the 1940s syndicated comic strip! You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll fall in love, you'll lose your pants! But hey, enough about my blog, let's read on with the story!

Previously on Superman: During his first (1) appearance on Earth (2), Mxyztplk bedevils Superman (and mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent), under the guise of "having fun," which we here at this blog oughta know a thing or two about a thing or two. Mxyztplk causes a series of "accidents" to the passenger train speeding Miss Dreamface, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World™, towards Metropolis! Remember kids, this blog does not encourage the experience of "fun" by wrecking a train. Quite the opposite!


Panels from the Superman daily newspaper comic strip (April 17, 1944), script by Whitney Ellsworth, art by Wayne Boring.
(From this point on, I'll identify the date of strip or panels within the alt-text of each image.)

A Year of Mxyzptlk 1: Enter the Imp

Halfway through last year, pal Isaac Cates (editor of the very fun Cardoza Tales comic anthology series; Bully sez check it out!) posed the musical question "Has anyone ever compiled a list of ways Mxyzptlk has been tricked back to his dimension? I want to read that." See? It's right here!

Well, little did Isaac know (altho' I couldn't keep from hinting at it a little) that I'd already started planning 2018's "365 Days of," and the subject I'd chosen to spotlight is that extra-dimensional imp who keeps popping by to bedevil and baffle one of DC's greatest heroes. Yes, it's Bat-Mite Year!

Naw, I'm jus' kiddin' ya, it's A Year of Mxyzptlk, the character name I always have to copy and paste instead of spelling it out for myself! I'm sure I'll learn by the end of the year. And, while we're on the subject, there's two ways of spelling Mister M's magical moniker. We now spell it Mxyzptlk, with a "PT" in this middle of it (remember: to fit the increase in strength of the modern Superman, he's pretty tough!), but he was originally named Mxyztplk with a "TP" (no toilet paper jokes, please...I prefer to think that Golden Age Mxy was totally pixelated, in the sense that Carl Barks used it in "The Pixilated Parrot.") And that's today's edition of Mnemonics with Bully, which you can remember by keeping in mind the phrase Marshmallows with Batman. Either way, and this is the important part: I will endeavor to remain consistent and attempt to point out the moment in 1958 when Mxyztplk becomes Mxyzptlk. But the header of these posts and the blog labels will keep the modern spelling. All clear? Good. And, because I've found it hard to keep up a daily routine of themed posts (witness 2017's 365 Days of Defiance, which I'm still trying to catch up on), it's officially A Year of Mxyzptlk, with posts at least once a week and someones more frequently. Let's see together how far I can get through the Mxycanon, shall we?

Now let's get this out of the way before we begin, okay? Here's some of the things we all "know" about Mxyztplk/Mxyzptlk: he debuted in Superman #30, cover-dated September 1944. He comes from the Fifth Dimension. To get him to return, you must make him say his name backwards. Right? No! Everything you know (as the Firesign Theatre said) is wrong!

Let me MythBust the first bit (and kids, don't try this at home). While our idyllic imp was originally created for Supes #30, which likely went on sale sometime during the summer of 1944, a Superman comic strip story appeared earlier, making Mxyztplk's first appearance at least a couple months before the comic book. This serialized story ran from February through July '44, introducing not only Mxy but the gorgeous menace of The Most Beautiful Woman in the World! Are you sitting comfortably? Then, let's begin! It starts off innocently enough with Lois Lane getting Clark Kent to spend his lunch money on a fortune teller. Yeah, either way, you're gettin' baloney, Lois.


Superman daily newspaper comic strip (February 21, 1944), script by Whitney Ellsworth, art by Wayne Boring.
(From this point on, I'll identify the date of strip or panels within the alt-text of each image.)

Comics Within Comics Month, Day 27: Comics are your best nutritional value

Panels from Superman/Batman Annual #1 (December 2006)



Cover of Superman (1939 series) #76 (May-June 1952), pencils and inks by Win Mortimer
Hey, look, you can tell the cover image they used in Superman/Batman Annual #1 came from the Grand Comics Database, because the imperfections and the markings on it match!

Today in Comics History, April 1: The day Superman dropped LSD: The day Superman dropped LSD

As you may have seen last night, March 31: Superman has the most boring-ass diary in the world!


from "The Night of March 31st!" from Superman #145 (DC, May 1961), script by Jerry Siegel, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Sheldon Moldoff
You know, what is it that Supergirl has or hasn't done between this story back to her arrival on Earth in Action #252 (May 1959) to deserve being still hidden under a Kryptonite curtain? I'm guessing Kal-El needed that extra time in order to clear all the legal ownerships on that "S" shield so Kara can never make any money off her likeness. Wow, that clever, clever Clark! Also: that dirty, rotten Clark!

Superman hurries to the Planet and does his best impersonation of Kool-Aid:



Apparently Lori Lemaris has grown a pair...of legs! Say, I wonder if that singing crab is anywhere around here?


Ha ha ha! It's just as I predicted...Supergirl reveals herself! She's had it up to there...no, there...wait...here, with Kal-El! You can tell he's mad because he took some time to change into his comfortable Sears casual slacks.


Then, ownership of Super-Pets is transferred! This might be a weird, weird, day. Still, any appearance of Streaky the Super-Cat is welcome as far as I'm concerned. And it isn't even Caturday!


It's a madhouse, I tell you! A MADHOUSE!


Anticipating that issue of John Byrne's Superman where Lois dates Mr. Mxyzptlk, Lois...um...dates Mr. Mxyzptlk! Yep, it's true...chicks dig the fifth dimension.


Consternation, uproar! Supes and Mxy square off! Hey, judge...he's got a foreign object in the ring...a ball o' Red Kryptonite! Oh no! Superman will turn into a clock or a grand piano or Senator Estes Kefauver! You just can never predict what Red Kryptonite will do to Superman unless you look at the cover of the comic book.


Oh, there's a poster in it! I wonder what that poster will be!


No, no, no. Not that poster, this poster:


Now, let's visit Lana Lang, who is now acting like a complete jerk. So, regular ordinary Lana Lang, then.


Superman's pals arrive to save the day! Notably absent: Jimmy Olsen, fair-weather friend that he is.


Thus: THE GREATEST PANEL IN COMIC BOOK HISTORY:


Yes, folks, it's the only Superman story* that ends with a "plop!" *Aside from some copies of "For the Man Who Has Everything."


Now, 'round about this time the Duke Boys were in a mess o' trouble you may be wondering What the Sam Scratch is going on here? Characters acting out of character, drawn incorrectly, canon completely violated...why yes, it's a Rob Liefeld story!

No, actually, to save you the trouble of turning your computer monitor upside-down (I tried it and I do not recommend it), here's the editorial explanation: those Superman creators just gone plain insane!


Why, it's an April Fool's gag with lots of deliferate mistales. Can you spot them all? Well, I did notice Lois said "sorry" to Clark...now that's out of character!

I wonder how much of this story was inspired by DC's letter columns at the time, which mostly seemed to consist of readers complaining that they'd spotted a mistake in the comic book. It only costs a dime, you ingrates!


Yep, here's the editors baiting the readers. "G'wan, ya comic book-readin' ninnies! We dare you to spot the mistakes!"


A few issues later (in Supes #148), the fans react!


Now here's the round-up and the winners. Say, Linda Strickland, we sure hope you still have that gorgeous Curt Swan original art! I'll take it off your hands for a couple bucks.


This still is not in any way the complete list of mistakes in the story. I highly recommend hunting down the full story and finding the mistakes yourself! (It was republished in Adventure Comics #339, The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told, and Showcase Presents: Superman v.2. It's well worth checking out...it's a fun story, and that's what we here at Comics Oughta Be Fun! love the best. And that's no April Fool!

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National Comics subscription ad printed in Strange Adventures #185 (February 1966)
Ad: pencils by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein, letters by Ira Schnapp
Comic book cover: Action Comics #33 (February 1966), pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Sheldon Moldoff

Today in Comics History, October 31: On Halloween, Superman enjoys spending time with the first Biblical fratricidist

from DC Comics Presents #53 (DC, January 1983), script by Dan Mishkin, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Tony DeZuniga, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by John Costanza

Separated at Birth: Go down to the shore, kick off your shoes, dive in the money bin

L: Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #622 (March 1998),
detail of a 1974 painting by Carl Barks
R: Superman: The Man of Steel #56 (May 1996),
art by Jon Bogdanove, Dennis Janke, and Patrick Martin

(Click picture to Cornelius Coot statue-size)

Of course, regular readers of "Separated at Birth" will notice what's wrong with the examples above: I always put the earlier example on the left and the "inspired" follow-up on the right. But the Superman example is two years before the Disney one...what gives? Well, the WDC&S cover image is actually just a detail from a 1974 Carl Barks painting entitled "The Sport of Tycoons":



Scrooge swimming in his money bin is a familiar enough visual to anyone raised on Disney duck comics or even DuckTales...



...but it's actually an infrequent cover subject on Disney comics. Here's another rare example:


Cover of Uncle Scrooge #250 (January 1991), art by William van Horn

But if you wanna go back to the beginning, the grandaddy of all divin'-in-the-money-bin images comes from the one of the earlier appearances of Uncle $crooge McDuck himself, in Four Color #386 (aka Uncle Scrooge #1):


Cover of Four Color #386 (March 1952), art by Carl Barks

Nope, it's not the cover that's the inspiration, but rather the first panel inside, also by Carl "The Good Duck Artist" Barks:



So there you go: how a comic book fifty years before inspired a Superman cover. Say, how come Scrooge never had an extra-dimensional imp come to bother him every three months?

Special bonus: check out this beautiful scale model of Uncle Scrooge's money bin!

Separated at Birth: Death be Not Mxyzptlk

L: Superman v. 2 #75 (January 1993), art by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding
R: Superman: The Man of Steel #75 (January 1998), art by John Bogdanove and Dennis Janke (credited as "after Dan & Brett")
(Click picture to Mxy-size)