Today in Comics History, Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Luke Cage's Sweet, Sweet, Christmas Day Off

In this year (2023, natch!) Martin Luther King Jr. Day falls on January 16 - today, in comics history! How are Luke Cage, the Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver going to celebrate it?


from Vision and the Scarlet Witch (1985 series) #8 (Marvel, May 1988), script by Steve Englehart, pencils by Richard Howell, inks by Frank Springer, colors by Adam Philips, letters by Bill Oakley
AW GEEZ QUICKSILVER you should have stopped just before the "but." Come to think of it, you should have ended before the "some." On third thought, why don't you just SHUT UP QUICKSILVER


Luckily Luke Cage Eplains It All for You™ in the conclusion:


Anyway, my point, and I do have one, is don't invite Quicksilver to any celebrations that are slightly to the left of Nathan Bedford Forrest Day.

Man, I loathe Quicksilver.

And now a word from Pietro Maximoff.

Page from X-Factor: The Quick and the Dead one-shot (July 2008), script by Peter David, pencils and inks by Pablo Raimondi, colors by Jeromy Cox, letters by Cory Petit

Zuvembie Apocalypse!

Hey Vizh! What recent trend in alternate universes and variant covers are you really sick and tired of?

Panel from Vision and the Scarlet Witch v.2 #1 (October 1985), script by Steve Englehart, pencils by Richard Howell, inks by Andy Mushynsky, colors by Janet Jackson and A. Philips, letters by L. Lois Buhalis



Special bonus: The Vision in a turtleneck!


Splash page portion from Avengers #92 (September 1971), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by George Roussos, letters by Sam Rosen



Hey, that turtleneck looks a little tight on Vision's Ultron-sculpted bod. How do you suppose he can squeeze in and out of clothes that snug, huh?



And now you know why it's fun to go to the mall with the Vision:
he hardly takes any time to try on clothes.

(See also: The Vision in a Sweater!)


Special extra chess nerd bonus: take a look at Vision's chess problem. Why, that is an unusual variant of the English Opening...seeing as the English Opening is 1.c4 and the Vision's board actually shows 1.f4! I'm just nitpicking, but I can't see how the usual piece of the English Opening, the king's bishop's pawn, can have already been captured from the placement of the pieces. But, ya know...comic book chess. And I welcome someone with more chess knowledge than me correcting me!

Well, if he's going to learn an unusual opening, he's got the right book: chess grandmaster Leonid Stein was renowned as the "Master of Attack". Sadly, he would die in 1973, two years after the publication of Avengers #92, at the young age of 38. I dearly hope that before he passed, the Vision got a chance to meet and play a friendly game or two against Stein. I think Stein would have enjoyed pitting himself against an artificial man. After all, in chess...even an android can ply.

In today's Avengers, the role of Quicksilver will be played by Tom Cruise

I'm off for a few days to the sunny, wide-open Pacific Northwest, where the grass is green, the seafood is succulent and where I'm not bringing my laptop, so no updates until Saturday, Bully backers. I'll see ya on that day with the usual "Saturday Morning Cartoon" and "Separated at Birth" (guaranteed 100% Iron Man-free!)

In the meantime, why not relax, kick up your heels, slap some chillin' Miles Davis on the reel-to-reel, rap with a member of your family, and curl up with a good book, just like cool cat Pietro Maximoff here:

Panel from Avengers #99 (May 1972), written by Roy Thomas, art by Barry (Windsor-)Smith and Tom Sutton.

Wait a minute...what the heck book is Pietro reading, anyway? Let's zoom in through the magic of Marvel Essential-vision:


Hoo boy. You know...that explains a lot.

See you on Saturday! be good to yourselves and others.

EDIT: Quicksilver Kevin Church beat me to it many, many months ago. I actually commented three times on his post and don't remember a thing. I plead swiss cheese memory. I also blame society. I will now take his original color panel and alter the shades and tones of it, infuriating him until he tosses his whisky bottle at me. Tee hee.