Today in Comics History, January 20, 1977: For some reason I bet they still made Jimmy Carter give up his peanut farm

from Back to the Future: Biff to the Future #4 (IDW, April 2017), co-plot and script by Bob Gale, co-plot by Derek Fridolfs, pencils by Alan Robinson, inks by Alan Robinson and Jaime Castro, colors by Maria Santaolalla, letters by Shawn Lee

Today in Comics History, July 27, 1972: National Department of Kirby is established

from Kirby: Genesis: Silver Star #1 (Dynamite, November 2011), co-plot by Alex Ross and Jai Nitz, script by Jai Nitz, pencils by Johnny Desjardins, colors by Vinicius Andrade, letters by Simon Bowland

Today in Comics History, July 20, 1969: First Man on the Moon!

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published July 20, 2010.

On this date in 1969, we set our sights upon a strange and distant world and stepped forth into the future as we explored a land previously unreachable! Yes, today in 1969, Woodstock began! Wait, no, that's not right.


from Woodstock one-shot (Marvel, 1994), plot by Mort Todd; script by Charles Schneider; pencils, inks, and colors by Gene Fama, letters by Vicki William
Today's the day that the teddy bears had their picnic...on the moon! (oon oon oon oon) Around the world every nation was held in rapturous awe as Apollo 11 set down upon the lunar surface, then immediately opened a Starbucks.


from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #98 (Marvel, May 1970), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, letters by Artie Simek

Today in Comics History, June 20, 1972: So that's was what was on Nixon's missing tapes...him getting ZAMmed!

from Kirby: Genesis: Silver Star #1 (Dynamite, November 2011), co-plot by Alex Ross and Jai Nitz, script by Jai Nitz, pencils by Johnny Desjardins, colors by Vinicius Andrade, letters by Simon Bowland

Today in Comics History, May 13: Happy birthday, Arthur Sullivan!

Born on this very day in 1842, so you'd better get peddling on your time bike if you want to see him make his spectacular debut: Arthur Sullivan, half of the laff-riot stand-up comedy team of Gilbert and Sullivan, and composer of one zillion light operas like H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, Patience, The Yeoman of the Guard, Iolanthe, Ruddigore, The Gondoliers, and The Rise of Skywalker.

Now, musical composers are always difficult subjects to find in comic books, unless you're leafing through the pages of P. Craig Russell's Night Music, books from the Marvel Music line like Bob Marley: Tale of the Tuff Gong or Billy Ray Cyrus, or maybe Jennifer Love Hewitt's Music Box. Perhaps if I had a copy of this on my shelves in the Great Bully Underground Vault of Comics:


But I don't.

Today in Comics History, April 15: Let's make fun of Nikita Khrushchev on his birthday!

This is a much-expanded and updated version of the post previously titled "Khrushchev asserts his hatred of dogs," originally published April 15, 2015.

Born on this day in 1894, so you just know he's out of touch: Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, head of Communist Russia, shoe-banger, subject of a song by Elton John!


from "This Godless Communism" in Treasure Chest of Fact and Fun v.17 #16/322 (Pflaum, April 12, 1962), creators unknown

Today in Comics History, January 20: Happy birthday, Buzz Aldrin!

Born on this day in 1930: Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, second man on the moon and first to punch a guy in the face for suggesting he wasn't! Yes, he's somewhere in the picture below: he's inside that lunar module. How awesome was Buzz Aldrin? So awesome that even Jack Kirby could not portray him.


from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #98 (Marvel, May 1970), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, letters by Artie Simek

Today in Comics History, January 9: Happy birthday, Richard Nixon!

Born on this date in 1913: Richard M. Nixon, America's only hounded out of office president! There's an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could get his picture in so many 1970s comic books!" Yes, there's a lot of Tricky Dick pop-ups (ew) within the pages of comics, but I'm gonna just shoot you this here cameo from the broccoli-stained pages of Hulk...


from Incredible Hulk (1968 series) #152 (Marvel, June 1972), script by Gary Friedrich and Steve Englehart, pencils by Dick Ayers, art corrections to faces by Herb Trimpe, inks by Frank Giacoia, colors by Mimi Gold (?), letters by Artie Simek
...which shows you that ol' Dick Nixon was just too busy having the US Military hunt down old Jade Jaws to ever commit any conspiracies or screw up Vietnam or run over folk singer Joni Mitchell in his limosine.

Want more? Sure, Sally Strothers, Strother Martin, and Martin and Lewis...we all do! So if you click on over to 13th Dimension, the blog that's a pedagogue, you'll check out thirteen more Nixon appearances in comic books, ranging from a Star Trek spin-off to ruling the earth as a disembodied head. (Four thousand more years!) Also, there's Duck Nixon. All over at the totaly excellent 13th Dimension, which you can find lots of nifty screenshots and if you're not careful, you may just learn something. Did I mention it's written by my pal John DiBello? I helped out with the jokes, though. It's the ONLY website on the World Wide Internet with so much Nixon content! (Aside from some files of the FBI and CIA.)


Tricky birthday, Happy Dick! I mean...strike that; reverse it.

365 Days of Power and Responsibility, Day 36: A Green Lantern and a talking cartoon dog walked into a bar and Walter Cronkite is there

Panel from Green Lantern/Huckleberry Hound Special #1 (one-shot) (December 2018), script by Mark Russell, pencils by Rick Leonardi, inks by Dan Green, colors by Steve Buccellato, letters by Wes Abbott

365 Days of Defiance, Day 320: Okay, go ahead, fear the Reaper if you need to

Probably the very first Golden Age Captain America story I ever read has stuck with me since I first read it, the delectably titled "Captain America Battles the Reaper! (The Man the Law Couldn't Touch!)". This relatively early adventure pits Cap and the Buckster against a Nazi villain who uses the power of lies to undermine the democracy of the United States. In other words, the Reaper was the first comic book villai9n whose power was...fake news! Now, as I'm not either Roy Thomas nor that Rockefeller feller, I don't happen to have a copy of Timely's Captain America Comics #22, but what I do have is 1976's Invaders #10, which reprinted the whole furschlugginer story in an attempt to battle the Dread Deadline Doom! (And thus you see why it was the first Golden Age Cap your truly's little shiny button eyes ever peeped at!)


Splash page from "The Reaper (The Man the Law Couldn't Touch)!" in Captain America Comics #22 (Timely/Marvel, January 1943), layouts by Syd Shores, pencils by Al Avison, inks by Al Gabriele;
as reprinted in The Invaders #10 (November 1976)
The story begins with a brilliant jab at Herr Schicklgruber — the self-own in the second panel is one of the moments that resonated and stayed with me — who champions the weapon of disinformation, misdirection, and outright lies. Heck, let's call 'em fake news., not in the way our current-day orange menace uses it, but to define the sheer war against provable facts we've gotta fight every day we look at the internet or pick up a paper. Stop callin' it "alternate facts," networks! Start calling it the way the Thompson Twins lyrically described it: "Lies, Lies, Lies!"


So Hitler dispatches one of his chief agents: Gunther Strauss, the deadly Mister the Reaper, to America to stir up doubt and discontent. The papers portray him as a preacher man with a vision (WRONG!) but natch Steve 'n' B3 (Bucky Buchanan Barnes) are suspicious. That's because they only get their news from The Stars and Stripes newspaper and from Edward R. Murrow personally!


Cap 'n' Buck wanna check this sinister-soundin' guy out, but...haw haw!...they've been delegated to K.P. duty, peeling so many onions their body hydration goes down about two quarts. Now that's a job with a lot a-peel!


The Reaper speaks, broadcast to the entire country and all the ships at sea, and everyone's taken aback by his bold statements that everything you know is wrong!, thus beating the Firesign Theatre to the punch by several decades. Look who's baffled: Farmer Clem Huckenshucker! The Grey-Haired Lawyer! Lovely Little Mary! Bazooka Joe! Brain-Head! Confused Connie! And, in his first Marvel Comics appearance, Doctor Druid! Lookit 'em all gobble up this tripe! It's easy to feel superior because we would never fall for such a blatant scheme of lies and untruths, right?


I love Syd Shores's layout of second panel below, showing one man's progressive interior decision that maybe that crazed unbelievablelunatic he's heard on the radio is actually our god and we must obey him! Boy, people were gullible listening to radio in those days, as can be proved by the period Jack Benny ruled the airways and everybody smoked Lucky Strikes, even the children. Lucky Strike means fine tobacco! Why, I'm smokin' one right now!


Not only are the Reaper's arguments persuasive, he also manages to encourage an entire upheaval of the moral code. Ah, I'm certainly glad this was in the 1940s and not today, where people would never feel emboldened by hate speech from a supposed leader to justify their crimes and bigotry.


Suddenly: Korea Captain America! he arrives in a flash of panel gutter and a bold ultimatum for the Reaper: cut the crap!


The Reaper calls on his goons (it's true, they all have goons, those bad guys) to dispose of the First Avenger and the Second Boy Sidekick, but it's absolutely zero contest in one of the most low-key, hilarious fight sequences I've seen of Cap and Buck.


Cap and Bucky have to flee for their lives to avoid being torn apart by the reaper's mob, and the angry assemblage convinces them to start goosestepping, sieg heiling, and what's that...praising Hitler? Gosh, that's scary, and under no circumstances would anyone be trying that today, you betcha!


Cap's stentorian tones, thankfully, remain the voice of reason, cutting through the bull and standing up for his patriotic beliefs of democracy and equal rights in a manner that it's good that Cap actor Chris Evans doesn't have to resort to in this day and age, huh?


While Cap's been facing off against the Reaper, Bucky's got evidence on paper that Herr R. is actually a Nazi spy. Yeah, I dunno...maybe a photostatic copy of his Captain Nazi fan club certificate or something. Whatever it is, the Reaper's now on the run, pursued by the dynamic duo Timely Two...


...down into the New York subway, where Reaper makes the same mistake every villain does: stepping on the electrified third rail. Thus perish all Nazis. It's true! The largest cause of death among homefront sympathizers of the Bund is electrocution in the subway. Look, I don't make up these statistics, I just read 'em, out of the back of comic books.


All's well that ends well, right, Captain America? "Which is why we should trust our leader and not listen to rabble-rousing troublemakers," he points out.


Er, Cap...what if our leader is the rabble-rousing troublemaker? For the answer to that question, please see 1974's Catain America #175:


Panels from Captain America (1968 series) #175 (July 1974), script by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Vince Colletta, colors by Petra Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek

365 Days of Defiance, Day 51: The Last Temptation of Prez Rickard

As William Howard Taft, one of our belovedest and roly-polyest Presidents would say: "Hey hey hey, It's Presidents' Day!" And it is*! You can't sneak much past President Taft, not even a bathtub.

That's why we're gathered here today to salute America's Greatest President (sit down, James K. Polk): Prez Rickard!


Panels from Sandman (1989 series) #54 (October 1993), script by Neil Gaiman, pencils and inks by Michael Allred, colors by Daniel Vozzo, letters by Todd Klein
The religious allegories are pretty obvious even in the DC Universe where Superman has been known to stretch out his arms when hovering and Mxyzptlk frequently turns lemonade into Grapefruit Kryptonite. Prez is brought out to the wasteland and tempted, not with the usual comic-book rewards of fame and power...oh, wait, I've made another one of my silly mistakes. He's tempted with exactly fame and power.


And in a dream...or maybe something more like true waking...he conversates with the Little President Who Thought He Could, Richard M. Nixon, trying to convince our pajamaless protagonist that the best creed you can folliow in the White House is every man for himself. (SHAMELESS CROSS-WEBSITE PROMOTIONAL PLUG: Don't forget to check out my article on 13th Dimension for a rundown of the 13 faces of Richard Nixon in Comics! Don't worry, we'll wipe the tapes after you've been there.)


But that's not the way Prez rolls. (Prez Rolls, available at your local supermarket on the specialty breads shelf, new from Staff Bread!) Mind you, it's not that hard to resist Slimy Temptation by Tricky Dick, but I think even you and I might be seduced by the mouthwatering promise of being that one guy who could go to China. No, Prez is in this game we call politics for exactly one thing: everybody else in the United States of America.


And yes, it's truly a better world, pretty close to ours but only a slight vibratory dimension and one good man away. Look, he even saved John Belushi! (Celebrity in a Comic Book, folks!)


And his reward for it all? Well, in the end he gets exactly what we all get: he gets a lifetime.


Wait! One last act of defiance against the expectations of a President. When he discovers his temptor Boss Smiley is in charge "upstairs," Prez (with a little help from that crazy candy-colored clown called the Sandman) chooses another place, another path. Or, to paraphrase General John Stark (no relation to Tony) of New Hampshire: Die free, and live.


'Coz all Prez ever wanted to do was fix things so they ran right.


May we all make the same choice. May our Presidents and Prime Ministers and Premiers and Kings and leaders around the world and throughout the future ever strive to fix things. For all of us. For the dream.

---

* Offer not valid if you're reading this on not Presidents' Day, or indeed, if I forget to post it on President's Day.

Bear Attack! Month 2014, Day 22: Mmmmmmm, pic-a-nic baskets

Panels from "Mass Historia!" in Simpsons Comics #200 (March 2013), script by Ian Boothby, pencils by Phil Ortiz, inks by Mike DeCarlo, colors by Art Villanueva, letters by Karen Bates

Election Day: Vote Tuesday.

from What If...? (1977 series) #26 (Marvel, April 1981), script by Mike W. Barr, pencils bt Herb Trimpe, inks by Mike Esposito, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Michael Higgins
Even Captain America sometimes has trouble with America's Presidents...


from Captain America (1968 series) #200 (Marvel, August 1976), script and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Frank Giacoia, colors by Don Warfield, letters by John Costanza


from Captain America (1968 series) #222 (Marvel, June 1978), script by Steve Gerber, breakdowns by Sal Buscema, finishes by John Tartaglione and Mike Esposito, colors by George Roussos, letters by Annette Kawecki


from Captain America (1968 series) #175 (Marvel, July 1974), script by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Vince Colletta, colors by Petra Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek (credited)
But he never forgets to vote.


from What If...? #26
Don't you forget, neither! Vote tomorrow for the candidate of your choice!


from Captain America (1968 series) #255 (Marvel, March 1981), script by Roger Stern, pencils by John Byrne, inks by Joe Rubinstein, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Joe Rosen