Today in Comics History, October 26: Happy birthday, Larry Lieber!

Born on this day in 1931: comic book writer and artist Larry Lieber, co-creator of Thor, Loki, Jane Foster, Ant-Man, Iron Man, Groot, Spider-Man's parents Mary and Richard Parker, and more! His writing and artwork appear in The Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt: Outlaw, Two-Gun Kid, Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, Journey into Mystery, Strange Tales, My Own Romance, Teen-Age Romance, Captain Britain, and the proverbial etc.!


from (top) Mighty Marvel Calendar 1978-1979 (Marvel, 1977-1978);
(bottom) Marvel Age #34 and 94 (Marvel, January 1986 and November 1990); text by Jim Salicrup (#34) and Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter (#94); pencils and inks by Ron Zalme; colors by Adam Philips (#34) and Marie Javins (#94)

Today in Comics History, April 26: Happy birthday, George Tuska!

Born on this day in 1916: comic book and strip artist George Tuska, whose long career includes Iron Man, Captain Marvel, The World's Greatest Superheroes strip, Luke Cage, Crime Does Not Pay, Buck Rogers, Planet of the Apes, The Unexpected, The X-Men, Teen Titans, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and lots more!


from Fantastic Four Annual #7 (Marvel, November 1969)

BatrocTober, Day 1: Entair ze Leapair

Ghouls? Goblins? Draculas? Pshaw. Anybody can choose those creeps as their theme for a full month of October spotlighting. But I'm not just anybody. That's why I welcome you to Day 1 of

BATROCTOBER!

from "30 Minutes to Live!" in Tales of Suspense #75 (Marvel, March 1966), script by Stan Lee, layouts by Jack Kirby, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by John Tartaglione, letters by Artie Simek
This month, all month: the hop-on-pop antics of America's only Frenchman, Batroc ze Leapair! Pleas excuse me for one moment while I add the word "Batroc" to my spell-checker, won't you? Anyway, here's M. de Leaper's very first appearance!


Yes, jump into action every day in October right here with...BatrocTober! You'll be sayin' "Merci!" Sacre orange!

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, 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

365 Days of Defiance, Day 304: Girls Have cooties. Dangerous cooties.

Panels from "The Blitzkrieg of Batroc!" in Tales of Suspense (1959 series) #85 (January 1967), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Frank Giacoia, letters by Sam Rosen

365 Days of Defiance, Day 272: The Repeated Mistakes of Baron Zemo II

Hey, remember when Captain America fought and defied Baron Zemo (Senior) only a little while after he got dethawed, eventually defeating Zemo so succesfully that Zemo died and never came back? Sure, we all do!

Well, you woulda thunk the second Zemo (Franz Gruber, historical composter of the song "Silent Night" — it's true! Look it up!) would've learned from the first Zeemster's battles with Cap-Meister that bad guys never prosper against the American spirit, as shown in Tales of Suspense #99!


Panels from "The Man Who Lived Twice!" in Tales of Suspense #99 (March 1968), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Syd Shores, letters by Artie Simek
But how did it all end? you may ask. (And that's a very good question.) Well, since this was indeed the final issue of Tales of Suspense...the world will never know.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 239: The more you say / The more I defy you / So get out of my face

Recently I showed you modern-day (well, contemporary to the '70s when the story was published) Agent Peggy Carter express her expectoral dislike of Nazis, but that was not the chronological first appearance of Peggy tellin' those jackbooted fascists to take a long walk off a short pier. Here's a sequence that, despite its publishication in 1966, takes place over twenty years before during the Big One, WWII! (Hey, how come it's not "the Big Two," then?) Peggy, the cannily-named Agent 13, has been captured by Nazis whuo demand she betray her beliefs, her country, and her boyfriend, a little-known guy called Captain America! There's no gobbing, but it still doesn't go well for her captors.


Panels from "If a Hostage Should Die!" in Tales of Suspense #77 (May 1966), script by Stan Lee, layouts by Jack Kirby, pencils by John Romita Sr., inks by Frank Giacoia, letters by Sam Rosen
That Peggy is a spitfire! Even when she's not spittin'.

Countdown to Halloween: Jack Kirby's Monsters! Night Eleven: God Loves, Monster Gor-Kills

Gor-Kill! You know he's a monster who's bad, bad news, because he has two terrible words — "gore" and "kill" — in his name. It's sort of like "Slaughter-Wrecker" or "Deathblood" or "Carnage-Trump."


Cover of Tales of Suspense #12 (November 1960), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by George Klein, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek
Ever notice how lots of the titles of Marvel Monster-era stories are direct claims to fame? "I Created the Colossus!" "I Am the Living Ghost!" "I Created...Sporr! The Thing That Could Not Die!" "Only I Know When the World Will End!!!" Yeah, yeah, yeah, Stan...just like modern times, even back in the Atlas Age it's all about you. I bet you're gonna tell us next that you alone know the dread secret of Gor-Kill, the living demon, huh?


Splash page from "I Alone Know the Dread Secret of Gor-Kill, the Living Demon!" in Tales of Suspense #12 (November 1960), plot by Stan Lee (?), script by Larry Lieber (?), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek
I'm probably not spoiling anything by telling you that "dread secret" is actually pretty darn obvious: Gor-Kill is made of water. And not that artisanal, three-bucks-a-bottle water: he's made out of good old-fashioned natural crystal-clear mountain stream water. Yes, long before the backlash against the ecological damage bottle water does to our world, Gor-Kill was kickin' it old school!


Frankly, I don't know why he wasn't just called "Hy-Dro," or "Ahh-Kwaa," or "Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens." What I do know is that he's terrifying this tiny Balkan village where the streets are paved with gold and people climb up on rooftops just for the heck of it. Awooooo, spooky water monster came from the sea or from the dam! But they don't realize he's made of water. Stupid peasants! Dr. Frankenstein was right, you all deserve to die!


How do you fight a water monster? Well, your attack plans have to be fluid arghhhh no I'm sorry for that one


The entire membership of The Guys with Unusual Ties bands up to battle Gor-Kill! Even Ramon, the guy who didn't have a tie but who had a cool green and yellow shirt, so they let him in anyway.


Only one man in the entire village realizes the deadly, moist truth of Gor-Kill! Ah ha, so that's why the story is titled "I Alone Know the Dread Secret of Gor-Kill, the Living Demon!" Y'know, I think more wacky crackpot conspiracy theory books oughta be titled like Marvel Monster stories. "I Alone Know the Dread Secret of the Kennedy Assassination!" "I Alone Have Seen That Jet Fuel Cannot Melt Steel!" "I Alone Know That Vaccinations Cause Autism!" Oh, if only it were just you, Jenny McCarthy.


The severed talking heads of the village elders are immediately sent to scoff at the obvious solution! Although, to his credit, Professor Xavier looks merely vaguely skeptical.


Two days of continuous water attacks by Gor-Kill have battered the once peaceful community into helplessness! I think we can all agree that this was perhaps not the best time for ruler Victor von Doom to declare "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job!"


So 'round about now you're thinkin' what I am: science ways to destroy Gor-Kill. Let's see: we could deoxidize him to redeuce him to separate hydrogen and oxygen molecules! Or, we could shoot big flamethrowers at him until he turns into steam and floats away! Or, we could reduce the pressure in a big jar so that he flows into it against his will!

Eh, heck with up. Let's jus' blow him up with dynamite.. Boom! It's a sure-fire method of destruction, because as we all know, booms have never created anything.


Twist ending? Well, sorta. Our narrator may have alone known the dread secret of Gor-Kill, the living demon, but nobody believes him, and he gets locked up in the hoosegow for improperly using the town's cache of dynamite that they were saving for, I dunno, the beginning of World War I, I guess. Insert your own Law and Order thunk-thunk! here:


Haw haw! It's funny because he's incarcerated!

Countdown to Halloween: Jack Kirby's Monsters! Night Seven: Flat Other-Earth Society

I ENTERED THE DIMENSION OF DOOM and all I got was this big ugly-ass monster.


Splash panel from "I Entered the Dimension of Doom!" in Tales of Suspense #23 (November 1961), plot by Stan Lee, script by Larry Lieber, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Ray Holloway (?)
Puny li'l thing, ain't he?


He was given to me by these monsters from another dimension who were two-dimensional! I mean, man, they were flat out flat, baby! (Hey: where'd they keep that monster, then?)


Remember these simple tips for the caretaking of your new monster from the two-dimensional world: no bright lights, don't get him wet, and never feed him after midnight. And oh yeah: don't expose him to the super-growth vapor that makes him rampage and run amok throughout the civilized human world. That last one, mostly.


Luckily, the world was saved...by litigation!


So, this was a story about comic book characters who were two-dimensional. Well, as the man once said...aren't they all?

Countdown to Halloween: Jack Kirby's Monsters! Night Six: The Creature Who Stalked Me

So I said to Mama Bull, "No! I'm not eating my broccoli!" And she said "Well, maybe you should find out what happens when little bulls won't eat their broccoli!" And she gave me this comic book.


Cover of Broccoli Lover's Monthly Tales of Suspense #19 (July 1961), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek
My little black button eyes widened as I began to read:


Splash page from "The Green Thing!" in Tales of Suspense #19 (July 1961), plot by Stan Lee (?), script by Larry Lieber (?), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Ray Holloway (?)
Of course, as in all classic Marvel origins, it begins with a scientist. Doin' something incredibly stupid. In this case injecting a powerful experimental radioactive sciency-type growth serum into a random plant. Except that's no mere random plant, that's an evil plant. (You can tell, because it actually eats giraffes.)


Hey! How many times have we told you: don't tamper in God's domain!!! You know what happens when…oh, like we couldn't all see this coming.


That's right — let's fight the giant plant with a stick. That's like trying to fight a wild tiger by hitting it with another, slightly smaller, wild tiger. Also, when you do that wind-up? Don't make such a long speech. Just gives the plant monster more time to twist his fibers to create a loop or a lasso. See? I told ya!


GROOT, NO


So what's the scientist's solution? Inject another plant with the serum and watch them fight to the death. Well, sure…what?!?!


The moral of the story? Eat your broccoli until you're blue in the face.


Special Bonus Other-Artist-Monster from the same comic: hey, from co-creator of Iron Man, Don Heck comes this guy: Maaboo!


I only know Maaboo from his sidekick role to Yogi Bear, so it's nice to see him getting the spotlight for once.

Countdown to Halloween: Jack Kirby's Monsters! Night Five: Cyclops was right

And now, because you demanded it (note: no one has actually demanded this), the first appearance and origin of that popular Jack Kirby character: Scott "Slim"* Summers, the X-Man known as Cyclops!


Cover of Tales of Suspense #10 (July 1960), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Steve Ditko, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek
See Scott Summers as Cyclops, demonstrating his uncanny mutant power of throwin' big-ass rocks and sinking the Dejah Thoris II, the canonical pleasure yacht of Dr. Peter Corbeau, creator of Starcore!**


Splash page from "I Brought the Mighty Cyclops Back to Life" in Tales of Suspense #10 (July 1960), plot by Stan Lee (?), script by Larry Lieber (?), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek
Thrill as Scott Summers is rescued from the suspended animation he's been placed in by Mister Sinister, who hung around orphanages grooming young boys in such a creepy way*** it's surprising he isn't mentioned in the same disdainful breath as Jimmy Savile, Gary Glitter, and Dave Lee Travers.


Witness Cyclops defeated by the mighty Ulysses Bloodstone, monster hunter of the Marvel Universe, who threw salt into his eye!


Gasp in astonishment as Cyclops peers through his patented ruby quartz crystal glasses which he must wear at all times lest his mighty optic beams, both his blessing and his curse, might destroy Wolverine and Jean Grey, who appear in shades of red and pink to him, because of the aforementioned ruby quartz crystal glasses!


Shiver in your seat as Cyclops attacks FBI agent Amos "Fred" Duncan, the X-Men's first government liaison**** and also the only X-character who has never received his own four-issue limited series!


Shake, rattle, and roll as Scott Summers, fiercely jealous of the secret relationship of Wolverine and Jean Grey, traps them in a cave so they can't go down for a date to Salem Center's favorite hang-out spot, Harry's Hideway!*****


Congest (congest?) as X-Man Bobby Drake, the chill-factorin' mutant called Iceman, traps Cyclops in a massive frozen tomb from which he will never be seen again, at least until the snowball-laden debut of Chad Bowers and Chris Sims' new series X-Men: Winter of '92!******


Cyclops!

*Scott's nickname "Slim" is Marvel canon.
**This is completely Marvel Universe canon.
***This is also Marvel Universe canon. Creepy, but canon.
****Canon!
*****Curiously enough, also completely true Marvel canon.
******Might be canon if we wish hard enough.

Countdown to Halloween: Jack Kirby's Monsters! Night Four: It's just a ghost rollercoaster, step right up and get your tickets

ROLLERCOASTER! (SAY WHAT?) OF GHOSTS!


Cover of Tales of Suspense #30 (June 1962), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek
Tonight, exactly what it says on the tin, if indeed comic books were made out of tin: it's the Ghost Who Rode a Roller Coaster! Scary, eh, kids?


Splash page from "The Ghost Rode a Roller Coaster!" in Tales of Suspense #30 (June 1962), plot by Stan Lee (?), script by Larry Lieber (?), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Ray Holloway (?)
There's a sucker born every minute in the Marvel Universe, and this guy is gonna cash in on it! Meanwhile, the Flying Zakons try to remember just exactly when it all went wrong.


In the modern post-war world of dangerous thrillride construction, more is better and danger is America's aphrodisiac, or something like that. Just like the ever-growing political tensions of the Cold War age pitted nation against nation in a nuclear race to have a number of bombs that equal at least (X+1) where the other guy's bombs=X, so too must amusement parks constantly up the ante and the kill rate of their dangercoasters! Thus was born the legendary rivalry of Knott's Berry Farms and Six Flags.


Because, yep, a great way to excite your guests is to suffocate them within an inch of their lives. That's why Disneyland inaugurated that infamous ride where, aboard Captain Nemo's submarine Nautilus, hairline cracks in the hull gradually fill up the interior until you are completely submerged under water. Walt called it "Twenty Thousand Leaks Under the Sea." Until the lawyers arrived.


Showing the legendary excellent timing of the afterlife, the Ghost Who Rode a Roller Coaster arrives just in time for the final page. And we heartily applaud his supernatural actions. You go, Girl Ghost!


Play us off, Ohio…er…Players!



Disclaimer: Absolutely no one has actually been murdered during the making of this song, or the making of this comic book. Except some Marvel Bullpen interns, and also Artie Simek.