Today in Comics History, February 2, 2022: Gift of a check suddenly tremendously ages Aunt Petunia Grimm since Fantastic Four #238

from Clobberin' Time #3 (Marvel, July 2023), story and art by Steve Skroce, colors by Bryan Calenza, letters by Joe Sabino

Today in Comics History, July 12, 1947: Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin', into the future

from Fantastic Four (2023 series) #1/694 (Marvel, January 2023), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Iban Coello, colors by Jesus Aburtov, letters by Joe Caramagna
Why is it so weird? Why, that's the day that Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters (Married Couple™) came to town. And discovered it was 1947! Which is weird, right? That's weird.



The entire town seems to be repeating July 12 again and again. They're stuck in a rut


stuck in a rut


stuck in a rut


Oh dear, my commentary is record-skipping again, too. Will the Thing and the Sculptress ever escape the perpetual July 12? Tune in tomorrow to find out!


to find out


find out

Today in Comics History, June 30: It's a wrestlin' thing

Roll up, roll up tonight for the biggest bodacious brawl between beast and Ben! Ben Grimm, that is!


from The Thing (1983 series) #28 (Marvel, October 1985), script by Mike Carlin, breakdowns by Ron Wilson, finishes by Brett Breeding, colors by Michael Higgins, letters by Jack Morelli
Weird enough that this poster sez June 30, because the cover teases an altogether different date...or dates:


cover of The Thing #28; pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Brett Breeding
This cover suggests Ben's big wrasslin' match takes place on June 5th, and (since that word before "5th" is clearly "and"), probably also on at least the 4th as well. He, make up yer mind, wrestling promoters!

Still, at least Ben isn't shredding the poster off the wall as he's angrily done for another arena match:


cover of Fantastic Four #92 (Marvel, November 1969), pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, letters by Sam Rosen

Today in Comics History, May 12: Happy birthday, Yogi Berra!

Born on this day in 1925: Yogi Berra, champion baseball player and manager, malapropist, and cartoon bear.


from Yogi Berra one-shot (Fawcett, 1951), script by Charles Dexter, pencils and inks by Kurt Schaffenberger

Today in Comics History, December 26, 2018: Happy anniversary, Ben and Alicia!

And many more!


next issue page from Fantastic Four (2018 series) #4/649 (January 2019)

The Eight Nights of Comic Book Hanukkah, Night Two: The Thing about Hanukkah...

from "Rock of Ages!" in Marvel Digital Holiday Special #2 (Marvel, December 2009); script by Stan Lee; pencils, inks, and colors by Nick Dragotta; letters by Dave Sharpe

Today in Comics History, September 7, 1968: The day Ben Grimm fell on top of Peter Parker and kinda squished him

from Sub-Mariner (1968 series) #8 (December 1968), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Dan Adkins, letters by Sam Rosen

Today in Comics History, September 1: Happy birthday, Joe Jusko!

Born on this day: painter Joe Jusko, whose illustrative work has graced many fantasy/science fiction books and collections, including the groundbreaking 1992 Marvel Masterpieces trading cards that initiated the painted trading card boom of the 1990s!



from Marvel Age (top) #117 and (bottom) 118 (Marvel, October-November 1992), photographs by Christopher Ebel

Today in Comics History, July 6: Happy birthday, John Byrne!

Born on this day: prolific comic book writer and artist John Byrne! X-Men, FF, Superman, Spidey, Captain America, Namor, Hulk, Batman, Hulk, She-Hulk, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, What If?...you name it, he's probably worked on it!


from Mighty Marvel Calendar 1979 and 1980 (Marvel, 1978-1979), Marvel Age #31 (Marvel, October 1985) and #91 (Marvel, August 1991)

Today in Comics History, February 16: Happy birthday, Ron Wilson!

Born on this day: Ron Wilson, prolific comics penciller of many Marvel covers as well as interiors for books like Captain America, The Defenders, The Avengers, Hulk, What If...?, Luke Cage: Power Man, Masters of the Universe, Marvel Comics Presents and many more, but especially his long run depicting my favorite Marvel character, the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Mr. Benjamin J. Grimm, in the pages of The Thing, Marvel Two-in-One, and Fantastic Four!


from Mighty Marvel Calendar 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979

Today in Comics History, February 2: Happy birthday, Farrah Fawcett!

Born on this day in 1947: Farrah Fawcett...


cover of Emma #57 (D. C. Thomson, 24 March 1979)

The 2010 2021 Marvel Calendar for April: Arm-strong Aggression

April slobbers bring Thing clobbers, in the official 2010 Ben Grimm Marvel April Calendar (which works in 2021! Would this face lie to ya?)

"April" from Marvel Calendar 2010 (Marvel, 2009)
(Click picture to Yancy-size)
So if you're thinkin' of havin' anybody else's calendar up on the wall for April, think again!

Today in Comics History, March 31: Ben Grimm Goes to DashCon

Hey hey hey Baxter Building Boosters! What day is it?

Today the Human Torch plays a April Fool's joke on the Thing, in one of the finest Ben Grimm stories put down on paper! (Seriously, you need to get it. It's in Marvel Fanfare #15, and I don't know why it hasn't been reprinted twenty times. Ask for it by name!


from Marvel Fanfare #15 (Marvel, July 1984); script, pencils, inks, and colors by Barry Windsor-Smith; letters by Jim Novak
But wait, Bully! (you're saying) Why are you posting this a day too early? Have you made a mistake? (you ask). Well, no (I say). I'm not the one who made a mistake.


In any case, get a good night's sleep, and have a peaceful and serene April Fool's Day tomorrow. Don't do anything too extreme: I don't think our hearts can stand it this year.

Today in Comics History, March 7, 20XX: Bruce Wayne points a gun directly at us, the readers

from Batman (2016 series) #47 (DC, July 2018); script by Tom King; pencils by Tony S. Daniel; inks by Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki, and Sandu Florea; colors by Tomeu Morey; letters by Clayton Cowles
Now here's the thing...


from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #51 (Marvel, June 1966), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, letters by Artie Simek
...Bruce is telling Booster to take him back to the night of his parents' murder. Since when did that become March 7? It has always been June 26 until this story, and I refuse to change my mind and calendar on that unassailable fact!

(Durn Flashpoint!)

365 Days of Power and Responsibility, Day 5: "But it's my only line!"

Panels from Fantastic Four (2018) #3 (January 2019), script by Dan Slott, pencils and inks by Sara Pichelli and Nico Leon, colors by Marte Gracia, letters by Joe Caramagna

365 Days of Defiance, Day 323: Ben Has Not Yet Begun to Fight

Wow, I can't believe I haven't done this one yet.









Panels from Marvel Two-in-One Annual #7 (1982); script by Tom DeFalco; pencils by Ron Wilson; inks by Bob Camp, Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Dan Green, Armando Gil, and Chic Stone; colors by George Roussos; letters by Jim Novak

365 Days of Defiance, Day 199: IT'S COBBLESTONIN' TIME!

Panels from Secret Wars (2015 series) #6 (December 2015), script by Jonathan Hickman, pencils and inks by Esad Ribic, colors by Ive Svorcina, letters by Chris Eliopoulis

365 Days of Defiance, Day 170: Tempus Fugitive

Tempus! He's a guy made out of clock ice or crystalized time or somethin' and while he's certainly not one of the Fantastic Four's most famous foes, he gave 'em a good fight back in the funkadelic seventies. And it's all due to Willie Lumpkin having a gambling problem, which I'm not gonna explain. There's no...ah ha ha ha ha...time.


Panels from "Cataclysm!" in Giant-Size Fantastic Four #2 (August 1974), script by Gerry Conway, layouts by John Buscema, finishes by Chic Stone, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Joe Rosen
Mind you, this is an adventure that took place in Marvel's double-paged Giant-Size series of the mid-70s, so, like Marvel Annuals of the period, they were all self-contained stories (and eventually, all reprints). So I don't blame you if you had ignored or didn't read this story. But hey, look: Mister Fantastic in William Shatner's aging makeup from "The Deadly Years." He's old, y'all!


How will the wolf FF survive? Well, by that little-known secret weapon of the Fantastic Four, one you don't get to see in action too often but never forget it's a powerhouse: the rocky orange brain of Benjamin J. Grimm!


Hey Thing, what time is it? Ah, never mind: you're way ahead of me.


The punches themselves aren't sufficient to defeat Tempus (the deliciously quiescent summertime cooling treat), but it does give Reedd enough time to fire up his big rubber brain and come up with a truly brilliant plan, which is...oh, for Pete's sake, Reed, you're just punching him again! Ben already came up with that plan!


Yay! Success! Altho' reed, always a bringer-downer, reminds the FF and Willie Lumpkin, time-travelin' mailman, that like Santa and that chocolate cake that was sitting this morning on the kitchen counter, there's a little bit of Tempus is inside all of us. In fact, you might even say we just ate Tempus, and he's in our stomachs...right now! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!...Wait, scratch that one.


I can't use my usul joke of "And nobody ever saw Tempus ever again" here, because he has quite a wide-ranging, if ineffective, history of time-related villany across the Marvel Universe. Later on, he fought Thor, the West Coast Avengers, some guys from various What Ifs, Rick Jones, and the Annihilators. I'm imagining that at any moment in the Marvel Universe Gwenpool will be pantsing him. So yeah, getting introduced in a Giant-Size has decreasing returns for villainy over the years.