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

365 Days of KirbyTech, Day 1: The Watcher's Matter Mobilizer

Welcome to 2014...and welcome to the future! uture uture uture uture All this year, every day: an astonishing, mind-shattering, reality-bending example of the technological wonders created by "King" Jack Kirby that we call, after him, since his name is Kirby and this is his tech... KIRBYTECH!

I suppose I should start out with a mission statement. Um...okay...so what is KirbyTech, a word which is so ubiquitous across the infinite universes that as I type it, Microsoft Word isn't even spell-check correcting it? Well, it's those wonderful machines created by Reed Richards, or used on the Fourth World, or wielded by the Eternals or the Inhumans, the far-out space gear of Captain Victory and the ultra-dimensional kitchen tools of Asgard. A piece of KirbyTech is...it consists of...well, it has loops, and shadows, and curvy bits, and, uh...well, probably the best way to describe it is "You know it when you see it."

Luckily my pal Isaac Cates, editor and co-creator of one of the most fun comics of 2013, Cartozia Tales has created this handy and colorful guide to the Principles of Kirbytech! (Read all about it here!)


That about covers it, especially the very last word, one of my favorites: fun! And that's what I hope you have all this shall. Let's kick it off the year, shall we? I don't know about you, but I can't wait.

#1: The Watcher's Matter Mobilizer

Panel from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #48 (March 1966), plot and script by Stan Lee, plot and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by Stan Goldberg (?), letters by Artie Simek

Today in Comics History, January 14: Uatu, P.I., solves another tough case

from "The Man With the Life Ray" in Detective Comics #190 (DC, December 1952), pencils and inks by Ruben Moreira
Who's the bald private dick
That's an observing machine to all the multiverse?
UATU!
Darn straight!


For more hard-hitting crime thriller action-adventures with Uatu, P.I., just click here!

Great Moments in Comic Book History: The Watcher moves out of his mom's basement and gets himself a groovy chick-magnet pad

Panel from Tales to Astonish #73 (November 1965), script by Stan Lee, layouts by Jack Kirby, finishes by Bob Powell and Mike Esposito, letters by Artie Simek

365 Days with the Warriors Three, Day 22

Panel from What If? v.2 #12 (April 1990), script and pencils by Jim Valentino, inks by Sam de la Rosa, colors by Tom Vincent, letters by Phil Felix

Well, that'll happen.

Once in a while, one of Doctor Doom's sinister plans works:










Panels from Fantastic Four #330 (September 1989), script by Steve Englehart writing as John Harkness (here's why), pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Romeo Tanghal, colors by Jack Fury, letters by Jade Moedo

So. Sweet dreams!

Uatu, p.i.

Ten of a Kind: Who Watches the Watcher

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

In which both Uatu and I make a promise to you.

Hullo, Bully fans! I'd hoped to fill you in today with a couple photo-filled adventure-anecdotes about my quick trip last week to Seattle, home of one thousand coffee shops (in the University area alone), but it's been such a long and hectic day and I'm just settling down to a little International Coffee* "me" time right now, so here's my solemn promise: short picture post today, longer photo post tomorrow or Wednesday. A little teaser for the moment: big-ass doughnuts!

And now, for something completely comics, The Unsettling Slang of Uatu:


Panel from Avengers #118 (December 1973), written by Steve Englehart,
pencils by Bob Brown, inks by Mike Esposito or Frank Giacoia

And he's a Watcher. You can take him at his word. Even if his head is an unsettling contradictory shape.

See ya tomorrow (or Wednesday) with Seattle photos, or at the very least another brief post tomorrow. I'm off to watch The Riches. I love Eddie Izzard.

*My favorite International Coffee joke, which probably few people will get: "Do you remember that charming café on Risa?...That android!...That Klingon!...That Captain!...Jean-Luc!" (This might explain part of the joke.)