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)

Today in Comics History, December 24, Christmas Eve: The True Meaning of Christmas (along with Hostess Fruit Pies, Cupcakes, and Twinkies)

from Marvel Team-Up (1972 series) #127 (Marvel, March 1983), script by J.M. DeMatteis, pencils by Kerry Gammill, inks by Mike Esposito, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Rick Parker

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 Power and Responsibility, Day 27: So...pretty much just like our universe, huh?

Panels from What If? (1977 series) #19 (February 1980), script by Peter Gillis, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Mike Esposito, colors by Roger Slifer, letters by Tom Orzechowski

365 Days of Defiance, Day 312: The Sacrifice

Panels from [Uncanny] X-Men (1963 series) #137 (September 1980), co-plot and script by Chris Claremont, co-plot and pencils by John Byrne, inks by= Terry Austin, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Tom Orzechowski

365 Days of Defiance, Day 13: If you don't know what issue this is from, turn in your Comic Book Badge

Panels from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #50 (May 1966), script by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by Stan Goldberg (?), letters by Sam Rosen

Today in Comics History, December 7, 1941: Remember Pearl Harbor...in space!

from What If...? (1977 series) #14 (Marvel, April 1979), plot by Gary Friedrich, script by Don Glut, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Pablo Marcos, colors by "D. R. Martin" (a pen-name for various artists), letters by Tom Orzechowski
Welcome to Pearl Harbor...in SPACE! ACE ACE ace ace ace ace Wait, how did we get to this wacky alternative world, where we're outer space superpowers in the year 1941!?? Well, just remember that it's an issue of What If...?, that joint by the Watcher in which he tells you that a tiny change in action or attitude by a Marvel character during a known event in Marvel Universe history can change the future dramatically, fracturing reality and creating a spin-off from Earth-616...in this case, Earth-7918, where Nick Fury fought World War II in Outer Space!

So what famous Marvel moment was changed to come up with this wacky world? Did Spider-Man forget to pick up his lunch from Aunt May the day he got bitten by the radioactive spider? Did Bruce Banner develop the cobalt bomb instead of the gamma bomb? Did Mr. Fantastic actually name himself "Dr. Fantabulous?" Nope: t'was ever thus: Marvel superstar Leonardo DaVinci built some stuff, as seen in the turning point of Amazing Renaissance Adventures #18!


So yeah. That happened.

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

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

Uatu, p.i.

Because sometimes you just have to post Ben Grimm discovering that the man behind the curtain is actually a baby Watcher.

Two-page spread from The Thing: Freakshow #3 (October 2002), script by Geoff Johns, pencils by Scott Kolins, inks by Andy Lanning and Doug Hazlewood, colors by David Self, letters by Randy Gentile
Click panel to Huggies-Overnight-size

Ten of a Kind: Who Watches the Watcher

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

Separated at Birth: Déjà Uatu

L: Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), art by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott
R: Fantastic Four #390 (July 1994), art by Paul Ryan ("after Kirby via Macchio")
(Click picture to Watcher-size)