365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 166

Variant cover of Secret Avengers #1 (July 2010), art by Mike Deodato Jr.



And here's Deodato's pencils-and-ink original:

Monday Night Murals: Callin' all my superfriends and puttin' you on notice

Does it count as a proper comic book cover interlocking mural if both parts come from different variants of the same comic book issue? Eh, whatever! Since today is Flag Day, I'm just happy to find a comic book mural with a bright red-white-and-blue American Flag stretching across it from sea to shining sea cover edge to shining staple. (Seriously, you need to get on this mural covers thing, Captain America creators!)

Covers of Justice League of America v.2 #1a and 1b (October 2006), art by Ed Benes, Mariah Benes, and Alex Sinclair
Click image to...um...well, super-size!

I';m not a huge fan of this era of the JLA, but ya gotta admit that's a nice image. Except, where's Booster and Beetle? Oh, wait, traveling through time and dead, respectively. Nevermind. And another question: if everybody who's anybody in the Justice League is in the picture, then who is handing out the membership cards? I like it think it's Snapper Carr. And if'n you wanna see it really big, and in the single poster-format from DC, why, all you need to do is click here. Now that's service for you! Why, it's so big you can see the All-New Atom! He's the one in the matchbox.

Which reminds me, why doesn't the Justice League have a butler? I think that maybe Alfred could do that on his days off.

This new Justice League of America series is chock-full of not only murals but also alternate and variant covers. Here's two other version of the #1 issue using the same art, one framed to fit it all in, the other giving us a nice widescreen cover.



Throughout the series there's several multiple covers to single issues that form interlocking images, but this one, with its sheer super-assembly of super-heroes, is my favorite. (And how about the understated way Power Girl isn't being displayed right out in 3D spectacle?)

Still, even tho' that's a pretty impressive assemblage, I still prefer this gathering of the JLA:



And here's a fun variation that makes me giggle like a schoolgirl!:



But the one that captures the power and the intensity of a buncha guys in spandex longjohns, without whom the DC Universe woulda kicked the bucket a dozen times over, is here:



Yep. In the words of Miss Gaynor Hopkins, we do need a hero. Actually, a whole league of them.

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 165

Panel from X-Men: First Class v.1 #8 (June 2007), script by Jeff Parker, pencils and inks by Roger Cruz, colors by Val Staples, letters by Nate Piekos

Ten of a Kind: Have you any dreams you'd like to sell

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 164

Panels from X-Men Annual #1 (1992), script by Fabian Nicieza, layouts by Jim Lee, finishes and inks by a buncha guys, colors by Joe Rosas, letters by L. Lois Buhalis


...Which is a nice call-back to this classic X-Men Moment:


Panels from [Uncanny] X-Men #118 (February 1979), co-plot and script by Chris Claremont, co-plot and pencils by John Byrne, inks by Ricardo Villamonte, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Tom Orzechowski

Sunday Morning Silents: One Week

One Week (1920), starring Buster Keaton, directed by Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline

Separated at Birth: Climb Ev'ry Logo

L: Splash page of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.* #1 (June 1968),
script, pencils, and colors by Jim Steranko; inks by Joe Sinnott; letters by Sam Rosen
R: Splash page of Captain v.5 #23 (December 2006),
script by Ed Brubaker, pencils and inks by Mike Perkins, colors by Frank D'Armata, letters by Joe Caramagna

(Click picture to Eiger-size)

And that's not even all, mountaineers! The second and third page of the Cap story mirrors, in layout if not content, the second and third page of the Fury story:





So the next time you forget your house keys...take a hint from Nick 'n' Bucky and just go in via the side!


*Special Ham Ingestion and Eating Liverwurst Department.

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 163

Panels from Uncanny X-Men #295 (December 1992), script by Scott Lobdell, pencils by Brandon Peterson, inks by Terry Austin, colors by Joe Rosas, letters by Chris Eliopoulos

This is much better than the time he wrote into Marvel Age about comic books published on Earth-616

Esquire magazine cover, April 2010




Esquire letters column, June 2010




Close-up of same

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Futurama "Rebirth"

The first ninety seconds of Futurama's return episode "Rebirth" (June 24th on Comedy Central)

Tables only turn when tables learn

"And there came a day...a day unlike any other...when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born—to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand!"

Also, they had a table.

From the very beginning...




...starting out very small...




...as it became a symbol of the team...




...and even the chairs joined in the fun...




...no matter how good or bad your posture...




...whether it's used for breakfast...




...or a council of war...




...through tragedy...




...and through Claremont...




...to other realities...






...and back again...




The Avengers' Table can never be replaced!

Oh, except for the time Namor broke it and they made him buy a new one.




So now say we all: Avengers Table Assemble! And if there's a few parts left over when you're done, don't worry. They're s'posed to be built like that.

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 162

Panel from What If? v.1 #9 (June 1978), concept by Roy Thomas (who else?), script by Don Glut, breakdowns by Alan Kupperberg, finishes and inks by Bill Black , colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Tom Orzechowski

An alternate universe where Jimmy Woo, Gorilla-Man, the Human Robot, Marvel Boy, Namora and Venus team up to fight crime? Hey, wait a minute...

Jerks of the Marvel Universe

With this "Heroic Age" dawning in the Marvel Universe, every comics fan is looking forward to a new grand era of can-do, gung-ho, happy-go-lucky, cheese-and-bacon flavored superheroes, because for the last few years the Marvel U. has pitted brother against brother...Asgardian against technocrat...vigilante versus claws...Super-Soldier versus bullet. But now, at last, it's going to be just like the old days...when every hero was ever-ready to team up with another, to fight together for the cause of right, truth, and justice, and nobody was ever rude or short-tempered with another hero...just like it was in the early days of the Marvel Universe, right?

Right.


Panels from Avengers #3 (January 1964), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Paul Reinman







Luckily, at least one person is willing to help:



You know, when Rick Jones is the only person who doesn't slam the door in your face and make rude noises at you...hoo boy, you need to find some new team-up partners.

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 161

"Master" Henry McCoy of Earth-311, in panels from 1602 #2 (Late November 2003), script by Neil Gaiman, pencils and inks by Andy Kubert, colors by Richard Isanove, letters by Todd Klein

Now that we're well into 2010...

...has anybody found Domino's stomach yet?


Splash page portion from Cable #26 (Early December 1995), script by Jeph Loeb, pencils by Rob Haynes and Randy Green, inks by John Lowe and Bud LaRosa, colors by Mike Thomas, letters by Richard Starkings

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 160

Panel from [Uncanny] X-Men #66 (March 1970), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Sam Grainger, letters by Artie Simek

If I Ran Marvel Comics...

...then I'd introduce just what the comics world needs...another X-Men title! No, no, I wouldn't call it X-Cess...that'd be too much truth in advertising. I'd bring out a brand new X-Men #1 ("the first X-Men 1 in nearly twenty years," sez Marvel...go ahead, collect 'em all!). I'd take the fine artwork of Victor Gischler and Paco Medina's advance pages for this new X-comic (you can see the pages here). And then I'd jettison all that vampire nonsense and bring aboard some good old fashioned summer fun that, I think, we can all get behind.

So here it is...a sneak preview of a little stuffed bull's version of X-Men #1! (Caution: those of you seated in the first four rows will get wet!):








Well, I'd buy it.