Erase your summer thirst

Vince Coolatta

365 Days with the Warriors Three, Day 193

Panel from Thor #134 (November 1966), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Vince Colletta, letters by Artie Simek

Gold Key Comics Pin-Ups, Day 2: He seems to have an invisible touch, yeah

Back cover pin-up from John Steele: Secret Agent one-shot (1964), artist unknown


(And here's the cover:)

Magneto's crushing your head! He's crushing your head!

Panels from X-Men: Prelude to Schism #2 (July 2002), script by Paul Jenkins, pencils and inks by Andrea Mutti, colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Rob Steen

To which I append:

Context:

365 Days with the Warriors Three, Day 192

Volstagg sticker from Topps Marvel Super Heroes Stickers (1976):



I like to think of the gag in this one as the culmination of a joke that began in the 1966 Marvel Trading Cards series:



...and continued in the 1975 Topps Marvel Super Heroes Stickers series:



And here's your gum.

Gold Key Comics Pin-Ups, Day 1: Hawkah!

The Mid-Day Matinee this week, all week: Gold Key Comics Pin-Ups! Painted full-cover images from the back covers of some of the greatest comics of the 1960s that weren't published by Marvel or DC. If you cut them off and hung them on your wall, you ruined the value of your comic! (Hah!) Instead, cut them out of this blog (ask your parents before using scissors on your computer monitor)! And then, as the saying goes, pin them up!


Back cover pin-up from G-8 and His Battle Aces one-shot (1966), artist unknown


(And here's the cover:)

Ten of a Kind: Baby mine, don't you cry

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days with the Warriors Three, Day 191

Movie poster for Thor (2011), featuring Tadanobu Asano as Hogun

Same Story, Different Cover: Fighting foreign ports / In his tiny shorts

L: Marvel Boy #1 (December 1950), cover art by Russ Heath
R: Marvel Super Action #4 (November 1977), reprinting Marvel Boy #1, cover art by Dave Cockrum and Joe Sinnott

(Click picture to Underoosize)

365 Days with the Warriors Three, Day 190

Panel from Guardians of the Galaxy v.1 #42 (November 1993), script by Michael Gallagher, pencils by Dale Eaglesham, inks by Steve Montano, colors by Evelyn Stein, letters by Ken Lopez

The Zen of Batman: Vegetables

From Batman: "Hi Diddle Riddle" (January 12, 1966), script by Lorenzo Semple, Jr.

365 Days with the Warriors Three, Day 189

Panel from Last Planet Standing #2 (July 2006), co-plot and script by Tom DeFalco, co-plot and pencils by Pat Olliffe, inks by Scott Koblish, colors by Rob Ro, letters by Dave Sharpe

Let's Learn Stuff About Tony Stark!, Day 5: Has he lost his mind? Can he see or is he blind?

After this past week, you now know enough about Tony Stark to assume his identity. Or...do you?




Pages from Tales of Suspense #55 (July 1964), script by Stan Lee, pencils and inks by Don Heck, letters by Sam Rosen

Well! That was fun! In fact, so much fun that I think we oughta extend "Let's Learn Stuff About Tony Stark!" into a full second week. What do you think, Iron Man?


Panel from Iron Man: The Iron Age v.1 #2 (September 1998), plot and script by Kurt Busiek and Richard Howell, pencils by Patrick Zircher, inks by Bob McLeod, colors by Glynis Oliver, letters by Emerson Miranda
Well! No need to get huffy about it.

Let's Learn Stuff About Tony Stark! Extra!: Says toro toro taxi / See ya tomorrow my son

It's the feature that's too good to restrict to just the Mid-Day Matinee, Let's Learn Stuff About Tony Stark! (Also, I had more than five installments for this thing.)

Hey, who's the most famous roller-skater in the Marvel Universe?


Panel from Dazzler #7 (September 1981), plot by Tom DeFalco, script by Danny Fingeroth, pencils by Frank Springer, inks by Armando Gil and Frank McLaughlin, colors by Don Warfield, letters by Janice Chiang

Well, yes. We all know that. Well, okay, then, who is the second most-famous roller-skater in the yadda yadda yadda?

If you have read the title of this post I think you can guess.


Panels from Tales of Suspense #45 (September 1963), plot by Stan Lee, script by Robert Bernstein, pencils and inks by Don Heck, letters by Sam Rosen

Yes, it's The Free-Wheelin' Tony Stark, rollin' rollin' rollin' on transistor-powered jet skate wheels. Since this was 1963, we laugh at this primitive interpretation of electronic technology, now that we're all zooming around on our resistor-powered jet skates. Yet another way in which Stan Lee was wrong about the future! (Also, that whole thing with Galactus never showing up.)

Stark's roller-skating technology was light-years ahead of its time, however. Before he stopped making weapons for the military and turned his roller-skating blueprints over to the carhops at A&W Drive-Ins, he shared the tech with this Army General! Tony Stark: he's got a brand-new pair of roller-skates, and you've got the brand-new key!


Panels from Tales of Suspense #45 (September 1963), plot by Stan Lee, script by Robert Bernstein, pencils and inks by Don Heck, letters by Sam Rosen

This general was busted down to corporal after the US Army purchased 30,000 pairs of skates and quickly came to realize there were no superhighways in Vietnam. Tony Stark...a genius...like a fox! (Hey, that does make sense!)

But as Dazzler showed us above, you can roller skate in different ways other than just upright on your feet. Tony Stark invented that move, you know...with a little beanie propeller and roller skates on his back! For fighting The Evil Pharoah! To protect Cleopatra! And remember, he can fly at this point. And yet, he still does this:


Panels from Tales of Suspense #44 (August 1963), plot by Stan Lee, script by Robert Bernstein, pencils and inks by Don Heck, letters by Sam Rosen

Well...that certainly happened. In fact, it was such a draw that we got to see it on the splash page first!



So, Tony Stark! Without his amazing technological innovations we would never have had roller-derby, the movies ATL or Xanadu, or this, the most amazing scene of skating ever seen in history:

















Tony Stark! He's Steve Martin's best friend. Because he's the only guy who in comparison makes Steve feel less compulsive.