On a hot day like this, even Harvey Dent deserves a cool refreshing treat

Isn't that right, Harv?

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 176

Panel from Ultimate Fantastic Four #27 (April 2006), script by Mark Millar, pencils by Greg Land, inks by Matt Ryan, colors by Justin Ponsor, letters by Randy Gentile

No, folks, your baby blues do not deceive you, nor have shape-shifting aliens turned this feature into 365 Days with a Skrull. That is, in fact, Ultimate Ben Grimm in the Super-Skrull armor!

Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man and My Mom

Q: What better way to spend a pleasant June evening than hanging around on the farm with Spider-Man as he tells cow jokes? A: Lots of ways.




"Wit of the Web-Slinger" by Julie Mishkin, from Spidey Super Stories #29 (December 1977)

In the panel after that last one, Spider-Man was gored by my dad.

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 175

Panel from Wolverine v.3 #73 (July 2009), script by Jason Aaron, pencils by Adam Kubert, inks by Mark Farmer, colors by Justin Ponsor, letters by Cory Petit

Welcome to the jungle, we got fun 'n' games! We got everything you want!

In this panel from Jungle Action #18 there are forty Wakandan warriors. None of them can be seen. In this post we hope to show you how not to be seen.


All panels from Jungle Action #18 (November 1975), script by Don McGregor, pencils by Billy Graham, inks by Bob McLeod, colors by Don Warfield, letters by Dave Hunt

This is Mrs. L. J. M'kando of Central Wakanda City. Mrs. M'kando has chosen a most cunning way to conceal herself: through the use of camouflage.

(Click pixchur 4 x-tra kittehs)

Mrs. M'kando has learned the first lesson in how not to be seen: keeping herself from being...heh heh heh...easily spotted.

Bonus Jungle Action #18 fun!:

True or false: The title of this story is 'Epilogue!':



A: False! What you think is the title is actually a rare cloud formation native to the land of Wakanda that to some people might appear to spell out letters than the human mind tricks into thinking it looks vaguely like the word "Epilogue"!



At certain times during rainy season on the Wakandan plains, this cloud formation can be seen for many miles, unless you're in Northern Wakanda, in which case it would spell 'EUGOLIPE'.



Native superstition says that 'when epilogue cloud hangs low in the sky, a woman by laser arm attack will die.' It's an oddly accurate prophecy.



It would be many years until Queen Ororo Munroe came to Wakanda and, through the use of her mutant weather powers, discovered that the mysterious cloud was actually an advertising campaign for Epilogue Motors, home of T'Khandra's Wacky Wednesday Wheels-a-Rama Sale. That's Epilogue Motors, conveniently located in Wakanda City, just off Panther Highway, behind the Appleby's!

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 174

Cover art to the paperback novel Fantastic Four: War Zone (August 2005), by Greg Cox, cover art by Glen Orbik

How about an extra bonus...a Ben Grimm appearance in prose?:

You wanna read the rest? Of course you do! So make with the clickety-click, bub, and get yourself a copy!

The History of Comic Book Sharing, 1977: Early experiments with jpegs

The year is 1977! And NASA launches the last of America's deep space probes the new electronic age dawns with the introduction of the first color computer, the Apple II, and the foundation of ARCnet begins the rapid development of the modern Internet! This is also the year that (between lining up for Star Wars), comic book fans begin using this startling new technology and experimenting with progressive and modern techniques to transfer and share comic books via the new medium of...computers!

Unfortunately, early experiments with the jpeg format could only produce a resolution of 4 pixels per inch, rendering comic books two-dimensional and unintelligible, as shown below—at this low image quality, even true fans can't discern the difference between Dr. Strange and Incredible Hulk comic books!:


Panel from Incredible Hulk Annual #6 (November 1977), plot by Len Wein, plot and script by David Anthony Kraft, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito, colors by Janice Cohen, letters by Gaspar Saladino

So once again, Scans_Daily is thwarted...and the safety of comic book copyright is preserved safely from rabid fans intent on sharing files illegally. But for how long... for...how...long?

Next time, on The History of Comic Book Sharing...Enter the Mimeograph!

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 173

Panels from Strange Tales #101 (1987), plot by Stan Lee, script by Larry Lieber, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Art Simek, and featuring #3,254 and 3,255 of the 5,000 Hats of Jack Kirby!

Ten of a Kind: Glide, Goblin, glide upon your mystery ship

House ad from Marvel Comics cover-dated February 1986
Click to Santa-size

I also think there was an image homage in the '94 Spider-Man TV cartoon, and in one of the movies. Now where's my DVDS?

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 172

Panels from teaser preview story in Marvel Age Annual #3 (1987), written by Steve Englehart, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Joe Sinnott

Separated at Birth: Well, it's a marvelous night for a moondeath

L: [Uncanny] X-Men #137 (September 1980), art by John Byrne and Terry Austin
R: Exiles v.1 #4 (November 2001), art by Mike McKone
(Click picture to Blue-Area-of-the-Moon-size)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 171

Cover of X-Man #59 (January 2000), art by Mike Miller

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Star Trek: Kelvin

Fan-made CGI opening credit sequence for a Star Trek: Kelvin TV series (2009), created by Emil Karlsson of DragonWhelp Productions

Way cool! I think I know what's going to happen to the Captain and his first officer in the final episode, though...

Favorite Beatles Songs of the Superheroes

Hey, Wolverine!
What's your favorite Beatles song?

Panel from Giant-Size Wolverine #1 (December 2006), script by David Lapham, pencils and inks by David Aja, colors by Jose Villarrubia, letters by Joe Caramagna

This has been another installment of "Favorite Beatles Songs of the Superheroes." Join us again next time when we sing along with that popular Fab Four favorite "Hey, Beta Ray Bill, what did you kill, Beta Ray Bill..."

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 170

Panel from Fantastic Four #227 (February 1981), script by Doug Moench, breakdowns by Bill Sienkiewicz, finishes and inks by Bruce Patterson, colors by George Roussos, letters by Jim Novak

Because sometimes you just have to post a panel of the Silver Surfer in a bathrobe...

...enjoying a steamin' hot Lipton Cup O' Soup.

Panels from Silver Surfer #12 (January 1970), script by Stan Lee, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Dan Adkins, letters by Sam Rosen

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 169

Panel from Marvel Knights 4 (really? that was its title?) #24 (January 2006), script by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, art by Mizuki Sakakibara, colors by Dan Kemp, letters by David Sharpe

Tales of the Spoiler (or, Bruce Willis was a ghost!)

Greetings, humans! It is I, Ardu, second cousin to Uatu and member of The Watchers, our ancient race which observes the goings on of the universe! Each Watcher is charged with but two tasks: to observe and to never interfere.

But that's boring. Like all other Watchers, I see all! I know all! But, unlike my boring brethern, I tell all...for I am...The Spoiler!



Today, I shall spoil for you some silver age Marvel science fiction comics, "Strange Tales" where no plot is too bizarre and the strange turns that fate has in store for ordinary men shall be revealed by...The Spoiler! In other words, what Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and Jack Kirby slaved to make surprising to you mere mortals, I shall spoil by revealing the secret O. Henry-esque twist ending of each tale, thus decreasing your surprise and shock upon reaching the conclusion of the story! Also, I have removed these comics from their hermetically sealed plastic cases, thus spoiling their future resale value. Hah! Prepare for these stories to be spoiled, humans!

The alien spaceships were actually alive!

All along, it was the car who was the killer!

All along, it was the car who saved their lives!

He was actually the descendent of...Gulliver!

Those weren't really giant frogs after all!

Those weren't alien creatures after all...those were time travellers from the future!

Those weren't alien creatures after all...those were...ah, um...transmuted humans changed into weird forms after touching the alien gold!

The man who ran to sea to escape solitary confinement...was Robinson Crusoe!

Those weren't really magic paints...he's a hypnotist!

Those really were magic paints!

So there you go, beings of Earth! Classic science fiction tales from the Marvel comic magazine you call Strange Tales rendered rather less strange by...The Spoiler! I do, in fact, think it would be more apt to call them...Spoiled Tales! Ha ha ha ha ha!

Now I, The Spoiler, must take my leave of you, and let me leave you with this story-wrecking spoiler...



So, humans, farewell from...The Spoiler!

(Also, that Planet of the Apes? It was Earth, all along.)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 168

Panels from Secret Wars #8 (December 1984), script by Jim Shooter, pencils by Michael Zeck, inks by John Beatty, Jack Abel, and/or Mike Esposito, colors by Christie Scheele, letters by Joe Rosen