Kermit the Frog, Motivational Speaker

Born in a humble swamp, top sales and marketing genius Kermit T. Frog began his career selling the magazine Frog's Life door-to-door when he was only a tadpole. Graduating from Harvard Business School and serving his country overseas in the war in Vietnam, Kermit returned to the US to work for Merrill Lynch for four years as a securities consultant. A self-taught top salesman, Kermit rose to the pinnacle of Wall Street and soon formed his own worldwide firm of investment consultants. He made his first million dollars not long afterwards. The rest, as you know, is history.

Kermit's taken time out of his busy schedule to come speak today on the subject of "never giving up," the theme of his four bestselling business and inspirational books, his weekly cable television and radio shows, and the series of globally successful audiotapes and CDs. Acknowledged as one of the leading figures not only in world business and banking but also in the self-help field, Kermit speaks at over two hundred seminars like this one every year, inspiring you to reach for the top, to never give up, to go for the gold and the glory that comes with boldly stepping into life...The Kermit Way.

Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to America's most popular self-help and financial advice guru, the frog who never gives up, and who will teach you how to bring that same never-say-die attitude to your own business and personal life. Author of There's No "I" in "I Give Up" and What's That Over There? Success? Let's Drive There Right Now!, the frog who will tell you what to do and how to avoid failure......Mister Kermit the Frog, Motivational Speaker!


Panels from Marvel Comics Super Special #32: The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), script by Stan Kay, pencils by Dean Yeagle, inks by Jacqueline Roettcher, colors by Andy Yanchus, letters by Jim Novak
Join us next time when Kermit the Frog, Motivational Speaker, says:

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 61

But then later...


Panels from Untold Tales of Spider-Man #21 (May 1997), script by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Pat Olliffe, inks by Al Williamson, colors by Steve Mattsson, letters by Richard Starkings

Monday Night Murals: Throw them hands up and show some love/And I welcome you to Detroit City

When you think of great superhero teams, there are some big names that come to mind. The Avengers. The X-Men. The Green Lanterns! The Fantastic Four! The Defenders! The Great Lakes Avengers! WildC.A.T.S.! Kickers, Inc.! The Thor Corps! The Smurfs! Gen13! Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! Wait, wait, surely that's wrong there, sorry. Nobody thinks of WildC.A.T.S. as a great superhero team.

But each and every one of 'em owes a debt of gratitude and perhaps a monetary kickback or two to the premier superhero team of the Silver Age, the high-powered assemblage that inspired them all: The Justice League of America! And when you think of the Justice League of America, a lot of people think of Super Friends. And when you think of Super Friends, a lot of people think of the opening narration, done by Ted Baxter on one of his days off from frustrating Mary and Murray and Lou: "In the great Hall of the Justice League...there are assembled the world's four greatest heroes...created from the cosmic legends of the universe! Vibe!...Vixen!...Steel!...Gypsy!"



Ah, yes. The team nicknamed Justice League Detroit: because even DC Comics didn't want these guys in one of their fictionopolises. Nowadays there's an air of fond nostalgia around these Motor City mustangs, but they seemed to have been created to fulfill a "throw everything against the wall and try to be a new X-Men" idea...a gap that DC spent most of the eighties trying to fill. Give or take a Dale Gunn or two, there's not an awful lot memorable about the JLD era of the JLA.

Although...they did kick off their run with a pretty cool four-part cover mural:

Justice League of America #233-236 (December 1984-March 1985), art by Chuck Patton and Dick Giordano

(Click picture to Built-Ford-Tough-a-size)

Whoa, you certainly can't say that cover isn't full of colorful characters and lots of action. And, floating heads. In fact, each of the four new members of the JLA appears twice on these series of covers: once on their "spotlight" cover and on one other issue as a fine floating head. And I think we all know how painful that can be.

I like these interlocking covers and remember them a lot better than the stories inside. Sure, there's some inherent goofiness in the image, especially when you realize that Steel is the only thing holding that big-ass chunk of chocolate cake slab of stone up. I like the dynamism of the whole piece, with lots of implied action and movement, even though Vibe is the only shown shown to be actually attacking someone. In fact, he's tossin' his specially patented vibe-rays at that thug so hard he gets knocked straight into the next issue. That's not only strong, that's metafictional.

The JLD didn't hang around long. Although they made it through the Crisis on Infinite Earths, where characters much more popular than they were eaten like popcorn by the Anti-Monitor, the guy who makes it impossible for you to see what's happening on your computer screen, half of them were dead by the time Legends rolled around, the other half on the run. A brand new series just called Justice League was right around the corner, and it wouldn't be long until every kid in America was running around declaring "Bwah-ha-ha-ha!" and "One punch! One punch!" and "Kooey Kooey Kooey!" Ah, those were happy days.

Guest-star bits and references to the four new characters of the Detroit era would pop up here and there in the DCU for the next several years, but my favorite recent appearance was in the Justice League Unlimited TV cartoon series, which put Orin's Quirky Quadrumvirate in the background of a lot of episodes, although Vixen had a running subplot romance and the others did get more face time in the accompanying comic book based on the series. Here's the last moments of the final episode of JLU, with each of the Justice Leaguers rushing towards us. In a clever moment of fanboy fancy, the heroes are grouped thematically: sprinting together in packs are members originating with the Justice Society, characters created by Steve Ditko, the JLI-era heroes, Ollie and Dinah, and of course, all together now...Justice League Detroit:



Nowadays, tho', you don't see a whole lotta references to the Detroit League, with the exception of Vixen. She's made quite a comeback for herself these days with her own miniseries and a prominent role in the brand-new, reborn JLA. Hmmmm, why is Vixen is getting all the attention, huh? I mean, Vixen!?! Gimme two good reasons why Vix..



Oh. Ohhhhh. Okay.

Want to "read more about" the Justice League of Detroit? Check your local library, or better yet, head on over to BitterAndrew's Armagideon Time for a Detroit-Rockin' survey of the JLD era! Tell 'im Bully sent ya!

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 60

Panel from Marvel Team-Up #90 (February 1980), script by Steven Grant, breakdowns by Mike Vosburg, finishes and inks by Bob McLeod, colors by George Roussos, letters by John Costanza

Ten of a Kind: Widescreen

Okay, okay, so the last one is kind of a cheat. But then again, so was this:



Well, just in case you want a real tenth sideway comic cover, here's one of my favorites:



Not only is the entire story in FF #252 sideways, but also, four issues later, the letters column commenting on the ish is, too:



Now that's widescreen.

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 59

Panels from Avengers #190 (December 1979), plot by Roger Stern, script by Steven Grant, pencils by John Byrne, inks by Dan Green, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by John Costanza

Separated at Birth: Pick a card, any card

L: The Best of DC Digest #5 (May-June 1980), art by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano
R: Justice League of America v.2 #1, cover "B" (October 2006), art by Ed Benes, Mariah Benes and Alex Sinclair

(Click picture to wide-a-size)

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 58

Panel from Avengers #180 (February 1979), script by Tom Defalco, pencils by Jim Mooney, inks by Mike Esposito, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Denise Wohl

Mind the Credibility Gap

Over at his blog, Benjamin Birdie—artist on The Rack and a big Green Lantern fan—has come up with an idea so brilliant, a design mashup so triffic that I wish I'd thought of it first (That green glow you see about me isn't a Lantern Ring, it's jealousy, folks!): the Lantern symbols as New York City Transit signs.

Pretty cool, huh? To which I can only respond:





Context:

Saturday Morning Cartoon: X-Feld: The Vacuum Cleaner

X-Feld: The Vacuum Cleaner, an X-Men/Seinfeld mashup by YouTube user GadgetWK

Let's Talk Trash About the Superheroes: Iron Man

Iron Man gives his fans crappy souvenirs.

Panel from Tales of Suspense #41 (May 1963), plot by Stan Lee, script by Robert Bernstein, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Dick Ayers, letters by Marty Epp

A couple months later in 1963, a piece of that cannonball was melted down and made into bullets, one of which killed John F. Kennedy. How does that make you feel about Iron Man now?!?

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 57

Panel from X-Men Origins: Beast one-shot (November 2008), script by Mike Carey; pencils, inks, and colors by J. K. Woodward; letters by Rus Wooton

Let's Learn Portuguese with Mary Jane Watson!

Portugal! Our friendly neighbor to the North! Home of the diggeridoo, fine mustard yards, beautiful beaches and hand-rolled cigars, the world's finest chocolates and cuckoo clocks, ruled over by Victor von Doom and headquarters of the JLP...The Justice League of Portugal!: Grande Boca, Crânio, Tia Biquíni, Churrasco, Sabonete Líquido, Voleibol, and Portuguese Man-of-War! Yes, this country has a rich, exciting culture of the sort generally only seen in 1960s View-Master reels. Because of the Portuguese UN sanctions of 1968, you and I can never visit this secretive, closed country, but we can enjoy its hearty native foods like cravinho, guarda-chuva, and verniz de unhas! Of course, on December 2, everyone in the friendly and bustling Little Portugal communities in every major US city gather to celebrate the Feast of Nelly Furtado, and it's a grand time for all until the last of the traditional nine thousand fireworks have gone off.

Yes, we here in America obviously know pretty much everything about Portugal! But do you know how to speak Portuguese? Why, I'm betting you don't know anything more than the few basic words it takes to communicate with the Portuguese squid fisherman who shares your carpool each morning. Be sure to greet him with a hearty slap on the back and a friendly feliz Páscoa! each and every day as he slides into the Toyota Camry alongside you. But for those of you longing to learn more conversational Portugeuse, perhaps to impress former Manchester United footballer Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, why not do what I do...

Learn Portuguese with Mary Jane Watson!

Why, it's as easy as tarte de natas to learn this romantic language with the help of the Marvel Universe's most vivacious, outgoing, energetic and frequently retconned-out-of-existence redhead. All you need is a copy of O Homem-Aranha, available at any good local Portuguese corner store. (Pick your favorite artist: Estêvão Diitko, João Romita, or even the artist known in Portugal as ''Todd McFarlane". I've chosen for the example today a copy of O Homem-Aranha #167, which I purchased for a mere eight-eighty thousand Portuguese escudos. (The exchange rate is really good over there!)



Now, we could consult special Portuguese to English dictionaries or perhaps phone up our pal, Portuguese-American actress Danica McKellar (formerly "Winnie" on the hit TV show The Wonder Years and now the superheroine 'Math Maiden' of the Philadelphia Avengers). But translation is easy when you pull from your own collection the corresponding issue of the American Spider-Man comic...in this case, Spectacular Spider-Man #220!


Cover of Spectacular Spider-Man #220 (January 1995), art by Sal Buscema

See, comparing these two comic book covers makes it simple to read Portuguese! The word Peter, or, as we say in English, Tiger, is easy enough, and comparing the highlighted words in red we can detect that the word "papai" means "news." Hence, I would imagine the Portuguese J. Jonah Jameson would work on a "papai-papel." I bet he is shouting for Parker to take him photographs of cork oaks all day long!

The rest of the phrase immediately falls into place: "você vai ser" can be translated as "here, please accept this" or "O am happy to present you with," or, most colloquially, "catch!"

Therefore: Peter, você vai ser papai! can be translated as Tiger, do I have news for you! Why, thanks, Mary Jane...or as we say in Portugal...muitíssimo agradecido, María de la Iva!

Hey, girls! Got a Portuguese boyfriend? (Sure you do!) Surprise him tonight when he comes home by tossing your arms around him and declaring happily "Você vai ser papai!" That look of shock and surprise on his face is pure delight that you've taken time to learn his romantic, old-fashioned language!

Tune in next time when we learn Norwegian with Namor the Sub-Mariner!

---

Special bonus: Spider-Man in Portuguese!


I think they're arguing about ham.

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 56

Panel from [Uncanny] X-Men #15 (December 1965), script by Stan Lee, layouts by Jack Kirby, pencils by Werner Roth, inks by Dick Ayers, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 55

Panel from "Endangered Species" back-up in New X-Men v.2 #40 (September 2007), script by Chris Yost, pencils by Scot Eaton, inks by Andrew Hennessy, colors by Raul Trevino, letters by Joe Caramagna

Extreme Makeover: Rahne Sinclair

from Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants (1982), script by Chris Claremont, pencils and inks by Bob McLeod, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Tom Orzechowski




from The New Mutants Annual #3 (1987), script by Chris Claremont, pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Paul Neary, colors by Glynis Oliver, letters by Tom Orzechowski



And then, Rahne discovered Hot Topic:


from The New Mutants v.3 #9 (February 2004), script by Nunzio Defilippis and Christina Weir, pencils by Carlo Barberi, inks by Wayne Faucher and Juan Vlasco, colors by Ian Hannin and Rob Ro, letters by Dave Sharpe

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 54

Panels from The [New] Defenders #127 (January 1984), script by J. M. DeMatteis, layouts by Sal Buscema, finishes and inks by Alan Kupperberg, colors by Paul Becton, letters by Janice Chiang

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 53

Panels from The [New] Defenders #128 (February 1984), script by J. M. DeMatteis, pencils by Alan Kupperberg, inks by Mike Mignola, colors by Paul Becton, letters by Janice Chiang

Ten of a Kind: One day I'm feeling down on the ground/Then I'm up in the air

This post is dedicated to my pal Kevin Church. Enjoy, it, Mister C!

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days with Hank McCoy, Day 52

Panels from Professor X and the X-Men #28 (November 1995), script by Fred Schiller, pencils by Jan Duursema, inks by Rick Magyar and Mike Sellers, colors by Matt Webb, letters by Pat Brosseau