Hold That Tiger

Today DC Comics publicly announced that it was re-introducing one of its classic male characters and revealing him to be gay! Kudos for you, DC...nice to see you move with the times and present heroes of all orientations and inclinations! But who is this gay hero, you're asking? Well, the hints were pretty obvious: he comes from the Golden Age, he's never been married, and he's a classic favorite of everyone who enjoys comics. That's why I applaud the decision of DC to let this hero come out of the closet. Introducing the newest gay hero of comics:

Mr. Tawky Tawny!

Yes, Mr. Tawky Tawny, tiger pal of the Big Red Cheese himself, Captain Marvel. What's that? You never suspected Tawky was a gay man tiger? Clearly you've never read the classic tale where he was unable to get a home in a suburban neighborhood merely because of the love that dare not roar its name?



Remember: this was the late 1940s. People still had a lot of hang-ups about that sort of thing. Thank goodness we've gotten over all that today, huh?



Judging him only upon his sexual orientation, Tawky Tawny was banned from moving to the neighborhood, even though Captain Marvel agreed to co-sign his lease.



Anti-gay protests against the peaceful tiger begin to build as J. Q. Harsch begins a smear campaign against the new neighbor!



But the quiet and peaceful surroundings of Fawcett City's suburbia is not a peaceful as it might seem, as violent anti-gay-tiger activists threaten!



Even standing up against violence doesn't protect Tawky Tawny from exerting his rights to life, liberty, and a nice little stucco home, two up, two down. And he keeps his lawn so neat and clean, too!



Captain Marvel vows to stand by his friend no matter what! That's why Cap has been a symbol of the fight for gay rights for the past several decades!



The news quickly spreads: homosexuals are not wanted in this neighborhood! Luckily the kids of the area accept Tawny for what he is: a heckuva cool guy.



THE MOB ATTACKS!



In the end it all worked out when Mr. Tawky Tawny moved to Fire Island...



...and became one of the most valued members of the community!


Panels above from Captain Marvel Adventures #90 (January 1950), script by Otto Binder, pencils and inks by C. C. Beck

So kids: always remember the lessons of tolerance and acceptance that comics, and Batman, give us:



And Tawky Tawny lived happily ever after, able to live his flamboyant lifestyle.




Panels from (top to bottom) Captain Marvel Adventures #104, Captain Marvel Adventures #126, Shazam! #7

So three cheers for DC and Tawky Tawny, and hooray for the acceptance of more gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered comic book characters. And tigers too!

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 153

Panels from The Brave and the Bold #100 (February-March 1972), script by Bob Haney; pencils, inks and letters by Jim Aparo

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 152

Panels from the Brave and the Bold #97 (August-September 1971), script by Bob Haney, pencils by Bob Brown, inks by Nick Cardy

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 151

Panel from Batman #499 (September 1993), script by Doug Moench, pencils by Jim Aparo, inks by Scott Hanna, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Ken Bruzenak

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 150

Panels from Batman #404 (December 1986), script by Max Allan Collins, pencils and inks by Jim Starlin, colors by Daina Graziunas, letters by John Costanza

Wonder Woman is not allowed to play war games with my three uncles

Panels from Ame-Comi Wonder Woman #1 (May 2012), script by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, pencils and inks by Amanda Commer, colors by Paul Mounts, letters by Wes Abbott

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 149

Panels from The Untold Legend of the Batman #2 (August 1980), script by Len Wein; pencils, inks, and letters by Jim Aparo; colors by Tatjana Wood

Remember.

"I lost many, many buddies over there. Some I don't even remember their names. I can still remember their faces, I remember how they died."—Joe Hanley, infantry, WWII, Europe, as interviewed by Studs Terkel for the book "The Good War")


from The Twelve: Spearhead one-shot (Marvel, May 2010), script and pencils by Chris Weston, inks by Gary Erskine and Gary Weston, colors by Chris Chuckry, letters by Jimmy Betancourt

Today in Comics History, May 28, 1897: Keanu Reeves finally gets the rare Winona Ryder trading card

from Bram Stoker's Dracula #1 (Topps, October 1992), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Mike Mignola, inks by John Nyberg, colors by Mark Chiarello, letters by John Costanza

Please Stand By

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 148

Panels from "The Bat-Ape" (what else would it be titled?) in Batman #114 (March 1958), pencils by Sheldon Moldoff, inks by Charles Paris, colors by Pat Gordon

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 147

Panel from "Robin's New Secret Identity" in Batman #162 (March 1964), script by Dave Wood, pencils by Sheldon Moldoff, inks by Charles Paris, letters by Joe Letterese

Seven the Fun Way

Greetings, Beneficent Bully-Boosters! Pat yourself on the back because you've popped in on a special day...it's my Seventh Blogiversary! (Yes, I'm only six years old...what is your point?) Seven years ago today I read some comics and started this little puppet-town cow-blog, and here, seven years later, the fun is still all around! (But mostly in comic books.)

I want to thank you all for reading Comics Oughta Be Fun!, because without readers, what would a blog be but a dairy? I mean a diary. Sorry, important cow words getting mixed up there. Thank you everybody!

As usual, I'd like to look back on the past twelve months and 366 days and trot out a few of my favorite posts (in no particular order)! I loved writing 'em and I hope you loved reading them! (And here they are again!) Enjoy!


The New DC: There's No Stopping Us Now: If I ran DC, here's what the New 52 woulda been!




Patriotism Is Cool: Have you checked your freezer lately for super-soldiers?




Do Daleks Dream of Shaun the Sheep?: No. They don't. But here's what they do dream of.




Erase your summer thirst: Because I'll never get tired of this joke.




Magneto's crushing your head! He's crushing your head!: Then, he's going to become a girl-drink drunk.




Things Bully Got for Christmas: The Warriors Three: Making that Volstagg figure more realistic.




The Giant Public Art of Gotham City: Because I deeply care about giant architecture.




You Only Quarrel Twice: A James Bond movie that I made up just for you.




Things Bully Got for Christmas: A Ping Pong Set: Really, the whole reason for that post is the animated gif.




John and Randi got married!: And we got special rings!

And many more! (Seriously, look 'em up.) Why? Because we are seven! Yes we are! (By we, meaning my blog. I'm still six. Why do you ask?) So here's a Ten of a Kind for Seven Special Years!























So, that's about it for my sevenbration! Join me here this time next year when I'll surely be posting this:

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 146

Panel from "The Boy Wonder Confesses!" from Batman v.1 #81 (February 1954), script by David Vern, pencils by Sheldon Moldoff, inks by Stan Kaye, letters by Pat Gordon

Today in Comics History, May 25, 1897: It's just killing him not to write "whoa" at the end of all that

from Bram Stoker's Dracula #1 (Topps, October 1992), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Mike Mignola, inks by John Nyberg, colors by Mark Chiarello, letters by John Costanza

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 145

Panels from "Batman's Robot Twin!" in Detective Comics #239 (January 1957), pencils by Sheldon Moldoff, inks by Charles Paris

Today in Comics History, May 24: Sometimes people don't change their calendars, Batman

from Detective Comics #210 (DC, August 1954), pencils by Dick Sprang, inks by Charles Paris

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 144

Panels from Batman #375 (September 1984), script by Doug Moench, pencils by Don Newton, inks by Alfredo Alcala, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Todd Klein

366 Days with Alfred Pennyworth, Day 143

Page from Batman #351 (September 1982), script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Tony DeZuniga, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by Ben Oda