Captain Tootsie Month, Day 4: Geez, Mrs. Kelly, buy him some proper toys

"Captain Tootsie and the Hand Grenade," printed in World's Finest Comics #19 (Autumn 1945), by C. C. Beck and Peter Constanza

Remember, kids, when celebrating the Fourth of July by throwing hand grenades, be sure to throw them away from, not towards, your friends!

Today in Comics History, July 4, 1946: Johnny Everyman means well but OH MY GOD PLEASE STOP CALLING HIM BONGO, JOHNNY

from the Johnny Everyman story "The Spirit of '46" in World's Finest Comics #26 (DC, January 1947), script by Jack Schiff, pencils and inks by John Daly
Happy Independence Day, all the citizens of the Republic of the Philippines! And on behalf of us here in the lower eastern 48, I humbly apologize for Johnny Everyman and the name "Bongo."

Today in Comics History, July 4, 1978: Spider-Woman suspects the color tone is off on her Avengers movie DVD

from Spider-Woman (1978 series) #7 (Marvel, October 1978), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Steve Leialoha and Al Gordon, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Rick Parker

Today in Comics History, July 4: Smallville, Kansas is destroyed

from "The Holiday Hijackers" in Adventure Comics #145 (DC, October 1949), script by Edmond Hamilton, pencils and inks by John Sikela

Today in Comics History, July 4, 1978: Well, that'll happen on the Fourth of July

from Spider-Woman (1978 series) #7 (Marvel, October 1978), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Steve Leialoha and Al Gordon, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Rick Parker

Today in Comics History, July 3, 1978: C. W. McCall gets the inspiration for his hit song

from Spider-Woman (1978 series) #7 (Marvel, October 1978), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Steve Leialoha and Al Gordon, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Rick Parker

Today in Comics History, July 3: Clark plans his neck-snapping holiday

from "The Holiday Hijackers" in Adventure Comics #145 (October 1949), script by Edmond Hamilton, pencils and inks by John Sikela

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 184: Where's Flop?

House ad for Leading Comics #24 (April-May 1947); printed in World's Finest Comics #27 (March-April 1947)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Otto Feuer (?)
Hey, that's a pretty impressive all-star line-up of anthropomorphinals, but where's Flop? Where, oh where, is Flop?

Oh, he's right here!:


Cover of Flippity & Flop #4 (June-July 1952), pencils and inks by Jim Davis (no, not that one)

Captain Tootsie Month, Day 3: The Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to both foxes and monsters would like to have a word with Captain Tootsie

"Captain Tootsie Battles Monster Man," printed in World's Finest Comics #11 (Autumn 1943)

Today in Comics History, July 3, 1978: The LOLcat is invented

from Spider-Woman (1978 series) #7 (Marvel, October 1978), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Steve Leialoha and Al Gordon, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Rick Parker

Today in Comics History, July 3, 1978: It's Casual Day at Army, Mother

from Spider-Woman (1978 series) #7 (October 1978), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Steve Leialoha and Al Gordon, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Rick Parker

Today in Comics History, July 2, 1937: Amelia Earhart leaves aviation job for a lucrative new career in speculative history

from Time Lincoln: Apocalypse Mao one-shot (Antarctic, November 2010); script, pencils and inks by Fred Perry; colors by Robby Bevard and Wes Hartman

Well, that'll happen

Panel from "The Reptile Girl of Metropolis!" in Lois Lane #61 (November 1965), script by Leo Dorfman, pencils and inks by Kurt Schaffenberger, letters by Vivian Berg

Today in Comics History, July 2, 1978: Criminal boss pounds table, spills water, seals his inevitable doom

from Spider-Woman (1978 series) #7 (Marvel, October 1978), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Steve Leialoha and Al Gordon, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Rick Parker

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 183: Jimminy, Comics Oughta Be More Fun

House ad for More Fun Comics #122 (May 1947); printed in World's Finest Comics #28 (May-June 1947)
Here's that cover in glorious full color:


Cover of More Fun Comics #122 [Jimminy and the Magic Book] (May 1947), pencils and inks by Howie Post
And another couple lovely Jimminy covers by Howie Post:



Cover of More Fun Comics #121 and 126 [Jimminy and the Magic Book] (April and September 1947), pencils and inks by Howie Post

Today in Comics History, July 2, 1978: Stark International develops up-to-the-minute computers that run on punchcards

from Spider-Woman (1978 series) #7 (Marvel, October 1978), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Steve Leialoha and Al Gordon, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Rick Parker

Today in Comics History, July 2, 1978: Dr. Strange, Spider-Woman, and Santa Claus visit the zoo

from Spider-Woman (1978 series) #7 (Marvel, October 1978), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Steve Leialoha and Al Gordon, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Rick Parker

Captain Tootsie Month, Day 2: It's big, it's heavy, it's wood

"Captain Tootsie and the Log Jam Rescue," printed in Funny Stuff #29 (January 1948), by C. C. Beck and Pete Constanza

Today in Comics History, July 1, 1977: Rorschach goes hang-gliding

from Before Watchmen: Rorschach #1 (DC, October 2012), script by Brian Azzarello, pencils and inks by Lee Bermejo, colors by Barbara Ciardo, letters by Rob Leigh

It's my birthday and I'll eat cupcakes if I wanna (And my Star Trek Into Darkness movie review)

Panel from "The Mirrors That Predicted the Future" in Shazam! (1973 series) #4 (July 1973), script by Elliot S! Maggin; pencils, inks and letters by C. C. Beck
Well, well, well, guess whose birthday it is? (Go ahead, guess.) It's mine! (And not Billy Batson's, which is February 29th. Thank you everyone for all the wonderfully nice birthday greetings and cupcakes! Today I am turning six years old. (Which is a very good age to be!) Also, I had birthday cupcakes!

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 182: "Let's get Tenzil...he'll eat anything!" "He likes it! HEY TENZIL!"

Let's begin the second half of 365 Days of DC House Ads with quite possibly my favorite DC House Ad of all time, a two-page spread promoting Legion of Super-Heroes while cleverly repurposing famous DC comics title logos!

House ad for Legion of Super-Heroes (1983); script by Paul Levitz, pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Larry Mahlstedt
printed in DC Sampler #1 (November 1983)
It might have been inspired by this similar-themed 1978 cover:


Cover of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #236 (February 1978), pencils by Mike Grell, inks by Joe Rubinstein

Captain Tootsie Month, Day 1: And yet somehow it's still Bear Attack! Month

And so we bid farewell to Bear Attack! Month, 30 bear-maimin' days of clawing excitement and ursine madness, to focus on a new monthly feature. I'll kick it off by asking you the musical question: name a cartoon spokescharacter for Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie Pops.

Did you answer Mr. Wise Old Owl?


Well, sure. But did you forget...or maybe you never even knew about...the long-running comic book advertising mascot for Tootsie, that Suleman of Sugar, Captain Tootsie? Co-created by C.C. Beck (the original Captain Marvel) and Beck Studios artist Pete Costanza, Captain Tootsie championed the quick energy burst that chewing on a Tootsie Roll could give you. Candy: it's your best friend. Cap and his sugar-crazed sidekicks battled their way through a candy store's worth of adventure, thirty-one of which I'll present to you this month. And to make the transition from Bear Attack! Month to Captain Tootsie Month more smooth (and rich, delicious and chocolately), let's kick it off with how Tootsie Rolls can fend off a rampaging bear! (And he didn't even have to use Ray-O-Vac batteries!) Take it away, Cap!


"Captain Tootsie Traps Killer Bear with Invisible Light," advertisement in Superman #54 (September-October 1948), script by C. C. Beck, pencils and inks by Pete Costanza
"You don't need a sniperscope to spot the gosh-a-mighty goodness of chewy, chocolatey Tootsie Rolls." Although that would make a dandy new Bourne Identity film, wouldn't it? So, until our next installment, you can read more about Captain Tootsie over at Don Markstein's excellent Toonopedia. And don't forget: keep eating those Tootsie Rolls!

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 181: It's the Guardians of the Galaxy, but over at DC

House ad for DC Super-Stars #16 [Star Hunters] (September-October 1977) and Star Hunters #1 (October-November 1977), printed in The Superman Family #185 (September-October 1977)

Today in Comics History, June 30: Stretch Armstrong is invented

from Fantastic Four #580 (Marvel, August 2010), script by Jonathan Hickman, pencils by Neil Edwards, inks by Andrew Currie, colors by Paul Mounts, letters by Rus Wooton

Bear Attack! Month, Day 30: Christopher Robin marched to Jerusalem and never came home

Panel from "The Gollywhopper Egg" in Winnie-the-Pooh #3 (September 1977), creators unknown

Today in Comics History: In Soviet Russia, Earth hits you, meteor!

Panel from "Solar System Sizes" non-fiction feature in Challengers of the Unknown #22 (October-November 1961), creators unknown

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 180: The Greatest Lois Lane Ad Ever

House ad for Lois Lane #77 (October 1967); printed in World's Finest Comics #169 (September 1967)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Kurt Schaffenberger, letters by Ira Schnapp
"Lois as a witch" heads taken from "The Witch of Metropolis" in Lois Lane #77 (originally printed in Lois Lane #1), script by Otto Binder, pencils and inks by Kurt Schaffenberger

Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp
One of the great things, I'd always thought alllll those years ago since I started my 365 Days with... project with Ben Grimm, was that I could post a panel, make a funny alt-text comment, and then boom! There it was, instant post! And yet this year I find myself adding more and more panels and commentary to the DC House Ads (like here and here and here) until they become more like what I like to call (ahem) "regular posts." (Which is also why there's no Psylocke Psaturday again tonight. Sorry!)

Because seriously, could I resist showing you panels from the story where Lois turns into a witch? No, I could not.

Bear Attack Month, Day 29: Duck, Bear, Duck!

And now, panels from the greatest Bear Attack story in the history of comics!*








Panel from Four Color #178 [Donald Duck in Christmas on Bear Mountain] (December 1947); script, pencils, inks and letters by Carl Barks

*And yes, Chris Sims, I have read that one about the Punisher and the polar bears.

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 179: Bob Hope explains global expansion

House ad for the final issue of The Adventures of Bob Hope (#108, December 1967-January 1968); printed in Green Lantern #57 (December 1967)

Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Neal Adams (!!!), letters by Ira Schnapp
"Dig What's Coming" pencilled, inked, and lettered by Henry Boltinoff

Today in Comics History, June 28: Flying City Room discovers it is not the Floating City Room

from "The Flying City Room" in Big Town #2 (DC, February 1951), script by France Herron, pencils by Dan Barry, inks by Sy Barry

Bear Attack! Month, Day 28: Clark was the only one in a sweatshirt and long pants at summer camp

Panels from "Superboy Meets Lois Lane" in Adventure Comics #261 (June 1959), script by Otto Binder, pencils and inks by George Papp
Yes, truly, this was The Greatest Lois Lane Story Ever.

There Is No Hope at Haley's Circus

Yesterday I took you on a guided excursion...please do not stray outside the tour!—of Gotham City's Crime Alley: you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. (On this planet.) And I took you through some of the history, legend, and comic book stories of Crime Alley, explaining its importance and significance to our bat-garbed crimefighter. But tonight we're going to walk on a slightly more...bizarre path, looking at a few, quite different (and very possibly non-canonical) adventures in Crime Alley, and we'll end up with the explanation of why not just Bruce Wayne, but also Dick Grayson, the first Robin, can never forget what night Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered. Y'all ready? Please do not dawdle at the back there!