What's Bully (Re*)Reading 2024 #11: DC Super Friends: Mystery in Space, by Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela, Stewart McKenny & Dan Davis, J. Bone and others

*I have read these stories previously in floppy comic format.

What's Bully Reading? 2024 #10: Acting in Film by Michael Caine

Today in Comics History, January 4: Pietro sighs and co-signs off on Wanda's bank loan

"Next Issue" page from Scarlet Witch (2023 series) #1 (Marvel, March 2023); pencils, inks, and colors by Russell Dauterman

Today in Comics History, January 3: Happy birthday, J. R. R. Tolkien!

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published January 3, 2023.

Born on this day in 1892, so you know he's really old: J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the publication of which has ruined fantasy fan online discussions for the rest of the existence of the world.


from Tolkien: Lighting Up the Darkness (Ablaze, February 2024), script by Willy Duraffourg, art by Giancarlo Caracuzzo, colors by Flavia Caracuzzo and Joël Odone
Today is also the day, 21 years later, when Tolkien's life suddenly veered into being a Richard Curtis-style rom-com:

Today in Comics History, January 3, 1919: Hanged convict saved by arrival of Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man

from "The Ghost of Wandsgate Gallows" in Ghosts (1971 series) #10 (DC/National, December 1972), script by Leo Dorfman, pencils and inks by Ernie Chan, letters by John Costanza

Today in Comics History, January 2: He blinded me with...well, best not to think about it

from "Some Dates for Your Diary" in Department of Mind-Blowing Theories (Drawn and Quarterly, April 2020), by Tom Gauld

Today in Comics History, January 1, 1925: You're busy watching football today, so I read this goofy text story so you don't have to

"Nevers vs. Notre Dame" from Football Thrills #2 (Ziff-Davis, Fall 1952), creator uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, January 1, 1976: At last, a year Keira Knightley can ask me to marry her

from "Jumping January" Dennis the Menace Bonus Magazine Series #151 [Dennis the Menace Yearbook] (Hallden/Fawcett, April 1976), creators uncredited and unknown

1968 2024 Calendars for January and the Whole Menacing Year Ahead

Hey, it's 2024!


from Cable (2008 series) #2 (Marvel, June 2008), script by Duane Swierczynski, painted art by Ariel Olivetti, letters by Joe Caramagna
And not a moment too soon, if'n ya ask me. But how do you think we can make sure it is, Albert Einstein, Jimmy Olsen, Adam Strange, and, convniently flyin' past in the purple skies, Deadman?


from DC Challenge #6 (DC, April 1986), script by Elliot S! Maggin, pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Larry Mahlstedt, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza

Today in Comics History, January 1, 1919: George M. Cohan immediately renounces his classic song

from "Larry MacPhail: Boss of the N.Y. Yankees" in True Comics #65 (Parents' Magazine Press, October 1947), creators uncredited and unknown

The 1978 2017 DC Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters: New Year's Eve Endings

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published December 31, 2017.

Throughout the year we've seen the heroes of the DC Universe face off against a dastardly, devilish diaply of do-(no)-gooders determined to destroy the Dearth...I mean, Earth...with a diversity of devastating disasters! All our favorite heroes and Hal Jordan have stopped the conveniently-separated-by-months plots dead in their tracks, but who is the Mastermind of all these sinister scenarios? Could it be the Riddler? Ra's al-Ghul? Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man? It's Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, isn't it?


"December 31" from The 1978 DC Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters (1977), art by José Luis García-López
Batman has figgered the identity of Chief Criminal thanks to clues fed into the Justice League Crime-Solvin' Computer and Dance Dance Revolution Machine, and he quickly snaps into action and detects, as the calendar tells us: "a villain The Batman must capture while Superman tries to pull the moon back into orbit. (Oy, he's always doin' that.) None of which explains why, in the calendar's cover portraying this mind-shattering scene, Batman is ridin' on the moon harness. You are literally useless in this situation, Batman! Sheesh. Go punch somebody, Bruce.


But what of that astonishing computer result that we've been waiting for this year? All year. (Eh, must be an Amiga.) I've been filling in the blanks as instructed by each month on the calendar throughout 2017 just as some of you must have done all during 1978, and here...at last...is what we've come up with. Who is the evil supervillain genius behind the year of Super-Spectacular Disasters, huh? TA-DA!:


Or, if you clean it up a little bit and assume I missed some spots throughout the year, because it's a bit more difficult with hooves:


Hooray! You know, I knew it was gonna be Luthor, but honestly until last month I didn't have any idea how the computer display was going to portray his name. Fun, huh? Off to jail for you, Lex Luthor! You may have only killed thousands of people during your Year-Long Reign of Disasters, but I'n sure you'll be out in a couple weeks because the guards at the prison gave you a ball-point pen and a baloney sandwich. Anyway, Happy New Year, and may your 2018 be Super-Spectacular with zero disasters!

Today in Comics History, December 31, 1966 1965 1964, New Year's Eve: Y2Zot strikes again

from Zot #27 (Eclipse, June 1989); script, pencils, and inks by Scott McCloud; plot assist by Ivy Ratafia; letters by Bob Lappan

Today in Comics History, Eorx 62, 9999: Time to buy a 10,000 Calendar at your local Krypt-Mart

Wait, today is Eorx 62? It feels like it's still Septober! Well, it really isn't, but where else am I gonna squeeze this "Today in Comics History" except at the very last day of the year?


from The Phantom Zone #1 (DC, January 1982), script by Steve Gerber, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Tony DeZuniga, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Milt Snapinn
But it probably isn't precise, so please mentally place Eorx 62 wherever you wish in the Gregorian Calendar! Superman would approve. Wouldn't you, Supes?


from Ambush Bug (1985 series) #3 (DC, August 1985), script by Robert Loren Fleming, plot and pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Bob Oksner, colors by Anthony Tollin, letters by John Costanza

Today in Comics History, December 31, 1968, New Year's Eve: Not so much a nightmare, more of a nice date

from "That Was Then...This Is NOW" in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme (1988 series) #9 (Marvel, November 1989), text by Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas
I set this in 1968 because I imagine that this text piece is referring to this story and the night Clea met Tom Wolfe.

Bully and His Pals: Although it's been said many times, many ways...

We weren't able to mail out a Christmas card this year, so may this be our holiday wish to you for a happy and peaceful day with plenty of fun and laughter, with much love from Bully, Shelly, and Marshall!


🎶 And from Kitty Pryde 🐈‍⬛ too! 🎶

The Adventures of Bully: Havin' Fun with Holiday Catalogues

The Adventures of Bully: Attention: I have donned my gay apparel

Meanwhile, In Brooklyn...: Ooh ooh ooh John will you take me to see Santa at the bar?

Fun with Comics: Knock his block off, Grant

from Simpsons Comics #88 (Bongo, November 2003), script by Gail Simone, pencils by John Costanza, inks by Howard Shum, colors by Art Villanueva, letters by Karen Bates

Hey, I'm on a podcast! (Rob Kelly's TreasuryCast, that is!)

But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?

...well, duh, he's the most famous of all, yes.


But even tho' y'all know his name, Rob Kelly and I found plenty to talk about Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the 1970s DC Treasuries on the latest episode of his fabulous podcast TreasuryCast! And, uh, my bestest pal John helped a lot too, 'coz it was past my bedtime.


We had a wonderful (Christmas)time talkin' about those oversized bundles o' fun technically known as Limited Collectors' Edition and the fanciful and fun Rudolph comic book stories by Rube Grossman and Sheldon Mayer, which also star one of my favorite comic book characters of all time, The Sensational Character Find of 1950, Grover Groundhog!


So head on over to wherever you find your favorite podcasts or right here on the TreasuryCast page to listen to Rob, me, and Pal John talk about everybody's favorite red-nosed comic book character (after Tony Stark). He'll go down in history!

(And don't forget to check out more Grover Groundhog fun by clicking the blue button at the top of the right-hand column on this blog!)

Today in Comics History, December 3, 1982: Sergio Aragonés Kills Marty Feldman

from "I Killed Marty Feldman" in Solo #11 (DC, August 2006); script, pencils, and inks by Sergio Aragonés; letters by Stan Sakai
As you might suspect from the title of the story, Marty Feldman died the night before, December 2, of a heart attack. Sergio feared that he'd killed him by surprising him while wearing a police uniform for a movie role. (See more in this post.) Graham Chapman was with Marty when he passed away, and he would have probably mentioned it, so I think you're innocent, Sergio.

Today in Comics History, December 3: Happy birthday, Anna Sten!

Born on this day in 1908 (probably): actress Anna Sten (Nana, The Man I Married , So Ends Our Night, They Came to Blow Up America, Let's Live a Little and more). She made her premiere in comics only three months after Superman!...


from "Stars on Parade" in Jumbo Comics #1 (Fiction House, September 1938), text by Toni Blum as Toni Rossett, pencils and inks by Bill Bossert as Lora Lane
...and then never appeared in a comic book again.

Happy birthday, Anna! I'm betting your huge comic book comeback is merely a few weeks away.

The 1989 2023 Love and Rockets Calendar: [Deslumbrante] December

"December" from Love and Rockets 1989 Calendar (Fantagraphics, 1988), artwork by Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime XXX Hernandez
(Click picture to art jam-size)

The 1978 2017 2023 DC Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters: December Destiny

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published December 1, 2017.

Happy Holidays (because we've gotten over that War on Christmas nonsense) from one thousand years in the future! That's either 3023, 3017 or 2978, depending on whichever version of the DC Calendar of Super-Spectacular Speculative Future Disasters calendar you're using. Of course, if you're talkin' a whole millennium from now, you're clearly tuning your Time Bubble in on Brane Taylor, Batman of the Year 3000 The Legion of Super-Heroes!

"December: The Legion of Super-Heroes" in The 1978 Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters; artwork by Jim Sherman and Jack Abel
(Click picture to Colossal Boy-size)
Why are the Legion at Toys "Я" Us in Times Square? Well, as some quick datebox captioning tells us, they went back to Christmas 1978 to spend time with Karate Kid who was living there in his miniseries at the time, getting ready to star in a motion picture with Pat Morita...look, just read this:


Meanwhile, it's the beginning of December, so what does that parapon of programming, the Justice League Computer, have to tell us about the identity of the Mastermind of '78?


HEY THAT'S NOT FAIR oh wait, since technically the computer doesn't get done with its computing until December 31, I guess we'll have to wait until then for the solution, huh? Talk about the answer coming at the last minute, huh? Well, at least we can comfort ourself with the clue given in the grid of the calendar itself, right?


NOW CUT THAT OUT!

(See you back here on December 31, kids!)

The 1978 2017 Amazing Spider-Man Mighty Marvel Comics Calendar: December Defenders and Daredevils

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published December 1, 2017.

Well, we got through another year, very nearly! And let's celebrate with a full-page, full-color montage of Spidey's Pals 'n' Gals by John Byrne! As a special bonus: it's before he went insane online!

"December Is Teaming with Dynamic Do-Gooders!" in The Amazing Spider-Man Mighty Marvel Comics Calendar 1978 (1977); pencils by John Byrne, inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by George Bell
(Click picture to Marvel Team-Up-size)
And, for your bonus final-month amusement and edification, here's even more Bullpen Birthdays and a special essay intoned by December birthday boy Stan Lee!

(Click picture to Stan's legend-size)
Finally, as a special treat, here's the Amazing, Spectacular, Sensational, Web of, Adjectiveless back cover of the 1978 Spidey calendar!


So remember to keep Spidey in your heart all year long, and to quote the final days of the 1978 calendar, but in full-color:


Final panel from Marvel Team-Up #1 (March 1972), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Mike Esposito, letters by Artie Simek

Today in Comics History, November 29: Happy birthday, Maggie Thompson!

Today's the birthday of Maggie Thompson, comics collector and historian and co-editor (with husband Don Thompson) of the Comics Buyer's Guide, a massive influence on comics fans including yours little stuffed turly, so I just had to thank her when I met her at BookExpo America a few years back!


Happy birthday, Maggie, and many happy returns!

Today in Comics History, November 29: Happy birthday, Gaetano Donizetti!

Born on this day in 1797, so you'll have to speak up if you're gonna wish him a happy birthday: Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer of over 70 operas, all of them so familiar to the kids reading comic books that you barely need to explain who he is, thanks to his many comics appearances! So let's just show off this one.


"Lucia di Lammermoor" from Classics Illustrated #61 (Gilberton, July 1949), creators uncredited and unknown
See? isn't that more to-the-point reading than just showing off all the times he teamed up with Wonder Tot? Happy birthday, Gaetano, you crazy opera but, you!

Today in Comics History, November 29: Happy birthday, Casey Vincent!

Born on this day in 1914: World War II Flying Ace Clinton Dermott "Casey" Vincent. He served as the model for two comic strip characters by Milton Caniff: Colonel Vince Casey, and Brigadier General P.G. "Shanty" Town. After his death in 1956, Yuma Air Force Base was renamed Vincent Air Force Base in Vincent's honor.

from Steve Canyon (Publishers-Hall Syndicate, October 12, 1956), by Milton Caniff; reprinted in Steve Canyon v.24: Taps for "Shanty" Town (Kitchen Sink, December 1989)
(Click picture to Brigadier General-size)
Happy birthday, Casey!