Separated at Birth: The Legion of Brightly-Costumed Kid Sidekicks (aka Targets)

L: Detective Comics #345 (November, 1965), art by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella
R: Impulse #62 (July 2000), art by Ethan Van Sciver and Wayne Faucher

(Click picture to Blockbuster-size)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 318: Feats of Strength Week, Day 7

Pages from Fantastic Four #95 (February 1970), written by Stan Lee, pencilled by Jack Kirby, inked by Joe Sinnott, lettered by Artie Simek
Click images to King-size

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Tom Jones "Give a Little Love"

"Give a Little Love" (2009) music video starring Tom Jones, directed by Emma and Del and animation by RJDM of Pulse Films

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 317: Feats of Strength Week, Day 6

Panels from Fantastic Four #251 (February 1983), script, pencils and inks by John Byrne, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Jim Novak

Happy Birthday, Randi!

To the Queen of my Heart, the Alicia to my Ben.

Panel from Fantastic Four v.3 #45 (September 2001), plot by Carlos Pacheco and Rafael Marin, script by Jeph Loeb, pencils by Jeff Johnson, inks by Joe Weems, colors by Liquid! Graphics, letters by Richard Starkings and Saida Temofonte

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 316: Feats of Strength Week, Day 5

Panel from The Thing v.2 #3 (March 2006), script by Dan Slott, pencils and inks by Andrea DiVito, colors by Laura Villari, letters by Dave Lanphear

(Click picture to Atlas-size)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 315: Feats of Strength Week, Day 4

Panel from Fantastic Four #218 (May 1980), script by Bill Mantlo, breakdowns by John Byrne, finishes and inks by Joe Sinnott, colors by Ben Sean, letters by Jim Novak

Veteran's Day (A Ben Grimm Bonus)

Salute and thank your veterans...all veterans...today!


from Marvel Two-in-One #77 (Marvel, July 1981), script by Tom DeFalco, pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Chic Stone, colors by George Roussos, letters by Michael Higgins

Away from Blog Message

(Back Saturday with all the usual weekend fun features. Need new content? Don't panic: "Ben Grimm's Feats of Strength" continues every weekday through then. Be good and be good to each other!)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 314: Feats of Strength Week, Day 3

Panels from Fantastic Four #101 (August 1970), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott, letters by Artie Simek

Lego my Bully!

I've shown you lots of my Bully sketches on this blog...y'know, those portraits of yours truly that I've had talented and kind artists create for me...I've had artists portray me in pen and ink, in watercolors or crayons...I've even been portrayed in yummy, delicious, cupcake form! But I've never been portrayed in the ultimate three-dimensional medium...

Until now!



My good pal Dave Lartigue...that Legomancer among men, Toolmaster of Springfield and lauded top member of the blogarati for his Dave Ex Machina, sent me this beautiful, wonderful, fantabulous Lego Bully, which was just the perfect gift to cheer me up after a tough day and captures my unstoppable energy and sense of fun through the universal medium of Lego. Dave, you're the best!



I don't know what I'd do now without a Lego Bully. And so, probably, are you! If you're puzzling over the perfect holiday gift, well, I'll ask Dave to get 'em into the stores before Thanksgiving...just tell 'em Bully sent you!

Thanks, Dave!!!

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 313: Feats of Strength Week, Day 2

Panels from Black Panther #32 (January 2008), script by Reginald Hudlin, pencils and inks by Francis Portela and Andrea Divito, colors by Val Staples, letters by Cory Petit

My new Twitter ID

Hello Bully-backers! If you follow me on Twitter, I've had some problems that necessitated closing and then re-opening my Twitter account. Surprise!...the old account won't let me add you back, so I've started a new one.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, please point your inter-majig-net browser-a-cons to

http://twitter.com/bully_thelsb

and in no time at all you'll be able to find out what I had for lunch, what bus I'm riding, and how often I enjoy eating candy!

Don't delay! As Genesis once sang: follow you, follow me!

Ten of a Kind: One thing's for sure: love sphinx

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 312: Feats of Strength Week, Day 1

Page from Marvel Two-in-One #80 (October 1981), script by Tom DeFalco, pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Chic Stone, colors by George Roussos, letters by Joe Rosen

(Click picture to Demolition-Man-size)

Hail, hail, Bearsylvania, land of the brave and free!

Page from Four Color #1349 [Yogi Bear Visits the U.N.] (January 1962), script by Paul S. Newman, pencils and inks by Fred Fredericks

Separated at Birth: Hey, we pay good taxes for those roads, you vandals!

L: Ultimate X-Men #1 (February 2001), art by Adam Kubert and Richard Isanove
R: Dark Wolverine #75 second-print variant cover (August 2009), art by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Onofrio Catacchio

(Click picture to nobody-likes-either-one-of-these-Wolverines-size)

365 Days with Ben Grimm, Day 311

Panel from Fantastic Four #236 (November 1981), script, pencils, and inks by John Byrne, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Jim Novak

Saturday Morning Cartoon: King Kong and the Volkswagen

Volkswagen Commercial featuring King Kong (1972), animated by David W. Allen

From Wikipedia:

Allen's ground-breaking model animation opus contribution was a legendary Volkswagen commercial made in 1972 in which King Kong spots a giant version of the car from his Empire State Building perch in New York. Climbing down from the building, Kong puts his human "date" into the passenger seat, gets in the car, and drives down Fifth Avenue out of sight. The spot aired only once on network TV, and in spite of favorable public response, was pulled because VW executives decided that they did not like the image of an ape driving their car.

Lose your load, leave your mind behind, Baby Kal

Hola, amigos. How's it going? I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but I've been digging up more painted Mexican Superman covers! Let's scope 'em out, huh?

Who can forget the time Superman and Brainiac had a super-duel in outer space, in the aptly-titled "Super-Duel in Outer Space!" Not me, that's for sure! That's why I was surprised to see that in Mexico, the Supes/Brains battle takes place in...well, it looks like a cave full of gold bullion and floating eyeballs. Quite possibly they're fighting in Pepperland!

Action Comics #242 and Superman Libro Comic #8
(Click all covers to Quetzalcoatl-size)



In the US we have Kool-Aid, who busts through a wall and yells "Oh Yeah!" He then is arrested and brought up on charges of property damage, reckless endangerment, and delicious, refreshing fruitiness. But in Metropolis...and apparently in Mexopolis...we have Smashy the Invulnerable Enemy, aka The Petrified Spaceman! (Man, I loved that Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song!)

Action Comics #226 and Superman Libro Comic #3



I actually really like this Editorial Novaro a lot...a beautiful background that doesn't look like it drops away like the end of the Earth's ten feet away and a really dynamic Superman toss...ow, that hurts! Batter up, Super-Hombre!

Action Comics #134 and Superman Libro Comic #11



This Mexican version updates its 1950s inspiration in more than a few ways: instead of stealing pennies, the rolling patchwork robot ball o' crime is stealing "$". Looks like he just robbed Richard Rich Sr.'s money vault! (Good.) And now, Lois has a fashionable bob, a miniskirt, and a Wonder Bra. That's how you can tell it's from a country of romance!

Action Comics #167 and Superman Libro Comic #7



Looks like showing a little bit of leg caught Clark's eye and hey! They're getting married! Everybody sing!: "Here comes the bride/By Superman's side...Luthor will catch her and she'll soon be fried!" Please note that in neither universe was Jimmy Olsen invited.

Action Comics #206 and Superman Libro Comic #16



Even when the painted covers don't exactly match their American counterparts, you can still guess which story they're reprinting. Here's two American comics where Superman stupidly got his head stuck up a lion's neck...serves him right for putting it in there! But I really like the Mexican version...stripped of the melodramatic narration and captions, it's a real tear-jerker when you see Kal's sad fuzzy face. But Lois, girl...those chunky heels with that miniskirt? For shame, sister!

Action Comics #243, Superman #165 and Superman Libro Comic #14



And of course, in the grand tradition of DC team-up books like Green Lantern/Green Arrow, DC Comics Presents, The Brave and the Bold and Bob Hope vs. Jerry Lewis, Editorial Novaro gives Mexi-Supes his own team-ups in many issues. Here's the return of Guy Who Bought a Batman Costume Down at the Corner Store, who sits around while Superman fights robots and stuff...





Who can forget Superman's team-up with Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name in the classic tale entitled "A Fistful of Mxyzptlks!" (Spoiler alert: his name was Dave.)





Sure, we all remember those great Superman tales like "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?," "For the Man Who Has Everything," "Red Son" and "Hey Look, Jimmy's Wearing a Dress...Again"...but do you remember "Superman and Elderly Sean Connery: Cheese Bandits!"? Do you? Do you?!?





Also: Hippie Greatest American Hero.





I hope you've enjoyed our little fiesta of Mexican Superman comic books. (D'you see what I did there? "Fiesta"? Tee hee!) I'm just sorry that after these, it doesn't look like Superman flew down from Metropolis to Mexico very much. Well, there was that one time he re-visited Mexico...



...but we don't like to talk about that very much.