365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 301: Purple sky all in my brain / Lately things just don't seem the same

House ad for Mystery in Space [Ultra the Multi-Alien] #104 (December 1965); printed in Hawkman #11 (December 1965)
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp


Cover of Mystery in Space #104 (December 1965), pencils and inks by Lee Elias

Hellmouth: Dell/Gold Key, Night 28: I don't think I am allowed to read comic books about an orgy of wild lust...oh, cool, Vincent Price!

Cover of Movie Classic #490 [The Masque of the Red Death] (Dell, August-October 1964), photograph of Vincent Price as Prince Prospero

Today in Comics History: Traditional preparations for ZombieFest '13 begin

Page from Marvel Zombies Halloween one-shot (December 2012), script by Fred van Lente, pencils and inks by Alessandro Vitti, colors by Jean-Francois Beaulieu, letters by Cory Petit

Today in Comics History: Scientists fail to discover how to cook a hand

Page from Smoke and Mirrors #3 (May 2012), script by Mike Costa; art by Ryan Browne; color assists by Aaron Daly; letters by Neil Uyetake

Monster Mash Ten Thirteen of a Kind: His hair was perfect

(More Ten of a Kind here.)

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 300: I was a little too tall / Could've used a few pounds / Tight pants points hardly reknown

House ad for Knight and Squire #1 (December 2010); printed in Batman: Odyssey (2010 limited series) #3 (November 2010)
Ad art from the cover of Knight and Squire #1: pencils by Yannick Paquette, inks by Michel Lacombe, colors by Nathan Fairbairn

Hellmouth: Dell/Gold Key, Night 27: Not to be confused with Millie the Model

Cover of Millie the Lovable Monster #2 (Dell, August-October 1962), pencils and inks by Bill Woggon

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 299: Jehovah's Witnesses?

House ad for DC Special #11 [Monsters] (March-April 1971); printed in World's Finest Comics #201 (March 1971)
Ad art by Sergio Aragonés; letters by Gaspar Saladino


Cover of DC Special #11 [Monsters] (March-April 1971), pencils and inks by Neal Adams

Hellmouth: Dell/Gold Key, Night 26: The really frightening thing is the logo

Cover of Twilight Zone #86 (Gold Key, August 1978), artist unknownb

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 298: The gift of comic books from a Biblical murderer

House ad for DC's mystery/horror comics (and Super Friends #28) (January 1980); printed in Wonder Woman #263 (January 1980)
Ad art by ???, designed and lettered by Gaspar Saladino

Hellmouth: Dell/Gold Key, Night 25: And this is why you shouldn't feed your dogs scraps from the table

Cover of Ripley's Believe It or Not! #8 (Gold Key, February 1968), artist unknown

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 297: Bizarro-World Fonzie endorses this comic

House ad for World's Finest Comics #163 (December 1966); printed in Jimmy Olsen #98 (December 1966)
Comic cover art: pencils by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein, letters by Ira Schnapp
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp

What, me worry?

Well, to clear up the confusion the above might bring: no, I'm not on vacation, and yes, I'll be back (and sooner than two weeks!) Unexpected life events took me away from my li'l stuffed blog but I'll be back PDQ-ASAP with all the Halloweenie features of which you might be frightened (that you missed)! Stay tuned and I should be back this weekend...cross your hooves for me!

Oh, and another confusing thing: I am not on the cover of Mad. It's jus' my li'l salute o' the hoof (and an apology) to Alfred E. Neuman and the Usual Gang of Idiots:


cover of Mad #130 (October 1969)

Hellmouth: Dell/Gold Key, Night 24: Wordy Wrappington

Cover of Movie Classic #537 [The Mummy] (Dell, September-November 1962), artist unknown

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 296: Darn it, DC, release this in trade paperback already

House ad for 'Mazing Man #1 (January 1986); printed in World's Finest Comics #323 (January 1986)
Comic cover art: pencils by Stephen DeStefano, inks by Karl Kesel

Today in Comics History, October 23: The "Serial" podcast goes to Gotham City

from Batman #539 (DC, February 1997), script by Doug Moench, pencils by Kelley Jones, inks by John Beatty, colors by Greg Wright, letters by Todd Klein

Hellmouth: Dell/Gold Key, Night 23: Sales of Wolf-in-a-Box plummet after a promising weekend

Cover of Grimm's Ghost Stories #18 (Gold Key, August 1974), painted art by George Wilson

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 295: You can cut off all my fins but to your ways I will not bend

House ad for Showcase #69 [Dolphin] (December 1968); printed in Teen Titans #18 (December 1968)
Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp (?)
Okay, I'll confess it: the cover of Showcase #69 is one of my very favorite comic book covers, and the thing is, logically this shouldn't work. There's a huge amount of white green space (that would normally be filled with blurbs), the "Dolphin" is odd and unpolished, and speaking of logos: that hand-lettered "Showcase Presents"...well, that's not the professional, sharp lettering you normally get on a DC cover. It, in fact, looks straight off of a Charlton cover. And yet I think it's an absolutely gorgeous comic book cover...well, maybe it's the leggy aquatic girl in denim cut-offs. With the heroine wearing Daisy Dukes and a wet t-shirt, I am amazed this comic didn't sell one bajillion copies. (I'm just surprised it got past DC editorial with no blurbs on the cover!)


Cover of Showcase #69 [Dolphin] (December 1968), pencils and inks by Jay Scott Pike; possible clean-up inks by Dick Giordano

Wait, this cover was drawn by Jay Scott Pike? Well, there's your reason right there. National shoulda hired more artists who were fish.

Hellmouth: Dell/Gold Key, Night 22: And now, Increasingly Ridiculous Dracula

Cover of Dracula #3 (Dell, February 1967), pencils by Bill Fraccio, inks by Tony Tallarico

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 294: Forget werewolves and vampires: what kids are really afraid of are logos

House ad for DC Chillers (1972); printed in Secrets of Sinister House #7 (October-November 1972)