Adventures in Comic-Boxing: You Never Know Who's Lurking in the Background!

Here's an interesting panel from THE FLASH # 202 (DC Comics, Cover Date: December, 1970), which shows not only the degree to which American society had changed at the time...

...But how much these COMICS themselves had changed since the "anything goes" imagination-burst of the Silver Age!  

The cover of  THE FLASH # 202, in contrast...

Certainly more dramatic, with some late '60s - mid '70s comic-book relevance added - but straight forward, and completely eschewing the unpleasant grotesqueries of today's comics!  

But, amid the greater era-reflecting visuals and relevance, we're here to "draw" (Get it? Because it's art?) some attention to a certain someone lurking in the background!  

Someone who is, in no way, connected to our story, but is there nonetheless as an apparent observer of the unusual culture that we had become.   

Look!  Between the caption box and the hippie's head...

IT'S THE "MIRROR-MIRROR UNIVERSE" VERSION OF STAR TREK'S MR. SPOCK!  

GO ON... TELL ME IT'S NOT!  

I think I might have discovered the first STAR TREK comic book crossover! 

A proud tradition that would someday lead us to places like THIS! 

And to think, it all started with this humble, hippie-like beginning!

Like WOW, man! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Here We Go Blathering (and) NUTS in May!

Just an hour or so late for May Day 2024, we present the perfectly picked cover of DELL FOUR COLOR #202 WOODY WOODPECKER (Dell Comics, Cover Date: November, 1948)!

It's MAY, he's BLATHERING... and, at this earlier stage of his development, he's certainly NUTS! 

And fitting for MAY DAY because, after he's treated you to his particular brand of annoying madness, you'll find yourself yelling "MAYDAY!" 

Oh, WAIT... Those aren't NUTS he's throwing about... they're NOTES!  

 ...So, I guess we can say that Woody's out [wait for it] "sewing his wild NOTES!"  

Ha-ha-ha-HA-ha! 

Separated at Mirth: 3-Ds Come in Threes!

The 3-D movie craze briefly flared-up and died-out in the mid-1950s!  It's apex being the year 1953. 

Now, I'm not about to say that comic books were "behind the times" (...because, far more often than not, they looked forward rather than backward) but apparently, in comic books, the 3-D movie craze held on into the next decade...or two!  

For evidence of this, we need look no further than today's "Separation at..." well, not exactly "Mirth"... but maybe...um, "Delightful Weirdness"?  That okay, with you all?   

AHEM!  And so, we present today's "Whatchamacallit Separation" that brings together the heretofore "Separated" BLACKHAWK #157 (DC Comics, Cover Date: February, 1961)...

...And BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY #35 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: June, 1971).

And, just like those fondly-remembered movies of the '50s, some scary stuff is "comin' atcha!" 

Put 'em together in reverse chronological order, and they're "comin' at each other!"

...Perhaps it's better - and safer - this way!  

Oh, and from (more or less) the heart of the  3-D movie craze, we can add the first page of WONDER WOMAN #64 (DC Comics, Cover Date: February, 1954)... Actual On-Sale Date: 1953-12-21.

...Showing that comic books also did this bit when it was current!  

There we have the 3-D Triumvirate of BLACKHAWK #157, BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY #35, and WONDER WOMAN #64... Separated at (the Third Dimension of) Mirth!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Clowning for Kool-Aid!

 Long before CLOWNS were considered scary, and before "DRINKING THE KOOL-AID" took on a sinister and outright deadly connotation, comic book readers were treated to this very attractive ad for America's favorite soft drink powder in the pages of TOM AND JERRY COMICS #136 and #142 (Dell Comics, Cover Dates: November, 1955 and May, 1956 respectively) and CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST #38 (Harvey Comics, Cover Date: November, 1955). 

Doubtless there are more instances of the ad, but those are the three appearances I've logged thus far at GCD.  HERE'S a link to one of them, for the curious. 

As noted in the index: "A clown that looks as if he just stepped out of a Normal Rockwell painting acts as a circus barker to hawk Kool-Aid."

Just an all-around pleasant, nice-looking ad that was far more typical of the 1950s than of the increasingly sloppy years that followed.  (I'm talkin' to YOU, '70s and '80s!)

...And that "smiling pitcher" is just a "forever icon", isn't it?  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: When Aquaman's Away, SOMEONE'S Gotta Talk to Fish!

 
When Aquaman's away...

...SOMEONE'S gotta talk to fish!   

And, it might as well be THIS GUY! 

He seems to be doing a good job of it! 

So much so that even Aquaman approves!  

OUTRAGEOUS! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Donald Duck's Typically Bad Timing!

While the world goes agog over today's SOLAR ECLIPSE of 2024, you might be wondering what tenuously-eclipse-related thoughts are rattling around in my one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-duplicated, accept-no-substitutes mind on The Big Day!

...Oh, you're NOT?  Well, humor me and read on anyway... 

It's simply this...

If Donald Duck had chosen TODAY to casually walk past that telescope, he would just have gone on his merry way, sans singed tailfeathers - and eyes unharmed, because he's looking away from the sun!  

...And DONALD DUCK #71 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: May-June, 1960) would have had a different cover gag!  

Non-Eclipse-Day gag and cover art by Carl Barks. 

 UPDATE: DAY AFTER: 

Unlike Donald, Averi watches the eclipse from her backyard... though it looks like an ordinary afternoon to me! 

Gotta love her fascination with it! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Are Ya Sure Ya Don't Wanna Rethink This?

From the inside back cover of POPULAR COMICS #97 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: March, 1944) comes the following Public Service Message...

Please forgive me if I sound even the slightest bit unpatriotic, but wouldn't this be this very comic book's own equivalent of Daffy Duck saying: "WELL I SAY HE DOES HAVE TO SHOOT ME NOW! SO SHOOT ME NOW!

Would my copy of POPULAR COMICS #97 EVEN EXIST TODAY, if it's original owner in 1944 followed the advice espoused in its very pages?  

Well, I'm happy to say that he or she did not do so... and not only is this book here today to enjoy and inspire a Blog post... but we beat the bad guys anyway, without its nobly-offered gesture of self-sacrifice!  

But, simply for running this advisory, we can not only say "DELL COMICS ARE GOOD COMICS" (...as they proudly said for years), they are also "PATRIOTIC COMICS"!     

Happy Easter 2024!

While Bugs (Easter) Bunny entertains you with his trapeze-Easter-egg-juggling-act, allow me to wish all of you and all of yours a Happy Easter 2024!   

From MARCH OF COMICS #273 (Western Publishing, 1965), cover by Ralph Heimdahl.  

...And here is why our Easter was so happy, even without a visit from Bugs (Easter) Bunny!  

Averi and Cici busily gather Easter Eggs, but stop long enough for a picture!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Maybe I've Been Reading Comics TOO LONG!

How can you tell if you've been reading comic books far too long?  

If you can remember when SOMETHING LIKE THIS didn't look the least bit strange! 

The STORY TITLE, that is, not the weird alien children! 

And, bonus points if, when reading a title like this, it REALLY DID sound like a far off journey through time! 

It certainly must have sounded like a distant future when this story was originally published in 1959,  because it STILL WAS when I read it as a reprint in SUPERMAN FAMILY # 179 (DC Comics, Cover Date: October, 1976)!  

Back then of course, the 24 years it would take to get from 1976 to the year 2000 (much less BEYOND that year) seemed like A LOT MORE TIME than it does now! 

Let alone the 41 years it would have taken originally, for Supergirl to travel from 1959! 

"A hundred years ahead, into the 21st Century", eh? 

That would mean her destination was 2059, in the original...

...And, um, er... 2076 in the reprint? 

Say, now that I think about it, 2076 is STILL really far off!  I know *I* won't live to see it, unless normal lifespans have exceeded 120 by then! 

OKAY, THEN... At least SOMETHING GOOD has come from all this...

...Even if it's just the relief that comes with realizing that I *HAVE NOT* been reading comic books too long! 

...In fact, I think I'll go read some more of them right now!  

But, before I do, I'll leave you with the final panels of the story, showing both Supergirl's return to the good old, overrun-with-Baby-Boomers, 20th Century... and an ad for the long-forgotten - even BEFORE the 21st Century - Warner Bros. Jungle Habitat, featuring Bugs Bunny!

And, readers of the REPRINT in SUPERMAN FAMILY # 179...

...Will probably be wondering until 2076 (should they live so long) why Supergirl left 1976 for a hundred-year time-trek, AND IS RETURNING TO 1959! 

I mean sure... she'll miss Disco, Watergate, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, an' all-kinds-o'-stuff-like-that-there...

...But she'll also miss the opening of Warner Bros. Jungle Habitat! 

I wonder if COOL CAT was there? 

Eeeh... COULD BE!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Inadvertent Cover Enhancement!

This is an Internet scan of the cover of YOSEMITE SAM # 15 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: August 1973). 

And below is a scan of MY OWN COPY of YOSEMITE SAM # 15.  See anything unusual? 

Let's look a little closer, shall we? 

It would seem that, on MY COPY, Bugs' cooking was SO BAD that it made Sam sick enough to see SPOTS BEFORE HIS EYES!  

I don't know what the nature of the "spots" could be!  The cover feels no different in the section in which "Sam's spots are seen". 

It's not in any way wrinkled or warped, as if any sort of liquid was spilled on it.  And nothing has bled through onto the inside-front-cover. 

It's as if Sam is REALLY ILL from having consumed Bugs' questionable cuisine!  The spots sure go with the expression on his face! 

It would appear that my copy has a unique special effect to it!  Talk about an inadvertent cover enhancement!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: A Great Cover Image with a Muddled Meaning!

Check out this wonderful cover image for THE BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES (2024 series) #3 (DC Comics; Cover Date: May, 2024 - On sale as I write this!)... 

...Which is a near-perfect send-up of the "Celebrity Window" running gag from the Batman TV show.  

Or, as I described it at GCD: "The cover is a parody/homage to the oft-seen bit on the Batman TV show (ABC TV, 1966-1968), where Batman and Robin scale a tall building and a celebrity leans out of a window to address them in mid-bat-climb."

LEFT: The Green Hornet and Kato (Van Williams and Bruce Lee). RIGHT: Sammy Davis, Jr.

I say "near-perfect" for one reason... the homage is very clear but, quite frankly... the GAG ITSELF is NOT!  

It seems to me that either something FUNNY, or a CLEVER REFERENCE should be coming from Catwoman's or Scooby's dialogue balloons - BUT IT ISN'T!  

Or, perhaps Batman - or especially Shaggy - SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN SUCH A LINE... but no!  

How about Shaggy unintentionally doing something dumb 'n' dangerous to inadvertently imperil our courageous climbers - or maybe leaning out far enough to fall -  if only to justify Scooby's line: "Rhi can't look!"

As it is, it wastes a great image by making it, like... incomprehensible! 

The best I can do is describe it as I did in my GCD index of the issue: "As Batman and Catwoman scale a tall building to return stolen jewels to their rightful owner, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy pop out of the "Celebrity Window."  You can see the entire GCD index HERE! 

Indeed, it would have been better with NO dialogue balloons at all!  Just perfectly conveying the fine homage it was intended to!  

On the plus side, the open window nicely obscures a small corner of THE BATMAN & SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES logo, as one might expect a glass window to do!  ...Don't they have window screens in Gotham? 

 ...If only the window was large enough to obscure the dialogue balloons as well!