Batman ’66 Meets The Green Hornet on a Perfect Saturday Afternoon!

Three questions, readers....

1:  Is there any better way to spend a Saturday afternoon, than with a brand new comic book? 

(Yes, I can think of... um, like, "some other things" but, since my single-digit-years and my first ever delivered mail-subscription copy of a comic book -- seen below --  it's STILL probably in my "Top Three" ways to spend the middle of the first non-school / non-work day of the week!)

This comic "came to me" (in the mail) one magical Saturday afternoon in 1964, beginning the association of comic books and Saturday afternoons that remains to this day!    

Oh, yes... the Questions...

2:  Does anything say THE SIXTIES like this cover image? 

Wasn't the "leaping Batman image" a tribute to a sixties Life Magazine cover?  

3:  Is Alex Ross (our cover artist) perhaps the greatest comics artist who ever lived.  His work routinely exhibits an almost supernatural air of "reality"! 

 

On the (still magical, after all these years) sunny Saturday afternoon of June 07, 2014 (...a LOOONG way from that Saturday afternoon in 1964, I might add), I brought home BATMAN ’66 MEETS THE GREEN HORNET # 1 (Of SIX? Their original TV team-up was only TWO parts!), took it out on my back patio and enjoyed it immensely! 

No spoilers, but Batman, Robin, The Green Hornet and Kato, end up in a nice issue ending cliffhanger.

And, there's this wonderful exchange between Bruce (Batman) Wayne and Britt (Green Hornet) Reid:

You can "Click to Enlarge" the entire page, or just read the individual panels below: 

Kato gets in a nice little interjection here!  It never occurred to me that he didn't have a "Heroic Identity Name".  Is he called "Kato" in and out of uniform?  If so, that COULD get mighty awkward! 

 

 

Bruce and Britt get "a little protective" of their respective alter-egos!

They even descend to the level of pot-shots at each other's fashion sense!  Wow!  Have you ever seen Bruce loose his cool like that?  WONDERFUL!

I think we need some awesome acro-BAT-ics from former trapeze artist Dick Grayson (AKA "Robin the Boy Wonder") to defuse the tension...

Thanks, Old Chum!

  

And, while we're at it, how about some action from The Green Hornet and Kato!

 

 

You know, Kato's almost as good as "Goose Lee"!   

Hey, it's that character from my "first special Saturday afternoon" comic!

...And probably better than "Duck Norris". 

Oh, yeah!  He's waaay better than "Duck Norris"! 

 

 

A new comic and a sunny Saturday afternoon with no chores or other obligations.   Now, I ask you... does it get any better that? 

 



R.I.P. Don Zimmer.

Noted Major League Baseball figure Don Zimmer passed away on June 04, 2014, at the age of 83. 

Zimmer was a player for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and for other teams including the New York Mets, manager of the Boston Red Sox, and bench coach for the New York Yankees during their run of four championships in five seasons... and that's hardly all, folks! 

 

Oh, yes... and, during his Yankee stint,  a memorable confrontation with Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez.  We all gasped and held our breath at the sight of that!  Thankfully, he was okay!

 

 

Don Zimmer was beloved by baseball fans everywhere, and for more reasons than I can count! 

 

He will be missed. 

The Day Joe Cut Up a Comic Book!

Joe stands and solemnly faces a group of somber, yet seemingly supportive, individuals.

“My name is Joe Torcivia… and I… and I… I…

…Oh, I’ll say it… I CUT UP A COMIC BOOK!”

The Group responds as one:  “Hi, Joe!” 

The Group Leader speaks in soft, warm, and trusting tones:  “It’s okay, Joe… We’ve all been through it.  I cut up MY first comic book back in 1957!  In fact, you’ve even done a Blog post about it RIGHT HERE!”

 
Now awash with calm, Joe thanks the Group Leader, Mr. Wallace Cleaver, and finds he has the courage to tell his own story. 
  

The year was 1975.  The comic book was WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES # 424…

And the OFFER was not to be believed!  (Click to enlarge on all comic images!)

 

Just LOOK at this stuff! 

Could you imagine what it would have been like, in those dark days of 1975, to have stuff like this? 

And this? 

And all I had to do was cut ONE TINY LITTLE COUPON!   

It’s only ONE!  I can do this…  Look at what  I could HAVE!

Oh-oh!  But, there’s a NEW Paul Murry Mickey Mouse story page on the reverse side!  Oh, wait... It's 1975!  Who the heck is Paul Murry?!

(The cut is made!)  

DAMN!  Why can’t they run ANOTHER AD on the back of an ad you have to cut!  That way no comics content is lost. 

But, eventually, I summoned up the courage and did it… and I was GLAD! 

Notice Paul Murry's (who?) Mickey and Goofy peeking through the gaping hole.

Consider that this was my first exposure to ALL these stories, save “Ghost of the Grotto”, which I’d had seen reprinted in a “BEST OF UNCLE SCROOGE AND DONALD DUCK” Gold Key Giant comic.

It was, if I’m not mistaken, the first time Carl Barks was credited in any comic from the publisher for whom he worked since the early 1940s.

And it was the first time I’d EVER seen the name of Floyd Gottfredson anywhere! 

It’s hard to believe these days, having gone through such Disney comic book publishers as Gladstone Series One, Disney Comics, Gladstone Series Two, Gemstone, and Boom! Studios, but this stuff was rarer than silver-plated platinum with solid gold filling!  ...Or, a Disney comic book in 2014 – take your pick! 

Remember these?

I still treasure those four books today – and still have the WDC&S # 424, with the coupon missing…

And have a new and complete upgraded copy of WDC&S # 424, purchased in the nineties! 

Sometimes, it just comes out “win/win”!  Though, of late, I wonder how it turned out for poor, brave Wally!   …I sure hope he didn’t get “hollered-at”!    

Here's to comic-cutting Wally Cleaver!  I salute your courage!

 

Don't give in to temptation, Wally!  Be strong!

“Fantagraphics Out(does) The Phantom Blot!”

Mickey Mouse may have “Outwitted” The Phantom Blot, but Fantagraphics has really OUTDONE itself on the next edition of its Mickey Mouse by Floyd Gottfredson series! 

I saw an advance copy of the book last week, and it is ever great! 

Floyd Gottfredson’s original Phantom Blot newspaper strip story from 1939 (…oh, excuse me… “Blot” story, he wasn’t quite the titular “Phantom” back then – just “The Blot”) has never looked better – or more authentic, marvelously laid out, strip-by-daily strip, in black and white! 

Here's where he became The PHANTOM Blot!

The entire Floyd Gottfredson / Mickey Mouse comic strip collection series from Fantagraphics has been a reader’s and fan’s dream come true – but even I wondered if the Blot volume could outdo this one! 

But, YES, it did!  Beyond the Blot, the graphics on “The Mighty Whale Hunter” are amazing!  You’ve never seen these stories presented so magnificently! 

It was a “personal dream come true” for me, as well, as I was privileged to write the Character Profile on The Phantom Blot!  For those who know just how much the Phantom Blot means to me, it was quite the thrill! 

You will also find superb editorial feature work by the incomparable David Gerstein (the true "Heart and Soul" of these books), Jonathan Gray, Thad Komorowski, and more. 

Even if you have none of the prior volumes, this is a superb place to start – and meet (or become reacquainted with) Mickey Mouse’s – and Floyd Gottfredson’s – greatest villain!  

Even Paul Murry's 1960s Phantom Blot recommends this volume!  Don't argue with him!

...And yeah, don't argue with THIS GUY, either!  Just buy the book!  You will NOT be sorry!