Adventures in Comic-Boxing: "Model Batman" Before There Was a "Same Bat Channel"!

To celebrate "Batman Week", or "the 80th anniversary of Batman" - or just because Batman is so great in general, we present the following...

Take a look at this really nice Batman Aurora Model Kit ad from LOIS LANE # 57 (DC Comics, Cover Date: May, 1965) and, presumably, other DC titles concurrently on sale. 

...Now, tell me what's slightly odd about it (if I haven't already given it away in the post's title)! 

Given that "MAY-dated" DC Comics of the period were generally released in MARCH, and that GRAND COMICS DATABASE reports an actual on-sale date for LOIS LANE # 57 as March 25, 1965, the sweeping popularity and merchandising wave of BAT-MANIA, spawned by the 1966 BATMAN TV SERIES, would still be TEN MONTHS AWAY! 

Yet, Batman, strictly as a comic book character, merited what appears to be a very attractive model kit - and certainly a very attractive AD for that model kit!   

Speaks well for a character with an already "long history"... that (little did we know) was just getting started! 

HOLY BAT-HISTORY!

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: The Origin of some Later Batman Villains?

To Celebrate "Batman Week", or the "80th Anniversary of Batman" - or just because Batman is so great in general, we present the following... 

Everybody HIDE YOUR EYES, because this is one of those "crime comics" or "pulp magazines" that had the nation so misguidedly panicked during the early 1950s!  

Yes, here in all it's "gory"... that is, "glory" is CRIME CLINIC # 11 (Ziff Davis, Cover Date: September-October, 1951)!  

I have little to say about this magazine, knowing little about "crime comics" in general (beyond that they failed to bring down American Society, as was so fervently feared at the time), but I can't help but wonder if this issue of CRIME CLINIC had any sort of a hand in inspiring a pair of later Batman villains THE VENTRILOQUIST AND SCARFACE (the evil murder-dummy)! 

I leave it up to you to decide!

Oh, and DO remember to "voice your opinion" without "moving your lips"!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Scooby-OOPS! Production Notes!

Here is PAGE 27 of SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU # 7 (Charlton Comics, Cover Date: April, 1976).  

Here is PANEL TWO of that page. 

Anything look unusual about this panel of the typically scheming "phony-ghost guys" confessing after being exposed by those meddling kids and their dog?  

Oh, wait... THERE IS...

WELL, LOOKY HERE!  

It looks like some of Charlton's PRODUCTION NOTES accidentally found their way to the published page!  ...ZOINKS!  

And, with a little insight into the layout of the issue, you can even INTERPRET it!

Reading the notes from RIGHT TO LEFT (that is in "reverse order") we see that:

1: THIS PAGE is Page 27.

2: Page 28 is reserved for an AD.

3: Pages 29-30 present a TWO PAGE TEXT STORY.

4: Pages 31-32 are reserved for ADs. 

And darned if that isn't the way the issue is actually laid out!  ...JINKIES! 

So, for once, what you and Scooby are seeing is really true! 
  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: The Oddest Paul Murry Comic of Them All?

Classic Mickey Mouse comic book artist Paul Murry has done a LOT of comic books!  

Some might think the oddest of these were the three-issue run of "Mickey Mouse Super Secret Agent" in 1966, where Paul Murry's Mickey and Goofy navigated a word of realistic-looking espionage, provided another great classic-era artist Dan Spiegle.

But, I'm here to tell you that there's actually something even more unconventional than that on Mr. Murry's Mouse resume!  It is DELL FOUR COLOR # 537 from 1954...

...Or, as it is described in its indicia: "Walt Disney's STORMY, THE THOROUGHBRED WITH AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX plus DOUBLE FEATURE PLUTO, No 537" - with upper and lower case lettering exactly as I've replicated it between quotes!  

What really makes this so odd is that, what you see on the cover is exactly what you get inside, in terms of formatting!  

It is not formatted as you might expect a comic like this to be... The STORMY lead story with a PLUTO backup...

Nope, it's STORMY, by an artist named Tony Sgroi (who later did layout on the original JONNY QUEST animated series, 1964), for the UPPER 2/3 of each page, and Paul Murry's familiar PLUTO for the LOWER 1/3...

...Beginning on Page One...

...To issue's-end at Page 32!  

The fun even continues on the BACK COVER!  

This is hardly the sort of thing a conservative publisher like 1950s Dell would have done, making it quite unique!  

Just one final question to ask, however...

  How is Mickey able to check Morty and Ferdie's "nails" under those ubiquitous white gloves? 

STORMY and PLUTO might know, but they're not tellin'! 

In fact, PLUTO's REALLY "keepin' it on the down-low"... the "down-lower part" of the book, that is! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: William Shatner Warned Us There'd Be Days Like This!

William Shatner, who will be forever-known as Captain James T. Kirk of STAR TREK THE ORIGINAL SERIES, once said something, as part of a comedy sketch, to the legions of rabid Star Trek fans that has been endlessly repeated and / or paraphrased for decades...

So, imagine my surprise when I opened my copy of STAR TREK # 50 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: January, 1978), and saw THIS on Page One!

If Captain Kirk had only heeded "his actor's" advice and gotten out of Star Trek, he wouldn't be here, 50 issues into his comic book, and many years after the show's cancellation, well on his way to "having no life" (...albeit by DEATH, as opposed to purposefully limiting your potential and interactions with others), but having "no face" and "no hand" as well!  

...And, yes, before you ask... Those ARE writer and artist credits in a Gold Key comic!  

At some point in the later - and far better done - issues, that happened... at least for STAR TREK!

Happy Labor Day, 2019!

Happy Labor Day, 2019!  May none of your labors be "Hard Labors"!

Get out in the sun, and go for a drive!

Go to the beach!

Or a walk! ...Prompting a possible "Separated At Mirth" post!  

Maybe combine them both into "a walk ON the beach"!

Go swimming!

Or boating!

Or just enjoy some ice cream!  

Whatever you do this Labor Day, just try not to "labor" too hard!  ...Avoid becoming yet another future "Separated At Mirth" post!  

 ...Ain't he a double-stinker! 

Finally, remember to save your strength because, if Labor Day comes, can THIS be far behind?!