Saturday Afternoon Comics Reading: September 28, 2019.

I could think of no better way to apply the 80th Anniversary of Batman and the 50th Anniversary of Scooby-Doo to my traditional "Saturday Afternoon Comics Reading" than with a back-to-back reading of these two issues - representing the best of the old and new!

SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP # 50 (DC Comics, Cover Date: November, 2019)...

(Yes, that is a copy autographed by writer Sholly Fisch, whose "niceness" as a person surpasses even his great talents as an imaginative and clever writer!  If my favorite modern comic book title must "go away", at least it leaves with the best issue of the series - and, given the vast praise I've heaped upon this title from the very beginning, THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING!)

...And WORLD'S FINEST # 79 (DC Comics, Cover Date: November-December, 1955 - which, by their cover dates, I guess, would pretty much place these issues 64 years apart!)  

(Yes, that's MY COPY of WF # 79... I SAID it was "old", didn't I?)

 WORLD'S FINEST was, perhaps, the original (and, if not, certainly the "ultimate") team-up comic, and they are nicely linked by team-ups with Batman... Superman in 1955, and Scooby-Doo in 2019!

We'll have more Scooby for his 50th, later in the week!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Batman and The Spectre Visit an "Old Haunt" (of Mine)!

...Or is it just evocative of something so spectacularly bad that it "haunts me" still? 

We close out "Batman Week" with this little nugget that I couldn't help but throw in for the regular followers of this Blog! 

From the pages of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD # 116 (DC Comics, Cover Date: December, 1974 - January, 1975) comes the following bits of dialogue between Batman and The Spectre (in his "mortal identity" of Detective Jim Corrigan)!  ...It won't take long for my regular readers to figure this one out!  

Okay, good so far... OH, NO...WAIT!  EEEEK!

Ohhh... The Haunting Nightmare has returned!  

Would that "Mr. Valentine" had stolen THIS "pickax" instead!

Grab it, Mr. Valentine... Grab it NOW, and end this madness!

YES... HE GOT IT! 

WOW, Scrooge!  Mr. Valentine (God bless him, whoever he is!) just stole your prized possession... AND THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY?! 

No wonder I'm not buying your comics anymore!  That's terrible dialogue! 

...It's terrible dialogue, even if your "Legendary Super-Pickax" were only broken (and NOT stolen) as occurred in an infamous story billed by its publisher as "Fresh and Modern"!  

Won't you please start talking the way you used to, Uncle Scrooge?  ...You know, like your "Old Self"!

This just ISN'T YOU, Uncle Scrooge...

...Or, maybe it IS someone who just doesn't know how you should be written!  You know, with HUMOR and EMOTION, and CLEVER TURNS OF PHRASE! 

If you'd only start speaking like your old self again...

...Not only would I come back...

...But, I'd ask Batman and The Spectre to get your "pickax" back from Mr. Valentine! 

And, since people rarely refuse a request from The Spectre, I'd say it's a good bet! 

DEAL? 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: "Bat-and-Switch" Advertising!

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

Batman has always been great at "pulling surprises out of his utility belt" (...perhaps I should rephrase that, but let's move on), and he certainly does so in an ad appearing in SUPERMAN # 380 (Cover Date: February, 1983) and, presumably, other DC Comics with similar cover dates!

By this time, we'd all become used to seeing the Caped Crusader, his various DC "super friends" (lower case intentional), Marvel Comics characters, and even Warner Bros. characters in ads hawking (...why didn't they use "Henery Hawk"?) Hostess Cup Cakes, Twinkies, and Fruit Pies!

(Click to enlarge all that Hostess Cup Cake Bat-Goodness!)

So, when reading SUPERMAN # 380, I just expected more of same, when I turned the page and saw THIS. 

Oh sure, Batman's gonna turn things around with some Hostess baked goods as he always does in these ads... BUT, WAIT... Something NEW has been added!  

Instead of THIS...

...We get THIS! 

Holy "Bat-and-Switch" Advertising, Batman! 

It sure looked like another of those ubiquitous '70s Hostess ads to me!  

Just look at 'em together!  Would anyone think this was at all cricket?  

Okay, okay! So it's "cricket"! Please don't hurt me! 

At least we now have an answer to the age-old Bat-question: "Where does he get those WONDERFUL TOYS?"

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!