Adventures in Comic-Boxing: More "Unexpected" Than Usual!

When you open a copy of DC's horror title UNEXPECTED, you... you... well, you expect the unexpected from an issue of UNEXPECTED!

But, in the case of UNEXPECTED #202 (DC Comics, Cover Date: September 1980), there was more "unexpected" than usual!  

Yesterday (September 13, 2026), upon opening this comic for the first time to log it into my collection, between the cover and first page, I found THIS...

  ...Yes, really!   

Now, over the years, I've found many a stowaway tucked between the pages of a vintage comic book... strands of hair, cookie or cereal crumbs, and even the centerfold of a completely different comic!  

In the case of the hair and crumbs I simply brush them out, and with the unrelated centerfold I left it there in appreciation of the novelty, but what to do with a FOOTBALL WORD ASSOCIATION PUZZLE?  

The other finds are at least somehow part of the comics reading experience (eating while reading, for instance), but THIS?  

However, even this particular UNEXPECTED issue's inexplicably unexpected occurrence has an additional dose of the unexpected to it!  

What more unexpected about this could possibly be, you ask?  

Well I found that unexpected addition hiding in my copy of UNEXPECTED #202... (ready for it?)... on the FIRST SUNDAY of the 2026 NFL FOOTBALL SEASON!  

...And did so while simultaneously watching the NEW YORK JETS season opener - which (after only three wins in the 2025 season) the Jets ACTUALLY WON!!!  ...Talk about "unexpected"!  

Separated at Mirth: Leap... FROG?

Or, would that be "Leap 'MUNK", or "Leap BUNNY"?  With funny animal comics, you just never know!

As with CHIP 'N' DALE 78 (Whitman Comics, 1983)...

...And a TRIPLE... er, HEADER from BUGS BUNNY # 144 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: September, 1972)...

...BUGS BUNNY # 208 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: May, 1979)...

...And BUGS BUNNY # 237 (Whitman Comics, Cover Date: May, 1982)!  

I guess this means that Bugs is THREE TIMES THE PEST that Chip 'n' Dale are!  

Though Donald might disagree!

Either that, or bunnies are simply more inclined toward HOPPING!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: One Way OUR COMICS are Better than THEIRS!

When it comes to Disney comics, the European nations have it all over us six-ways-to-Sunday-Monday-Tuesday-and-Wednesday!   

To be sure, they DESERVE IT!  They support these things to an extent that we dullards in the USA, would never do!  

But, even as the dim, dogmatic, dictatorship-in-waiting that we've allowed ourselves to become in recent years, we still appear to have SOMETHING over those more-enlightened lands... OUR COVERS!

Just compare our cover of UNCLE SCROOGE #04/Legacy #464 Cover "B" (Fantagraphics [January 2026])...

...with that of Germany's MICKY MAUS #2019-19 (Ehapa Verlag, September 06, 2019)... 

...and compare for yourself!  

We get Kari Korhonen's full page of cover art without the distracting clutter, while they... they... they... aw th' heck with international diplomacy... they get way too much of it!  And too little of Kari's art to boot!

To be fair, the Scandinavian countries, where this storyline originated, also do the covers right...

...And they even get one on us, because they don't have the cover-image-perfection-spoiling UPC CODE BOX!  

At least Fantagraphics keeps it as small as possible!  And YAY for them! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: A Note in the Gutter!

Dear COLORIST of the final story in SECRETS OF HAUNTED HOUSE #30 (DC Comics, Cover Date: November, 1980):

If you believe you've misplaced or lost a coloring instruction critical to the story, I've found a note to you from your editor... in, of all places, THE GUTTER... or MARGIN, if you prefer!  

See, it's over there to the right of the panel proper! 

Just LOOK UP and you'll see it!  

It's a rare occurrence when an internal note from an editor leaks out of the hallowed halls of a publisher and onto a printed page!  

As a fellow comics professional, I feel personally and professionally obliged to bring this unfortunate leak to your attention, before this cat/spilled-milk/genie gets too far out of the bag/bottle/lamp!  

As a 1980 comic, it's only been 46 years, and there's still time to shield this spillage from innocent civilian eyes not meant to see it!  

Don't thank me, Colorist... I'm merely respecting the "Comics Professional's Code" that keeps the "ordinaries" and "wanna-bees" from peeking too far behind our magic curtain!  

...Ulp! ...Heh!  Not that any of you reading this on my Blog, are "ordinaries" and "wanna-bees", heaven forfend!  ...Uh-oh!  I'm gonna need some help from another well-meaning comics professional to get me outta this! 

...HELP!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Lion in Wait!

Nobody - but NOBODY - can draw 'em like Sergio Aragones!  

It's come to where I treasure each and every issue of GROO that comes out! 

 Just LOOK at all the DETAIL he puts into the stuff! 

Sergio Aragones aided and abetted by Mark Evanier are an unbeatable combination!  With that said, I invite you to enjoy a Sergio panel that brought an out-loud laugh to my lips, and a still greater appreciation for his talent to my heart!  

From HOUSE OF MYSTERY #175 (DC Comics, Cover Date: July-August, 1698), comes this single-panel cartoon from the first of a regular series called "Cain's Game Room". 

Cain takes over with this issue (above), with tingling stories, and entertaining games! 

Here's our host now, ready to take the kiddies to his Game Room! 

Click to enlarge and see all the detail behind the main title logo!

Cain is the caretaker of The House of Mystery and, starting in his first issue, he's clearly got many fun plans for his guests!  Have a peek below, why don't you! 

After emerging from what looks to be an infinite maze, this guy's heading for his "reward"... and it's not exactly a welcome hunk of cheese!  

Now, THERE'S a LAUGH-OUT-LOUD MOMENT... and I ain't, um... lion! 

Biting the Barks Bullet!

Okay, readers, followers, and friends, I've stalled around long enough by running some older (...though rather entertaining in their own right) filler posts, but it's time to (as the title says) "bite the Barks bullet"!  

Yeah, lots of things have been going on, but I've promised the revelation of my favorite Carl Barks story for too long a while... 

So, without further ado... 

That greatest of works from the greatest Master of Duck that ever lived... 

Is...  

You know it.... 

You love it... 

You wanna give it a big bear hug - except it would downgrade the condition... 

The one... 

The only... 

The incredible...

LOST IN THE ANDES!!!

From DONALD DUCK FOUR COLOR #223 (Dell Comics, 1949)...

GCD LINK: https://www.comics.org/issue/7367/

...And THE BEST OF DONALD DUCK #1 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date; November 1965) where I first read it in sheer awe...

GCD LINK: https://www.comics.org/issue/19707/

...And DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES #3 (Gladstone Series I, Cover Date: February, 1988)...

GCD LINK: https://www.comics.org/issue/44021/

..And DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #325 (Gladstone Series II, Cover Date: March, 2005)...

GCD LINK: https://www.comics.org/issue/293795/

I like the Daniel Branca cover, as I like everything Branca does, BUT, WHY-OH-WHY DID THEY NOT USE THE CLASSIC COVER FOR THIS REPRINT??!! 

...And the various Carl Barks Library Collections by Gladstone and Fantagraphics...

...Like this one! 

Not only is it my FAVORITE CARL BARKS STORY, I'd go as far as to name it my FAVORITE COMIC BOOK STORY OF ALL TIME - PERIOD!  

No exaggeration, I made up a TOP TEN LIST a number of years ago, and this one topped it!  

As you might expect, there's Barks, Gottfredson, Murry, Mickey, Donald, Scrooge, Superman, Batman, and even one Judge Dredd!  

This one, to be exact! 

As to the merest hint of why LOST IN THE ANDES is my "FAVORITE COMIC BOOK STORY OF ALL TIME - PERIOD", you may wish to check out <a href= ><b>MY THIRD EVER POST</b></a> to this humble Blog!

...Go on, delve into a piece of TIAH history... No charge!  ...Step back, Scrooge... my readers go first!  

Congratulations to everyone who chose this great story as your guess, and we'll finally get to Favorite Gottfredson as soon as we can!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Leave MOLE Enough Alone!

Here's another great one from from the TIAH Archives - seen here for the first time - while we catch up on other matters. Favorite Barks and Gottfredson posts are coming ...uh, soon? 

No matter how well you think you know these comics, every now and then you have an unexpected "laugh-out-loud moment", as in DELL FOUR COLOR # 791 JIMINY CRICKET (1957).

In the story "The Meandering Mole", a mole... er, "meanders" up from beneath the ground.  Tired of his subterranean life, he decides to try living on the surface. 

Click to Enlarge, but you can get the gist even at this size!  

Problem is that, from living underground and in darkness, moles have notoriously POOR EYESIGHT!  Jiminy, ever the good-intentioned, well-meaning busybody, takes it upon himself to discourage the mole from transitioning to surface life, lest he inadvertently imperil himself when encountering the many dangers of the forest! 

Among the tricks our Cricket Conscience tries is to scare the mole into thinking a WOLF is lurking nearby! 

But, to Jiminy's surprise, and my involuntary outburst of hilarity, the mole is prepared for such an eventuality...

EEK! is right, Jiminy!  

"PHOOF"?  Gotta LOVE IT!  

Yeah, let's not think about THAT, eh, "Jimbo"!  

What REALLY SELLS IT is the mole "blowing on his gun barrel" after the shot...

...Not unlike the many times James Cagney (of all folks) did the same - over and over again, actually playing to the audience, in "The Oklahoma Kid", an unlikely western starring New York tough guys Cagney and Humphrey Bogart!  ...Imagine that! 

Perhaps our "Meandering Mole" could star in the sequel... "The Okla-MOLE-a Kid"! 

Art is by the great Al Hubbard, who was so perfectly suited for this type of story, and written by the great - and very prolific - Carl Fallberg! ...Who, uncharacteristically, borrows Vic Lockman's trademark "EEK!" for the occasion! 

Glad to see they both survived the encounter... and that it was JIMINY who "learned a lesson" for a change!