Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Picard Routs Kirk!

Let's consider the seemingly unusual case of Starfleet Captain Jean Luc Picard... 

Perhaps, over the long years, he'd grown weary of always "being in second place" when it came to beloved Star Trek captains... 

Not satisfied to be comfortably ahead of Captains Pike; Sisko, Janeway, Archer, Georgiou, and even "whatever version of Captain Lorca" we might have seen, Picard may have obsessed over James T. Kirk long enough that, in his "older age" (note the hair and beard), he finally decided to do something about it!  

Such is apparently the case, as seen in STAR TREK #47 (Gold Key Comics: Cover Date: September, 1977)!  ...Published a decade BEFORE any of us even heard of Jean Luc Picard!  Talk about a prescient comic! 

Here, Picard "makes it so" with a vengeance!  

I wouldn't worry... I'm sure Kirk will prevail, and the misunderstanding will be cleared-up and forgotten in no time!  

I just have one final question about the story's TITLE... 

...What do "The Tree Bears" have to do with any of this?  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Some DC Poetry!

Positioned in time nearly-perfectly between the beatniks and the hippies, comes this simultaneously-painful-and-wonderful piece of poetry that appeared in DC Comics during the first-quarter-or-so of 1966...

...Making it so "hip(pie)", it can't be "beat(nik)"! 

This particular scan is from DOOM PATROL # 104 (DC Comics, Cover Date: June, 1966), but appeared throughout the line in conjunction with DC's line-wide cover redesign introducing the infamous "Go-Go Checks"! 

How do you not love this?! 

Or, for that matter, the Go-Go-Checks? 

A transcription of the poem, for those reading this on a small screen...

Said a cat suffocating in Squaresville:

"I have moved to the Wide-Open-Airsville, 

'Cause those mags from DC

Set me off on a spree, 

They are strictly from

None-Can-Comparesville."

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Where's Walt... Oh!

The traditionalists among us, myself included, tend to lament the corporate morphing of the name Walt Disney into just plain "Disney"...or "Disney's" - demonstrating, perhaps, the omnipresent possessiveness of the ever-gobbling media giant over even its founder. 

But, we find an unusual example of the converse in the pages of DELL FOUR COLOR #805 SCAMP (Dell Comics, Cover Date: June, 1957) in the ad copy for Dell's CHIP 'N' DALE comic...

Take a gander at the possessive proper noun, and blink with wonder! 

 

Yes, the two chatterbox chipmunks could certainly be referred-to as "WALT'S CHIP 'N' DALE", as it's not too difficult to figure out who "WALT" is!  

It's not THIS GUY...

Or THIS GUY!  

But, ya gotta wonder where the "Disney" went, and how its absence passed through a presumed series of editorial reviews.  

...Maybe this is an example of REAL "Disney Magic"!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: The "GHOSTS" of Presidents Past!

Here's a fascinating page from GHOSTS #11 (DC Comics, Cover Date: January, 1973), which we will offer with a minimum of comment as we don't really do politics here.  …With good reason, I might add!  

[Click to Enlarge!]

As the "top box" says... "Since 1840, every [United States] president voted into office in a year ending in ZERO... has died in office." 

Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980, broke that particular curse... and I hope the curse REMAINS broken for ALL TIME, and I never have to say anything about it ever again!  

It was just a fascinating find that I thought to share with you, deeply embedded in a comic published back in late 1972... when the curse was still in effect.  NUFF SAID!  

.........................

REGARDING COMMENTS:  Because things are just so awful these days, ANY comment added to this post must be in good - AND RESPECTFUL - taste!  No partisan politics, regardless of side!  Any comment that fails to meet that basic and readily understandable criteria will NOT BE PUBLISHED! 

We had an incident like that a number of years back, and I don't wish to have another one!

Thank you!

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Thank Goodness for Panel Borders!

 Here's yet another example of a gag only Charlton Comics would have done!  

I should keep a log of them, like THIS ONE!  

From THE GREAT GAZOO # 8 (Charlton Comics, Cover Date: February, 1975) comes the following...

Ah, yes... "STREAKING"!  As the strange fads of the seventies collide with the Stone Age, we have but a few observations...

How does that patch of grass move along with Fred from side-to-side, each time he changes direction?  ...And did Gazoo just make Barney appear - complete with HIS OWN patch of grass?  Grass that WASN'T THERE, before Barney entered the scene. 

We are grateful that Fred wasn't just a tad less "fleet-of-foot"!  

...And thank goodness for panel borders!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Custom Made Diving Suits

Something that has probably never crossed your minds - and, perhaps, anyone's minds ever - is the amount of custom-design that must go into creating deep-sea diving outfits for distinctively-shaped  comic or cartoon characters. 

Consider this great page from TERRY-TOONS COMICS #65 (St. John Comics, Cover Date: February, 1948), so well drawn by Terrytoons animator Art Bartsch.

How much are you willing to bet that those diving pirates are CATS?  

The tell-tale EARS at the top of their helmets give the game away! 

MEEEEOOW!

And you probably DON'T NEED any dialogue, to figure out who's in THIS diving rig... 

 HINT: It's by Carl Barks - and from WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES #97 (1948)! 

Finally... Just imagine the fitting-session that went on for this one!

Th' "fitting" is enough ta gives ya "fits"! 

From the POPEYE cartoon "Dizzy Divers" (1935)! 

Still, I can't help but wonder what would have to be created for THIS GUY...

Expansion both forward AND sideways, I'd imagine!  

He'd be better off just remaining on land! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: "The Man Who Was Mightier Than Superman!"

How often does a question present itself on the cover of a comic book, where you can learn the answer WITHOUT reading the story therein?  

Not often, I'll grant you, but consider ACTION COMICS #209 (DC Comics, Cover Date: October, 1955), and its lead story "The Man Who Was Mightier Than Superman!".

"See, Superman?", asks our story's antagonist, "I can do anything you can -- and there's ONE OTHER POWER I have that YOU haven't got!"  

The posed question being: "WHAT IS THIS GUY'S OTHER POWER?"

To learn the answer, unfortunately for most folks reading this, you must have MY PERSONAL, INDIVIDUAL COPY of ACTION COMICS #209, as seen below... 

The fiend clearly has the power to CREATE AN EVER-WIDENING TEAR IN THE VERY FABRIC OF THE UNIVERSE!  

Not only that, but the ability to TAKE OUT A CHUNK OF SUPERMAN'S MID-SECTION WITH IT!  

Um... either that, or maybe I just need to get a better copy of this comic!  ...YOU DECIDE!