Please Explain This to Me! No 4: A Non-Red Letter Day!

Here is the cover of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #161 (DC Comics, Cover Date: December, 1978.  

And here is the cover of MY COPY of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #161. 

Notice anything odd?  

...No?  Let's look a little closer...

A regular copy...

MY copy... 

"Please Explain This to Me", why selected letters are YELLOW on MY copy...

...And NOT on the "regular" copy! 

Clearly, I will never know, but I can always guess...

The   YELLOW LETTERS   were set as a trap by Sinestro to neutralize Green Lantern - taking full advantage of that Silver and Bronze Age "impurity" in GL's Power Ring that fails to work against anything yellow!  

Think fast, GL!  Here comes a payload of bright yellow death! 

A desperate plea for help in the form of a cryptically-color-coded message from a captive worker in the DC Comics Production Dept. (...Probably worked for Mort Weisinger!) 

Or perhaps the most incredible specifically-targeted SUN-FADE in history!   

I'm open to theories... 

...And, if they can't "make sense", then let 'em "make with the imagination"!  We always appreciate imagination 'round here!   Have at it... 

Please Explain This to Me! No. 3: Happy Birthday, Pops!

Here's a one-page gag from DINO #10 (Charlton Comics, Cover Date: June, 1975) that I truly do not understand!

It's the birthday of the "POPS" character who was a regular in the FLINTSTONES newspaper comic strip.  (...and, of course, Charlton called him "GRAMPS" instead of "POPS"!)

He's 80 years old!  

...Um, but... what, now?  

THAT'S IT!  THAT'S THE WHOLE GAG!  

"The fact that I was born in '095?"  Is there something I missed?  If so, anyone wanna explain it to me?  

Fred and Wilma clearly get it!  

Not sure about Pebbles and Dino... but they don't look nearly as puzzled as I did when reading this! 

I don't have an answer, so take your best shot... and "Please Explain This to Me!"  

...And, while you're at it, perhaps you can also explain how this qualifies as a DINO gag!  

Oh, wait... I know! ...It's CHARLTON! ...That must be it!  But, I'd still like your thoughts on the gag itself!  

...And why DINO even got his own comic in the first place!  

Please Explain This to Me! No 2: Mickey's Doubled-Walled Balloon?

Here is the opening splash panel to "Message in a Nutshell - Part II", the Paul Murry Mickey Mouse serial appearing in WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES #381 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: June, 1972).

Do you see anything unusual?  ...If not, look closer. 

No, it's not the presence of Floyd Gottfredson's Captain Churchmouse character, because Cecil Beard used him on various occasions upon writing for Mickey Mouse.  And it certainly isn't the "Trademarked Paul Murry Goofy Hand-Crooked-Inward Pose" that Murry made almost-iconic by sheer repetition… 

HEY, what about this?!  

Why does Mickey's dialogue balloon have a roughly-sketched "inner-circle"?  

It can't have been a guide for the letterer as to where Mickey's balloon should be placed, because Paul Murry penciled, inked, and lettered this story himself.  

And, even if it was a reminder laid-out by Murry himself, for his own purposes, either he or an editor would have applied "white-out" to the additional outline.  

WAIT!  I'VE GOT IT!  

Mickey's standing in a CAVE...

...And this is just his voice... ECHOING! 

Very clever, Mr. Murry!  

And that's it, in a... um, er... "nutshell"! 

Please Explain This to Me! No 1: PORKY PIG # 84

Today, we begin a NEW "Subset Feature", to go along with the now-classic "Adventures in Comic-Boxing", "Separated At Mirth", and the irregularly-seen-but-just-as-beloved "I'm Not An Artist, But...", which have become mainstays of this Blog!

Welcome to "Please Explain This to Me", a new feature which begs (Okay, I won't "beg", but I'll ask nicely!) your participation in interpreting covers, gags, or story-bits that, for whatever reason, don't work quite as well as might have been intended!

Here is the cover to PORKY PIG # 84 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: September, 1978).

Please Explain This Cover to Me!

Sure, I get the Porky gag... Some fish, as well as much water, have breached his skin diving mask and since, like most toons, Porky doesn't need to breathe air to survive underwater (or, in space, etc.) he can just derive placid bemusement from the gently floating fish!

But what is BUGS doing there?

He's not a part of the gag!

He's not reacting TO the gag, as an observer.

He shouldn't even be there at all!

Let's consider the different possibilities, regardless of how crazy or illogical...

1:  Porky is actually spear-fishing in a large aquarium tank (Naughty, naughty!), and Bugs is peering through the Plexiglas window or viewport!

...But, if so, how does that "pink wavy disturbance in the water" CIRCLE BEHIND BUGS?

2:  It's a 8 x 10 PHOTOGRAPH or POSTER of Bugs that has fallen overboard, and has slowly drifted down to the depths visited by Porky!

Then, wouldn't the presumably flat-on-paper-or-cardboard-stock image of Bugs be CURLED or ROLLED in some way, and not appear as a flat rectangle?

3:  Someone CUT OUT a rectangular portion of the cover, perhaps to clip an ad coupon on the other side, and that is an INTERIOR IMAGE OF BUGS, from inside the book, looking out at Porky and us! 

That might make sense, but for the fact that Bugs is stationary and looking directly out at the reader!  Nothing indicates that we are looking through a CUT PORTION OF THE FRONT COVER, and seeing a snippet of a first-page interior panel!  ...Like THIS simulated one! 

Or this REAL ONE!

YES, as incredible as it seems, someone in this world ACTUALLY ORDERED SEA-MONKEYS OUT OF A COMIC BOOK!  ...I never thought that really happened!  Imagine that!  

4:  Bugs is simply doing one of his "sudden-dimensional-appearing-tricks" that he practiced waaay back when he was the "Proto-Rabbit" antagonist of the 1939 cartoon "Prest-o Change-o"!

Um, maay-bee... But he's really not heckling Porky with this vaudeville era feat of magic!  I don't think he'd go through all this just to peek in on a pal!

WAIT!  I'VE GOT IT!  HOW SILLY OF ME!  WHY, IT'S THE ONLY THING THAT COULD POSSIBLY MAKE SENSE!

YES!  Bugs is peering out of a PURPLE SUBMARINE so large that the cover-area can only reveal a very small portion of his behemoth craft!  A SUBMARINE SO LARGE that it blocks-out anything else from being seen!

A submarine SO ADVANCED that it can send out holographic projections - as is Bugs before that solid orange backdrop - to warn Porky that it's time to come back in!  ...That's how the "pink wavy disturbance in the water" can circle behind Bugs... It's only a hologram!

A submarine SO ADVANCED that even THESE TWO GUYS are envious!

But, Joe... you're probably asking... How did Bugs Bunny ever manage to get himself such an amazing submarine, that even Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane never dreamed of?

Well, since he didn't get it for Christmas, I was hoping YOU could tell ME that!

...Or, you could just... "Please Explain This Cover to Me"!

We'll have more installments of  "Please Explain This to Me", that's a threat AND a promise!  In the meantime, you are welcome to... "Please Explain This Cover to Me"!  

I look forward to your explanations!  

G-g-give it your best gu-gu-gue... Aw, supposition!  

Th-th-that's all folks!