Watchin' the Detective (Comics) with Mark Evanier!

 

My one-time mentor for all things "comics-writing" (whether he knew it at the time, or not), Mark Evanier, has posted at his Blog, a truly excellent SEVEN-PART (!) ESSAY on the day a "New Look" came to Batman in DETECTIVE COMICS!

Mark does so (as he always does) with the proper perspective of "someone who was there at the time" - and that's a perspective that you don't always get from the myriad of folks that fancy themselves as comic-book experts or historians.  

As someone who also endeavors to present that same "perspective" in his many musings on the subject of comics, I VERY MUCH APPRECIATE this when I see it!

You will too, once you TAKE THIS LINK and begin reading Mark's account of a true "game-changing event" (...Yes, that phrase is waaay overused but, in this case, it's quite accurate!) in the history of comic books!

Mark doesn't publish comments at his Blog (he'd probably be swamped with them if he did), so feel free to leave your impressions here... perhaps he'll see them.

Enjoy!

Amid Construction... a Little Christmas!

Our great friend Elaine offered a suggestion in the comments section of our previous post, and I like it, so I'll hand it over to her...

"Speaking of eye-catching covers...maybe you could do a Christmas post where you just ask us to nominate our favorite Christmas covers. I realize you can't currently access your own favorites to post images, so this might have to wait till next year to satisfy your blogging standards...but I'd enjoy finding out everyone's favorites. I myself use some comics with Christmas covers for Christmas décor--I set them up around the living room!"

Since, as I said in response, "Oh, and MY “Christmas décor around the living room” this year is plaster and drop cloths… and they’re not even festively colored. (Sigh!)"

I think we should give it a try... but with one additional wrinkle...

Since, under these construction-hampered circumstances, I can't (as Elaine says) "access [my] own favorites to post images", I would suggest that anyone offering an example PROVIDE A GCD LINK (OR INDUCKS, IF YOU PREFER) to the particular comic in question!

That way we can all see the Christmas images you hold special!

You can access GCD here!   And INDUCKS here!

Have at it, and have the happiest of holidays!

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Superman Catches a Bus!

 As a local Bus Transit Advocate for several years...

...You just KNOW I had to get a copy of ACTION COMICS #199 (DC Comics, Cover Date: December, 1954)!  

You know the old Henny Youngman joke about when his wife "sits around the house"... "she SITS AROUND THE HOUSE!"  

So it would seem that, when "Superman catches a bus"... "Superman CATCHES A BUS!"

...Let's just hope it's never one that I'm on!

Talk about "unanticipated delays"!

"Horrifically Busy" Just Got More "Horrifically Busy"!

Just when ya thought it couldn't get worse, there's another reason this humble Blog is not up to its (kinda, sorta) usual standards of posting frequency!

Yes, it's the dread task of HOUSE CONSTRUCTION!

It would seem that two amazingly cute little grandchildren are not the only "additions" to our lives!

Averi (right) and Cici - September, 2021

We need a place to put 'em for their (hopefully) frequent future visits, thus the expansion.  

One day, half the house was GONE, and the next a new wooden frame was in its place!  And don't get me started on the number of things I had to move and crowd into awkward (but, so far, reasonably safe) places!  

My den, from which I write these posts, remains inaccessible, and I've resorted to moving my Blogging activities to a less-familiar laptop - on my kitchen table!  And, to do so, had to go through more corridors and alleyways of Google than I thought possible in order to just get to where I could Blog on the darned thing!  

But, since "perseverance" is one of my many middle names (...Just don't call me "Percy" for short - 'cause HE won't like me appropriating his name)...

Of course, you remember where HE comes from!

...Here I am, and ready to resume under these sometimes-trying circumstances, to the relief and (dare I say it?) joy of all!

Let's see how this first kitchen-laptop post - and its follow-up comments (AHEM!) go - and, as a result of my "Google-tampering" to do so, will anything be out-of-whack once I get my desktop computer - and my DESK, and my swivel chair... and my DEN - back!   

I leave you with this image of a hole in my living room, leading out to the back yard... mostly because it's the only other picture I took of the whole affair as of yet, and hope the "next six weeks" (Groan!) go smoothly!

Questions You Never Asked: Why Did Huckleberry Hound Start Wearing a Mask?

A question for our crazy times...  Why did Huckleberry Hound start wearing a mask? 

No, it wasn't because of a skunk! 

...Give up?  

He was concerned about catching the "O-M'DARLIN" variant of COVID!

Y'know, like this here one...

Now, you know why you NEVER asked that question! 

You just never can tell what a feller's got to protect himself from these days! 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Popeye and "Th' Power of Posik-tive Thinkin'!"

 

Popeye's been in some tight squeezes before, but he "thinks-up" a rather unconventional means of escape from this one, as seen in POPEYE # 107 (Charlton Comics, Cover Date: April 1971)! 

You'd normally expect the python to coil around Popeye so tightly that his trusty can of spinach pops out of his shirt and is forced opened by the pressure, allowing the strength-supplying weed to land directly in his mouth. 

But that's not exactly what happens here... 

Watch as Popeye literally THINKS the can of spinach into existence!  

How about THAT, folks!  

The Charlton POPEYE comics were as... er, "unconventional" as one might expect from Charlton...

...And they did enough unusual things with the Popeye characters to make them interesting! 

George Wildman was certainly not the artist that both E.C. Segar and Bud Sagendorf were...

 
But, his style somehow suited the generally weird goings-on of the Charlton run...

...As the cover of POPEYE # 107 shows!  

 Or this one - Issue 116.  

Thus, he seemed the perfect choice for a strange and surreal sequence such as this!

We'll let Popeye have the final word on his spinach materialization trick ...

"I THINKS, there-fore, I YAM!" 

 Toot! Toot! 

Happy 4th Birthday to Averi... Oh, Yes... and Happy Thanksgiving 2021, Too!

 Today is Averi's 4th birthday!  

Happy birthday to "My Little Everything"!

Just so you know, Esther is "My Everything", Averi is "My Little Everything", and Cici is "My Littlest Everything"!  ...That's a lotta "Everythings"!

Shortly after she was born, I commemorated Avi's birthday in UNCLE SCROOGE (IDW) #40, the last Uncle Scrooge I did for IDW, as a car's license plate!

 I hope she'll find that amusing someday!  

One thing that *I* found VERY amusing was when she was spending last weekend with us... 

I had promised to take Averi to the park playground as we do every visit, weather permitting, but only after we had lunch, and I was finished with my coffee.  

Naturally, she kept wanting me to hurry up all through the meal!  The reminders came fast and furious, but in the cutest sort of way.  

Finally, it was time to go. She was warmly dressed, but I was not - and, having gotten a taste of the cooler air, turned back from the end of the front walk to grab a more suitable jacket.  But, Avi would brook no further delay...

"Yeh-Yeh, I thought we were going!"

"We are, Avi... I just had to get a different jacket!"

"Come on, Yeh-Yeh, let's go!" 

"We're going now... Tell me something, when you're older and you get married, are you going to do this to your husband?" 

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because it's rude!"

"Really?  If it's so rude, why would you do it to me?" 

"Because I know you love me!"  

She's got me there!  There are no words... Just NO WORDS to reply to THAT!  Only laughter!  

Oh, yeah... There's that Thanksgiving 2021 thing too!  Care to guess what I'M MOST THANKFUL FOR?

Be thankful for ALL the nice people and things in your lives!  HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2021!