Life is Like a Hurricane... And Full of SURPRISES, Too!

I don't know if I'm the first to break this, but it'll be common knowledge soon enough...

But, to anyone who dared brave the expected torrent of (all together now) "Marvel Specificity" and picked up WHAT IF...? DONALD DUCK BECAME WOLVERINE (Marvel Comics, Released July 31, 2024)...

 ...And cracked the cover (NO, not THAT kind of CRACK!), they would see (GASP!)... THIS!  

 Yes, it's a FANTAGRAPHICS AD for THEIR DISNEY HARDCOVER BOOKS!  

Don't know the details - and don't care! Let's just call it a welcome sight, and hope it's a sign of future synergy to come!   

...And hey, that is ONE AMAZING BOOK pictured in the ad above, and also below.  It's even got the fabled Marco Rota Donald Duck biographical story... which I've wanted to see in English since discovering it in 1984!  

Not only did I get to SEE it, but I also got to WRITE THE DIALOGUE for it!  

...Sometimes, dreams DO come true!  

We're still in the thick of taking comments for the previous post on Huckleberry Hound, so look for more on that subject later!  But, now I really had to have this "Fantagraphics Ad Thing", jump the line a tad! ...Your comments are welcome on BOTH posts! 

Huck probably wishes that someone "jumped the line" ahead of HIM, in THIS CASE!

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Clowning for Kool-Aid!

 Long before CLOWNS were considered scary, and before "DRINKING THE KOOL-AID" took on a sinister and outright deadly connotation, comic book readers were treated to this very attractive ad for America's favorite soft drink powder in the pages of TOM AND JERRY COMICS #136 and #142 (Dell Comics, Cover Dates: November, 1955 and May, 1956 respectively) and CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST #38 (Harvey Comics, Cover Date: November, 1955). 

Doubtless there are more instances of the ad, but those are the three appearances I've logged thus far at GCD.  HERE'S a link to one of them, for the curious. 

As noted in the index: "A clown that looks as if he just stepped out of a Normal Rockwell painting acts as a circus barker to hawk Kool-Aid."

Just an all-around pleasant, nice-looking ad that was far more typical of the 1950s than of the increasingly sloppy years that followed.  (I'm talkin' to YOU, '70s and '80s!)

...And that "smiling pitcher" is just a "forever icon", isn't it?  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: If You're on a Highway, and Road Runner Goes "BEEP BEEP T"!

The seventies were a really weird time for what we know as "classic animated characters"!  

Case in point, this ad from JIMMY OLSEN # 155 (DC Comics, Cover Date: January, 1973)...

Which may be the most bizarre depiction of THE ROAD RUNNER AND WILE. E. COYOTE you might ever see!

Unless they, too, were strangely distorted for some inappropriate modern animated series that no one will remember in a few years, anyway! 

I know "kustom kars" were a big thing back then... but really! 

Did it have to come to this?  

In the seventies? Yeah, I guess so... 

PS: You've just GOTTA LOVE that Wile E. is PUSHING his tricked-up contraption, while RIDING A SKATEBOARD!  

Guess he typically couldn't get it to work - but then it'll suddenly run-away with him... and off the nearest absurdly high cliff!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Nice, Doggie! ...B-B-BIG, Doggie!

I'm sure everyone would agree that LASSIE was a BIG canine star... But the cover of M.G.M.'s LASSIE #30 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: September-October, 1956) would seem to show just HOW BIG! 

Assuming those aren't DOLL HOUSES (...or DOLL HUTS?) at the lower right, that Lassie is about to crush with just one giant paw, everyone's favorite collie might as well be the faithful canine companion to KING KONG, rather than Timmy or Ranger Corey!  

A monstrous giant ape and his dog... There's a MOVIE in that, somewhere!  

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 (Halloween Edition): Vincent Price in a DC Comic?

We'll leave that Halloween question to your interpretation... But, if Vincent Price ever were to appear in a DC Comic, it would probably be one like THIS:  GHOSTS #98 (DC Comics, Cover Date: March, 1981). 

As the story in question is only three pages in length, we'll just present it here in its entirety and let you decide for yourselves whether enjoying this comic... comes with a "Price"!  

With Special Guest Star Vincent Price as Doctor Arnold Alden (?)

To the Story (Click any image to enlarge for ease of reading). 

So, what do YOU think?  And isn't this the sort of grizzly tale that Vincent Price would tell an eager and rapt audience?  ...Sure it is!  

 And, it's not as if Vincent Price hasn't been seen hanging around comic books before... 

...As discussed HERE!

Happy Halloween, 2022! 

 

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: When a Weapon Doesn't Work, Try Building a Better One!

As seen on the cover illustration of ADVENTURE COMICS # 441 (DC Comics, Cover Date: September-October, 1975), Aquaman's Atlantis is under attack by a criminal gang with a 16th Century Pirate fetish!  

But, ya gotta wonder if these underwater underachievers were doomed from the start, considering some of the weaponry employed!  

Like a flintlock?  Beneath the waves?   I suppose you could hit someone with the gun-butt.  

Oh, no... wait!  This thing actually CAN do some damage!   

...Just not to Aquaman!  

But, there's simply no excuse for... A SWORD?  How could you swing it in anything but slow motion?  

Methinks our pirate-pals should have read the entire comic book a tad more closely.  If they had, they would have come across THIS UNUSUAL  AD...

...Drawn in typically cheesy 1970s style, to boot!  

Even if you failed to conquer Atlantis, you could still be a hit with wide-eyed, simplistically-rendered blonde-gals, when you charm them with a song from the "electric guitar you just made yourself"!  
 

As so many of the old ads used to say... "Amaze your friends!" 

And, if you don't have friends, because you spend too much time reading comic books, then just go "Amaze some random strangers!" 

Those who don't call the police may find themselves marginally entertained!  

JUST LOOK AT ALL THE NEAT STUFF YOU CAN MAKE! 

Ya think the pirates could make a weapon that might actually defeat Aquaman?  

"Maybe not -- but... What?"  Oh, yeah... You can get away in a nifty "Diving Submarine"... that you can BUILD YOURSELF!  

And, once you do, you won't need to KIDNAP MERA!  

...'Cause NOW you can get a gal like THIS!  

Awww... Don't they make a charming couple?  

If *I* had a choice, I would build a "Surveyor's Transit"! 

...Since I like both SURVEYS... 

...And TRANSIT!  
  

Talk about "Win/Win!"