The Winsome Wasp

I've always been a big fan of the (sadly deceased before her recent ill advised quasi-ressurection as a sub atomic celestial entity) winsome Wasp - as a wee fag I'd thrill to this heiress/fashion designer/original Avenger's monthly costume changes, so you can imagine my delight when I found all of them together in one place!

Riverdale & Gomorrah

Wow.

Archie goes gay.

From the press release:


"The introduction of Kevin is just about keeping the world of Archie Comics current and inclusive. Archie's hometown of Riverdale has always been a safe world for everyone. It just makes sense to have an openly gay character in Archie comic books," said Archie Comics Co-CEO Jon Goldwater in an official press release.


In a story titled "Isn't it Bromantic?" Keller makes waves as the new kid in town by besting Jughead in an eating contest. From there he gains the attention of boy-crazy Veronica, who is crushing so hard that she's ready to leave Archie to Betty. When Jughead points out her interest, Kevin's up front about the fact that he's gay and spends the rest of the issue introducing himself to the rest of the gang while trying to let a clueless Veronica down easy, much to Jughead's amusement.


An advance preview also reveals that Kevin is a burgeoning journalist with a penchant for comic books, meaning Chuck Clayton's Riverdale High press coverage could be set for a serious spike."

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/04/22/archie-introduces-an-openly-gay-character-kevin-keller/

The Terrors Of Tinytown

Vintage postcards from one of the most extensive pulp/magazine/comic book cover sites online.







http://www.coverbrowser.com/

'Orrible Orvil & Co.

Due to my Mac mini dying, and the fact that it's the final four days before my move, I probably won't be posting as often this week, but I will do my best to pop up at least one a day.

Another gem I found weeding my collection:


Preceding the debut of The Addams Family t.v. show by a hair, this series (about a family of Frankensteins and their spookly hop-along-pals),was actually one of Gold Key's most successful, and outlasted the '60's monster fad by running continuously - with a few repints - for fourteen years!

Humpty Dumpty Goes To Macao

Egg Fu first debuted in Wonder Woman #157 (October 1965).

He was a Chinese Communist agent, inexplicably shaped like an egg the size of a house, with a Charlie Chan-like speech pattern, who used his mustaches as whips against his enemies.

-Wikipedia

If he wasn't so I Wear My Straight Jacket On The Inside insane of a character, he'd be slightly racist.





He recently made a comeback of sorts in D.C.'s exhaustion of a epic "52" under the name Chang Tzu, explaining that "Egg Fu" was one of his "Nine thousand and nine unmentionable names", and immediately killing a guard who laughs at the mention of it.

As you can see, time, Wonder Woman, and p.c. racial stereotype homogenization have not been kind to him...

Queen Bee Sextet

Mrs. Pruneface And The One Hundred And Ninety-Nine

I never really got into Dick Tracy as a child.
The back story/mythology was a bit intimidating, I don't like crime drama, and - to be honest - I thought it was a bit old timey.
But I always loved the character design, so imagine my delight when I ran across this!
200 Dick Tracy characters, from 1931 - 1977, compiled by Matt Masterson for the exhibit catalog of a 1978 Chester Gould retrospective at the Museum of Cartoon Art.

In An Age Of Monsters, HE Was The Mightiest Of All!

Jack Kirby's Devil Dinosaur only lasted nine issues, but not for want of Kirby-ness.

Starring the Lucille Ball of T-Rex's, Devil Dinosaur, it also featured his best friend/jockey Moon Boy, assorted robots, a revisionist alien intervention Adam & Eve story, time travel, The Hag Of The Bog, Manhattan, and...


...giant ants!

Satana, The Devil's Daughter 1

I've already pulled over a thousand comics for my sidewalk sale this Saturday, but the purge-athon is still running.
I was trying to figure out why I'd kept a crumbling issue of Marvel Premiere # 27 featuring Satana, The Devil's Daughter (whom I love, but the story and art is truly awful), when I ran across the answer in a four page back-up/solicitation for an ongoing series.





Which, though uncredited, I'm pretty sure is by John Romita Sr.

Egg Salad Days

Iron Fist meets the X-Men for the first time (accidentally crashing a party at Jean Grey and Misty Knights apartment, mistaken for a villain by a claw first ask questions later Wolverine), in this comic I bought for .30 cents thirty years ago.


And Storm discovers that she doesn't like egg salad.

KIDCHANgelings

I'm a bit jaded when it comes to manga, through no fault of the genre itself (well, maybe that '90's glut of penis-tentacle-rape animetion had a li'l to do with it), which is a shame because, in addition to the Giant Robots vs. Freaky Villains stuff which I'm more forgiving of...





...it means I miss some very pretty pictures.

Art: kidchan

http://kidchan.deviantart.com/gallery/#Original-Arts

4th Of July Pt. 4

As the color combination of red, white and blue is anathema to me, this about wraps it for my 4th Of July posts; a few sketches by a few artists (most for various Wonder Woman Day auctions), and a wonderful widescreen retrospective of her various costumes that unfortunately wasn't credited.









Artists: Joe Benitez, Jaime Hernandez, Darwyn Cooke, Jim Mahfood, ?

4th Of July Pt. 3

Gene Carr was one of the most active newspaper cartoonists of the early 1900's. He was working for William Randolph Hearst by the age of 17, was a pioneer in the use of sequential panels, and debuted the first female newspaper cartoon protagonist, Lady Bountiful, in 1902.

A few of his delighfully demented, albeit slightly disturbed, 4th Of July postcards.