Weird Marvel Comics Ad - Ricochet Racers!

I recently ran across Marvel Spotlight #32 (1976) in my basement. The bottom blurb states "Positively the most shocking ending you'll read this month!"

Well, I flipped through the story and wasn't very shocked. I think the blurb might be referring to the actual last page in the book, an ad. It shocked me in its oddness. Click to enlarge.

I don't know how you feel about it, but in my head, it reads something like this...

Random Moments from Old Comics, #2

I'm still organizing the comics in my basement. I'm going through the Marvels first. Here's a few things I've run across....

Those Aren't Enhanced? Really?
There was a fad in the early 90's of using "enhanced" covers to help sell comics. There were covers cut into shapes, covers with shiny inks or foils, covers with embossed images, and combinations of each.

Below is She-Hulk #50 (1993). The logo and "50" broach are embossed and printed in silver foil. She-Hulk's flesh is printed in green foil, but not embossed.

The layout of the cover has never made sense to me. Why would a big, blank area be the center of focus, unless the original plan was to also use emboss? I Photoshopped a version of what, I think, someone must have chickened out of doing...

John Byrne purposefully did a fun-loving, cheesecake book. I'm not sure if the above picture was the original intent or not, but it doesn't seem much tackier than what DC did with embossed silver foil in 1993 on Lobo #1.


Unreasonable request + Deadline = Short Cut
Marvel Team Annual # 4 is a light-hearted story written by Frank Miller and penciled by Herb Trimpe. It contains a full page image where Spider-Man says, "Look at them! Hundreds-- thousands of people, all screaming for our deaths!"

If Mr. Miller planned this as an entire page, I suspect he wasn't expecting to see a giant Spider-Man head filling it! Instead of showing thousands of people attacking, drawing the horror on Spider-Man's face is an effective time saver. Too bad he wears a mask.

Things We Should Never See, Part 3.
Here's Modok as seen in Marvel Team-Up #104 (1981).

Below is how we see him later in the book. Modok shouldn't have a body. Even if he's smashed out of his equipment, he just shouldn't.

It's like seeing Galactus without his helmet.

I always feel like somebody's watching me.

I bought the recently-released Watcher figurine. He's been making his way around our house. He is consistently being placed in rather inconspicuous places, waiting for someone to notice his piercing gaze. That person then moves him. He has even shown up in our bathroom!

I guess we should stop. It's kinda creepy.

Art 102

There's a story behind this very old, sketchbook cartoon of mine. Read it, then decide if you care to read below it.

(Click to enlarge.)

Both characters represent me. I drew this in college, when I was 19-ish. I grew up in rural Arkansas and never had an art class until college. I sketched this cartoon immediately after leaving a class one day. It was a direct reaction to my struggle with which art was truly good and which art was not. A teacher had told me to be more "intellectual", a phrase I use in the cartoon. It may be the only time in my life that someone has accused me of under-thinking anything. (If you actually know me, that last sentence will make more sense.)

I stand by the writing in this, although the art's rather, um, crappy.

Random Moments from Old Comics

I've started alphabetizing the many comics in my basement. It is, of course, impossible to organize old comics without flipping through them. I thought I'd share interesting things as I run across them. Here's a few in no particular order...

Look what Nightcrawler did in 1979!
From Marvel Team-Up #89...

Please no longer give Spider-Man the credit for inventing cool upside-down lip locking.


Something We Should Never See, Part 1.
This is the Vision. He's an android.

In Avengers #137 (1975), we see him in a bathing suit!

There's something weird about it. I didn't even know his "costume" came off!

Something We Should Never See, Part 2.
Galactus is an awesome, near-incomprehensible force of cosmic proportions.

In the first Hercules limited series, issue #4 (1982), we see the Big G with his helmet off!

It's like looking inside someone's underwear drawn. It just feels wrong.

Truth in Advertising (for once)!
I found the below ad in Machine Man #6 (1978). I'm showing it because the hype actually turned out to actually be true! The "best" was yet to come. This was right before the book's most famous years. (Click on it if you'd like to enlarge it.)

Plus , it's a great image if you like the original New X-Men.