What's Your Brotherhood Quotient?

(I almost didn't make this post. I've always been caught between "ignoring old attitudes of the past" and "never ignoring old attitudes of the past.")

I recently bought an issue of The Brave and the Bold #65, from 1966.


I enjoy old comics partly because of the ads, but I didn't expect to find anything like the following "public service" page. Click to enlarge, if you wish...


The most astounding section has got to be Section A.


Got give 'em credit for trying, I suppose. Still, something in me really wants to make fun of how random it feels...

Proof That I Have Too Many Comics.

While sorting through my comics, I found Amazing Spider-Man #124 (1973)...


...Marvel Tales #101 (1978)...


...and Power Records #10 (1974).


It's the same freakin' story!

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.

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.