Free Comic Book Day 2012

VISIT YOUR LOCAL COMIC SHOP!
LOTSA FREEBIES!
MANY SHOPS HAVE SPECIAL EVENTS (COMIX CREATOR AUTOGRAPH SIGNINGS, CHARACTER APPEARANCES, CONTESTS)!
DID WE MENTION LOTS OF FREEBIES?

The Avengers are HERE!

Variant Mondo poster by Tyler Stout

The Avengers opens today.

So why are you sitting around reading this blog?

Get out there and see it!

I've seen it, and it's KOOL!

NOTE: Stay for the whole end-credits sequence!

There's two tag-scenes, one at the very end of the credits!

Mondo poster by Tyler Stout

And don't forget Free Comic Book Day tomorrow...

YouTube Wednesday Reux: IRON MAN "Enter Hawkeye" (& Black Widow)

While everyone's familiar with Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America, most don't know...

Hawkeye and the Black Widow!
Hawkeye the Marksman first appeared as a misunderstood hero in Iron Man's series in Tales of Suspense #57, where he met the already-ongoing villainess (yes, villainess) Black Widow!
That story and it's follow-ups in Tales of Suspense #60 & 61...

...were the basis for the cartoon from the Marvel SuperHeroes Show (1966) below!

The previous episode in the Iron Man series had introduced the Black Widow in a tale adapted from Tales of Suspense #46 (the first Crimson Dynamo story)...

  ...and Tales of Suspense #52 (the sequel which featured the Black Widow's first appearance)!

The episode features one of the characters actually dying on screen (A rarity in 60s cartoons)!

Enjoy!

YouTube Wednesday: THE AVENGERS "Molto and the Invasion of the Lava Men"

Adapted from Journey into Mystery #97..

 and Avengers #5 (1964), this combined tale was done as an episode of Mighty Thor! on the Marvel SuperHeroes Show (1966)!

Avengers-based stories were adapted into all the heroes' series except Sub-Mariner! (who was edited out of the animated versions of stories he did appear in, like "Return of Captain America", which adapted Avengers #4!)
Featuring Mighty Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Giant-Man & the Wasp (who I really wish were in the movie since Hank Pym is my favorite Marvel character...)
Both tales by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby.
(The animated version also uses some Don Heck and Joe Sinnott art to fill in continuity gaps.)

and go see the movie this weekend!

Reading Room: SPEED CARTER: SPACEMAN "Slaughter on a Star"

The 1950s, when heroic astronauts fought for Truth, Justice, and the American Way...

...in outer space, as seen in the second (of three) tales from Speed Carter: SpaceMan #1 (1953)!

Y'know, this series has "video game" written all over it!

Written by Hank Chapman, illustrated by Joe Maneely, who managed to jam what, today, would be a multi-issue 100-page-plus series into only five pages...and make it work!

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Tribute to Jonathan Frid...the ORIGINAL Barnabas Collins!

Courtesy of the amazingly-talented Francesco Francavilla...

...a graphic tribute to the late Jonathan Frid, who embodied Dark Shadows' Barnabas Collins for two generations of fans, and who passed the torch to Johnny Depp in the new film opening next week.

Plus the cover for #11 of the new Dark Shadows comic book, also by Francesco...

Superb art, eh?

Design of the Week--Captain Future Logo Redux

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
In rare cases, like this, we keep it another week because sales are so good!
It's the logo of the hero of Big Bang Theory's Sheldon and Leonard, hanging in a place or honor by the front door of their apartment...

He's the Wizard of Science!
He's been the subject of pulp magazines, comic books, even an anime series!
He's Captain Future, and now you can wear him on shirts, bags, cellphone & e-reader cases, and other kool stuff!