HAPPY NEW YEAR with "What is Your New Year's Resolution?"

To begin the year, here's a never-reprinted, 30 year-old strip that proves...

...some things (like Wolverine's popularity) never change!

But some things, like a Captain America movie going direct-to-video (and the discount bin), do change!

Written and illustrated by Darren Auck, this was part of the Yuletide holiday issue of Marvel's What The--?! #11 (1991), a revival/revamp of the Silver Age Not Brand Echh self-spoof concept which lasted twice as long (26 issues) as Not Brand Echh (13 issues)!

Curiously, unlike NBE, very little material from What The--?! has ever been reprinted!

Best of Holiday Reading Room SPACE ADVENTURES "Mummers from Mercury"

70 years ago, the world almost ended on New Year's Day...

...but it was saved by the participants of the annual Mummers Parade!

This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Space Adventures #1 (1953) was illustrated by Albert Tyler and Dick Giordano.

The writer (who was probably from Philadelphia) is unknown.

The Mummers Parade is usually held every New Years Day in Philadelphia.
Mummers tradition dates back to 400 BC and the Roman Festival of Saturnalias where Latin laborers marched in masks throughout the day of satire and gift exchange.
This included Celtic variations of “trick-or-treat” and Druidic noise-making to drive away demons for the new year.

Reports of rowdy groups “parading” on New Years day in Philadelphia date back before the revolution.
Prizes were offered by merchants beginning in the late 1800s.
January 1, 1901 was the first “official” parade offered about $1,725 in prize money from the city.
January 1, 2021 was the 120th Anniversary of the event, but, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was cancelled.
The Parade returned in 2022, and will happen on New Years Day, 2024!

Space Secret Agent Saturdays MYSTERY IN SPACE "Operation Phobos"

We presented the first Interplanetary Investigations tale from the Swinging Sixties HERE...

..now here's their second, final, never-reprinted adventure from DC's Mystery in Space #102 (1965)!

Note Sean Connery-lookalike Damos appears again.

Also note (from the ad at the end of the story), this month also saw the Strange Adventures premiere/origin of "The Man with the Animal Powers" who would morph a couple of issues later into superhero Animal Man, who's still active in DC's comics and tv series over 50 years later, unlike the secret agents of Interplanetary Investigations!

Written by Dave Wood, illustrated by Gil Kane, the series had a lot of potential.

Jan and Davos could've been a futuristic Man from U.N.C.L.E./Wild, Wild West/I Spy duo...

Ah, what could have been...

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Mystery in Space

Pulp Fiction Library

(which contains only a couple of stories from this previously-listed volume)

Best of Friday Fun THE FORGOTTEN SILVER AGE DC "COMIC"!

We presented this never-reprinted Silver Age cartoon by Mort Drucker...

...and asked if anyone could identify what DC comic it was from.

Nobody could!

The answer is this...

DC's Teen Beam #2 (1968)!

Yeah, it doesn't look like a comic, but it was comic-sized, and DC produced it!

From '66-'69 several comics companies took a shot at doing mixed-format comics/teen mag titles...

Tower's Teen-In

Charlton's Go-Go

Harvey's Pop Comics

Warren also tried their hand with two b/w mag titles...

Freak Out, U.S.A.
and

Teen Love Stories!

Oddly, Marvel, once noted for their tendency to jump on trends, didn't do one of these!

DC advertised their attempt with this...odd...ad...

...featuring the mascot character Teeny and, presuming it would appeal to the target teenage girl audience, a grungy hippie!

The first issue featured Teeny introducing articles about various heart-throbs...

...but no other comics-type material!

The incredibly-popular mag they based the title on...

...immediately threatened a trademark infringement lawsuit!

So, DC hastily-altered the title in their ads and the book's logo to Teen Beam...

...and added comic pages along with the articles!

It didn't help, since distributors, unwilling to anger the insanely-hot Tiger Beat, refused to rack the title!

(as the ad points out, you had to ask for it, since it was now, as they used to say "under the counter" along with porn magazines!)

The second issue was the last!

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MEOW!

My Groovy Life with Tiger Beat's Teen Idols!

Best of Reading Room ASTONISHING "The Scientists"

We re-presented a later version (by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko, no less) of this tale on Tuesday!

This original version is a page longer and has a couple of rather witty touches which put the lie to the concept "If our meddling with time changed anything, we'd notice!"

This never-reprinted story, penciled by Harry Lazarus and inked by George Klein, from Atlas' Astonishing #9 (1952) is based on one of the basic rules of time-travel; "don't change anything in the past, or you'll alter the future"...which is in direct contradiction to another of the basic rules of time-travel; "no matter what you do, you can't change the future".

Hey, I'm just telling you the rules.

I never said they made sense...