Happy Mother's Day With Robin

Robin (Damian Wayne) was trying to be a good friend to Superboy (Jon Kent), as their dads, Batman and Superman are friends, but things got problematic when Damian's mother, Talia Al Ghul came around....trying to kill reporter Lois Lane (who was Jon' mother).

Oh, how difficult Mother's Day can be for some, as shown in the Parent Trap, in Super Sons #13 and #14 (April and May, 2018), first cover by Giuseppe Camuncoli and second cover by Jorge Jimenez (with both variant covers by Dustin Nguyen, with stories by Peter J. Tomasi, Carlo Barberi and Art Thibert.

Celebrating Artist Michael T. Gilbert

Celebrating artist Michael T. Gilbert on his birthday (May 7, 1951) by bringing out his friends.

Michael was the creator of Doc Stearn...Mr. Monster, and over the years, he met a few other characters, like Airboy and his cast of characters in Airboy and Mr. Monster #1 (August, 1987 for Eclipse), as well as a giant dinosaur (here, named Gorzilla) as well as Atomic Boy in Mr. Monster vs Gorzilla (July, 1998 for Image).

The Criminal Superman

Superman...a criminal?  Say it ain't so!

Yet, here he is...accused of killing Lex Luthor.

How did the heroic Superman find himself in this situation?

Action Comics #318 (November, 1964)

Starting off with "The Death Of Luthor!" by Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan and George Klein.  To be fair, it starts on Earth, where prisoner Lex Luthor escapes prison...and heads to a rocket launch, to end up on the planet Lexor, where Luthor is considered a hero, and is under a red sun. While there, he marries a native woman, Ardora, whom he had known before.  

Superman, getting a spaceship to follow Luthor, does, ending up on Lexor (where the red sun makes him powerless). There, after chasing down Luthor, the two fight...with Superman seemingly killing Luthor.  The local establishment take Superman into custody, where he is to be tried for murder.

Action Comics #319 (December, 1964)

Picking up where the last issue left off, "The Condemned Superman!" by Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan and George Klein.  On trial, it goes badly for Superman.  Superman escapes jail before a verdict is rendered, with the man of steel finding one of Luthor's secret laboratories, therein he finds proof of a formula that Luthor invented that a person could take to simulate death.  

Going on that theory, Superman tries to revive Luthor...and is successful.  Luthor faked his death to get the authorities to sentence Superman to death.  Though this clears Superman, the Lexorians do not believe Luthor to be guilty.  Superman leaves Lexor, banished, while Luthor stays there with his new wife.    

Sugar And Spike Get In A Jam

As talking babies tend to do...

...Sugar Plumm and Spike Wilson find themselves in a jam, on these two classic covers (Sugar & Spike #4 of October-November, 1956 and Sugar & Spike #22 of April-May, 1959) with art by strip creator, Sheldon Meyer.

Flash In Crisis

Flash disappeared during the Crisis On Infinite Earths...but, where did he go?

These two issues explained what happened to Barry Allen...

Flash #350 (October, 1985)

First, the end of an era.  

The last issue of the Flash since the start of the Silver Age, by Cary Bates, Carmine Infantino and Frank McLaughlin (with cover inked by Klaus Janson).  Here, Barry Allen finally ends his trial for the murder of the Reverse Flash, fights the Rogues one more time, deals with Abra Kadabra...and gets a Silver Age happy ending, as Iris Allen, thought dead for 75 issues, was really rescued by her future parents (well, her parents, who lived in the future, Eric and Fran Russell).  

But, all this foreshadowed something ominous....

Crisis On Infinite Earths #8 (November, 1985)

After a few issues, where readers see Barry in the 30th Century, living his best life with Iris, the Crisis comes to his time, and Flash starts appearing to heroes, warning them of the Crisis.  

This issue, by Marv Wolfman, George Perez and Jerry Ordway, along with all the other dimensional confusion and hero gathering, has Flash, in the headquarters of the Anti-Monitor in the anti-matter universe, dealing with Psycho Pirate and the Weaponers of Qward, with Barry realizing that to help save the multiverse, he has to destroy the Anti-Monitor's Anit-Matter Cannon..

....and, as his speed increases, he travels through time (mostly back, a little forward) to deliver warnings to the heroes (and, had other circumstances not happened, a hint of how to bring him back....).

An incredible moment in comics (even with all the updates and changes that have happened since...), with the loss of the character that so visually started DC's Silver Age.

Why talk about this today?  Well, on the CW Flash TV series, this was the date the Flash disappeared according to the Central City Citizen...and read here for a little history of the Crisis On Infinite Earths. as well as here, for a little on the Flash of Two Worlds which kicked off Flash's place with the multiple Earths, as well as how Flash got to now here.

National Picnic Day

Celebrating National Picnic Day, and what better way than a quick peek into Jellystone Park, the home of Hanna Barbera's Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo, who usually spend their days looking for a picnic basket, much to the consternation of park Ranger Smith.

Along with all his animated success, Yogi Bear had a comic book that lasted for 42 issues at Gold Key (even if the first three issues were under their Four Color title), with the series ending in October, 1970.

Covers above are from Yogi Bear #32 and #35 (April, 1968 and January, 1969), and the second batch of covers from Yogi Bear #34 and #42 (October, 1968 and October, 1970), with surprisingly few covers with picnic baskets.

Reggie And Me On The Beach

A little fun on the beach...well, fun on the beach for Reggie Mantle, as he insults Archie Andrews in front of Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge on these two covers for Reggie And Me (#74 and #90, October, 1974 and September, 1976).