Holy New Year, Batman

On New Year's, usually it is a glowing ball of light dropping from the sky onto Times Square...

...but, for the 1978 DC Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters, it was Batman getting the drop on JLA foe, Dr. Light, (as drawn by Dick Giordano) to start off the New Year!

Happy New Year!

Celebrate New Year's With Archie And Jughead

Jughead should be warning Archie to be careful, lest Betty and Veronica find out what he's doing on New Year's Eve, as shown on this Dan DeCarlo/Rudy Lapick cover to Jughead With Archie #97 (March, 1990).

Happy New Year!

Remembering Stan Lee

Remembering Stan Lee (December 28, 1922 - November 12, 2018), co-creator (with Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby) of the building blocks of the Marvel Universe including Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, the Fantastic Four, Ant-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, the Avengers, the X-Men, Black Panther and so much more....

...with this cover of FOOM #17 (March, 1977).

Excelsior!

Remembering Artist John Severin

Remembering artist John Severin on his birthday (December 26, 1921 - February 12, 2012), with a look at the covers he drew for the last issues of Captain Savage And His Leatherneck Raiders.

Captain Savage 15 and 17 (1969)

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Captain Savage 18 and 19 (1970)

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It would be great if one day, Marvel would give us a complete collection of the 19 issues of Captain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders!

Sgt. Rock Christmas

Nothing's Easy in Easy Company, not even Christmas, just ask Sgt. Rock.

But, though war is hell, every once in a while there is a break in the hell that is war, shown in this issue of Sgt. Rock, with a cover by Joe Kubert.

The Shining Star

In this issue, Sgt. Rock #414 (February, 1987) by Robert Kanigher and Andy Kubert, Sgt. Rock shares a little of his youth, when he was just young Frank, with his mother sharing a letter from Frank's father, who was fighting World War I.  But, even in No Man's Land, the Germans and Americans stopped fighting for one magical day called Christmas.

Back to the present, where Rock and Easy Company were still hunting Nazis in a snowy Europe, where Sgt. Rock found a young couple, Guiseppe and Maria, fleeing the fighting so Maria could have her baby.  

Sgt. Rock led the Nazis away, and was taking them towards a village, but soon the poor weather was taking its toll, and Rock and the couple had to seek shelter in a cave as soon the baby would be here.  Little Sure Shot showed up, looking for Rock, and was put in charge of delivering the baby.  The Nazis approached the cave, with Rock on guard, who, instead of fighting, told them of the miracle to happen.  They stopped, and instead of fighting, gave the Americans, and the new family a moment of peace for Christmas.  As the Nazis went off, Rock saw a star, shining bright in the north....

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Getting Ready For Santa Claus With Sabrina

Aunt Hilda (and artist Dan DeCarlo) are keeping watch for Santa Claus this Christmas Eve with all the latest technology, getting Sabrina the Teenage Witch ready for Christmas on this cover to Archie Giant Series Magazine #515 (January, 1982). 

Perez Covers Christmas

When is a cover not a cover?

When it is the back cover (though still a cover, it isn't the first thing you see).

This one is worth seeing, as it is not only a Christmas cover, but a cover by George Perez, with Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Captain Marvel Jr. and, likely the only time Perez drew the 1970s Jack Kirby Sandman!

The front cover to this, from Best of DC #22 (March, 1982) is by Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano (and certainly a cover designed to get you into the Christmas mood....).

This tiny tome has reprints of many classic Christmas stories from the DC archives, including....

...Teen Titans #13 (January-February, 1968), Batman #247 (February, 1973), and Justice League Of America #110 (March-April, 1974), which have been covered before....

...as well as Captain Marvel Jr. #46 (February, 1947), Batman #27 (February, 1945) and Batman Family #4 (March-April, 1976) which will be covered in future Christmases....

....as well as a "new" Jack Kirby Sandman story, originally planned for Sandman #7  in the 1970s, then for Kamandi (but, he too was cancelled, though the story ended up in the Cancelled Comic Cavalcade, and much later in the DC Universe: The Bronze Age Omnibus By Jack Kirby), making this digest a true Christmas present!

Richie Rich And Casper Enjoy Christmas

There are things even Richie Rich can't do, as the world's richest boy...but, thankfully, with friends like Casper, the Friendly Ghost, reaching the top of a Christmas tree isn't one of them, as shown on the cover of Richie Rich and Casper #22 (February, 1978) by Warren Kremer.

Spider-Man Meets The Watcher For Christmas

Peter Parker is your friendly neighborhood super-hero, going about his business before the holiday, while Uatu is a being living on the Blue Area of the moon, doing his usual business (watching). 

What Earthshaking cosmic events bring these two together (under a cover by Ed Hannigan and Al Milgrom)?

Small Miracles

In Marvel Team-Up #127 (March, 1983) by J. M. DeMatteis, Kerry Gammill and Mike Esposito, Peter is getting his gifts ready for Aunt May and the old folks that live with her at the home.  Everyone seems to be in the Christmas mood except for Arthur Chekov, who was waiting for his granddaughter, Bette to show up.  Peter is now concerned, but gets a big blast to his Spider-Sense, heading outside.  

There, a sudden snowstorm isolates him from the home, and he finds himself in his Spider-Man outfit, confronted by a large, bald, silent alien (Uatu), who hands him a gem, with an image of Bette.  Now, motivated to find Bette, Spider-Man begins a search for the young lady, while the Watcher watches from the Blue Area of the moon.  

Finding her address, Spider-Man arrives to a crime scene, which worries him.  This demoralizes Peter, who then meets with Captain America (who had many team-ups with Spidey before....and after), who inspires Peter to keep at it.  Peter does find Bette, who, thanks to a dishonest boyfriend, is in trouble with drug dealers, and she is shot.  Peter, thinking he will be unable to save her, yells his displeasure to the world, and is answered with a silent appearance of the Watcher.  

Still hearing nothing from him, Peter hurls the gem the Watcher gave him at the silent alien, which breaks, healing the girl enough for Peter to get Bette to a hospital.  There, she reunites with her grandfather, and Peter can say a silent thanks to the alien who helped save her.  

On the moon, Uatu reflects on this event, hoping it is insignificant enough not to be noticed by his brethren, who have a strict policy of non-interference....and how sad that they couldn't even be bothered to help someone on Christmas.

Perez Marvel Holiday Special

George Perez has contributed a lot of art to Marvel over the decades, but he hasn't done too many Christmas based drawings....at least until the Marvel Holiday Special of 1994.

Made that much more special, as it also has a rare drawing of Spider-Man, and even X-Men Iceman and Wolverine (though George did draw a lot of the Beast when he was an Avenger).

Sad that he didn't doing anything inside, but the stories are: Beast/Iceman by Kurt Busiek, James Fry and Neil Vokes; Captain America by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake; the Thing by Gregory Wright and Mike Manley; Silver Surfer by J. M. DeMatteis, Mindy Newell, Rick Leonardi and Al Williamson; Spider-Man by Karl Bollers and Gray Morrow and the X-Men featuring Wolverine by Karl Bollers and Sal Buscema as the Marvel heroes get ready for Christmas.

 

Remembering artist Dan DeCarlo

Remembering artist Dan DeCarlo (December 12, 1919 - December 18, 2002) on his birthday, with a mini tribute to two characters he co-created for Archie Comics...Sabrina The Teenage Witch and Cheryl Blossom!

Here, the cover to Sabrina The Teenage Witch #77 (January, 1983) and Cheryl Blossom #11 (April, 1998), as we get ready for the snowy weather by dealing with snowmen.

Of course, can't forget another of Dan's creations, Josie and the Pussycats....and read more on them here (but they didn't have people made of snow on any cover I could find!).

 

Remember Pearl Harbor

Remember Pearl Harbor...with this cover to Sgt. Rock #20 (January, 1992) by Joe Kubert, featuring Sgt. Rock and the soldiers of Easy Company.

The issue is towards the end of the run of 1980s/1990s special Sgt. Rock reprints, and features 3 U.S.S. Stevens reprints (from Our Army At War #247, #244 and #235) along with two reprints of Sgt. Rock tales from Our Army At War #196 and #168, Kubert covers below.

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The super heroes (then called mystery men), where occupied elsewhere and elsewhen....

 

Shazam! It's December

Holy Moley!  

It can't already be December, can it?  

It sneaks up on you and attacks, just like Dr. Sivana did to Captain Marvel at the Acropolis in Greece, with his toys, in his entry from the 1977 Super DC Calendar for December, by Kurt Schaffenberger.

But how did Uncle Dudley and Shazam Winnebago get across the ocean to Greece?  (Rhetoric...likely a feat by young Billy Batson's alter ego!).

December is doubly important for Captain Marvel, as he first said Shazam! in the first Whiz Comics #2 (February, 1940) on which came out on December 1st, 1939, and he and his family moved over to DC with Shazam! #1 (February, 1973) on sale on December 14th, 1972, where the Big Red Cheese was ready to take on Superman (eventually)!