Celebrating Artist Stephen Bissette

Celebrating the birthday of artist Stephen Bissette (March 14, 1955) with a couple of his covers for Saga Of The Swamp Thing (#26 and #27, from July and August, 1984), as Swamp Thing begins to accept his supernatural beginnings, and teams up with Etrigan, the Demon.

Celebrating Artist Val Semeiks

Celebrating artist Val Semeiks on his birthday (February 5, 1955) with a couple of his covers to The Demon (issues #23 and #24, of May and June, 1992),  where the reader is reminded that Etrigan lives in Gotham, as Robin and Batman get involved in his adventures with the Howler, yet it ends up being Jason Blood's girlfriend, Glenda Mark, who solves the problem.

Celebrating Artist Matt Wagner

Celebrating artist/writer Matt Wagner on his birthday (October 9, 1961), with a little of his less seen work...

...covering Jack Kirby's Demon (and writing the four issue mini-series, as well as one shot appearance in the Demon's regular title...

...but only providing a cover for the Demon's appearance helping to resurrect Green Arrow).

The Demon #1 and #2 (January and February, 1987)

The Demon #3 and #4 (March and April, 1987)

The Demon #22 and Green Arrow #6 (April, 1992 and September, 2001)

Best of all, if you are interested in Jason Blood's battle to free himself from the Demon (the mini-series), as well as his involvement in a war of witches (Sybil Haden and Annie Mojo), find the trade paperback, The Demon: From The Darkness (from 2014).

Happy Halloween Super Friends

Happy Halloween!

Ramona Fradon and Robert Allen Smith gave us the cover of Super Friends #28 (January, 1980) which teased a confrontation among DC's top heroes and most villainous monsters (but they were only magically transformed guests).

Here, a look at when these monsters first appeared, and when they met who they faced!

Bizarro

The first adult Bizarro version of Superman appeared in Action Comics #254 (July, 1959) by Otto Binder and Al Plastino as an imperfect duplicate of Superman created by Luthor, but, Superboy had faced an earlier Bizarro back in Superboy #68 (October, 1958), though that version was destroyed.

Swamp Thing

The Alec Holland version of Swamp Thing first appeared in Swamp Thing #1 (October-November, 1972) by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, a scientist burned in an accident and healed by the swamp.  He first met Batman in Swamp Thing #7 (November-December, 1973).

Demon

Etrigan the Demon first appeared in The Demon #1 (August-September, 1972) by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer, as an agent of Merlin, bonded to human Jason Blood during the fall of Camelot to fight evil.  He first met Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman #280 (June, 1981).

Man-Bat

Kirk Langstrom created a formula that turned him into a half-man, half-bat creature, called Man-Bat in Detective Comics #400 (June, 1970) by Frank Robbins, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano.  While Batman and Man-Bat faced off in that issue, Robin didn't meet Man-Bat until Power Records 30 in 1976 in the aptly titled "Robin Meets Man-Bat".

Solomon Grundy

Now, Solomon Grundy first appeared in All-American Comics #61 (October, 1944) by Alfred Bester and Paul Reinman fighting the Golden Age Green Lantern as the animated corpse of Cyrus Gold, but, even with multiple encounters with the JLA...never really ran into Aquaman before the Crisis On Infinite Earths.

Though, well after, Aquaman and Solomon Grundy were in JLA: Year One #2 (February, 1998) in a retroactive retelling of the JLA's first year (which, itself, was a story of how five heroes became...super friends!).

How's that for a tricky treat?

Happy 100th Birthday Jack Kirby

Sadly, Jack Kirby (born August 28, 1917, died February 6, 1994) is no longer with us.

But, a few of his friends wanted to celebrate...

...folks like Captain America and the Fantastic Four.....

....Bombast and Captain Glory....

....Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur (Moon Boy too!).... 

...to the Eternals and Black Panther....

...Kamandi, the Last Boy On Earth! and Etrigan, the Demon....

....the Sandman (and all sorts of things on the edge of dreams) and the Manhunter....

....the Dingbats of Danger Street and Atlas....

...OMAC, the One Man Army Corps and our fighting forces of the Losers... 








....the New Gods and Mr. Miracle (finding a whole Fourth World).... 

...to whole teams of heroes like the Avengers and the X-Men....

...including Avenger members like Thor and the Hulk....

...to Green Arrow and the Challengers of the Unknown....

...to the Boy Commandos and the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion....

....to Manhunter and the Sandman again (for the first time)....

...even this rare cover for a hundredth issue of Comic Reader, covering a few of DC's characters.....


...and so much more....

....this is why Jack Kirby is and forever shall be the King!