"It was maybe corrupting her."

From the Washington Post:

As [Supreme Court nominee Sonia] Sotomayor was growing up in a family in which no one had gone to college, people prodded her to excel.

"The females were expected to achieve more," said her younger brother, Juan Sotomayor. She loved comic books -- Archie, Casper, Richie Rich -- so much that, after her father died, her paternal grandmother and aunts once convened a family meeting with her mother. "They were concerned about the role of the comic books in my sister's life," recalled her brother, an allergist outside Syracuse, N.Y. "It was maybe corrupting her."

Okay, I can sort of see Richie Rich. God knows how many little tykes were driven into reactionary liberalism by Richie's conspicuous consumption.

Where else, indeed?

Now wait just a wallopin' minute here.

Not six months ago the newspaper Spider-Man waved a magic web and brought the premise in sync with the comic-book Spider-Man and the newly-marriage-free Brand New Day. And now the newspaper version is "goin' rogue" and reverting back to the happily-married Pete and MJ?

Okay.

No, really, it's okay. I like 'em this way. "Brand New Day" was and is a bad idea.

(Good luck finding the Sundays online.)

Krona!

Complete with Kirby Krackle! 

Fantasies are healthy, right?

Well, actually, in Superman v2 #130, there was this Halloween party...

Finally, someone who knows what a crisis is

Okay, I already knew that the creators of Unshelved are fans. The Firefly/Serenity strips are what first attracted my attention to this charming webcomic in the first place. But I still have just a small fannish squee every time they drop another reference, even if it doesn't ultimately feed the day's punchline. Especially if it doesn't.

A "red skies" crossover

The creators of eleven character-specific blogs have gotten together for a...

Of course, mine isn't a character-centric blog, it just sort-of looks like one, so I thought I'd leap onto the passing bandwagon and do what many editors did at the time: A crossover by the most generous definition of the term, where a character would look up and exclaim "Gosh, lookit that, the sky is red, wonder why."

So the least I can do is link to the blogs that are doing this: The Aquaman Shrine ; Justice League Detroit; Speed Force; Being Carter Hall; the Doom Patrol; Plastic Man Platitudes; Dispatches from the Arrow Cave; I am the Phantom Stranger; Idol-Head of Diabolu; Mail it to Team-up; and the mastermind behind it all, Firestorm Fan.

Since they've all found their heroes on the spectacular Perez/Ross cover to the original hardbound edition of Crisis on Infinite Earths, I thought I would too. Forgive the resolution, but with 500-plus characters on the cover, well, they can't all be Superman. Poor Ralph didn't have a huge part in the story, either, as I recall. I would have found him sooner if he'd been wearing any other costume.

I always hated the half-and-half look.

To make matters worse, for the original hardback publication, the two Supermen were front and center on the dust jacket (well, if you published Superman, you'd probably do the same thing), which meant Ralph would have been on the inside front cover dust jacket flap.

Red skies at night, sailors delight; red skies at morning, sailors take warning; red skies at noon, EVERYBODY DIES.

A Cool Comic Book Moment

Brian Cronin at Comics Should Be Good! has been examining the two part Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? all week. As a result, he has come up with four bona fide tearjerker moments courtesy of Alan Moore and Curt Swan.

I finally realized that he was never going to get to one of my own favorite moments from this story because it is not really a tearjerker moment (for all that Pete Ross has just been killed). It is, instead, as succinct a statement as one could ask of just how awesome Superman can be -- in fact, how awesome comics storytelling can be.

As he stands in the wreckage of the WGBS television studio, his secret identity revealed, his boyhood best friend dead in his arms, Superman finally speaks. "Toyman...Prankster...Let me ask you one question: Do you know what radio waves look like?"

The reply comes back through the toy Superman: "Huh? No! Why?" But the red-and-blue blur has already disappeared, headed toward the source of the criminals' transmission.

Before the pair can take another breath, Superman is there, bursting through the wall, announcing, "Because I do!"

The Treadmill Days of Christmas, day 12

Whew. Whose idea was this again?

Day 12: The Fantastic Four

Early period: Fantastic Four #70, Jan 1968, by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott. This issue (spoiler!) actually ends with this scene, and isn't resolved until the following issue. The big green guy is an android, an "ultimate weapon" prepared by the Mad Thinker (defeated an issue or two back) and accidentally activated.

Boy, I hate when that happens.

This issue also contains a full-page panel of Reed and Sue musing on the love they share and the child that will soon be theirs. You can see Sue's new miniskirted uniform on the cover: We never find out if those unstable molecules can stretch into a maternity uniform.

Later period: Fantastic Four #369, Oct 1992, by Paul Ryan. Everybody, but everybody, is in this issue, as Sue battles her evil side Malice on the astral plane. Those of you who thought the corruption of Mary Marvel was unprecedented should probably look this story up.

Well, this was actually a lot of fun. Maybe I should continue looking at random character's covers at odd intervals. After all, we didn't do Captain America, or Batman, or Daredevil, or Wonder Woman, or the X-men, or Green Lantern, or the Hulk, or Captain Marvel, or Doctor Strange, or Plastic Man, or Thor, or Elongated Man...

Oh, crap, that's twelve more days...

Previously: Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.

The Treadmill Days of Christmas, day 11

Day 11: The Flash

The story in Flash #90, Dec 1947, is really just an excuse for the Flash to play all nine positions in a baseball game. I keep meaning to dig this story up (it's reprinted in 80 Page Giant #4) to see what the other team had to say about it. Not to mention the league position.

I wanted to choose the first Elongated Man, of course, or "Land of the Golden Giants" (another sentimental favorite), but was there ever a more provocative cover than this one, from Flash #128, May 1962?

I don't remember if I was disappointed or relieved when we caught up with Barry and he was wearing street clothes. I mean, you've seen how tightly his uniform fits. No way does he wear a shirt and slacks under it.

Oh, well. If I'm prepared to accept the expanding-costume-in-the-ring thing, business-casual space travel is nothing.

Both of these covers, by the way, were pencilled by Carmine Infantino. Frank Giacoia inked "Nine Empty Uniforms", Joe Giella inked "Real-Gone Flash".

Previously: Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

The Treadmill Days of Christmas, day 10

Day Ten: Iron Man

An out-and-out sentimental pick: I mentioned back on day 4 that Marvel comics didn't come to my little town until 1967. My only previous exposure to these characters was those awful television cartoons. This, Tales of Suspense #93, Sep 1967, was my first Marvel comic ever.

I could have done worse. 12 pages of Colan-Giacoia greatness, 10 pages of Kirby-Sinnott energy on Captain America, and this awesome Colan cover emphasizing the sheer bulk and power of the massive Titanium Man.

I felt kind-of cheated that both stories were continued from the previous issue, and both were continued into the next as well... But I bought the next issue.

Forward over four years to Iron Man #46. By now, Marvel's distribution arrangements allowed it to publish more monthlies, and they responded by immediately splitting Tales of Suspense (and its companions, Tales to Astonish and Strange Tales) in two. Gene Colan was busy with Daredevil, so this cover was by Gil Kane and Ralph Reese.

(I guess, since we're not now reading The Guardian #400, you know who won this battle.)

Previously: Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.