Disney fans who are enjoying Boom Studios’ current take on the classic characters as superheroes (or “Ultraheroes” as they call them) should know that that series was originally Italian and teams up various versions of Disney heroes and villains that have been around for decades in some cases. For behind the scenes art, info and history (as well as whole comics not yet published in English!) check out the Italian language site TOPOLINO!

http://www.disney.it/publishing/topolinomagazine/#/fumetti/saghe/ultraheroes.jsp

Talk about obscure but popular! SWING SISSON, ACE OF THE BANDSTAND, outlasted DOLL MAN in Quality’s FEATURE COMICS for a nearly 100 issue run! Here’s a look at the career of this crime-fighting swing band leader of the Big Band Era!

http://slaymonstrobot.blogspot.com/2009/11/golden-age-idol-swing-sisson.html

Marvel’s unauthorized version of THE BEATLES STORY from 1978 gets another unauthorized airing as the Groovy Agent’s 500th post. (Congrats Groove!) Written by David Anthony Kraft and drawn by George Perez, it’s as timely now in these days of remasters and ROCK BAND as it was thirty one years ago!

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/11/grooves-faves-fabulous-500th-post.html

One of the most internationally popular characters ever, Lee Falk’s THE PHANTOM, appears from a 1964 Gold Key comic in a story drawn by Bill Lignante. Arguably the first costumed superhero, his adventures have been continuously printed in comic strips and books in dozens of countries (not always including the US) since 1936.

http://www.goldkeystories.com/2009/11/phantom-belt.html

Here’s a 1963 selection of light girlie cartoons by BLAKHAWK and TORCHY cartoonist Bill Ward. They’re from a magazine called COLLEGE LAUGHS that featured the above cover by John Severin and was published by the same fella that utilized those here pseudonymous folks for decades in his CRACKED magazine.

http://hairygreeneyeball2.blogspot.com/2009/11/bill-wardmccartney-1963.html

SILVER AGE COMICS brings to light what he calls “the unknown SPIDER-MAN story,” a bizarre out-of -continuity fill-in drawn in 1968 by (who would become Spidey’s regular artist some 7 years later) and tossed away in MARVEL SUPER HEROES # 14.

http://sacomics.blogspot.com/2009/11/unknown-spiderman-story.html

Over at my place, BOOKSTEVE’S LIBRARY, there’s 3 CAPTAIN TOOTSIE one-pagers. This was a series of popular comics ads for Tootsie Roll products that was originally done by CAPTAIN MARVEL creator CC Beck, later with/by Pete Costanza and still later by Bill Schrieber. Check back through my archives for more examples of this fun long-running ad strip.

http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2009/11/captain-tootsie-rules.html

Here’s a 1967 EERIE story by a then virtually unknown newspaper strip artist named Neal Adams who would very soon revolutionize comics art-and especially BATMAN- as we know it. Although I’m betting he had no clue at the time his work here emerges as a full-blown wonder in spite of the fact that this was his only his second published comic book story!

http://blacknwhiteandredallover.blogspot.com/2009/11/post-15-fair-exchange.html

THE BLOG AT THE END OF TIME offers up not one but two-TWO-politically incorrect 1950′s parodies of Earl Derr Biggers’ venerable Honolulu-based Oriental detective Charlie Chan. The first is from Atlas’ (Marvel’s) WILD, the second from EC’s own personal in-house MAD imitation, PANIC.

http://theblogattheendoftime.blogspot.com/2009/11/charlie-chan-double-feature-charley.html

Ah, the Christmas stories are returning! Here’s the first I’ve seen but I’m sure we’ll see tons over the next few weeks. This one’s from a 1967 BUGS BUNNY CHRISTMAS FUN issue from Gold Key.

http://magiccarpetburn.blogspot.com/2009/11/bugs-bunny-christmas-fun-1-you-i-dont.html

DC Comics used to run a text page from time to time called something like the Covers Game back in the sixties. Fans would write in and note how many different covers they could find with variations on a certain theme. SEDUCTION OF THE INDIFFERENT sort of revives that with a handful of comics covers featuring marionettes!

http://seductionoftheindifferent.blogspot.com/2009/11/marionette-covers.html

Finally, there’s always room for Ditko! That’s Steve Ditko as in Craig’s upcoming book THE ART OF DITKO (Order yours today!) and also as in the story “Forever and Ever” as reprinted at the Ditko Blog.

http://ditko.blogspot.com/2009/11/unusual-tales-forever-and-ever.html

Not many brand new updates out there this morning (presumably due to the holiday) but it’s amazing what one can do with leftovers. Here are some decidedly choice bits from recent days, weeks and months.

Let’s start with part 2 of Sam Henderson’s look at the seventies humor mag BLAST, here both parodying underground comix of the day (including the “underground” ARCHIE strip seen above by ARCHIE’s own Stan Goldberg!) as well as presenting one by running an early appearance of Nick Cuti’s MOONCHILD.

http://themagicwhistle.blogspot.com/2009/11/blast-2-2-of-4.html

One of the last posts on the site CONFESSIONS OF AN UNREPENTANT COMIC COLLECTOR (which may or may not be a dead blog as it hasn’t updated for months) offers complete PRE-EC stories by EC greats Graham Ingles (from the original PLANET COMICS art!) and the team of John Severin and Will Elder (from JOE YANK).

http://tales-calculated-to-blog.blogspot.com/2009/09/here-is-rare-treat-some-original-pre-ec.html

PANELOLOGICAL PANTHEON goes into typically wonderful overkill mode describing this early POWER NELSON (THE FUTURE MAN) story by the definitive BATMAN ghost artist Dick Sprang and how he came to possess it even.

http://panelologicalpantheon.blogspot.com/2009/11/power-nelson-in-project-radium-from.html

The great Reed Crandall did some of his best-and worst stuff-for Warren in the sixties and early seventies. Here’s a piece that seems to fall in-between the two parts of that statement. From a 1969 CREEPY, read “Keep Your Spirits Up” written by fan-turned-pro Bill Parente.

http://blacknwhiteandredallover.blogspot.com/2009/11/post-14-keep-your-spirits-up.html

BUCKY BUG and LI’L BAD WOLF were mainstay backup characters in WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES, forever overshadowed by the Barks Duck stories that highlighted each issue during the title’s golden years. They could be fun, too, though! See for yourself from a 1950 issue.

http://www.bigblogcomics.com/2009/11/lil-bad-wolf-in-sorcerers-hat-and-bucky.html

On this Thanksgiving day, we are, of course, thankful for our readers and thankful for comics blogs that continue to offer such nifty posts for us to link to!

Ol’ Groove is offering up a full four course Thanksgiving Day feast of cool comics today, starting off with the rare combination of Studio vets Mike Kaluta and Bernie Wrightson on pencils and inks for one issue of DC’s THE SHADOW from the 1970′s.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/11/thanksgiving-feast-2009-denny-oneil.html

Here’s SILVER AGE COMICS with some reflections on THE DILEMMA OF SUPERBOY or more particularly his parents and how they were de-aged by DC to appeal to younger fans. I, myself, HAD older parents and so their original look seemed fine to me!

http://sacomics.blogspot.com/2009/11/dilemma-of-superboy.html

I always enjoy Ed Wheelan and here we have a 2-part presentation of his classic MINUTE MOVIES newspaper strip as reprinted with commentary in NOSTALGIA COMICS during the nostalgia boom of the early seventies.

http://hairygreeneyeball2.blogspot.com/2009/11/ed-wheelans-minute-movies-serpents-of.html

AIRBOY and VALKYRIE were two characters revived very successfully by Eclipse Comics in the 1980′s but originally they were from the halcyon days of WWII. Fred Kida’s original tale of AIRBOY MEETS VALKYRIE shows up today courtesy of THE TIME BULLET.

http://thetimebullet.blogspot.com/2009/11/airboy-meets-valkyrie.html

Okay, that’s enough comics for today…go eat turkey and we’ll see you tomorrow!

Over at Facebook yesterday, I posted a full photo album of historical shots of comics creators from the 1970′s. Comic book folks like Jack Kirby with Jerry Siegel (seen above) as well as Wood, Williamson, Roy Thomas, Gardner Fox and others along with strippers like Schulz, Sickles and Caniff. You don’t have to be on Facebook or be friends with me to check ‘em out at the public link here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=348863&id=859435075&l=dd280aeafa

Some choice Alex Toth surfaces fom a mid-seventies issue of Warren’s CREEPY as written (or at least scripted) by Gerry Boudreau. THE PHANTOM OF PLEASURE ISLAND is pure black and white comics goodness.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/11/black-and-white-wednesday-gerry.html

Many comics fans have a soft spot for artist Dick Briefer’s silly FRANKENSTEIN stories of the 1940′s but the series both started and ended with serious stories of the monster. Here’s one from the first issue that returned to that format. Must have jarred the regular younger readers.

http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2009/11/rebirth-of-monster.html

The oft-maligned unjustly Don Heck had some pretty impressive art in this mid-sixties Gold Key issue of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, marred only slightly by the fact that there are virtually no scenes depicting the cool submarine Seaview itself!

http://www.goldkeystories.com/2009/11/voyage-to-bottom-of-sea-jonah-cruise-of.html

Everybody is talking about Steve Ditko these days. But nobody is singing about him!

Between the two books by Blake Bell, and the upcoming volume The Art of Steve Ditko from our very own Craig Yoe (available now for pre-order from Amazon) there’s been a lot of people singing the praises of Steve Ditko, the J.D. Salinger of comics, whether it’s for his seminal work on Spider-Man and Dr. Strange or his early horror comics for Charlton. But let’s not overlook one of DC’s weirdest super-characters, The Creeper.

From his very first appearance in Showcase, it was clear that The Creeper was not cut from the same cloth as DC’s other long-underwear guys. For one thing, he wore this flamboyant red feather boa which clashed with his yellow tights, clearly a fashion faux pas for any crime-fighter or cross-dresser.

Costuming aside, The Creeper was just a little creepier than, say, Matter-Eater Lad or Bouncing Boy, and we have to credit Steve for that. To get in the right mood to read Ditko’s Creeper, you have to put on some eerie mood music to set the tone.

Enter, The Ventures! Possibly the group with the most comic book records to their credit, they recorded a suitably creepy record called – you guessed it – The Creeper! The link to listen is down below.

The Ventures made an alarming number of records with plenty of hits along the way. And as much as I love The Ventures, I don’t know much about them, so I’m just going to make something up.

On a lovely spring day in 1960, four guys were waiting on line for a bus. They were each wearing pastel sweaters in coordinating colors and happened to be carrying their musical instruments with them. Then and there they decided to form a band and buy a car, so they’d have room to carry their axes and not have to take mass transporation to gigs. The Ventures were born! Right away they started recording catchy instrumentals which instantly began climbing the charts.

In 1964, with amazing foresight, one Venture turned to another Venture and said, “I know Steve Ditko isn’t happy with the whole Green Goblin thing and he’ll probably leave Marvel and go back to Charlton. But I predict that by 1968 he’ll end up at DC and create a character called ‘The Creeper.’ In fact, I’ve already written a song about it.”

Of course, on that fateful day some 45 years ago, The Ventures had no idea that their song would find its way onto the ITCH blog for all you ITCHers to enjoy. You just never know.

So open up your dog-eared copy of The Creeper and listen to “The Creeper.” You’ll be glad you did. (Simply click the link below.)

The Creeper - Ventures

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More than 100 bloggers are celebrating Boris Karloff’s birthday (he’d be 122!) this week with posts on the actor, his life and his movies. Check out FRANKENSTEINIA at http://frankensteinia.blogspot.com/ for more information.

I have yet to see anyone blog today on his long-running licensed comic book, BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY in which he acted as a horror host. That said, here’s a story posted a couple weeks back from that Gold Key comic from 1970, more than a year after the actor’s real-life passing!

http://www.goldkeystories.com/2009/11/my-monsters-keeper.html

Here we find a story from BORIS KARLOFF’S THRILLER of 1962, a short-lived comic very similar to its more popular successor above. GCD credits the art here to former Bob Kane ghost Jerry Robinson.

http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2009/11/hand-in-wall.html

From there we link to this retro post from Pappy from that same # 1 issue. This time the art is by longtime LONE RANGER newspaper strip artist Tom Gill.

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/search?q=karloff+thriller

Finally, here’s a link to the Official Boris Karloff website with cover images from several issues of BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY as well as an order form so you can order the recent Dark Horse collector’s volume reprint directly from the Karloff site!

http://www.karloff.com/cgi-bin/users/karloff/autocart.pl?CAT=13&ITEM=BKToM

The great comics artist Wallace Wood is celebrated today with two of his best late humor pieces, both from DC’s PLOP! in the mid-seventies. For more on Woody, check out one of MY blogs (he said modestly) at http://wallywoodart.blogspot.com/ .

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/11/warriors-and-wizards-week-sunday.html

As real fans of Disney’s DONALD DUCK in his comic book appearances know, there really are more “good duck artists” than just Carl Barks (and Don Rosa). THE COMIC BOOK CATACOMBS, for instance, shows us a 1941 Duck story tentatively credited by GCD to Jack Hannah, who would go on to direct nearly 100 DONALD DUCK shorts. Whoever drew it, it’s pretty!

http://comicbookcatacombs.blogspot.com/2009/11/donadl-duck-in-old-macdonald-duck-dell.html

Sam Henderson shows off the first of 4 pieces on BLAST # 2, a forgotten 1971 R-rated satire mag whose credits boast work by, amongst others, Mike Kaluta, Alan Weiss, Nick Cuti, Jim Mooney and Marv Wolfman. If only it were funny.

http://themagicwhistle.blogspot.com/2009/11/blast-2-1-of-4.html

It’s always fun to talk about the short-lived 1970′s Atlas line of comics that promised innovation and ended up with stolen creators and often completely derivative characters, ideas and plots. Here’s THE COUGAR with perhaps more of an in-depth look than the title needs (and no, it’s NOT about a MILF chasing hot young bad guys. THAT would have been innovative!).

http://www.thefifthbranch.com/gorilladaze/?p=906

As long as comics have been around, there have been connections to motion pictures. From Ed Wheelan’s MINUTE MOVIES and the legendary MOTION PICTURE FUNNIES WEEKLY (with the first appearance of the SUB-MARINER) to Marvel’s film comics of the seventies and the more recent film adaptions from dozens of independant companies. Then there was Fawcett with their long-running MOTION PICTURE COMICS in the 1940′s and ’50′s, regularly presenting a new film in comics form every single issue. Here’s WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE. If you can recognize the artist, leave it in the comments over there. It’s familiar but…

http://tencentdreams.blogspot.com/2009/11/saturday-matinee-when-worlds-collide.html

Steve Ditko (subject of Craig’s latest book let’s not forget!) always seemed to genuinely enjoy his work at the low-paying Charlton Comics, to the point where it’s creative and just plain fun to look at. Here’s a BLACK FURY story from 1959 with some highly stylized horse art of all things!

http://ditko.blogspot.com/2009/11/unusual-tales-stranger-in-herd.html

Haven’t mentioned COLE’S COMICS lately so let’s do so now. Here’s a look at LITTLE DYNAMITE, Jack Cole’s first published heroic adventure, complete with the site’s trademark in-depth analysis of same.

http://colescomics.blogspot.com/2009/11/little-dynamite-jack-coles-first-heroic.html

And Cole’s comics points me toward a site with which I had not previously been familiar-PANELOLOGICAL PANTHEON, yet another site with in-depth commentary on scanned Golden Age comics, including the bzarre and little-known MINIMIDGET from 1940, seen here.

http://panelologicalpantheon.blogspot.com/2009/11/minimidget-in-they-called-him-big-boy.html