From the Christmas season of 1973, here’s THE MARVEL FAMILY from DC’s ill-fated but not really so bad revival. The Sivana Family is up to some holiday tricks courtesy of writer Elliot S! Maggin and veteran Fawcett artist Kurt Schaffenberger.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/12/12-days-of-christmas-year-without.html

Staying in a holiday mood, here’s part one of THE definitive Disney duck Christmas story, 1951′s “A Christmas for Shacktown,” here from a 1963 reprinting. Carl Barks writes and draws a story so far removed from Disney’s cinematic DONALD DUCK cartoons that it’s hard to consider them the same character.

http://magiccarpetburn.blogspot.com/2009/12/carl-barks-donald-duck-christmas-for.html

“Winky the Toymaker” is another old-fashioned children’s comic by the recently deceased Irving Tripp, this one from a Dell Four Color that was on the stands for Christmas of 1958, just a few weeks before I was born.

http://www.bigblogcomics.com/2009/12/winky-toymaker.html

When I was a kid, on snowy Sunday mornings, we’d curl up with the funnies and find out what Chester Gould’s DICK TRACY was up to. Oh, no! Looks like Tracy’s stuck in the same snow most of the rest of the country is stuck in! And the Mole’s on the loose! What’ll our hero do?

http://tencentdreams.blogspot.com/2009/12/12-days-of-x-mas-dick-tracy-freak.html

A staple of my own Sunday morning funnies reading back in the mid-sixties was the YOGI BEAR comic strip that outlasted the TV cartoon series by many years. Here’s an enjoyable selection from that very era.

http://comicrazys.com/2009/12/18/yogi-bear-sundays-1965-1967-gene-hazelton/

Horn-tooting time again. I came across this one-off 1944 comic book adaptation of old time radio’s THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE quite by accident, buried in the middle of an issue of SUPERSNIPE! Drawn by one Charles Boland and adapted from a radip script by John (grandftaher of Joss!) Whedon, I, of course, had to post it as Gildy has long been one of my favorite OTR series!

http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2009/12/gildersleeve-comics-1944.html

Today’s Christmas offering is-of all things-a 1944 BOY COMMANDOS story by Simon and Kirby. Here are the first five pages. Click to the whole blog to read the rest.

http://mydelineatedlife.blogspot.com/2009/12/break-for-santa.html

I wish more supporting characters would get coverage like this. NOTHING BUT BATMAN takes a look at the Dark Knight’s longtime backup, Harvey Bullock of the Gotham Police Department.

http://nothingbutbatman.blogspot.com/2009/12/harvey-bullock.html

Along with reprints of the daily and Sunday POGO comic strips, Walt Kelly also published a few volumes of all-new material featuring his Okefenokee stock company including UNCLE POGO SO-SO STORIES. Here you’ll find a couple of the stories from that book.

http://theblogattheendoftime.blogspot.com/2009/12/genius-of-walt-kelly-uncle-pogo-so-so.html

Pappy offers a couple of unusual instances of unique stylist Bernie Krigstein’s attempts to “fit in” with DC’s 1950′s sci-fi house style-” The Snows of Mars” and “The Atomic Invasion.”

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2009/12/number-651-krigstein-at-dc-im-not-sure.html

Speaking of unusual, here are two stories featuring the slick inking of EC great Al Williamson over the pencils of Jack Kirby! They’re followed up by Williamson inking Reed Crandall and Al on his own abetted by Angelo Torres and Roy Krenkel, all from Harvey’s BLAST-OFF # 1 from 1965, consisting of previously unpublished 1950′s leftovers.

http://goldenagecomicbookstories.blogspot.com/2009/12/blast-off-1-1965-this-art-was-intended.html

Finally, today’s almost mandatory holiday link is to a recent post from MAIL IT TO TEAM-UP which shares my all-time favorite superhero Christmas story-DC’s original TEEN TITANS in 1967′s “The TT’s Swinging Christmas Carol” by the much maligned (and usually deservedly so) Bob Haney with some of Nick Cardy’s best artwork ever!

http://mailittoteamup.blogspot.com/2009/12/tales-from-dollar-bin-teen-titans-13.html

Those of us who tended to only read superhero titles back in the day missed out on a lot of cool comics including this late TWILIGHT ZONE tale from Gold Key that spotlights some already very polished early work from Walt Simonson.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/12/12-days-of-christmas-musks-daughter-by.html

Dr. K takes a close look at an unusual holiday tale from Mark Evanier and Dan Spiegle’s much-admired run on the 1980′s revival of BLACKHAWK.

http://doctor-k100.blogspot.com/2009/12/blackhawk-wingsdays-blackhawk-christmas.html

If you’re a Steve Ditko fan, it’s been a big year. THE STEVE DITKO COMICS WEBLOG offers a checklist of all new and reissued material by the artist over the past year and includes mention of Craig’s ART OF DITKO book which Amazon is now saying will be in-stock as of this coming Saturday!

http://ditko.blogspot.com/2009/12/ditko-in-2009-wrapup.html

Finally, here’s an Avon terror tale from the early comics version of EERIE, drawn nicely by the forgotten Louis Ravielli and entitled “A Honeymoon of Horror!”

http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2009/12/honeymoon-of-horror-chamber-of-death.html

Here’s a Christmas-related tale of Harvey’s CASPER, THE FRIENDLY GHOST, probably by the character’s longtime artist Warren Kremer. CASPER was my earliest favorite comic book! The story is 1960′s “Kings of Toyland.”

http://www.bigblogcomics.com/2009/12/casper-in-kings-of-toyland.html

Here’s another Toyland tale, this time “Teddy Bear in Toyland” from Dell’s SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES, probably by cartoonist and children’s book illustrator Mel Crawford.

http://joyville.blogspot.com/2009/12/teddy-bear-in-toyland.html

The SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES issues often featured art by POGO’s daddy, Walt Kelly, as did other Dell holiday comics. Here’s a Christmas alphabet by Kelly from CHRISTMAS WITH MOTHER GOOSE.

http://whirledofkelly.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-alphabet.html

And finally, let’s not get too far from Dell, Christmas and funny animal characters. Here’s theatrical cartoon superstar WOODY WOODPECKER with a holiday tale from NEW FUNNIES.

http://tencentdreams.blogspot.com/2009/12/12-days-of-x-mas-woody-woodpecker.html

Here’s to Barbarella, the sexy star of the sexy comic strip by Jean-Claude Forest which was made into sexy movie starring the sexy Jane Fonda.

That’s really all I have to say on the subject.

Click the link to listen!

Barbarella theme

Some wonderful old airplane art from the great Russ Heath highlights this STEVE SAVAGE, BALLOON BUSTER story from mid-sixties DC. I remember seeing ads for this series but this story today was the first I ever read and it’s pretty good!

http://www.comicbookwar.com/2009/12/all-american-men-of-war-circle-of-death.html

Once the Comics Code allowed vampires again, Marvel created a tragic anti-hero vampire named MORBIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE first as an antagonist for Spider-Man. He got his own series in ADVENTURE INTO FEAR and here’s one installment as written by the ever-quirky Steve Gerber and drawn by P. Craig Russell (with an obvious splash page paste-up by John Romita). For other Morbius stories check the blog proper.

http://swords-and-veeblefetzers.blogspot.com/2009/12/adventure-into-fear-23.html

For more info on Morbius and other Marvel monsters, check out THE MARVEL COMICS HORROR ARCHIVE for a massive checklist including creator credits and reprint info.

http://michaelsidney.thehoskincentre.com/horror00.html

Here’s the legendary, incendiary NATIONAL LAMPOON parody of MAD MAGAZINE. Art for the piece comes from John Romita, Ernie Colon, Alan Weiss and even MAD’s own Joe Orlando! Ralph Reese contributes also, including the piece seen here which parodies the parodies of his mentor Wally Wood and Will Elder in a parody of Al Jaffee. Print it out and fold it.

http://johnglenntaylor.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-me-funny.html

If you were in the UK in the mid-seventies, you might have been reading DARKIE’S MOB by JUDGE DREDD creator John Wagner. With this violent, controversial BATTLE strip about to be reprinted, here’s the first three episodes to whet your appetite.

http://bronzeageofblogs.blogspot.com/2009/12/darkies-mob.html

Continuing their sequential examination of Marvel’s DAREDEVIL. THE MATT MURDOCK CHRONICLES gets to the infamous mid-seventies issue guest-starring that spoon-bending sensation, Uri Geller!

http://themattmurdockchronicles.blogspot.com/2009/12/daredevil-133.html

Although now a bit of a cult collectible, Marvel’s early seventies misfire, NIGHT NURSE is examined in some depth at SEQUENTIAL CRUSH, dotted with lots of Win Mortimer’s well done pages.

http://sequentialcrush.blogspot.com/2009/12/unlikely-romance-night-nurse-1.html

I LOVE COMIX has posted some nice-if sometimes politically incorrect-color scans of old-time Sunday strip style newspaper ads and others. Included is Ben-Gay’s PETER PAIN, seen here.

http://ilovecomix.blogspot.com/2009/12/miscellaneous-comic-advertisments.html

I have always considered Gahan Wilson’s macabre cartoons to be an aquired taste but one that I eventually, at least, DID acquire. Here’s a brief selection of prime weirdness from the 1973 collection, PLAYBOY’S GAHAN WILSON.

http://hairygreeneyeball2.blogspot.com/2009/12/gahan-wilson-1973.html

The recently deceased cartoonist Irving Tripp is celebrated at THE BIG BLOG OF KIDS’ COMICS with his Dell story, SURPRISE CHRISTMAS PRESENT.

http://www.bigblogcomics.com/2009/12/tamme-boone-in-suprise-christmas.html

For a more kitschy Christmas comic, here’s the comic book adaptation of the now-classic cult bad film, SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS.

http://tencentdreams.blogspot.com/2009/12/saturday-matinee-santa-claus-conquers.html

Early comics historian Coulton Waugh wrote of cartoonist Don Flowers that he had “about the finest line ever bequeathed to a cartoonist. It dances; it snaps gracefully back and forth; the touches related.” One can easily see what he means from the art reprinted here in the posthumous collection STANDING ON CEREMONY.

http://comicrazys.com/2009/12/09/standing-on-ceremony-don-flowers/

Yesterday we mentioned Roy Krenkel. Here is again along with the still newsworthy Frank Frazetta (if you saw yesterday’s wire service reports) aiding Al Williamson in several now-classic black and white EC reprints. Also look for a page of unpublished Willie art inked by Bernie Krigstein!

http://goldenagecomicbookstories.blogspot.com/2009/12/3-of-fleagles-al-williamson-roy-krenkel.html

Pete Doree’s back with a posthumous birthday tribute to Big John Buscema and particularly his work on Conan. By all accounts, the artist hated the superheroes he drew so well but there’s no doubt he shined when it came to barbarians and warriors.

http://bronzeageofblogs.blogspot.com/2009/12/john-buscema.html

Gold Key’s M.A.R.S. PATROL TOTAL WAR was a comic I ignored at the time but which has grown on me over the decades since, mostly because of the lovely art by Wally Wood with Dan Adkins. Although they only did the first few issues, that’s what brought the book to cult status. Here’s issue three.

http://www.goldkeystories.com/2009/12/mars-patrol-total-war-operation.html