Big news for all you Lois Lane fans!

The story hit the news wire a few days ago: Metropolis unveils statue of Superman’s Lois Lane. It’s true! The Illinois city with the unlikely name of Metropolis erected a bronze statue of the first lady of comics, to go along with the 15-foot statue of Superman they already had. (Can a Jimmy Olsen statue be far behind? Be still my heart!)

To make it even more fun, the statue was based on the likeness of Noel Neill. Whether she was appearing opposite Kirk Alyn in the 1940s or George Reeves in the 1950s, Noel played the plucky reporter with panache.

But a peek below the surface shows a shocking truth. Between Lex Luthor, Lana Lang, Larry Lieber, and all the rest, ol’ Supes had been plagued by double L’s all throughout the Silver Age. Now here’s a bronze statue of a Silver Age actress and HER NAME ENDS IN LL! Noel NeiLL. Looks Like the L.L. curse has struck again!

To celebrate this momentous occasion we proudly present the song “Lois Lane.” Click the link below to enjoy!

Lois Lane - Holly Long

I love Basil Wolverton comics so much I can’t stand it and, of course, picked out one of my fave stories for my new book “The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids’ Komics “. Here it is for you ITCH readers who are itching to read it even before you get your book (out now at comic shops, bookstores and on-line).

Order the book by clicking on the cover above!

This being the first day of Summer, what better way to celebrate, than with a couple cartoons from a publication we’ve been frequently lifting of late: Puck magazine. Both cartoons are by Puck-founder, Joseph Keppler. Below, from the centerspread of the July 9th, 1879 issue, we have A Summer Fancy, preceded by its accompanying poem, which helps explain and point out the activities shown.

Click on any picture, to see an enlarged version.

Next, set at Brighton Beach, and also by Keppler, we have Puck’s Picnic, which was the centerspread in the August 6, 2025 issue. Here, Puck has gathered together to frolic at the beach, all their favorite targets of caricature. Each person has been tagged, as you will see if you click on and expand the picture. A prose piece from that same issue, beneath the cartoon, further points who the cavorting individuals are, with descriptions left best to their original author. Enjoy!

Doug Wheeler

KepplerSr Jay Gould Vanderbilt NYPuck SummerVacation

No doubt many of you may have wondered what I do when I’m not here. Did you know I have seven blogs? Seven? Did you know that I try to update most of them at least every couple of days? The main one is Booksteve’s Library which covers a lot of pop culture ground with an emphasis on comics and movies. From there you can access my other blogs.

My latest blog, Four-Color Shadows, reprints old but little-known comics stories found in the public domain. Here we have a story featuring Kismet-Man of Fate, the first Islamic superhero in American comic books! Sadly for today’s reader, this World War II vintage do-gooder appeared in the unfortunately titled Bomber Comics.

http://fourcolorshadows.blogspot.com/2010/06/kismet-man-of-fate-bomber-comics-1944.html

The late, great illustrator Gray Morrow is celebrated at Shades of Gray. Check out this delightfully perverted National Lampoon tale from the early seventies featuring great art by Gray on “The Oral Passions of William Howard Taft.”

http://graymorrow.blogspot.com/2010/06/presidential-perversion-comics.html

Legendary humor/sci-fi/Good Girl artist Wallace Wood is the focal point of Hooray for Wally Wood, which also highlights the work of all of his many talented collaborators. Here’s a recent post presenting Maindrain the Magician from a tiny Topps comic book of the mid-sixties.

http://wallywoodart.blogspot.com/2010/06/mandrain-magician-1966.html

The others aren’t comics but you might be interested and you can get to them from Booksteve’s Library. They are:

You’re Only As Good As Your last Picture-a look at the final films of Hollywood legends. (Updated several times per year)

Going For Broke: the Christa Helm Story- highlighting my investigation and rediscovery of murdered actress Christa Helm and her single, long thought lost, starring film

Brittany Rose and Me-Brittany is young and cute-a sometime professional model!-and I take pictures of her. Lots of pictures of her. A simple premise.

Artist Cassius Marcellus Coolidge — famed for his classic American painting, Dogs Playing Poker — a masterpiece appreciated most by fathers, created in 1882 a set of comic cards titled, I’m a Daddy, advertised in such places as the back of Harper’s Weekly, and selling for ten cents per set. Below are two advertising cards, promoting to dealers the I’m a Daddy set.

Click on any picture, to see an enlarged version.

Published by Sammis & Latham, the I’m a Daddy set (shown below) was incredibly popular, spawning a wave of imitations involving the same theme — that of a new father being told his wife has given birth to a large number of children.

Below, one of the scarcer imitations, date unknown. This example consists of three attached, folding cardboard cards, printed on both sides, with two of the six panes used to advertise the printer of this card set, and the other four panes providing examples of the printer’s work.

This set of undated postcards, also imitates the theme of the earlier trade card sets. Undated, I would guess this set as circa 1900, due to its appearing to be mass reproduced from hand-colored photographic originals. I’m uncertain that this is the complete set, as most sets conclude with four or five children being presented.

Coolidge, ever sharp on commercial potential, would appear to have been the first person to imitate his own concept, producing the following two variants — both using the same set characters — with Coolidge’s frequent collaborator, John McGreer.

Doug Wheeler

From 1985, here’s the special surprise birthday issue of Superman that the folks at DC (including Elliott S! Maggin, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson) cooked up for longtime editor Julie Schwartz (who himself co-stars here) behind his back!

http://mailittoteamup.blogspot.com/2010/06/superman-411-happy-birthday-julie.html

For those of you who like to study the original art pages of comics here’s a whole story from the mid-sixties featuring Spider-Man against Mysterio, told in all original art by John Romita and Jim Mooney…signed even!

http://johnglenntaylor.blogspot.com/2010/06/1968-original-romitamooney-spider-man.html

Gil Kane spent the 1960′s being associated with Green Lantern while Carmine Infantino was drawing the Flash. By 1970, however, everything shifted. Carmine was kicked upstairs, Gil shifted to Flash leaving an opening for Neal Adams to take on GL…and GA for that matter. Here’s an example of Kane’s Flash.

http://www.kingdomkane.com/2010/06/flash-in-flash-death-calling.html

I started buying comic books in early 1966 but one of the first I bought was a used copy of this issue of Blue Beetle from late 1965, purchased for a nickel at Osborn’s Grocery in Covington, Kentucky. Sigh….nostalgia.

http://www.thecharltonstory.com/2010/06/blue-beetle-no-52-october-1965.html

Children will imitate what they see in their parents and the other adults around them, which is the point of these cartoons from the Panic of 1857, all three by artist Frank Bellew (Sr.).

Below, Another Terrible Failure, from the (New York) Picayune, November 7, 1857.

Next, Prevailing Complaint, from the December 1857 issue of the comic periodical, Nick-Nax. “Erie” refers to failing stock in the Erie Railroad & Canal.

Below, a second cartoon from the December 1857 Nick-Nax.

Click here to find prior Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons entries, and related I.T.C.H. posts. This series will continue, so long as the debate on financial reforms continues in Congress (except Mondays and holidays, during which I’d already had other material planned).

Doug Wheeler

financial reform

BellewSr

NYPicayune

Frederick Burr Opper’s June 18, 2025 cover for Puck magazine — The “Three Honest Men” of Wall Street Declare for Blaine — depicts, of course, the furthest thing from “Honest Men”. Shown in operatic pirate garb, is Wall Street’s top pirate of the latter 19th century — Jay Gould — flanked by two of the more prominent second-tier pirates, Russell Sage and Cyrus Field. Their swords are engraved with the words: “Put and Call Gambler“, “Railroad Wrecker“, and “Elevated R.R. Grabber“. The title of the cartoon states that they ”Declare for Blaine“. James Blaine was the 1884 Republican candidate for President, heavily parodied for attempting to paint the truth as he wanted people to believe it, rather than as it actually was. (An 1884 parody comic, Blaine Truth, targeted this, while Puck frequently portrayed him as tattoed head-to-toe with various incidents and connections he’d rather people not know about or remember.)

Click on picture, to see an enlarged version.

Click here to find prior Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons entries, and related I.T.C.H. posts. This series will continue, so long as the debate on financial reforms continues in Congress (except Mondays and holidays, during which I’d already had other material planned).

Doug Wheeler

financial reform

NYPuck

Craig’s latest press release for The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics! looked surprisingly like one of my Makin’ Links pieces so it seemed a natural to make it one today! So…here’s Craig himself!

Hi!

Following are some reviews by some esteemed gentlemen of The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics (Yoe Books!/IDW) edited and designed by Craig Yoe with an introduction by Emmy award winning children’s book author Mo Willems. Cartoonists in the over 300 page large format full color hardbound book include Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Dr. Seuss, Syd Hoff, George Carlson, John Stanley, Frank Frazetta, Howard Post, Mort Walker, Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood, Jules Feiffer, Basil Wolverton, Carl Barks, Walt Kelly and many, many unknown and unsung geniuses.-Craig Yoe

Jerry Beck in Cartoon Brew…

“Amazing! Truly great! Pure cartoon gold! Carefully curated! Each page an unknown gem! Well worth having just to have all these geniuses collected in one convenient place! A magnificent package of non-stop fun!” The full review here…

http://tinyurl.com/25gz29w

Mykal Banta on The Big Blog of Kids Comics…

“The most beautifully done comics retrospective book I have seen since forever. Paper stock choice, graphic design and layout, reproduction quality; and selection of artists – all rate! A first class wow! Designed for years of reading!” The full review here…

http://tinyurl.com/272yny

Pappy on Pappy’s Golden Age Comics Blogzine…

“Yet another great comics compilation from Craig Yoe, a treasure chest of rare comic book art, much by some of the under appreciated geniuses of the industry. Yoe’s eye for great cartooning is impeccable. As far as I can tell, Craig Yoe is working on a four-foot shelf of beautiful, sturdy and permanent books of comic art, mainly comprised of stories and artists we don’t see all the time. Highly recommended.” The full review here…

http://tinyurl.com/ydgyym3

Steve Bennett on ICV2…

“Truly we live in the Golden Age of both comic book collections and books about comic books and a larger number of the really good ones come from Craig Yoe. Just off the top of my head there’s Boody: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers, Dan DeCarlo’s Jetta and of course Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman Co-Creator Joe Shuster. Well you can add another to that list: The Golden Age Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics just out from IDW. There’s a lot more to it than mesmerizing design work, kids will go bonkers over the contents. Remarkably timeless. A “treasure trove” would be to use the hoariest of cliches, but it would also be 100% correct. Something like this isn’t destined to be cooled appreciated then gather dust on shelf; it’s means to be read and reread.” The full review here…

http://tinyurl.com/27ajttk

Finally, go here to find out how you can win a free copy of this massive and lovely, fun volume!

http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2010/06/kids-komics-contest.html

My new book, The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics has been getting a lot of attention and highly esteemed people are saying wonderful things. The following are some excerpts, but you get the idea…

Some things Mykal Banta of The Big Blog of Kids Comics said…

“The most beautifully done comics retrospective book I have seen since forever. Paper stock choice, graphic design and layout, reproduction quality; and selection of artists - all rate! A first class wow! Designed for years of reading!

“Quality of reproduction (sooo important) is very high throughout everything looks exactly like the great comics we purchased back before illusions of grandeur thickened the fun! Mr. Yoe certainly has been ripping it up! Earlier this very same year we have seen from Yoe Books! The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story, AND Dan DeCarlo’s Jetta (a personal favorite after KKKKK). Wow, does Yoe love comics - loves them so much he always does them up right. Every comic book lover owes Craig Yoe, Yoe Books!, and IDW Publishing a pat on the back!

“Even better than a pat on the back would be the purchase of some of Craig’s books! I certainly have! To purchase KKKKK and other great titles from Yoe Books! Please order here .”

Mykal also has a free preview of two of the stories on his great kids comics blog!

Some things Jerry Beck of Cartoon Brew, the super animation blog, said about the book…
“Amazing! Truly great! Pure cartoon gold! Carefully curated! Each page an unknown gem! Well worth having just to have all these geniuses collected in one convenient place! A magnificent package of non-stop fun! Amazon has it listed for $23. 09—a steal!”