Meanwhile, in comics that (mostly) have nothing to do with the Hulk’s crutch…

§ September 8th, 2010 § Filed under dick tracy, hulk, secret wars, sir-links-a-lot § 12 Comments

…here’s this Dick Tracy Weekly cover:


I’m pretty sure each of those panels were from different daily Dick Tracy strips, but between you, me, and the two-way wrist radio, I prefer to think that those are in fact four consecutive panels from the same single daily strip. That‘s a Dick Tracy comic I’d totally read…just a surreal jumble of mismatched actions and images, day after day, forcing the reader to bring his or her own meaning to what they see before them. But that would require the funnypages demanding some minor effort from the readers, and no newspaper editor wants to field that phone call.

Bully, the Little Stuffed Bull, had a post about the current Dick Tracy strip a while back, and…well, no one’s gonna confuse that with a good strip, no, but the example panels Bully displays there demonstrate an almost mesmerizing level of…quality, shall we say, that probably provides amusement despite itself.

And then there was this.

• • •

In other news:

  • Like I said in the comments there, I absolutely have no memory of this character even existing. And I know I sold these comics to unsuspecting customers at the time.
  • Some discussion of early Comico Comics promotional material, including that swell Mage mobile we used to have here in the shop.
  • Apparently pal Ian is getting good value from Satan on the trade-in value for his soul, as not only is Ian writing Darkwing Duck for Boom! Studios, but now he’s got his mitts all over Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers.

    All kidding aside…good on you, Ian! Don’t forget us little people!

  • So anyway, I looked, and I can’t find anything in any Avengers annual (or Fantastic Four annual, or even West Coast Avengers annual) from that time frame where Reed and She-Hulk collect the pieces of the Hulk’s crutch. I really don’t remember that sequence at all. THE CRUTCH MYSTERY CONTINUES.

    However, I didn’t look for anything involving the Thing using a repurposed version of the Hulk crutch, as mentioned in that same comment. I mean, it’s not like I’m obsessed with this.

image “borrowed” from Comics.org.

12 Responses to “Meanwhile, in comics that (mostly) have nothing to do with the Hulk’s crutch…”

  • C. Elam says:

    I clicked on the Nobody’s Favorite link, and I have never heard of that character either. And I remember Manitou Raven.

    Did you see the link in the last comment on that Tracy story to the tribute site? It looks potentially interesting.

  • Adam Horovitz says:

    What a relief – I had a terrible suspicion that you were going to move on to the Hulk’s crotch for this post…

  • Mayhap the Quest for Hulk’s Crutch will be an upcoming Hulk Annual story?

    Just sayin’, ya know.

  • Benari says:

    I’m a few posts late on the “impact of Secret Wars” discussion, but since you made a passing reference to the Hulk’s crutch…

    SW introduced Titania and Volcana to the MU…They milked a few years worth of sub-plots out of Volcana’s romance with the Molecule Man, at least into the early 90s.

    And Titania – Jim Shooter’s answer to Thundra? – became a member of the Frightful Four, married (and divorced?) the Absorbing Man, and recently became the She-Hulk’s main rival. So, with the new Spider-Woman, at least THREE new female characters were introduced to the MU in SW.

    Also (and this is all from memory, sadly) I BELIEVE that SW also planted the seeds to the whole “Magneto might be a good guy” arc that paid off with Magneto eventually leading the X-Men.

    And of course, Secret Wars completely changed the way the Big Two run crossover events forevermore. Which is perhaps, unfortunately, the most lasting change of all.

  • Nimbus says:

    @Benari: Yeah, I was going to mention that SW helped kick start the whole “major company-wide crossover event” (or whatever you wanna call ’em). I think we still get those today occasionally? ;)

  • Leroy Hart says:

    I first encountered The Yazz within JLA/AVENGERS, when during the final battle, suddenly this pink (miscolored) Pterodactyl-man popped into one panel. I had to do my research since I was very new to DC’s Universe at the time…

    …And man oh man, did I regret it. He makes G’Nort look like Batman! What a strange, strange thing to do to your franchise super-team.

  • Tom Mason says:

    Mike, I think you’re on to something. Much like “Garfield Without Garfield,” I think there’s a similar opportunity with “Surreal Dick Tracy.”

  • Bully says:

    The nation that controls magnetism controls the world!

  • Rich Handley says:

    Tom, I LOVE Garfield Without Garfield–that is pure gold.

  • Old Bull Lee says:

    I prefer the ones with only Garfield’s word balloons removed.

  • I recently read John Byrne’s FF run, and I distinctly remember She-Hulk and Reed picking up said crutch. This was in some issue in the regular ‘Fantastic Four’ series.