Okay, so I have been to a Piggly Wiggly.
So let me issue a correction, as my dad took great glee in calling me at the shop Monday afternoon to cheerfully let me know I was filthy, filthy liar for claiming, as I did in the subject line to that day’s post, that I had never been in a Piggly Wiggly grocery store.
As it turns out, I had been in a Piggly Wiggly, in an Alabama location in early 1976 as we made our way cross-country in a U-Haul truck, making our move from Centreville, VA to Port Hueneme, CA. It was there, my dad informed me, that I obtained a ball (or “egg”) of Silly Putty. And I do remember that Silly Putty quite well, , stretching it, shaping it, bouncing it around, and using it to pull pictures off of comic books…specifically, this issue of Weird Wonder Tales #15:
…and mainly from the story “The Man Who Owned The World!” by Denny O’Neil and Tom Sutton, with which I was particularly fascinated.
In addition to all that fun I was having, my dad also informed me that I got Silly Putty all over my clothes, all over his and Mom’s clothes, in the cabin of the U-Haul truck, around the various hotel rooms, on Alabama’s state bird the northern flicker (AKA the yellowhammer), possibly on the Alabama Crimson Tide’s defensive tackle Bob Baumhower, and who knows what and/or who else. So a big thanks to Piggly Wiggly for providing us all that entertainment 44 years ago!
Going to recommend a podcast episode here, from Twitter pals Sean42AZ and garaujo1: it’s the latest episode of “The Never Ending Reading Pile,” in which they discuss Alpha Flight, with a special focus on issue #29, the One Right About When The Creative Teams of Alpha Flight and Incredible Hulk Swap Books. It’s long, yes, but engrossing, and the two fellas dive deep into the series as a whole and discuss just what was going on behind the scenes to enable this creative team switcheroo. I don’t listen to many comic podcasts, but this one is certainly worth your time.
Will look at more of your questions next time. Thanks for reading, pals.
Young Mike duplicated himself with that Silly Putty in 1976 — and we’ve been reading the blog of the duplicate all these years!
As a lifelong native of Alabama/non-football fan, I never realized that chicken wing magnate Bob Baumhower was once a Crimson Tide football player.
The things you learn from a comics blog…
I hate piggly wiggly so glad I never have to step foot in one of their dumb stores ever again but I do miss silly putty. here’s a tip if you mold silly putty into a q-tip shape it is really great for removing ear wax. I have a condition where my ears put out massive amounts of black ear wax every day and it is embarrassing but silly putty helped me a lot.
My family moved from Dayton, Ohio to Montgomery, Alabama in 1977 and we lived there for a year. During that time we were occasional Piggly Wiggly shoppers. Pretty sure I saw Duplicate-Silly-Putty-Mike wandering all around back then.
“Weird Wonder Tales #15”
By the LATE but GREAT Denny O’Neil & Tom Sutton.
Also, that looks COOL.