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“…and…go!”

this fantastic Dr. Strange emotive experience brought to you by
Defenders #100 (Oct. ’81) by J.M. DeMatteis, Don Perlin & Joe Sinnott

…when they were both serving in the military during World War II:

…which of course would make the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing in his 80s or 90s, currently. Even at the time this particular comic came out (in 1981), it would have put his age around 60 or so.

However, at no time during the story are the wartime flashbacks ever explicitly described as taking place during World War II. (It is called as such in a cover blurb: “All this and World War II!”) While Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos are known to most Marvel fans as an artifact of WWII, the setting for the flashbacks are only described as “The War.” No countries are named, no enemy insignia are displayed, the enemy soldiers generic (though some seem to have German-esque helmets). There are enough clues (such as the helmet) to still place these flashbacks during WWII, for the longtime fans who still tie Fury to that war, but still non-specific enough to not age Mr. Grimm by tying him to a specific historical setting.

Another clue, perhaps: it looks to me as if “the war” in Fury’s word balloon in this panel is a relettered addition, since those two words seem little outsized compared to the lettering around them. I wonder if that was a replacement for a usage of the term “WWII.”

Okay, maybe so, maybe no…but still, I find this issue to be an interesting example of the sliding timelines for Marvel continuity, particularly in its seemingly deliberate attempts to free its characters from specific points in history. While Sgt. Fury may always be fighting in WWII (and ol’ Nick can still appear in current Marvel continuity thanks to the life-extending Infinity Formula), Ben Grimm’s military service is going to have to be more recent than that. I think they even put it during the first Gulf War at one point.

Anyway, that’s just a bunch of itch-scratching re: Marvel’s continuity. Don’t mind me. …Though I do wonder when DC’s going to follow suit and bump the Justice Society’s WWII origins to a more recent conflict. That‘ll be a trick, I think.

THING LINK, DO YOUR THING: For more Thing action, may I recommend Bully the Little Stuffed Bull’s website, who has been celebrating “365 Days with Ben Grimm” since the beginning of the year? It’s a lovely tribute to Aunt Petunia’s favorite nephew, and well worth checking out.

images from Marvel Two-in-One #77 (July 1981) by Tom DeFalco, Ron Wilson & Chic Stone — man, I do love me some Ron Wilson Thing comics

..from this 1943 DC Comics house ad:

While hiding from the other children because
they keep making fun of your goofy red stockings

While keeping out of the factory

While prepping the demise of your no-good
cheating husband via your “Omelette Surprise”

While you should be paying attention
to that HUGE FREAKIN’ TANK BEHIND YOU
OH GOD LOOK OUT

• Pal Nat was good enough to craft that swell banner from the much-endured Life with Snarky Parker, so I’d thought I’d return the favor and highly recommend a forthcoming project from his publishing company. BEHOLD:
  
  …the Weasel Patrol trade paperback, collecting thirteen wonderfully wacky stories by Ken Macklin and Lela Dowling. It’s very funny, very beautifully cartooned stuff, and I can’t explain it any better than to tell you to head over to the site and download the PDF preview, which contains a full eight-page story. If you decide you want a copy, tell your retailers NOW, since they’ll be placing orders for it this month.

• Shambling into American funnybook stores this week:
  
  Yes, I’m likely getting one. This is the first of this little metal statue magazine thingies that I’ve bought for myself (I’ve previously bought a Spider-Man one for the girlfriend). I’ve been sorely tempted by a few (especially the Galactus one) but I’ve resisted, mostly because once I’ve justified buying one, then the second one becomes a little easier to justify, and then the third, etc. etc. Which of course means I’ll be facing this problem now anyway. (“Say, a Werewolf by Night figure? That’ll go great with the Man-Thing statue!”)

  I’ve talked about these things before…they are neat little packages, which come with a 20-page full-color magazine detailing the character’s history. And now there’s a DC Comics version, but unless they start doing Vertigo characters I may be waiting a while before I get my Swamp Thing metal figurine. (But dig this crazy Gorilla Grodd figure!)

• Pal Cully sent this along, from Fantastic Four #164 by Roy Thomas, George Perez and Joe Sinnott:
  
  Quite the fashion plate, that Johnny. Cully sez “you can shoot me if I ever show up wearing this and it’s not Halloween.” Hell, I’ve had people show up at the shop in bathrobes, in wrestling tights, and there was that one gal who was wearing a top made entirely of electrical tape. Someone dropping in dressed like a disco cowboy would almost be a welcome change.

Okay, the other day I just dropped in the observation that this comic we recently received in a collection, Life with Snarky Parker (1950), was really terrible. Now, I just assumed you’d take my word for it, since thus far I have been correct in all things, but oh, how soon the people forget. So, here you go, here’s a sample taste of Snarky Parker:

And here are a couple of smaller samples, with Snarky’s girlfriend Butterbelle being menaced by a villain:

And here’s a better look at their oversized and menacing eyes, along with Snarky just barely crossing the line there with inappropriate workplace conversation:

It’s page after page of this, with badly caricatured puppet-esque homunculi prancing about and being grotesque at you. After a page or two you’re simply appalled. After four or five pages you can feel the bile at the back of your throat. After an entire issue of this, you will begin to doubt in the existence of a merciful God.

And then there’s this:

It’s Snarky and his girlfriend apparently sharing a kiss while Paw looks on. But thanks to coloring and/or art errors, it simply looks like the three of them have melted together into some hideous tri-bodied conjoined freak. What the hell kind of puppet show was Yul Brynner running over there at CBS, anyway?

However, as I was trying to track down more info re: Mr. Brynner’s work on the show, I discovered further discussion of the horrors within this funnybook over at Oddball Comics which, I suppose, I should have figured and, of course, didn’t discover until after I wrote all this. Ah, well…I suppose there’s enough terror to go around.

Here, to clear that nightmare fuel out of your head, have, from Captain Battle #3 (1942), a giant fly monster:

There, that should make everyone feel better.

Two interesting facts about the one (and only) issue of The Life of Snarky Parker (1950):

1. It’s based on a short-lived CBS puppet show that, according to the Internet Movie Database entry, was directed by young Yul freakin’ Brynner.

2. This comic is really terrible.

I can understand not appreciating a negative review of one’s work, but Joseph Larkin takes, I think, an ill-considered approach in his response.

EDIT 5/23/09: Huh. On his own blog, this cartoonist links to several comic bloggers who’ve commented on his behavior, and calls us all fat, sexless losers. Boy, he sure showed us, what with his comedic genius an’ all.

from Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #14 (Jan. 1960)
by Otto Binder & Kurt Schaffenberger
reprinted in The Great Superman Comic Book Collection (1981)

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SITE NOTE: In case you hadn’t noticed, this has been kind of a Low Content Mode week for me, due to health reasons. I should be back to writing too-long posts that nobody wants to read in no time. Thanks for sticking around, internet pals!

…and is totally not shooting up or anything:

from Daredevil #9 (August 1965) by Stan Lee, Wally Wood & Bob Powell
reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil Vol. 1

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In entirely unrelated news, Kevin Church and Benjamin Birdie’s webcomic The Rack is about to get its first print collection, and you can read about it right here.