Bullypen Bulletins

Bonjour and bonzai Bully-boosters, and belcome...I mean welcome back to the flurry and the frenzy of Comics Oughta Be Fun. Let's get caught up post-haste with some Bits of Bully Business shall we?

ITEM! Letters, I get letters! A few weeks ago I wrote about the missing colorist credits in 1960s Marvels and lamented that we didn't have a definite record of who provided the Thing with his orange, the Hulk with his green, and Daredevil with his yellow red. Over at his blog, Mister Mark Evanier kindly answered the question: it was usually or at least often Stan Goldberg, and the reason he didn't get a credit was because the process left the coloring until after the inking...and the credits...were done! What I didn't get a chance to mention at the time was that Eric Houston, author of the upcoming book The Comic Book Podcast Companion, checked in with Kirby expert John Morrow, publisher of The Jack Kirby Collector and gave me an authoritative confirmation: "His answer: Stan Goldberg colored most of the early [FF] issues." Now that's what Mama Bull always taught me—get a second confirmation! Thanks, Eric 'n' John! Consider yourself the recipients of a four-color Bull-Prize!

ITEM! Or should I say "FLASH!"? We here at C.O.B.F. spend an awful lotta time checkin' out the cool, clever, and creative competition, and tip our nose ring in jealousy at the ones that are not only fun but which make this little stuffed bull muse "I wish I'd thought of that!" That's the green flash of respect and envy I get when I check out one of my favorite new comics blogs, Dateline: Silver Age: "Headlines ripped from the pages of comics' great metropolitan newspapers!" Editor-in-chiefed by the Two Daves (Lartrigue and Thiel), D:SA reproduces those peculiar and preposterous papers with howling headlines a-plenty! Catch up on the antics of Batman, bank robbers, and The Sensational New Character Find of 2079, the Crime Clown! Who says newspapers are a dying breed? All they gotta do is put more stories about intelligent apes in 120-point type on the front page. Head on over there and—as they say—read all about it!

ITEM! Speaking of howlin', our crack staff of crackpots has been knee-deep in submissions for Arroooo from You...the werewolf meme the entire internet is ga-ga for! But when those lazy slackers in our mailroom fell behind in processing our arrooos because of all those three ice-cream-soda lunches on their business expenses, there's only one thing we can do: apologize! Especially to gracious and gorgeous Googum over at Random Happenstance who shot us an arroooo several weeks ago that we still haven't linked too! We're sorry, Big G, and we'll put that right tonight just after the ring of the midnight bell, okay? Who says this isn't the Boisterous Bully Age of Abject Apologies!?!

ITEM! Remember when I wrote about Scorchin' Johnny Storm makin' googly-eyes at his pal Ben's gal, the lovely Sue Storm impersonator Alicia Masters? Why, sure, we all do! Well, get ready to squeeze your peepers tight so they don't poop outta your skull, because our crack research team here at C.O.B.F. (which consists of Shelly the Little Otter Puppet and my kid sister Marshall the Tiny Stuffed Cow lying around reading old comics) have discovered an even earlier precursor to that John Byrne tale of Johnny 'n' 'Licia, sittin' in a tree. How early? How about...pre Beatles' first appearance in America?:






Panels from Strange Tales #116 (January 1964), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by George Roussos, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Ray Holloway

Oh, those boys. Will they never learn?!?

ITEM! I know what you're saying. "That Bully is sure one lazy bovine! He started two projects and hasn't finished them yet! Oh when, oh when, will we ever see 'A Wodehouse a Week' and 'Love Actually In (Sorta) Real Time' continue?" Gulp! To which I can only say, as did Cosby's co-star in I Spy when he introduced himself at the auditions for the Super Mario Brothers movie: Mea Culpa! Both projects got sidelined by that ol' devil called life, but this is my solemn Bully-promise: you'll definitely see both start up again soon and definitely finish off (this year)! And if I don't, I'll eat The Five Thousand Hats of Jack Kirby! And that's a good-hooves promise from the good bull at C.O.B.F.!

ITEM! Speaking of mislaid missives, here's another long-delayed post from the Bully Mailbag that's been rattling around waiting for a chance to give credit where credit is due! Back right after I posted about the fabulous Jack Kirby Photocollages, Jaunty Jim Engel emailed me to share a Kirby Kollage he and Chuck Fiala did for their 1982 Kitchen Sink fumetti comic Fandom Confidential. Let's let Jim tell the tale:

We did a special story just for the collection where Chuck & I visited John Byrne's house. He was then "the man" at Marvel & on the FF. He actually appeared in it (to be gleefully ridiculed by us). I designed the back cover parody/homage & did the photo collage & Byrne did the framing art. Thought you might enjoy it!

I sure did, Jim! And with Jim's kind permission, so can you!:

(Click picture to Dark Horse-size)

Way cool! Thanks for sharing, Jim—we who gaze into the Negative Zone in awe and wonder salute you! And, speaking of the bearded one...

ITEM! Are you man enough for John Byrne Month over at our Saturday "Separated at Birth" feature? Well, you better, because of the best of J.B.'s homages, tributes and parody covers are comin' up, every Saturday in April! Put on your 2D glasses, clip and save 'em all! Prepare yourself...for Separated at Byrne-th Month! And may the Byrne Robotics discussion board forgive me!

ITEM!: Speaking of clipping and saving...


Until next time, Bully Batallions, keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the comics! And remember above all else the material that makes great box packing to cushion your fragile shipments across country: