Geek TV #10.2: Batman: The Animated Series

Geek Pedigree:

Producer Paul Dini has actually appeared on-screen, playing George Lucas on the TV series Clerks, cameoing on Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and providing voices in two episodes of Gotham Girls. His other producing credits include Droids, Ewoks, The New Batman Adventures, Batman beyond, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Duck Dodgers, and Krypto the Superdog. He was story editor for 13 episodes of Ewoks, 56 episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures, 13 episodes of Batman, Krypto the Superdog, and was a consultant and story editor on Lost. His writing credits include Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1979), Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, The Kid Super Power Hour With Shazam!, Flash Gordon, The Incredible Hulk (1983), Dungeons & Dragons, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Ewoks, Jem, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures, Monsters, Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Animaniacs, Freakazoid, 23 episodes of Batman, Superman: The Last Son of Krypton, Batman Beyond: The Movie, The New Batman Adventures, Superman: The Animated Series, Clerks (2000), Batman Beyond, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Static Shock, Lost, Duck Dodgers, Justice League, Krypto the Superdog, The Batman, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and four episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, including the episode “Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!”

Producer and character designer Bruce W. Timm was also the title designer on Justice League, art director on Superman/Doomsday, directed episodes of Beany and Cecil (1988), Batman, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Superman: The Animated Series, and Superman: Doomsday. His writing credits include Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman, Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Justice League, Superman/Doomsday, and others. He's also done occasional voicework, such as three one-shot characters on Batman, the Jokerz Leader on Batman Beyond a guard in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Solomon Grundy in an episode of Justice League (as well as two other bit parts), and small parts in the direct-to-video Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Batman: Under the Red Hood, and Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. His art credits include Spiral Zone, Beany and Cecil, Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman, Animaniacs, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Pinky and the Brain, Batman Beyond, and Justice League. He was a producer on Batman, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Superman: The Animated Series, Teen Titans, Justice League, and a bunch of direct-to-video DC titles, as well as exec producing the upcoming Green Lantern: The Animated Series. His animation department credits include Blackstar, The Kid Super Power Hour With Shazam!, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, G.I. Joe, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, The Real Ghostbusters, Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman, Superman: The Animated Series, and Justice League. 

 

Kevin Altieri, who directed 22 episodes, was formerly a storyboard artist and director on shows like Starcom: The U.S. Space Force, The Real Ghost Busters, ALF: The Animated Series, 10 episodes of Batman (as well as designing storyboards for Batman: Mask of the Phantasm), and did storyboard work for the direct-to-video Invincible Iron Man and Hulk Vs. He also wrote the story for one episode of Batman, “Showdown,” and directed episodes of C.O.P.S., Stripperella, The Spectacular Spider-Man, G.I. Joe: Renegades, and the direct-to-video Gen 13.

Boyd Kirkland directed 21 episodes, and has also written episodes of Batman, X-Men: Evolution, and Wolverine and the X-Men, as well as the screen stories for the videos Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers II. He also directed SubZero as well as episodes of X-Men: Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men. He was a producer on Batman, SubZero, X-Men: Evolution, Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars!, and RoboCop. He's done storyboar work on Saturday Supercade, Starchaser: The Legend of Orin, Robotics, Solarman, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe the Movie, Jem, RoboCop, Bucky O'Hare, Batman, Conan: The Adventurer, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and the “Iron Man Is Born!” minisode of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. He also worked in the animation department on Jana of the Jungle, Laff-A-Lympics, Yogi's Space Race, Plastic Man, Buford and the Galloping Ghost, Thundarr the Barbarian, Spider-Man (1981-1982), The Incredible Hulk (1982-1983), Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, G.I. Joe, Batman, and SubZero.

Frank Paur directed 16 episodes, and he's also directed episodes of Gargoyles, Spawn, Men in Black: The Series, X-Men: Evolution, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and worked as a supervising director on the direct-to-video Hulk Vs., Doctor Strange, and The Invincible Iron Man. He was a producer on Bucky O'Hare, Gargoyles, Men in Black: The Series, as well as the direct-to-video titles just mentioned. His animation department credits include Thundarr the Barbarian, The Incredible Hulk (1982-1983), G.I. Joe, and C.O.P.S. His art department credits include The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, Defenders of the Earth, G.I. Joe, Bionic Six, Spiral Zone, RoboCop, The Real Ghost Busters, Bucky O'Hare, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and others.

Dan Riba, who directed 10 episodes, has art department credits that include Turbo Teen, Dragon's Lair, The Real Ghost Busters, Starcom, ALF: The Animated Series, C.O.P.S., Batman, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Superman: the Animated Series, and Justice League. His director credits include episodes of ALF: The Animated Series, Freakazoid!, The New Batman Adventures, Superman: The Animated Series, The Zeta Projecto, Static Shock, Batman Beyond, Justice League, and two series of Ben 10. 

 

Dick Sebast, who directed eight episodes, also has director credits on Sonic the Hedgehog, The Incredible Hulk (1996), The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai, Ultimate Avengers II, and Doctor Strange (video, 2007). His art department credits include Challenge of the SuperFriends, Plastic Man, Thundarr the Barbarian, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Dragon's Lair, The Centurions, Galtar and the Golden Lance, Bionic Six, Superman: The Animated Series, The Pirates of Dark Water, Batman, Sonic the Hedgehog, Spider-Man (1994), and The Tick (1996).

Eric Radomski was director of three episodes, and also directed episodes of Freakazoid! And Spawn. His animation credits include Tiny Toon Adventures and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and was a producer on Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman, Xiaolin Showdown, and Shaggy & Scooby-Doo: Get a Clue!

Writers on the show included comic book writers Denny O'Neill, Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart, Marv Wolfman, and Martin Pasko, all of whom have written Batman in the comics. Denny was also a writer on The Adventures of Superboy, G.I. Joe, and Justice League. Len's also written episodes of Swamp Thing, Exosquad, Gargoyles, Phantom 2040, Iron Man (1995), The Incredible Hulk (1996), Spider-Man (1995-1996), X-Men (1993-1997), Godzilla: The Series, Avengers (1999), Ben 10, The Super Hero Squad, and Human Target. Gerry also wrote episodes of G.I. Joe, The Transformers, The Centurions, Dino-Riders, Spider-Man (1994), Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and The Huntress, while these days he's co-executive producer on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (and if you watch his episodes of those, or the other Law & Order franchise episodes he's written, there's almost always one character in each episode with a familiar name from comics). Marv Wolfman has also written episodes of G.I. Joe, The Transformers, Captain Power, Superman (1988), Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Monster Force, Spider-Man (1995), Godzilla: The Series, Teen Titans, and Speed Racer: The Next Generation. Marty Pasko's also written episodes of Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, Blackstar, Thundarr the Barbarian, The Incredible Hulk (1982), The Twilight Zone (1985-1986), G.I. Joe, Max Headroom, Superman (1988), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bucky O'Hare, The Legend of Prince Valiant, Exosquad, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, The Tick (1994), and Mega Man. He was also a story editor on Twilight Zone (1986), Batman (1992-1993), Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and an episode of The Tick. 

 

Writer Richard Mueller has also written episodes of Starcom, Spiral Zone, Dinosaucers, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Real Ghostbusters, Exosquad, X-Men, Extreme Ghostbusters, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and Kong: The Animated Series.

Tom Ruegger's other writing credits include Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, Blackstar, The Kid Super Power Hour With Shazam!, Flash Gordon, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, several Scooby-Doo series, Challenge of the GoBots, Yogi's Treasure Hunt, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Histeria!, Batman Beyond, and Duck Dodgers. He was also a producer on several of those shows. 

 

Writers Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens also wrote episodes of The Legend of Prince Valiant, Flash Gordon, Phantom 2040, The Lost World, and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Michael Reaves also wrote episodes of Isis, Space Sentinels, The New Archie/Sabrina Hour, Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, Super Friends, Blackstar, Space Stars, Flash Gordon, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Incredible Hulk (1982-1983), Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, The Mighty Orbots, Dungeons & Dragons, The Transformers, The Centurions, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Spiral Zone, Superman (1988), The Twilight Zone (1986-1989), Swamp Thing, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Real Ghostbusters, The Flash, The New Adventures of He-Man, Phantom 2040, Gargoyles, Young Hercules, The New Batman Adventures, Spider-Man Unlimited, and many others.

Steve Perry also wrote episodes of The Centurions, Starcom, The Real Ghost Busters, Spiral Zone, Gargoyles, Extreme Ghostbusters, Godzilla: The Series, and Spider-Man Unlimited.

Brynne Stevens also wrote episodes of He-Man, She-Ra, Starcam, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The New Adventures of He-Man, Spider-Man (1995), Gargoyles, Phantom 2040, and Spider-Man Unlimited.

Writer Alan Burnett's other credits include The Batman, Krypto the Superdog, Batman Beyond,Static Shock, The New Batman Adventures, The Zeta Project, Superman: The Animated Series, Freakazoid!, The Pirates of Dark Water, The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, Challenge of the Go-Bots, SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, and a whole mess of other credits!

Prior to voicing Alfred, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. played Don Alejandro de la Vega in the 1990 Zorro, and voiced King Arthur on The Legend of Prince Valiant. He also did King Arthur for Biker Mice From Mars, Justin Hammer and Firebrand on Iron Man (1995), Dr. Octopus on Spider-Man (1995-1997), played William Edgars on Babylon 5, and voiced Alfred again on The New Batman Adventures, Superman: The Animated Series, Static Shock, Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, and Justice League.

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Bob Hastings, who voiced Commissioner Gordon, began his show business career in radio after WWII as the voice of Archie Andrews! In 1949, his TV career began, playing Hal on Captain Video and His Video Rangers, then Dave Fielding in Atom Squad, guesting in a 1963 Twilight Zone episode, voicing The Raven on The Munsters, voicing Clark Kent/Superboy on The New Adventures of Superman Superboy segments, appearing on Batman in 1967 in the episode “Penguin Sets a Trend” playing Major Beasley, guest-starring on I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun, Nanny and the Professor, and then voicing Henry Glopp on Jeannie (1973, Hanna-Barbera's Saturday morning incarnation of I Dream of Jeannie), guesting on Kolchak: The Night Stalker, voicing D.D. On Clue Club,, providing several voices on Challenge of the Superfriends, guesting on two episodes of The New Adventures of Wonder Woman and an episode of The Incredible Hulk (1979), playing The Phantom of the Opera in The Munsters' Revenge (1981), guest-starring on three episodes of The Greatest American Hero. He also voiced the Commissioner on SubZero, Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Gotham Girls, Static Shock, and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman.

Before voicing Dick Grayson/Robin, Loren Lester had voiced Barbecue on G.I. Joe, Rick Gordon on Defenders of the Earth, and then guested on an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine after Batman, returning on The New Batman Adventures to voice Dick Grayson/Nightwing, and his most recent geek credit was voicing Hal Jordan on two episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Prior to voicing Summer Gleeson on Batman, Mari Devon mostly did voices for English translations of Japanese anime, and continued to do this afterwards, with these anime credits including Mobile Suit Gundam F91, The Big O, Cosmo Warrior Zero, Cyborg 009, Digimon: Digital Monsters, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and many others, and also providing voices for James Bond Jr., Miss Winston on two episodes of Batman Beyond, and a voice in a 2009 episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Harvey Bullock voice portrayer Robert Costanzo had previously appeared in a 1985 episode of The Twilight Zone, single episodes of ALF and Quantum Leap, and played Harry in Total Recall and Lips' Bodyguard in Dick Tracy (1990). Since voicing Bullock, Costanzo also appeared in two episodes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, voiced Bullock again for Superman: The Animated Series, SubZero and The New Batman Adventures, voiced Philocetes in Hercules (1998-1999), voiced Bullock again on an episode of Static Shock, and continues doing parts here and there on TV, live-action and animated.

Best Joker ever (in my opinion) Mark Hamill established his geek cred by playing Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy, but even before that he'd appeared in an episode of Night Gallery, did voices for two episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, guested on an episode of The Magician, provided the voice of Cory Anders on Jeannie (1973), appeared in an episode of Amazing Stories, played James Jesse/The Trickster on two memorable episodes of The Flash, returned to voice the joker in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, The New Batman Adventures, and other shows, provided regular voices on Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron, The Savage Dragon, voiced Dr. Jak on Phantom 2040, guested on two episodes of SeaQuest 2032, voiced Maximus the Mad, the Sentry, and Triton on The Fantastic Four (1995-1996), voiced Christopher “Maverick” Blair on Wing Commander Academy, the Gargoyle on The Incredible Hulk (1996-1997), the Hobgoblin (and others) on Spider-Man (1995-1998), assorted voices on Johnny Bravo, Larry 3000 and others on Time Squad, Solomon Grundy, The Trickster and The Joker on Justice League, The Spectre on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Klaw on The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Chthon and the Red Skull on The Super Hero Squad Show, and dozens and dozens and dozens of other voices for a wider range of animated shows than you might believe!

Two-Face and Batcave Computer voice Richard Moll's earliest geek credit was a guest-shot on Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, appeared in Caveman, Mork & Mindy, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn, House (1986 movie), and an episode of Highlander, although for many, he'll always be “Bull” Shannon on Night Court. He also voiced Norman on Mighty Max, guest-starred on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, appeared in Galaxis, guest-starred on Weird Science (1996), Freakazoid!, voiced the Abomination on The Incredible Hulk (1996-1997), Mac Gargan/the Scorpion on Spider-Man (1997), returned to voice Two-Face on The New Batman Adventures, did guest voices on The Zeta Project and Justice League (Java and Mr. Braddock), guested on Smallville, and in 2010, voiced Lew Moxon and Two-Face on Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

He voiced Rupert Thorne, but John Vernon also played Big Brother in 1984 (1956), voiced Sub-Mariner, Iron Man, and Major Glenn Talbot in The Marvel Superheroes (1966), guest-starred in Tarzan, six episodes of Mission: Impossible, and guest-starred in a lot of TV shows and movies in the 1970s and 1980s, although he'll be indelibly associated with playing Dean Wormer in Animal House. He's also voiced Dr. Doom on The Fantastic Four (1994), Doctor Strange on Spider-Man (1996), General Ross on The Incredible Hulk (1996-1997), and his last geek credit was probably voicing Warden Toadblatt on The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. He died in 2005.

Lloyd Bochner, prior to voicing Mayor Hamilton Hill, guest-starred in two episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, as well as episodes of The Green Hornet, The Wild Wild West, The Girl From UNCLE, Tarzan, The Man From UNCLE, Bewitched, Mission: Impossible, The Starlost, The Magician, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, he played Harmon Temple III in City Beneath the Sea, Dr. Cory in The Dunwich Horror, he voiced Dr. Moon in an episode of The Amazing Spider-Man (1978), played Commandant Leiter on two episodes of Battlestar Galactica (1979), played Walters on Millenium, and since played Hamilton Hill on The New Batman Adventures. He died in 2005.

Before voicing Lucius Fox, Brock Peters guest-starred on The Girl From UNCLE, Mission: Impossible, Tarzan, Night Gallery, he played Chief Hatcher in Soylent Green, guested on The Bionic Woman, Battlestar Galactica, voiced Tormack on Galton and the Golden Lance, General Newcastle on Challenge of the Go-Bots, played Admiral Cartwright on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, voiced Bonyard on Gravedale High, Bloth on The Pirates of Dark Water, and Dark Kat on Swat Kats. He may be best known for playing Joseph Sisko (Captain Sisko's dad) on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but he continued to do occasional voices here and there until his death in 2005, including an episode of Static Shock. He also voiced Darth Vader in the National Public Radio versions of the original Star Wars trilogy. 

 

Catwoman voice Adrienne Barbeau's earliest geek credit appears to be Stevie Wayne in The Fog, followed up by roles in Escape From New York, Creepshow, The Thing (she was the voice of the computer), an episode of The Twilight Zone (1985), Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death, Monsters, Judge Dredd (the voice of Central), guesting on Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but for many geeks, her biggest geek role was playing Alice Cable in Swamp Thing. She continued to voice Catwoman on The New Batman Adventures and other related shows.

Diane Pershing voiced Poison Ivy, and before that she voiced Isis on segments of Tarzan and the Super 7, Dale Arden on Flash Gordon (1979), miscellaneous voices in Dungeons & Dragons, Crystal Kane on The Centurions, Dynak X/Dale Arden on Defenders of the Earth, Netossa, Sweet Bee and Spinderella on She-Ray, Princes of Power, and she continued to voice Poison Ivy on The New Batman Adventures, Gotham Girls, Static Shock, and Justice League.

DVD Release: Complete seasons.

 Website: http://www.batmantas.com/

Notes: This series was followed up by The New Batman Adventures (24 episodes), Batman Beyond (49 episodes) as well as Justice League/Justice League Unlimited (91 episodes), with Kevin Conroy voicing Bruce Wayne/Batman in all of them (although in Batman Beyond, it was “Old Bruce” that Conroy voiced). Three movies (some of them direct to video) were also produced that were part of this series, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Sub-Zero, and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. In addition, a few episodes of Superman: The Animated Series guest-starred Batman as well!

Of Mice and Magic: The Cartoons #15

This week, the focus starts on Donald Duck, beginning with his introduction as a supporting character in "The Wise Little Hen"!


"Orphan's Benefit" is notable not only for putting Donald up front and center, but also Goofy makes his first appearance under that name here!


Both Donald and Goofy became so popular (and Mickey was becoming so tame) that the only way Disney could keep the Mouse on the screen seemed to be to team up Mickey, Donald and Goofy, such as in "Mickey's Service Station"!

Christmas Countdown 2011 #10: Santa Claus Funnies #2, Part 1!

Toy of the Week #15: Other AHI Spider-Stuff!

Doing a combo post here, because I don't believe these last items are really worth a post each...

First of all, here's the Super Kobbers... oh, they were so close to producing something really classic here, and they missed entirely! If I could travel back in time, I'd tell AHI to mold these in green, and have the Hulk's fist printed on them... and then to also do orange versions with rock designs to make Thing hands! Sure, they still would've been shaped like giant marshmallows, but wouldn't those have been way cooler?

Give-A-Show Fridays: 1974 Kenner Bugs Bunny, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, and Robin Hood!

Next week, we start on Chad Valley's Planet of the Apes set!

Christmas Countdown 2011 #9: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer 1950!

Cool Stuff!

And we're into the f's this week, beginning with the above Flash Gordon Better Little Book!

The Indexible Hulk #15

Issue: Tales to Astonish #59

Title: “Enter: The Hulk”

Credits: Written by Stan Lee, Drawn by Dick Ayers, Inked by Paul Reinman, Lettered by Artie Simek

Supporting Cast: General Ross, Betty Ross

Villain: The Human Top

Hulk Intelligence: Angry Brute

Guest-Stars: Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk (this is, after all, the Giant-Man and the Wasp strip)

Plot: At Avengers Mansion, Iron Man is watching newsreel footage of Spider-Man fighting the Hulk (filmed with what cameras, I ask??? There were none on the scene!), and Giant-Man wonders what became of the Hulk. Meanwhile, David Cannon, aka the Human Top, reads a newspaper account of Giant-Man's battle with Colossus, and then recalls his last encounter with Giant-Man. The Top has learned to create a powerful air pressure blast with his spinning power, and he's decided to no longer wear his costume. Meanwhile, Thor, Captain America and Iron Man leave the Mansion, while Giant-Man and the Wasp stay behind for a few moments before leaving themselves. As they walk home, disguised with trenchcoats and hats, they encounter some ruffians who whistle at the Wasp, causing Giant-Man to grow and place one of them on a high-strung clothesline. As fate would have it, Dave Cannon sees this from the window of his apartment, and follows them, spinning at invisible super-speed. He overhears Giant-Man decide that he and the Wasp will head to New Mexico to search or the Hulk! Arriving at Ross's missile base, Giant-Man learns that the Hulk hasn't been spotted in some time, and Ross is no longer interested in hunting Greenskin down. Ross does, however, assign Bruce Banner to help Giant-Man and the Wasp, but Bruce wants nothing to do with it! Bruce leaves, but his blood pressure's already rising, and he transforms into the Hulk and leaps in pursuit of Giant-Man! In a nearby town, the Hulk is spotted by Cannon. Meanwhile, Betty finds Bruce's jeep, tipped over by the Hulk in a fit of pique, and assumes that Bruce was attacked by the Hulk! At that time, Giant-Man arrives, and tells Betty he doesn't believe the Hulk would hurt Bruce. Back at the Hulk, The Human Top has tried to prepare to slow down the Hulk so he can make an offer to Greenskin, but the Hulk doesn't even notice the Top! Then Giant-Man spots the Hulk and races him to the next town over, where Giant-Man warns everyone to evacuate. However, the Human Top has finally got the Hulk's attention, and tells the Hulk that Giant-Man is waiting for him. The Hulk, enraged, takes off to battle Giant-Man. Meanwhile, the Top spins his way to General Ross, where he tells Ross he's spotted the Hulk (Ross is apparently more interested in finding the Hulk and stopping him than he'd previously told Giant-Man). At the town, Giant-Man tries to convince the Hulk he just wants to talk, but as mad as the Hulk is, he refuses to listen! The two begin a battle, with enlarged muscles battling gamma-spawned might, with the town beginning to suffer! Meanwhile, the Wasp finally appears again, and learns that Ross is about to fire a small bore atomic missile at the town to destroy the Hulk! The Wasp catches a ride on the missile, hoping to somehow force it to change course, but is unsuccessful. She then decides to contact Giant-Man via their helmet radios, just in time! The Hulk spots the missle and takes off to intercept it, because he doesn't want the bomb to finish off Giant-Man – he wants to do it himself! In mid-air, the Hulk grabs the bomb, but the momentum of the bomb sends Greenskin hurtling through the air some distance away, where the Hulk throws the bomb away to detonate harmlessly in the desert. The shockwave causes the Hulk to hit the ground and turn back to Banner, and soon, Ross' men find Bruce. Giant-Man returns to New York to report his failure to his fellow Avengers.

Invention Exchange: The only noteworthy gadget is a tiny carbon-dioxide powered rocket Giant-Man has been carrying around. When he sets it down, he shrinks to Ant-Man size and uses it to catch up with the Hulk.

Reprinted In: Essential Ant-Man #1.

Notes: This was the last issue of Tales to Astonish where Giant-Man/Ant-Man and the Wasp would be the only superheroes. With the next issue, the new Hulk series would start, joining Highpockets and the Winsome One. General Ross and Betty seem to have been used mostly to remind the readers about the Hulk's cast. 

 

Christmas Countdown 2011 #8: Classics Illustrated #53, A Christmas Carol!

Comic Book Advertisements!

Time once again for a mini-gallery of comic book advertisements of the past, with accompanying commentary and/or mockery by yours truly!

Once again... it's an ad for a BB gun, which appeared on the inside front cover of Gold Key's Mighty Samson #13! Notice how much emphasis there is on how it looks and works like the "real thing"!

Famous Monsters #29

Christmas Countdown 2011 #7: Christmas in Disneyland #1, Part 3!

Kirby Kovers #14

You know, it's kind of odd to me that as I'm preparing this 14th edition of Kirby Kovers, you readers haven't seen the first one yet (which is about four weeks away from the time I'm preparing this). Obviously, the first Kirby Kover this week is Devil Dinosaur #2, and Kirby was really going wild with this one! Sure, the figure of Moon Boy is pretty lacking in detail (I'll be happy to blame the inker for that), but that's more than made up for by the awesome pose of Devil Dinosaur leaping to attack the giant spider! I mean, what's more awesome than a red dinosaur jumping to attack a giant golden spider? Okay, maybe a cyborg red dinosaur jumping to attack a giant Nazi spider... maybe.

CBT: Yogi Bear Helps Santa!

In keeping with the Christmas theme, the first three CBT's of December will all be Christmas-themed books!

Christmas Countdown 2011 #6: Christmas in Disneyland #1, Part 2!

Monster Monday!

This week's Monster Monday begins with a kind of boring lobby card for The Indestructible Man, hopefully the rest of the stuff will be more exciting!

Dog of the Geek: Sandy!

Breed: Airedale Mix (as portrayed on stage)

Original Appearances: Little Orphan Annie comic strip, which debuted in 1924.

Other Appearances: Little Orphan Annie radio show, comic books (reprints of the newspaper strips, mostly), the musical (and film based on it) Annie, and a whole mess of merchandise!

Biography: Sandy first appears in Little Orphan Annie in January 1925 as a puppy that Annie rescues from abusive boys. She keeps Sandy hidden in Mrs. Bottle's grocery store, where she's working, but eventually gives him to Paddy Lynch, who's able to give Sandy a good home. Sandy returns in May of 1925 as a mature dog when he rescues Annie from gypsy kidnappers and stays with Annie forever after that.

Powers: None, unless you count rapid maturity, going from puppyhood to full-grown in a matter of about four months!

Group Affiliation: None

Miscellaneous: In the comic strip, Sandy's entire vocabulary was “Arf!” On the radio show, announcer Pierre Andre provided Sandy's Arf!

Christmas Countdown 2011 #5: Christmas in Disneyland #1, Part 1!

Fandom Library: Batmania #6!

Puzzle Sunday!

Last week's solution:


This week's puzzle:

Aaand we're back to the Marvel Fun and Games stuff!

Christmas Countdown 2011 #4: Bugs Bunny's Christmas Funnies #1, Part 4!