John Jakala

Star Wars: Someone Who Loves You by Beth Revis and Sophie Li.

From the book Someone Who Loves You by Beth Revis and Sophie Li.

Han: "I love you."

Leia: "I know."

Choosing to believe these are Han and Leia's canonical wedding vows.

Bear traps: Make sure you always check for them before sticking your hands into stacks of hay or jumping out of a window.

Comparison of a couple other pages as they appeared in B&W vs. color.

Abraca-Doom! The Spectre / comic story / 8.5 pages Script: Denny O'Neil Pencils: Bernie Wrightson Inks: Bernie Wrightson Letters: ? Reprinted from House of Mystery (DC, 1951 series) #224 (April-May 1974), which is reprinted from The Spectre (DC, 1967 series) #9 (March-April 1969)

Abraca-Doom! The Spectre / comic story / 8.5 pages Script: Denny O'Neil Pencils: Bernie Wrightson Inks: Bernie Wrightson Colors: ? Letters: ? The Spectre #9 (as reprinted in the DC Finest Spectre TPB)

It's a horror host turducken! Cain introduces Spectre, who in the original version introduced the main protagonist of the tale but now is reduced to a silent observer of events in the opening panel.

Wonder if any kids read this and subsequently became terrified of their stuffed animals.

Opening page to the story "Teddy Doesn't Seem to Smile Anymore!" by Martin Pasko and Frank Robbins in House of Mystery #226. The full story is only three pages long but it's one of the most unsettling stories from the series I've read so far.

Night Stalker in Slim City Cain the Caretaker / comic story / 9 pages Script: David Michelinie Pencils: Frank Robbins Inks: Frank Robbins Letters: ? from House of Mystery (DC, 1951 series) #224 (April-May 1974)

From the story "Night Stalker in Slim City" by David Michelinie and Frank Robbins in House of Mystery #224.

Twoingg your doingg with the Superciser™!

New sex apparatus just dropped.

Upon Reflection comic story / 8 pages Script: Jack Oleck Pencils: Ramona Fradon Inks: Ramona Fradon Letters:? from House of Mystery (DC, 1951 series) #223 (March 1974)

Love seeing Ramona Fradon's art in black and white.

Opening page to the story "He Who Laughs Last..." from House of Mystery #221, as reprinted in Showcase Presents: House of Mystery Vol. 3. Script by Len Wein. Pencils by Bernie Wrightson. Inks by Michael Wm. Kaluta.

Opening page to the story "He Who Laughs Last..." from House of Mystery #221, as reprinted in Showcase Presents: House of Mystery Vol. 3.

Script by Len Wein. Pencils by Bernie Wrightson. Inks by Michael Wm. Kaluta.

In a clever packaging move I hadn't seen before, the seller sandwiched the TPB between two sturdy covers from old cookbooks as protective boards. It reminded me of the old "hiding the MAD magazine behind the textbook" gag. "I'm not reading comics, honey! I'm researching recipes for dinner!!"

Showcase Presents: House of Mystery Volume 3. Cover reprinted from House of Mystery #213. Art by Bernie Wrightson. New TPB coloring by Drew Moore.

Mail call! Showcase Presents: House of Mystery Volume 3.

Messing with the reception during the big game? Now that's scary!!

Panel from "The Eyes Have It!" Plastic Man / comic story / 15 pages Script: Jack Cole Pencils: Jack Cole Inks: Jack Cole ? Colors: Digital Chameleon (color reconstruction) Letters: Jack Cole Editing: George Brenner (original) from Police Comics (Quality Comics, 1941 series) #22 (September 1943)

Diving headfirst into one of your own bear traps has to be a pretty embarrassing way for a villain to bite it.

Panel from Police Comics #21 by Jack Cole.

Bonus: When the snake gets involved.

The various stages of sexual arousal.

From All-American Comics No. 23, February 1941

From All-American Comics No. 24, March 1941

The first pages of the Scribbly stories from All-American Comics #23–24 by Sheldon Mayer.

The entire book is worth it just to have the five chapters of Scribbly from All-American Comics #20–24 by Sheldon Mayer that introduced Ma Hunkel as the Golden Age Red Tornado. I think the only other time they were reprinted was in the out-of-print JSA All Stars Archives.

Some of the pages are a bit blurry but overall it's a nice collection of a wide variety of comics (superheroes; funny animals; EC war, suspense, and humor).

It looks like the reproduction was done by photographing original comics? I'm not sure how visible it is in my photo here but on this Superman page you can faintly make out the images from the other side of the page.

Contents Acknowledgments 7 Introduction 9 About Superman 17 Superman, from Action Comics No. 1(1938) 19 About Batman 33 The Bat-Man, from Detective Comics No. 29(1939) 34 About Scribbly and Sheldon Mayer 41 Scribbly, from All-American Comics No. 20-No. 24(1940-1941) 42 About Plastic Man and Jack Cole 63 Plastic Man, from Police Comics No. 1(1941) 64 Plastic Man, from Police Comics No. 13 (1942) 70 About Captain Marvel and C. C. Beck 79 Captain Marvel Battles the Plot Against the Universe, from Captain Marvel Adventures No. 100 (1949) 81 About Basil Wolverton 115 Dr. Dimwit, from Sub-Mariner No. 4 (1942) 117 Powerhouse Pepper, from Tessie the Typist No. 8 (1947) 118 About George Carlson 127 Jingle Jangle Tales, from Jingle Jangle Comics No. 5(1942) 129 The Pie-Face Prince, from Jingle Jangle Comics No. 5(1942) 137 Jingle Jangle Tales, from Jingle Jangle Comics No. 24(1946) 143 About Little Lulu and John Stanley 149 At the Beach, from Little Lulu Four Color Comic No. 74 1945) 152 Five Little Babies, from Little Lulu No. 38(1951) 162 The Little Rich Boy, from Little Lulu No. 40(1951) 178 The Spider Spins Again, from Little Lulu No. 81(1955) 191 About Donald Duck and Carl Barks, 197 Letter to Santa, from Walt Disney's Christmas Parade No. 1(1949) 200 About Pogo and Walt Kelly 225 Albert Takes the Cake, from Animal Comics No. 1(1942) 227 Feelin' Mighty Hale, and Farewell, from Pogo Possum No. 3(1950) 231 Cinderella and the Three Bears, from Pogo Possum No. 8(1952) 246 The Big Rock Candy Quarry, from Pogo Possum No. 8(1952) 257 About The Spirit and Will Eisner 269 The Spirit, for August 10, 1941 272 The Spirit, for September 5, 1948 280 The Spirit, for September 11, 1949 287

About E.C. 295 Air Burst, from Frontline Combat No. 4(1952) 299 Corpse on the Imjin, from Two-Fisted Tales No. 25 (1952) 305 Superduperman, from Mad No. 4 (1953) 311 Howdy Dooit, from Mad No. 18(1954) 319 Master Race, from Impact No. 1(1955) 326 A Selective, Annotated Bibliography 334

A very nice overview of quality comics.

Dust jacket front cover to A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics which features panels of Superman (Joe Shuster), Little Lulu (John Stanley), The Spirit (Will Eisner), and Pogo (Walt Kelly).

Mail call! A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics. This was recommended along with The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics which I got recently so when I found a decent copy online for $12 I ordered it.

Seriously life changing.

Oh my god, love the shoes! It's subtle but it really adds to the Flash being, you know, a runner.

[Me walking in to your bachelor pad] "Magnificent!"

Time to label your shelves?

A rare Reed Crandall Plastic Man graced the cover of Police Comics #13.

Panel from "The Sinister Swami" Plastic Man / comic story / 9 pages Script: Jack Cole Pencils: Jack Cole Inks: Jack Cole Colors: Tom Ziuko (color reconstruction) Letters: Jack Cole Editing: Gill Fox (original) from Police Comics (Quality Comics, 1941 series) #12 (October 1942)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

It's like some macabre carnival game: Punch the crook onto the spike!

Did Cyrus Smythe ever return? His body died but his brain survived, vowing to have its (his?) vengeance (even guaranteed by Father Time), but I couldn't find any other appearances for him. He could be a recurring immortal villain for Plas, getting a new body each time, like his own Ultra-Humanite.

For some reason seeing the giant walking on his hands really creeps me out and I'm trying to remember if the Attack on Titan anime ever had a Titan move like this.