Trick or Treat

A Happy Halloween Ten of a Kind (with apologies to everyone's favorite Little Stuffed Bull)

Friday Night Fights: Captain America vs. Bank Robber

from Avengers Classic #4 (2007). Art by Michael Avon Oeming. Story by Dwayne McDuffie.

Who has Feet of Fury? Cap!

(click pic for larger)

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this morning. All the previous caveats apply.


1 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
2 (-). The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
3 (-). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
4 (+1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
5 (-1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
6 (-). The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks
7 (N). Tales from the Crypt #8: Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid
8 (-1). Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
9 (-). Watchmen
10 (-2). Predators and Prey (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Vol. 5)
11 (+6). Dilbert: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar
12 (-1). Bloom County Complete Library Volume 1
13 (+18). Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds HC
14 (+1). Masterpiece Comics
15 (+6). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
16 (N). Vampire Knight, Vol. 8 *
17 (+13). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
18 (+17). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1974 Box Set
19 (-5). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
20 (+13). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
21 (+1). Simon's Cat
22 (+2). Asterios Polyp
23 (N). Black Bird, Vol. 2 *
24 (-11). 14 Years of Loyal Service in a Fabric-Covered Box: A Dilbert Book
25 (-2). Batman: The Killing Joke
26 (-10). V for Vendetta
27 (R). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
28 (-16). R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz, & Country
29 (-2). Jack of Fables Vol. 6: The Big Book of War
30 (-20). Stitches: A Memoir
31 (-11). The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics
32 (+17). The Umbrella Academy: Dallas
33 (+14). B.P.R.D. Volume 11: The Black Goddess
34 (-5). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
35 (-10). The Walking Dead, Vol. 10: What We Become
36 (-). Tumor Chapter 1 (kindle)
37 (R). Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages
38 (N). Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, Vol. 24
39 (-20). Mercy Thompson Homecoming
40 (N). Pride and Prejudice
41 (R). Hellboy Library Edition Volume 3: Conqueror Worm And Strange Places
42 (+4). Maximum Ride: The Manga, Vol. 2 *
43 (N). Scalped Vol. 5: High Lonesome
44 (R). Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
45 (R). Batman: The Long Halloween
46 (-18). The Cartoon History of the Modern World, Part 2: From the Bastille to Baghdad
47 (R). The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country
48 (-22). Naruto, Volume 46
49 (R). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4)
50 (N). Fables Deluxe Edition Vol. 1

Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.

N = New listing appearing on list for first time
R = Item returning to the list after having been off for 1 or more weeks


Commentary:

* Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days slips a bit more down to #7 on the overall list, with R. Crumb's Genesis not much further away at #12; but with Genesis's first print now sold out, we might see it slip a good deal unless a second printing can be put out soon (buyers tend to shy away when Amazon says availability is '1 to 3 months').

* The highest debut, at #7, comes as a bit of a surprise; perhaps the Wimpy Kid parody cover is giving Tales from the Crypt #8 a push?

* Three manga debuts hit the chart this week. Other debuts are Marvel's Pride and Prejudice collection; the latest Scalped collection, and (squeaking in at #50) a Fables deluxe hardcover.

* I'm just as mystified by Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds shooting up the Amazon charts as you are.

Halloween Mega-mix

Here's a mix of Halloween music I put together using 8tracks.com

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

A horde of red-eyed monkeys threatens on Les McClaine's cover to The Middleman #4 (2005).


Image courtesy of the Comic Book DB. Click on the image for a larger version.

VACATE THE BUILDING

Sorry to say I'll not be posting blogs until November 1. It's my favorite (and least lucrative) task of the day but I'm taking a week off in an attempt to remember what it is like to relax.

Of course, my Bizarro deadlines don't take a week off, so I've had to work double hard in advance to clear my schedule. By the time my vacation starts, I'll be too tired to enjoy it. It's the American way!

Hope you'll drop back by next week when I'll have pictures and stories to tell of our ascent to the motel (pictured above) at the top of Mount Everest. Wish us luck!

Puns of Steel

(Why not click the image and make it bigger?)

Bizarro is brought to you today by Attack of the Condom People.

People occasionally submit cartoon ideas to me via email and puns are the most common sort I get. Puns are too easy so I'm not fond of using them in Bizarro unless they are particularly original or facilitate a funny picture. Still, there is often something a little unsatisfying about a pun and I don't want readers to feel cheated, so I recently decided to save them up and occasionally use the best ones in groups of three on Sundays.

In this installment, I think the two on the right are easily good enough to stand alone. The one in the middle was suggested to me as "Hell's Anglers" instead of "Angels," with some bikers fishing. I added the caption at the bottom. The one on the right was conceived and written in its entirety by my friend and occasional collaborator, Cliff Harris, who also came up with the Sunday Puzzler from a few weeks ago. Cliff is has a strange way with language. The "Martial Arts" gag came from a reader but I don't remember in what form. It's not a particularly original pun, but it warrants a funny picture.

If you have what you think is a great pun (unusual, funny, unexpected) and you'd like to see it in a future Sunday Punnies, send it to me: piraro@earthlink.net. It MUST be original (in that you thought of it yourself, didn't hear/see it somewhere else) and you must agree that if I draw it, you won't get compensation or credit (other than blog glory!) and I'll own the copyright. I'll send you some trading cards or an autographed print of the cartoon or something, though.

Until tomorrow, thanks for learning to read. It makes you so much more fun to write for.