Friday, 19 December 2008

Friday Christmas Five of a Kind: By Dickens!

I've collected cover scans for over 1000 comics with a Christmas theme, which at 25 per year would take me over 40 years to post them all! So every Friday during December this year I'm posting five theme-related Christmas covers.

Nothing says Christmas like sleepless nights, ghosts from your past, and difficult labor-management relations. That must be why Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a favorite this time of year!








Classics Illustrated #16 (1990) (by Gary Gianni)
Classics Illustrated #50 (1997)
King Classics #9 (1977)
March of Comics #33 (ca. late 1940s)
Marvel Classic Comics #36 (1978) (by Bob Hall & Steve Leialoha)

Christmas Covers - December 19



Superman and other heroes help Santa Claus pass out presents on Frank Quitely's cover to this year's DCU Holiday Special.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.

Just 6 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(2007: Walter Lantz New Funnies #167)
(2006: Omaha the Cat Dancer vol. 2 #1)
(2005: Marvel Comics Super Special #39)
(2004: The Spirit #12)

(Polite Dissent's 2008 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(Brendan McKillip's Comic Advent Calendar 2008)
(Brian Cronin's 2008 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)
 

Thursday, 18 December 2008

Brokeneck Mountain


Bizarro is brought to you today by Unexpected Visits From Mother Nature.

I'm not too modest to admit that I'm proud of this cartoon. It isn't easy to get politics, slavery, and gay rights onto the funny pages (as opposed to the editorial page), especially all in the same cartoon.

Readers who see my work in the newspaper as well as online, will notice that in the black and white version used in most markets, the cowboy's line ended with a question mark. That was a typo on my part, which I later corrected for the color version. The gag works either way, but I was going for a sarcastic proclamation by the cowboy, not a question.

This cartoon points out that times have changed in the past 150 years, but not as much as we'd like to think. While we no longer officially sanction discrimination based on race, but we still officially discriminate against romantic proclivities.

To those that argue that race is "born" while sexual orientation is a "choice," I would ask, was your sexual orientation a choice? If you didn't consciously choose what turns you on, what makes you think anyone else can?

Christmas Covers - December 18



For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version. (If you're on a feed reader you may need to click through to the blog to get it to work.)

Trim the tree with Donald and his nephews on Tony Strobl's cover to Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #364 (1971).

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 7 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(2007: Guy Garder: Warrior #39)
(2006: Impulse #45)
(2005: Adventures of Superman #487)
(2004: Mutt & Jeff #32)

(Polite Dissent's 2008 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(Brendan McKillip's Comic Advent Calendar 2008)
(Brian Cronin's 2008 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)
 

Wednesday, 17 December 2008

Sick


Bizarro is brought to you today by Friendly Tongues.

It's been a dark day at Bizarro headquarters. Late last night my computer went into a deep coma. In spite of heroic efforts on my and several Apple expert emergency personnel's part, its brainwaves remain as flat as the top of Rob Blagojevich's head (under the brunette tower of protein.)

Tomorrow it goes into surgery and intensive care. (My computer, not Blagojevich's hair) If you have a god, please say a prayer to him/her/it/them and keep your fingers crossed. I backed everything up recently, so that's good, but it's never recent enough.

Meanwhile, I've lost a lot of recent emails and an entire day of work, so I may not be posting as often in the next few days as I deal with my grief and scramble to recover lost time and work.

Also, I was three or four weeks behind on many emails, so if you sent me something more than a day ago and I have not answered, please resend it. If you are not looking for the answer to an old email, however, please don't add to the smothering heap of laundry I currently have raining down on my head. If you wait a week or two before sending me a new email, it will be much appreciated and will be answered more quickly. Thanks.

Today's cartoon isn't a thigh slapper, but I like the picture. It was fun anthropomorphizing all these birds and think it turned out pretty well.

Christmas Covers - December 17



For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version. (If you're on a feed reader you may need to click through to the blog to get it to work.)

Dot wraps her presents on the cover to Little Dot #29.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 8 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(2007: Classics Illustrated #53)
(2006: Patrick The Wolf Boy Christmas Special)
(2005: A Patty Cake Christmas)
(2004: Superman #165)

(Polite Dissent's 2008 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(Brendan McKillip's Comic Advent Calendar 2008)
(Brian Cronin's 2008 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)
 

Tuesday, 16 December 2008

Christmas Covers - December 16



For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version. (If you're on a feed reader you may need to click through to the blog to get it to work.)

Montgomery Wart appears to not have learned the lesson about licking cold flagpoles on Mark Martin's cover to Tantalizing Stories #2 (1992).

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 9 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(2007: Funny Pages vol. 2 #43)
(2006: Katy Keene #33)
(2005: Bone Holiday Special)
(2004: Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #76)

(Polite Dissent's 2008 Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar)
(Brendan McKillip's Comic Advent Calendar 2008)
(Brian Cronin's 2008 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)