Polite Dissent

It’s time for my Seventh Annual Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar . For each day from today through Christmas Day, I will post the cover of a comic book with a Christmas theme. This year I’m going to do things a little different, and instead of using an issue number that counts down the days remaining until Christmas, all of this year’s covers will share a similar theme: Christmas stockings (which may or may not be hung by the chimney with care).

To start us off this year, here is Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #124 featuring hapless Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #124 (Dell, January 1951)

Click on the cover for larger view

24 Days until Christmas!

The second of December, and a second Christmas stocking themed cover. I like today’s choice from Famous Funnies #53 because it takes the stocking gag in a new direction (though technically, it predates most of the other covers in the countdown).

Famous Funnies #53 (Eastern Color, December 1938)

Click on the cover for larger view

23 Days until Christmas!

This patient has an NG (nasogastric tube), and I suspect that the tube going to the right upper arm is for a blood pressure cuff and the one to the left arm is a poorly drawn IV. But what the heck is that large suction cup in the center of her chest? (My best guesses: she either went to the Hush/Catwoman school of heart surgery, or she’s in the process of becoming a hollow.)

A well-done quick moving storyline that featured both universes and dealt with returning the Olivias to their correct universe

The Plot: This episode start just after the last one ended: Peter has received a mysterious phone call telling him that Olivia is still trapped on the other side. Lying in bed – with Fauxlivia next to him – he can’t fall asleep. After several hours, he gets up and starts to poke through her belongings, finding nothing. He tries to get into her computer, but can’t get past the password. Fauxlivia wakes up to get a glass of water and they have a brief conversation, including a Greek phrase the real Olivia once said to him. When Fauxlivia fails to recognize it, Peter realizes she is n impostor. Fauxlivia also realizes her mistake and pulls a gun on Peter. She makes him inject himself with a paralytic agent, then grabs her computer and runs off. She ends up at the antique typewriter shop where she can make contact with the other side. She tells them her cover has been blown and she needs extraction. Meanwhile, Broyles and Walter have come to Peter’s aid. He tells them that she took the wrong computer, leaving hers behind.

In the alternate universe, Walternate is telling Creepy Scientist Guy that Fauxlivia needs to be brought back, and wants to exchange Olivia for her (that whole transfer equal mass concept that the writers remember when it fits the plot). Creepy Scientist asks if they have to return Olivia whole – can’t they keep her brain?

Back in our universe, they discover Fauxlivia has stolen one of the pieces of the Firstborn’s machine that they had found. Peter hypothesizes that her mission was to come to our universe to find the pieces of the machine that were still missing in her universe. Astrid realizes that Fauxlivia has been bringing Walter pastries from a shop in the Bronx – out of her way – so they head over there to look for her. Peter happens upon his computer in the antique typewriter shop and they strong-arm the owner into letting them into the back room where the “quantum entanglement telegraph” is. Peter pulls the ribbon from it and determines that Olivia is headed to Penn Station. The Fringe Team plans to catch her there.

Alterna-Broyles visits Olivia in her cell and she tries to convince him to help her. He remains unconvinced initially, but a talk with his wife has him realize that helping Olivia is the best for both universes. He breaks in and rescues her just as Creepy Scientist Guy is starting the organ removal surgery. Alterna-Broyles and Olivia head for the lab, but the sensory deprivation tank has been drained. She does find a supply of Cortexiphan, however. She and alterna-Broyles now head to Walternate’s old lab at Harvard, assuming he’ll have an old tank there.

Returning to our universe, at Penn Station, Fauxlivia makes contact with one of the shapeshifters. He injects both her palms and the small of her back with something. Peter spots her and she grabs a hostage. Thinking quickly, Peter realizes her hostage is a shapeshifter and shoots the hostage through the head, spraying silver blood everywhere. Fauxlivia is captured.

In Walternate’s lab, Olivia fills and then enters the deprivation tank. Alterna-Broyles closes her in the tank, and then holds off the arriving soldiers. A minute later, Olivia arrives back in our universe, stepping from the sensory deprivation tank in Walter’s lab. She greets Astrid, then collapses. The good news is relayed to the rest of the Fringe Team just as Walter realizes that Fauxlivia’s been injected with harmonic rods, like the type he used to initially cross universes. They rush over to the van she was being held in, but it’s too late: Faulivia is gone and the dead and mangled body of alterna-Broyles is left in her place.

1. Missed Opportunity, part one
I really though Peter had palmed the medicine and not really injected himself.

2. Missed Opportunity, part two
Love him or not, leaving Peter alive in your apartment was a stupid idea. If you don’t want to kill him, dump his paralyzed body somewhere (or leave him “asleep” on the subway) where it will take him longer to be found and get help.

3. At Least He Didn’t Use the MRI
In terms of the Quantum Entanglement Telegraph (woo! technobabble!), the responses from the alternate universe always show in the mirror, so why would our universe’s typewriter have Penn Station on the ribbon?

4. Alternotes
Springsteen Station
The blimps are back.

5. Sure Beats Succinylcholine
Sure is convenient how the alternate universe’s paralytic agents have no effect on breathing muscles — or in Olivia’s case, extraocular muscles.

6. I Blame You, Pulp Fiction
Not the adrenalin to the heart cliché! (And why? What was Broyles treating with it? Olivia’s heart was beating just fine.) It’s too dangerous and is not done, ever. With a blind stick, it’s too easy to damage some of the fragile heart anatomy (valves, chordae tenidinae, coronary arteries) and how do you know you’re injecting it into the right part of the heart? Injecting it into the vascular system would work just as fast and is tremendously safer.

A well-done quick moving story that answered most of these season’s questions, but I still have to take points off for the adrenalin to the heart scene. The Doomsday Clock stays at 11:56.

This week’s Fringe cipher was: CROSS.
A list of all previous Fringe reviews is available here.
Karl, as always, has much more to say.

Just 22 days until Christmas, and today’s cover for Scott’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar is Hot Stuff, The Little Devil #95. Now that I think about, there’s something a little strange about a devil celebrating Christmas — but looking at his decorations, there’s nothing overtly Christian, so I’m guessing he goes more for the original non-Christian aspects of the holiday.

Hot Stuff, The Little Devil #95 (Harvey, January 1970)

Click on the cover for larger view

22 Days until Christmas!

Dennis the Menace probably appears on more Christmas covers than any other character — except maybe Donald Duck, who is on his share of covers too. I’ll have to count them up and see who wins. Not counting repeat covers, I bet Dennis is the winner.

Today’s cover features Dennis and his friends, along with poor Mr. Wilson (has any comic character ever suffered as much as poor Mr. Wilson? I doubt it.)

Dennis the Menace Bonus Magazine Series #147 (Fawcett, October 1975)

Click on the cover for larger view

21 Days until Christmas!

Today’s stocking-themed comic book cover for the advent calendar brings us Four Color #172, featuring Christmas with Mother Goose by Walt Kelly. Apparently, the Three Blind Mice like to go hiding in stockings (they are blind after all), so be careful on Christmas morning.

Four Color #172 (Dell, November 1947)

Click on the cover for larger view

20 Days until Christmas!

Bugs Bunny brings us today’s Advent Calendar comic cover, and his stocking contains…about what you’d expect.

You know, I really like that holly and carrot motif down the side of the comic. I need to get something like that for my mantel.

Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Funnies #3 (Dell, November 1952)

Click on the cover for larger view

19 Days until Christmas!

It’s been a while since I posted an annotation of Apothecarius Argentum. The reason is simple: while the story is getting better every volume, DC Comics stopped their manga line CMX so new volumes are no longer being released in the United States. Nevertheless, I’ve decided to continue the annotations through the remaining released volumes, partially because of my obsessive-compulsive nature, and also so that others will discover this series and hopefully some other publisher will pick it up.

Like the previous books, Apothecarius Argentum Volume 5 consists of four chapters. Most of the medicine is front-loaded into the first chapter, so that’s all I’ll cover in this post. Tomorrow’s post will cover the final three chapters of this volume.

Royal Apothecary Argent and his apprentice Soda have run afoul of the Apothecary Guild, and in particular their leader Zantak (last seen in the first volume). Fed up with the conflict, Princess Primula order a duel between Zantak and Argent. Not a duel with weapons, but a duel with medications. The fist to cure a patient she presents will be declared the winner. The patient complains of sudden onset of severe stomach pains. Both apothecaries diagnose it as gastritis (an inflammation of the stomach), but their treatment is quite different. Zantak and his assistants quickly prepare a treatment of daylily, Chinese peony, and jujube while Argent takes his time preparing a dose of Scopolia japonica. (You’ll need to read the book yourself to find out who — if anyone — won the duel).

Calendula is one genus of marigolds (though not all marigolds are Calendulas). Argent makes no indication of what he’ll use the Calendula for, but traditionally it has been used as an anti-inflammatory and to promote wound healing.
• SIDE NOTE: Soda ties to buy Calendula root, but it is the petals and leaves that are used in preparations.

Scutellaria are a genus of plants commonly known as skullcaps. Argent plans to use it to treat stomach pain. There are many different species of skullcaps, and they each seem to have different medicinal uses, but the most common uses seem to be an anti-inflammatory, a sedative, or a liver tonic.

Phellodendron is a variety of Asian tree that used commonly in traditional Asian medicine. Argent makes no mention as to what he uses it for, just that he needs restocking of “phellodendron extract.” As with most such medications, Philodendron Phellodendron reportedly has a wide variety of uses, but most commonly is used for kidney and gastrointestinal disorders.
• SIDE NOTE: This is a very different plant than the philodendron, a common houseplant.

I hope everyone is familiar with the daylily as they’re found in almost every garden in the county (well, the Midwest at least). Traditionally, the daylily can be used as a pain reducer, fever reducer, and diuretic. Zantak uses it to treat gastritis and the story suggests it is the most important herb in his concoction.

Chinese peony is another common agent in both Chinese and Japanese traditional medicine. It is said to reduce fever, reduce pain, prevent infection, and works as an antispasmodic. Zantak uses it is his treatment of gastritis, probably for its (allegedly) pain reducing components, but he may also use it for its antispasmodic effects

Jujube is a flowering Asian tree known for its fruit. The fruits are said to have many different medicinal uses, including reducing stress and soothing sore throats. Jujube is the third component of Zantak’s gastritis treatment. He may be using it for its medicinal value, or possibly for its sweet taste as the story makes a big deal about how Zantak sweetens his medicines.

Scopolia japonica is known as Japanese Belladonna, and has very similar effects. Like belladonna, small doses can help with gastrointestinal distress, but larger doses can be fatal.

Dong Quai is also called “women’s ginseng” and, as the name suggests, it’s used primarily to treat almost every kind of “female problem” imaginable. Dong Quai it has many other effects ascribed to it, including “strengthening the blood” (which seems to be the effect we see in the story.)

Final Notes:
1. The author likes to get clever with names. The sick child’s name is Mysree, which is too close to “misery” to be coincidence. Similarly, Zantac is a common acid-reducing medication for the stomach, and I can’t believe the name Zantak is just a coincidence. Admittedly, the series has been translated into English that may figure in the names to some extent.
2. It’s interesting how this medieval fantasy world has plants named after China and Japan.
3. Mild gastritis can usually be quickly resolved with an antacid, but more severe gastritis, such as what the patient has here, generally requires several days of treatment to get a full cure. Expecting an instantaneous result is unrealistic.

Other manga medical annotations

Today stocking-related Christmas comic book cover comes from DC Comics and Ambush Bug, which pretty much explains it all.

Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer #1 (DC Comics, March 1986)

Click on the cover for larger view

18 Days until Christmas!

As promised, here is the second part of my medical (and botanical) annotations to Apothecarius Argentum Volume 5. The previous part can be found here, and all of the Apothecarius Argentum annotations can be found here.

The second chapter of Volume 5 deals primarily with Garna, the chef-turned-assassin-turned-chef. His back story is visited and his current problems addressed. Meanwhile, the unctuous Prince Goriel has arrived to woo the Princess Primula.

The final chapters concern Argent and his assistant Soda leaving the Kingdom of Beazol in order to find a rumored cure for Argent’s toxic basilisk condition. Along the way they stop at Navara, a neighboring kingdom recently annexed by Beazol. In Navara, Argent and Soda help Prince Lorca with his cloth dyeing concern and learn more about basilisks from Lorca’s brother Prince Daniel, the so-called “Balladeer of Love.”

Digitalis is a heart medicine made from the foxglove plant. Digitalis is used to treat heart failure and atrial fibrillation, though not very much anymore as safer medicine have been developed (with digitalis, there is a thin line between just enough and too much).

The poppy Garna and Argent mention is the Opium Poppy. As the name suggests, this plant is the source of opium and all its various derivatives including laudanum, morphine, codeine, and many other narcotics.
According to the manga, a mysterious and aggressive nation in the south sold a fruit wine secretly mixed with opium to get the population of Garna’s former nation addicted. Later, when the opium wine became scarce, the country dissolved into anarchy. It’s an interesting idea, but not very practical. First, opium is said to taste horribly bitter and the wine would have to be disgustingly sickly sweet to cover it up. More importantly, it would be nearly impossible to dose it correctly and not kill people. Some individuals only a drink a glass of wine here and there, while other down a bottle or two a night. How can you possibly dose it to get the light-drinker addicted, yet not kill off the heavy drinker? Finally, while narcotic withdrawal is decidedly unpleasant and miserable, it is not fatal.

Cantharidin is a medicine made from the blister beetle. As you can imagine, since it comes from the blister beetle, it has a very harsh effect on the skin and is used to treat conditions such as warts. I hate to think what it would do to the sensitive membranes of the mouth and lips. Taken orally, it can be quite toxic if not outright fatal. (More on Cantharidin can be found in the annotations to Volume 3)

Carmine is a deep red dye made from the cochineal beetle, which I covered in my annotations of volume 4. The author is taking some privileges here as cochineals require cacti to live on, not fruit trees.

The Lacquer Tree produces a thick sap that can be used to make a beautiful lacquer. Of note, the tree is in the Toxicodendron genus — for those of you not up on your botany, this means that the lacquer tree is closely related to poison ivy and its sap has the same effect on the skin. In other words, the poor guy who applied lacquer tree extract to his skin basically just rubbed concentrated poison ivy into it.

When a certain species of aphid attacks the sumac tree, the tree responds by forming a gall around the insect. These sumac galls are then collected and used in traditional Chinese medicine. They contain high doses of tannins, an antioxidant. An extract from sumac galls can be used internally on a variety of ills, or rubbed on the skin to treat blistering or weeping rashes (like poison ivy).
The dye gobaishi can also be extracted from these galls.

Other manga medical annotations

We all know that “every dog has has its day” — but how many of use knew that day was Christmas? Fido sure did.

March of Comics #325 (Dell, December 1968)

Click on the cover for larger view

17 Days until Christmas!

Widowmaker #1
Jim McCann, script
David López, pencils

The cerebral cortex is the outer layer (the “gray matter”) of the cerebrum, which is the largest part of the brain. It’s the part most people picture when they think of the brain. More importantly, it’s not something that can be “severed” — at least not without opening up the entire skull and peeling the top layer off the entire surface of the cerebrum.

On the other hand, severing the brainstem would be fatal and could be accomplished through the neck wound described in the comic. That’s probably what Mockingbird meant.

I think is the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker in seven years of comic book cover Advent Calendars. He just doesn’t strike me as the “holiday cheer” type. (I’ve never been a big Woody Woodpecker fan, even as a kid — his antics always struck me as more cruel than funny.)

Walter Lantz New Funnies #155
(Dell, January 1950)

Click on the cover for larger view

16 Days until Christmas!

An episode with a great deal of potential, most of it squandered. On the bright side, Anna Torv did a particularly good job this week.

The Plot: A man walking down a train station is surreptitiously drugged by a passerby, who then follows him to his house. Once inside his house, the drugged man collapses, only to awaken later strapped to a gurney and covered with blood. He hears someone calling 911 on his behalf, and when the EMTs arrive, they find him still strapped the gurney with his heart surgically removed, yet somehow still alive.

The Fringe Team is called in. They learn the victim lived for a few minutes after the EMTs arrived, but ultimately died. Examining the corpse, Walter is surprised to discover that there are no signs of decomposition or decay, including rigor mortis. Peter finds a number of medications the patient was on and he and Olivia eventually discover the victim was a heart transplant patient.

Back at his lab, Walter hypothesizes that the victim has been injected with a formula to slow cellular decay, similar to one he had worked on years before. Meanwhile, Broyles does some more research and determined that there have been a number of organ thefts recently, and all the organs were transplanted ones from the same donor, a teenager named Amanda Walsh. Talking to Amanda’s mother, the team learns that Amanda was a depressed loner whose only love was ballet. She had been on a number of antidepressants and many therapy sessions, even group therapy, but they didn’t help — Amanda ultimately committed suicide. Her cremains are given to Walter for examination but he quickly realizes the ashes are wood ashes and cement, not human remains. The team learns her body was stolen from the funeral home before it could be cremated.

Olivia and Peter suspect the culprit is someone who knew Amanda threw one of her therapy sessions. They sort through the files of other patients in Amanda’s group therapy sessions and settle on likely candidate: Roland David Barrett. He fits the profile: he is rich with no family, mentally unstable, and conveniently did his graduate work in learning how to arrest cellular decay. The FBI arrives at Barrett’s house just as he is reviving Amanda’s corpse. His plan works and she is reanimated, but when he looks in her eyes, he realizes it’s not really Amanda. He is apprehended by Olivia, and Walter and Peter discover Amanda’s body in the basement, dead once again.

1. It All Goes Back to Oswald Cobblepot
Using an umbrella to surreptitiously inject poison has an established pedigree. Just ask Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov who died from ricin injected via umbrella.

2. Doesn’t Anybody Do Any Research At All?
Peter and Olivia interview Dr. Ross, who is clearly a transplant surgeon, yet are surprised to learn the victim in a transplant patient.
They don’t bother to learn how Amanda died before speaking to her mother.

3. A Pint of Sweat Will Save a Gallon of Blood
A good example this episode of the bloody surgery cliché: whenever surgery is shown on TV, there is always blood everywhere: the table, the surgeons gloves and gown, and often, the walls. In real life, surgeries (with the possible exception of trauma surgeries) simply aren’t that bloody. What blood is present is quickly suctioned away or cleaned up. For one thing: you can’t see what you’re doing if there is blood in the surgical field.
Speaking of blood: the heart victim’s gurney and improvised emergency room were dripping with blood, yet Barrett and his clothes were as clean as a whistle.

4. Screaming Eagle
The blood eagle torture was carried out on the victim’s back, not the front of the chest.

5. He Would Have Been Smacked with a Hemostat
For someone who Walter describes as “skilled,” Barrett has horrible surgical technique. Bad sutures, cutting the suture without tying it off, and using clumsy bandage scissors to cut the suture were all readily apparent errors.

6. Ignorance Can Be Bliss
I’m just going to go with the flow on this episode and assume that Barrett’s mysterious serum could arrest decay and let a corpse be reanimated. I’m also not going to mention shocking a flatline (oops, too late).

7. First NASCAR, Now Fringe
Sprint takes over from Ford as the winner of Fringe’s Blatant Product Placement award.

8. Dallan and Sepsis Preserve Us!
Marionette, best Micronaut, or best Micronaut?

A light-weight story. There were some interesting ideas, but nothing we haven’t seen elsewhere before. The science and medicine was sloppy, but explained away with Barrett’s Serum, so this week ends with a draw, and the Fringe Doomsday Clock stays at 11:56.

This week’s Fringe cipher was: ADAPT.
A list of all previous Fringe reviews is available here.
Karl, as always, has much more to say.

No, not a Marvel mutant title, X-Mas Comics was an annual series put out by Fawcett Publishing in the 40s and 50s. The stocking on the cover was actually made of felt, which probably makes this one of the first comic book gimmick covers.

X-mas Comics #7
(Fawcett, December 1952)

Click on the cover for larger view

15 Days until Christmas!

Just two weeks until Christmas…

On today’s Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar, it’s Donald Duck’s turn to give his nephews grief with his oversized stocking — the reverse of the first cover of this year’s calendar.

Dell Giant #39
(Dell, December 1960)

Click on the cover for larger view

14 Days until Christmas!

Thanks to today’s entry in the Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar, now you know where that missing sock always disappears to.

Popular Comics #35
(Dell, December 1938)

Click on the cover for larger view

13 Days until Christmas!

scene from Batman #87, script by Wollfold, art by Kane (et. al.)

After a desperately needed supply of blood plasma is destroyed in a freak accident (i.e. Robin’s poor piloting skills), Batman donates his own blood to the patient.

More comic book transfusions

Just twelve days to go until Christmas! Today’s Advent Calendar Cover brings us the second cover in a row of someone trying to hide in a Christmas stocking. Supermouse, here, is using holiday decorations to lay a beatdown on Terrible Tom, which doesn’t quite in the spirit of the season.

Supermouse #29
(Standard, early 1955)

Click on the cover for larger view

12 Days until Christmas!

Two Mondays to go until Christmas, and this is the first of two special Christmas PSAs. Today, Binky lectures teaches his younger brother Allergy about the true gifts of the season.

Poor Allergy, even though he’s the real star of the PSA, Binkly gets the top billing.

Take a fashion lesson from Binky: Always match your earmuffs to your bow tie.

This PSA proved very popular and was used three different times: DC comics dated February 1954, January 1956, and January 1960. The script was by Jack Schiff with art by Win Mortimer.

More PSAs

Tags: comics psa binky allergy christmas jack schiff win mortimer

Today’s stocking-themed Christmas cover features Fennimore Frog and Dunbar Dodo, two all but forgotten stars of DC’s old funny animals comics.

Funny Stuff #30 (DC Comics, February 1948)

Click on the cover for larger view

11 Days until Christmas!

Only ten days remaining until Christmas, and today’s Christmas cover is probably my favorite of the entire Advent Calendar.

Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge #382
(Gemstone, October 2008)

Click on the cover for larger view

10 Days until Christmas!

So did Daisy get the pups in Christmas stockings (a variation, I guess, on “under a cabbage leaf”), is she trying to give them to Santa, or is she trying to roast them over the fire?

Maybe this explains why we haven’t seen the pups in the comic for decades…

Daisy and her Pups #16 (Harvey Comics, January 1954)

Click on the cover for larger view

9 Days until Christmas!

The Vision is an android¹, so what vital signs were you expecting to find?

Pulse? No heart, so no pulse.
Respiratory rate? He doesn’t breathe.
Blood Pressure? See the “no heart” comment. (Plus a blood pressure cuff² would be helpful.)
Temperature? Technically, everything has a temperature. (Well, except the Vision apparently.)

Notes for the pedantic:
1. Synthezoid, actually.
2. Sphygmomanometer

Only 8 days left until Christmas! Today’s comic book cover certainly has the strangest name of any of the comics in this year’s Advent Calendar. I’m not certain what a Jingle Dingle is, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want my kids seeing one.

Jingle Dingle Stocking Comic #1 (Stanhall, Winter 1951)

Click on the cover for larger view

8 Days until Christmas!

A half-page informative comic strip from Batman #174 (September 1965) that should appeal to all you CSI buffs. It also features a good example of the old comic cliche: pipe smoking = intellectual.

Just one week remains until Christmas. Today’s cover, from Famous Funnies #113, presents us with two jokes on the same cover — not good jokes, admittedly, but jokes none the less. First, a knight, one of the comic’s main characters, has hung his stockings from the mantle — only they’re metal boots (hilarious!). Then Santa shows up and decides these boots would be a good source of scrap metal (even funnier!)

Famous Funnies #113 (Eastern Color, December 1943)

Click on the cover for larger view

7 Days until Christmas!

Today’s cover for the Seventh Annual Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar brings another visit with Donald Duck, the third time so far this year. (If you can’t read the tag on the windsock stocking, it says: Dear Santa, Fill her up, and Merry Christmas to you. [signed] Huey, Dewey, and Louie.)

Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #6
(Dell, December 1944)

Click on the cover for larger view

6 Days until Christmas!

In one of the climactic scenes from the final issue of the X-Men mini-series X-Men: Children of the Atom — another of those untold tales of the young original X-men series — Jean Grey is healed of her wounds by a mutant empath

And for the record, this is the Star Trek: The Original Series meaning of Empath here, not the standard Marvel mutant definition.

All previous Psychic Nosebleed Zen posts.

Tags: comics medicine nosebleed jean grey empath

Just 5 days to ago until Christmas! Today’s cover is Jingle Jangle Comics #24 which does a great job explaining a common Christmas cover theme I call “The Stocking Gag.”

Jingle Jangle Comics #24
(Eastern Color, December 1946)

Click on the cover for larger view

5 Days until Christmas!

Time for another Christmas themed public service ad starring Binky — though he actually has little to do with the PSA itself. This time, it’s a Christmas Quiz!

As usual for these PSAs from 50+ years ago, one of the countries listed doesn’t exist any more.

I was pretty sure the answer to #4 was “Whoville.”

Like most holiday PSAs, this ad was popular to get published more than once: first in February 1955, then again in February 1964. The script was by Jack Schiff with art by Ruben Moreira.

More PSAs

Other Christmas PSAs:
• Superboy Talks About the Holiday Spirit!
• Superboy in “How to Bring Christmas Cheer!”
• Bink in “The Best Present of All!”

Tags: comics psa binky christmas quiz jack schiff ruben moreira

A mere four days remain until Christmas. Today’s stocking-themed Christmas cover stars Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, and other assorted funny animals published by Fawcett in the cleverly named Fawcett’s Funny Animals.

Fawcett’s Funny Animals #254
(Fawcett, january 1945)

Click on the cover for larger view

4 Days until Christmas!

Just three days until Christmas! Today’s stocking-themed Christmas cover comes courtesy of The Kilroys, a long forgotten family hijinx comics from the ’40s and ’50s.

The Kilroys #21
(American Comics Group, December 1949/January 1950)

Click on the cover for larger view

3 Days until Christmas!

What most people are unaware of (except those that read my blog, of course), is that the decibel scale is logarithmic. In other words, for every 10 decibels (dB), the energy involved goes up by a factor of 10. This sounds simple, but increases exponentially fast. For example, a sound of 140dB is ten times as powerful as a sound of 130db, but a hundred times more powerful than a sound of 120dB, a hundred-thousand times more powerful than a sound of 90dB, and a billion times more powerful than a sound of 50dB.

By the time you’ve reached a million decibels, you’re easily generating more than enough energy to destroy the Earth. (Seriously — some quick back of the envelope calculations show that a million decibels is 10⁹⁹⁹⁷⁵ more powerful than a 1 megaton nuclear bomb and is equal to an Richter-100,00 earthquake.)

As for the “white noise” — that’s a moot point. Anything over 194 decibels is more shockwave than sound.

And even if Cyborg’s weapon were possible, why would he think it was a good idea to unleash powerful sound waves in a museum full of fragile antiquities and breakable glass cases?

Yesterday, a woman was left in the stocking — today, it’s the other way around, as Archie is left in Betty’s stocking.

The New Archies #12
(Archie Comics, February 1989)

Click on the cover for larger view

2 Days until Christmas!

It’s Christmas Eve! Only one last day until Christmas, and this year’s penultimate Advent Calendar Comic Book Countdown cover provides another great example of “the stocking gag.”

Little Audrey #16
(St. John, May 1951)

Click on the cover for larger view

1 Day until Christmas!

Christmas Day is finally here! And since we started off Seventh Annual Comic Book Cover Advent Calendar with Donald and his nephews, I figured it was only fitting to end with them as well. Merry Christmas!

Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #388
(Gold Key, January 1973)

Click on the cover for larger view

Christmas Day!

In case you can’t read the blurry scan:

Except this wasn’t brain death, at least as the term is understood. Steve Rogers died because his heart stopped — that’s not brain death (though, admittedly, he was shot through the brain by a pistol at close range).

As a side thought, if he were brain dead, how could he still have “force of will?”

An obsession with uranium and other radioactive elements was not just a common theme in comics of the late ’40s through ’60s (cf Superboy), but also their ads. Here’s Sam Spade in “The Adventure of the Little Lead Box” a mystery [sic] of coincidence, contrivance, and really stupid criminals.

scene from Birds of Prey #8 (by Dixon and Land)

I wonder if this is where Barbara Gordon got the inspiration to become Oracle: surrounded on by all those machines and screens.

Otherwise, there are way too many bags of fluid hanging (and remember colorists: not all IV bags need to be red; in fact, most shouldn’t). The IVs are in bad locations, especially for the amount of fluid she seems to be getting, and she’s wearing two blood pressure cuffs. She also appears to have six-fingers on her right hand — I didn’t know Barbara had polydactyly.