House Ads #22 Challengers of the Unknown

"Villo"?!?! VILLO?!??! Man, there must have been a dearth of sugar and caffeine in the offices of DC THAT month!

Weekly Wonderous Moment In Comics #48

Those lousy Brogans & their stupid friends!!!!

Comics Cavalcade Calendar #1

The Comics Cavalcade Calendar was a stunt I came up with back in the 90's. I was inspired by Radioactive Man comics that was being printed at the time, the idea (of mine) was for a fictional comic book company that had been in business since the 1930's and they had produced a page-a-day calendar of the highlights of their history. I was trying to come up with one a day (it wasn't easy and I had several lapses) but I had to figure out the issue numbers so that they would properly correspond with the dates given on the calendar. The quality on some of these scans may be pretty low. These are scans of photocopies (the originals are looooong gone).

So, here, for the first time on the intrawebs, the Comics Cavalcade Calendar from DH Comics (Daily-Happy Comics).

Historical Note: The 3-Demon was always drawn with a red ink, a blue ink and a green ink, presenting a 3-D effect. Each issue starring the 3-Demon also included a pair of 3-Demon glasses.

Mr. Fabulous, aka Walter Winters, unable to defeat the 3-Demon, transports into the Negatory Zone.
The Fabulous Five #26, May 1966

Wednesdays Mean New Comics... #4

Jonah Hex #69 "The Gauntlet!"

Jonah Hex #69 Feb. 1982
"The Gauntlet!"
Michael Fleisher, story - Dick Ayers & Tony DeZuniga, art - Ross Andru & Dick Giordano, cover

Ya see, Jonah has to escort this witness back for trial and ends up armoring an entire bus because the police have been told they need to kill him, so Jonah drives the bus slowly through town, getting terribly shot up but he makes it in the end.

Whoops!!!

Let's start over.

Jonah has just walked into the bar where George is dead, having a drink with Kincaid. Kincaid starts yammering about how he is gonna kill Hex, but this gives Jonah just enough time to notice that White Claw is on a balcony, about to kill Hex with a tomahawk. Jonah dives for the floor, pumps two shots into White Claw, rolls across the floor avoiding Kincaid's bullets, and pushes two lead pills into Kincaid, to which Kincaid replies "GHAAA!" and dies.

White Claw, however isn't dead. He leaps from the balcony, swings on a light fixture and jumps out the window. Jonah chases after him but runs into a man carrying several boxes. This widens White Claw's lead, but the chase is on.

It is a race that White Claw is winning, keeping Jonah guessing on the trail until Jonah is on a cliff overlooking a small farm. On the farm, Claw walks into the barn and tells the farmer he needs a fresh horse. The farmer says that he can't sell what he has, he needs them both. Claw decides to bury the hatchet.....



Jonah rides down to the farm and finds the dying farmer. The farmer expires and Jonah continues the chase.

Night falls and Jonah follows the trail to the base of a cliff covered in caves. Jonah finds a wagon with a family settling down for the night. He stops, asking if they have seen an Indian around. The family, husband, wife, & little girl, are heading for Canada to start a hog farm (Canadian Bacon?!?!?) but they haven't seen anything. Jonah warns them White Claw is very dangerous and they should be careful.

Of course, the little girl, bored with all this talk of danger, wanders off into the high grass by herself in the dark. Jonah rides off and shortly thereafter the little girl finds White Claw.

Jonah is getting ready to start searching the caves when he hears rifle shots and makes a beeline back to the wagon. The little girl is safe but White Claw is on the run. The proud member of the FBGC (Future Bacon Growers of Canada) tells Jonah which way the Indian headed and Jonah realizes that White Claw is making for a nearby Shoshone village.

Sadly, Jonah is suddenly ambushed by several Shoshone and knocked out.

Several hours later, at dawn, Jonah Hex is tied to a stake in front of the Shoshone chief who has just heard White Claw's testimony that Jonah has tried to kill Claw for no reason. Jonah tells his side of the story, but since white men can only lie, the chief cannot allow White Claw to be taken to the white men's courts.

White Claw wants to kill Hex, but the chief is aware of Jonah's rep in the hood and thinks Hex deserves a fighting chance. Jonah Hex will have once chance to save his own life by running....

THE GAUNTLET!!!

The horror of the gauntlet cannot be described, it can only be witnessed...

So Jonah lies there, passed out on the beach, unaware that a horse and rider has arrived and is standing over him.

Time passes and even though Jonah awakens from his personal darkness, he is still shrouded in blackness. He wonders where he is. He sees a shadowy form in front of him and he calls out..




Mei Ling?!?!? It's 1874!?!? But, but, but... Jason was born in 1876, Jonah was kidnapped to China for 195 days, .... but, but......

Anyway, the shadowy form lights a lamp and is revealed to be... Emmylou Hartley!!!!! WOW!

It appears that she has been following Jonah for months (did she go to China as well?). She tells Jonah that she is in love with him and has been ever since he kissed her in that mountain cave. She had tried to forget about Jonah, since he was married, but she couldn't and when she heard that Mei Ling had left and Jonah rode off as well, Emmylou followed after Jonah.

Three days ago she found him on the bank of the river and brought him to this abandoned trapper's shack. As she moves closer to Jonah, he warns her to be careful, it feels like several of his ribs are broken. Emmylou promises to not go near his ribs.

For three weeks, Jonah recovers in the cabin with Emmylou by his side. One afternoon, Jonah is bringing in some firewood and the heavy winter storm is raging outside like the devil's own frozen fury (I made that up. See what I did there? Writing!!!!) As Emmylou is closing the door behind Jonah, White Claw shoves the door open and pushes Emmylou aside!

White Claw screams that the others in his tribe thought Jonah dead from the river, but he knew better. Now Jonah's scalp will hang on the halter of Claw's pony. Claw throws a tomahawk at Jonah who quickly blocks it with a chair. Claw charges Jonah, knocking them both into the pot-bellied stove, upsetting the whole shooting match.

Claw holds Hex down, ready to cleave his head in two, but Jonah manages to grab a skillet and wrap it around Claw's head. Jonah pummels Claw a few times and then, his own coat ablaze, knocks Claw outside. Claw pulls a knife and Jonah grabs the only thing he can find, a large stick, and decides to make a fight of it.

Sadly, the fates have deemed otherwise, as Jonah slips and falls on a patch of ice. Claw advances for the kill when suddenly Emmylou bursts forth from the cabin to stop Claw. White Claw turns and buries his knife right into the beautiful chest of Emmylou Hartley.

It goes without saying that Jonah goes absolutely apeshit at this point! Grabbing an axe...


Jonah finishes the job he started so long ago. Jonah runs to Emmylou and....



Statistics for this Issue
Men killed by Jonah - 2
Running Total - 377
Jonah's Injuries - Knocked out, beat almost to death, several broken ribs
Timeline - .............Thud!.....Thud!......Thud!... There. I feel better. My head hurts and my keyboard is dented, but I feel much better. Taking into account the passage of time, and the several clues sprinkled throughout this and previous arcs, this story is placed squarely in 18xx. (and I'm not so sure about that). UPDATE: This one ends in Nov 1877

Anyway, the timeline set aside for a moment (this book covers about 4 weeks, just for the note takers out there), there was one helluva lot going on in this book. Rather than the normal done-in-one, or the ending with a cliffhanger, this story almost seemed like three stories put together. We had the exciting climax with the death of Kincaid, then there was the chase after White Claw, and finally the reveal of Emmylou Hartley. The ending wasn't a cliff-hanger, but we know that this will be continued, so it's like the beginning of a whole other story. I really liked this format, it was certainly different for a western, it was different than what Fleisher had done up until now, and it was definitely different from what DC was doing elsewhere.

Several folks, myself included, have cited the Last Bounty Hunter as the best Hex story, but I have to place this one right up there, mainly for the unusual pacing of the entire book. I also add points for the great cover with the tilted perspective (including the title of the book)

Jonah marks two more off his list of Cassie's killers.

Next Issue: Jonah goes back to the Shoshone village to set things right, and Jonah encounters the horrible truth about...The Swastika!!!!!

Pitchman-A-Go-Go #60

Viral marketing? Yup, they had it back in the 50's, but you had to cut it out, fill in the blanks, and leave it where your folks could find it.

double page ad for Daisy

New linky links

Tales From the Kryptonian is a new addition to the comic book links section. From Germany, he covers both DC & Marvel and has some pretty interesting insight on the differtn books and the teams contained therein.

Swing by, tell him howdy, and if ya like him, toss him a link.

Weekly Wonderous Moment In Comics #47

Damn Federal Government workers!!!!

Wednesdays Mean New Comics... #3

OOOOOOOOeeeeeee! She's got calves only a cow could love!!!!!

Just a couple of things to remember....

Pitchman-A-Go-Go #59

Even though the price of gas has dropped, you still need a bike

Weekly Wonderous Moment in Comics #46

I just found the Fourth Wall, it's in the Bustead's bathroom.

House Ads #21

I always enjoyed the giant villains looming over the city, it was even cooler than the Go-Go checks across the top of the book.

Wednesdays Mean New Comics... #2

Jonah Hex #68 "Gunfight at Gravesboro!"

Jonah Hex #68 Jan. 1983
"Gunfight at Gravesboro!"

Michael Fleisher, story - Dick Ayers & Tony DeZuniga, art - Gonzales & Dick Giordano, cover

Jonah Hex rides up in front of the Gravesboro Livery when an unknown man calls him out. The man says that he's gonna be world famous for having gunned down Jonah Hex. The only fame he gets is to be number 375 on Jonah's kill list. Yup, Jonah plants one right between the dude's eyes.

Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, this brings the town sheriff a-running. Jonah recognizes the sheriff as George Rehnquist. George is flabbergasted that it really IS Jonah Hex. He mentions Woodson and doesn't know how Jonah's face got all scarred up so he is obviously an old family friend that hasn't seen Jonah since 1866.

Jonah asks George if he wants to know why the dead body in the middle of the street came to be there. George looks down and says "Barney Gossett?..If'n any man ever needed killin' it wuz thet cold-eyed bully" and then he takes Jonah over to a saloon for a drink.

Later, in the General Store, several of the town leaders have gathered together to hatch a plan. They are wanting to offer Jonah the job of sheriff. Seems George is getting on in years and every crook in the area knows that George can't stand up to them. They decide that they could hire Hex temporarily, just until the town gets a reputation for not being a pushover. Their plan runs into a snag.

Later that night, in Jonah's hotel room, Hex refuses the job. He won't put his friend George out of a job. The fast-thinking town leaders offer the job of deputy to Jonah, mostly in order to keep George from being killed by all the rabble that has infested the town. Jonah decides to accept that offer.

Next morning, several hundred miles away, two men are sneaking up on a barn. They ask a young boy if he has seen a man dressed all in black. The boy says that the man is hiding in the barn. The two men rush into the barn, only to have the doors slammed behind them and barred shut. Outside, the man in black, Kincaid, pays the young boy 15 cents for lying to the two men and then he launches a lit lantern into the barn.

With the barn now ablaze, the two men inside continue to batter the barn doors until they finally break out, only to be cut down by a hail of Kincaid's bullets. Shortly thereafter, Kincaid is at a large ranch collecting his money for killing the two men (who were hired to settle an argument over water rights). Kincaid thanks his employer and states that he now has to settle an old score with Jonah Hex.

Back in Gravesboro, Jonah & George are walking down the street when Arbie, the saloon owner comes flying through his own front glass window. Arbie says that the Ransom boys are tearing up his place. George heads in to calm things down but ends up getting his gun taken away, beer poured on his head and knocked out with a chair. Just as the leader of the Ransoms is getting ready to beat George with a whip, a bullet cuts the whip clean in half.

The leader turns to find Jonah standing in the doorway. The man pulls a gun and.. Well, how can one easily explain what happens next? It's so much better to just show you.



Jonah gets the rest of the gang off to jail and helps George get his bearings.

Three days later and twenty miles away in Nugget Gulch, the entire town (including Michael Fleisher himself!)
is out to witness the hanging of a murdering Indian. The Reverend finally shows up to say a prayer over the condemned but just as the door is almost opened, the reverend produces a pistol from his Bible and shoots everyone on the platform. Holy Crap, the reverend is Kincaid!!!

Kincaid cuts the noose and bonds holding the Indian, White Claw, and they start running through the streets to a pair of horses that Kincaid has stashed. As they are riding out of town, White Claw tells Kincaid that he knows why Kincaid is there, to recruit White Claw in his attempt to kill Jonah Hex. As a note of emphasis, White Claw decides to bury the hatchet, literally, in the forehead of a man trying to shoot them from a second story window.

Later that night, back in Gravesboro, in the local whorehouse, a huge man is shooting up the place and in general busting up everything he sees. George shows up and tells the ruffian to hand over his pistol. The man starts to threaten George and suddenly changes his mind and asks to be handcuffed, he will go quietly. George says that he's glad that he is finally getting respect in the town and the man states that it was only because Jonah was standing behind George that he complied at all.

George tells Jonah that he should be out patrolling and the crook busts up laughing when he realizes that George thought he carried any weight in that town. Jonah heads back to the hotel to grab a couple hours of shuteye so he can relieve George for the late shift.

Meanwhile, George has gotten back to the jail when a man comes running in saying that Farrell Kincaid is in town and will start killing folks unless Jonah Hex shows up. George grabs his shotgun and heads for the saloon. The man asks if he should get Hex and George says that he can handle this himself.

Meanwhile, Jonah is dreaming and we have...

FLASHBACK!!!!

Jonah and the Army men with him return to the fort, the body of Cassie in the wagon behind them. At the fort, Jonah reports to Col. Wainwright about the robbery and the murder of Cassie. The Col. excuses Jonah and locks the door behind him and then...
END OF FLASHBACK!!!

Jonah is awakened to a pounding on his hotel room door. The same man that notified the sheriff of Kincaid being in town tells Jonah that Kincaid has just killed the sheriff.

At the saloon, Kincaid pours himself a drink and then pours one for the dead Sheriff George, who is propped up in a chair, his mouth hanging open. Just then the saloon doors swing open and Jonah walks in, not knowing that White Claw is up on the balcony, ready to ambush him!


Statistics for this Issue
Men Killed by Hex - one
Running Total - 375
Jonah's Injuries - None
Timeline - This one covers about a week, sometime after mid October in 1874, because that is 15 years after 1859, remember? I don't care what some commentators have said, it is 1874. UPDATE: Oct. 1877

The comic elements in this one reminded me of North to Alaska or McClintok! But the best part ended up being the gruesome corpse of George sitting in the saloon. Eeeeeewwwwww, eyes rolled back up in his head, mouth open. It was great. Another good installment in the Cassie Wainwright Saga

Next Issue: Jonah ends up in a Clint Eastwood movie!!!! For reals!!

Pitchman-A-Go-Go #58

You think things look bleak now? Back in 1953 the WORLD WAS ON FIRE!!!!! All you had to do was sell religious wall mottos and the world would turn from Crime, Graft, Dope, War, & Drink.
I think we would be better off buying these and mailing them to Congress!


I think it's great that they show a cowboy next to Arthur Godfrey's Uke!!!

Weekly Wonderous Moment In Comics #45

Sometimes a guy just wants to take a bath...

House Ads #20

The Panther?!?! Has anyone ever heard of this guy again? Heck, if Libra makes a comeback then this guy deserves to go up against Cat-Man.

Wednesdays Mean New Comics... #1

Well, I have decided to drag out a stack of comics that I produced over the years. Some of them are quick sketches, some are finished products, some have been published, some are pure crap. But here they are and will be for several Wednesdays to come. All are written and drawn by me. Don't blame anyone else for this...except maybe my folks who didn't take a hot iron to my hand once I started this.

Jonah Hex #67 "Deadman's Hand!"

Jonah Hex #67 Dec 1982
"Deadman's Hand!"
Michael Fleisher, story - Dick Ayers & Tony DeZuniga, art - Ross Andru (?) , cover

We start the new year with Deadman's Hand, a story where Jonah Hex cuts off the appendage of Boston Brand and then goes and kicks the ass of Rama Kushna just for grins. No, wait, that's wrong.

We start the new year with "Deadman's Hand", the third installment in the Cassie Wainwright saga. The splash page displays a newspaper from Friday, October 5th, stating that Jonah Hex has thwarted the Willow Bend bank robbery. Hmmm, Friday, October 5th. That would be 1872? No, that was a leap year so Oct 5th was on a Saturday. Well, it looks like it would be 1877 or 1866 (nope) or 1883 for this paper to be correct. But we all know this is 1874, right? Riiiiiiight!

Anyways, Said newspaper is being read by one Mr. Croy, a slick gamblin' man who is amazed at the headline, because HE was also involved in the terrible robbery that led to the death of Cassie Wainwright. Needless to say, he gets spooked, thinking that Hex will be on his trail soon. But, he does have time for a game of poker so he can get some traveling money.

During the game, Croy recalls that it has his idea to rob the Fort payroll so his cohorts in crime could pay off their gambling debts to him. During the card game, however, he is caught using a holdout to cheat. The other players start demanding their money and when things get ugly, Croy produces a pistol using another holdout, killing a man. He leaves the saloon, stealing a horse and killing the owner.

A week later and two hundred miles away in Careysburg, New Mexico Jonah rides up to a saloon and finds three smelly cowhands harassing a saloon girl. Jonah walks in and asks the barkeep if the chairs are solid oak. The barkeep affirms that they are and Jonah busts one upside the head of cowpoke #1. Cowpoke #2 gets a beatdown with a chair leg and cowpoke #3 gets thrown into a wonderful upright piano.

The saloon girl, Lisa, tells Jonah that she is fine and would love to have Hex buy her a drink...in another saloon.

Much later that night in Jonah's hotel room, Lisa is admiring Jonah's exploits and saying that if SHE were a man, she would be just like Jonah. She grabs his hat and puts it on, strutting around the room in her undies and then

DIES OF A BULLET RIGHT THROUGH THE HEART!!!!!

Yup, seems the heartless bastard Croy has tracked Jonah down and was across the street in a loft with a rifle. He saw a shadowy figure with a cowboy hat in Jonah's window and let fly with the led.

Back in the room, Jonah grabs his pistols and heads across the street to find absolutely nothing. The next morning, Jonah is seeing to Lisa at the undertaker's when the cowpokes 3 come in, looking for revenge. Jonah calls them scum for killing Lisa and guns down all three confused looking men.

Jonah heads outside and as he is walking down the street, Croy, stationed on a rooftop, shoots Jonah, this time for real. However, it is just a scalp wound and Jonah is taken to the local doctor office where, for 72 hours, he is in a delirium which leads us to..

FLASHBACK!!!!!!!
1859. A corporal comes in to Col. Wainwright's office to announce that the paymaster wagon is overdue. Jonah mounts up with several cavalry with him and heads out looking for wagon. Jonah is able to pick up on the tracks and they find the burnt remains of the wagon as well as...

END OF FLASHBACK!!!
Jonah almost snaps out of it but is still weak.

Down the street, the town crier enters the saloon, announcing that Hex will live. Croy, soaking the locals in poker is stupified, but decides to finish the job later that night.

After dark, he makes his way to the doc's and sneaks in Hex's window. He pulls a knife and stabs the form in the bed, only to find Jonah standing in the shadows. Croy drops the knife and starts fast-talking Hex. Jonah hesitates for a moment and Croy uses the holdout to get a pistol into his hand, but misses his only shot at point-blank range. Jonah returns fire, using two bullets, since lead was cheap back in the day.

Statistics for This Issue
Men Killed By Jonah: 4
Running Total: 374
Jonah's Injuries: Bullet wound to the head.
Timeline: This one covers 10 days in 1874, but the newspaper was from 1877. We won't let a little thing like that bother us, will we? Just remember, 1874, before the wedding to Mei Ling. No mention of her, we are pre-wedding. UPDATE: looks like the newspaper was correct and this was Oct. 1877.

The story itself was pretty good, another small chapter in the Cassie saga. I didn't care for the holdout showing up again, but it had been several years since we last saw one so I guess it is okay to reuse that device. I hated that Lisa bought the farm, getting shot for just wearing Jonah's hat (You listening SallyP & Sea? Don't be playing with men-folk clothes).



Next Issue: Moose hunting, more tragedy visits the Wainwrights and Jonah becomes a lawman!

Pitchman-A-Go-Go #57

"Elden Priestly"? Does anyone else think they were trying to make you think that Elvis Presley ate Cracker Jacks?

Little Known Fact: Elvis had an older brother Ennis, who was also an accomplished singer. However, once Elvis was dubbed "Elvis the Pelvis", Ennis decided to leave showbiz for good.

Brave & Bold again

I finally remembered that Brave & Bold comes on at 7, not 7:30 and managed to get it taped (yup, I'm still using a VCR).

The opening team-up between Bats & Guy Gardner was a riot. Gardner was a total ass and it was great to see C'hp again. The main team-up of Bats & classic Green Arrow was fine and had a good story line involving Etrigan and time travel.

Anyway, I'm anxiously awaiting the Jonah Hex episode (if I haven't missed it) but next week has Bwana Beast and the Outsiders. I think I may have died & gone to heaven. If Bwana Beast is coming, how long until we get Congorilla, Tommy Tomorrow, or Roy Raymond?