Meet the Press comic book

Prince Street News: The Lost Oddities of the Bronze Age of Comics

BACK ISSUE #134 may be one of my favorite issues, focusing on comic book rarities and oddities of the Bronze Age (being the 1970s and '80s). While the issue's content (as always) is strictly for the longbox crowd, this issue's installment of PRINCE STREET NEWS features, along with the usual nerdy chuckles, a handful of gags that even civilians can get (that is, if you were into New Wave or Russian Soviet dissidents of the 1970s). I've posted some of the individual elements after the complete strip, but a few of these will get their own posts just so I can slip into someone's Google search of George Carlin or the B-52's a little quicker.... 

Next up: Another one-pager, lamenting some beloved extinct elements of old comic books. 

POSTSCRIPT: It was almost a month after posting this that I realized I put TWO conflicting issue number / months on the ARCHIE / X-MEN Mashup piece... that's what I get for mixing trade dress from two eras! Apologies! 

Come on, Ethel!

After the great Dan DeCarlo, of course. 

 

Lone Ranger Tattoo Wrapper Redux

 

Prince Street News: Night of 100 Stars

The new BACK ISSUE! (#133) is out, a tribute to comics' many STARMEN (and women), giving me an opportunity to take Prince Street News back to Julie's Bar for the Night of 100 Stars! This is another one packed with inside gags for the longbox crowd, so don't feel bad if you don't get it.  I will give a few footnotes: The big guy flying into panel one (and in the background on panel six) is Fletcher Hanks' Golden Age character, Stardust the Super Wizard. The woman with the eye patch is Bronze Age Supergirl enemy, Starfire (DC had at least three of them). The guy talking to Commander Steel in panel three is The Shield, comics' first star-spangled patriotic superhero (predating Captain America by a year). Wonder Woman's outfit on page two panel one is from an aborted 1990s animated series / toy line, The Star Riders (one mini comic made its way into Kellogg's cereal boxes in 1993). The Tony Stark joke being made by Marvel villain Blastaar to Shooting Star on page two panel four refers to Iron Man's bronze age drinking problem.  Oh, and that's Batman in the costume with the fin on his head (in case the punch lines didn't make it clear). 

NEXT UP! It's the 40th episode and one of my favorites of this strip I've done: The Lost Oddities of the Bronze Age! If you've ever thought that Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn should've appeared in DC Comics in the '70s, then this will be the PSN for you! 

Another Round of Spidey!

More Spider-Man recreations, this time the cover to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #76 (after John Romita), MARVEL TEAM-UP #1 (after Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia), and the splash page to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #122 (by Gil Kane, John Romita, and Tony Mortellardo) sans word balloons and captions. 

STRANGE TALES 128 Redux

Another commission, this time a reworking of the cover of STRANGE TALES #128, repurposing a Steve Ditko pinup of Dr. Strange from the interior as the main image for the cover, with the Jack Kirby Thing / Human Torch / Quicksilver / Scarlet Witch piece as a secondary image. Man, those Ditko backgrounds are fun to draw. 

Strummer

 Joe Strummer's guitar (with "Death or Glory" lyrics). Done for a friend for Christmas. Prints are available in the Tough Guy Etsy Shoppe! 

Magic Lasso

Filmation Bat-Rogues

 

More Colorforms Redux

 Not sure why these Colorforms Playset boxes have grabbed me of late, but here are two more recreations. Note how elongated Snoopy's left arm is in order to do the classic disco point! I guess I could've moved the arm down and had it be shorter, but where's the fun in that? 
Also, Pac-Man, a game I never played! Well, not regularly, anyway. 

More Spidey!

Two new Spider-Man cover recreation commissions, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #2 (repurposing the splash page as the cover) after Steve Ditko, and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #135, featuring the second appearance of the Punisher, after John Romita. 

Starting Monday!

 Another Superman #POOC, based on a 1939 panel from the Superman comic strip by Joe Shuster. 

Batman Colorforms

Original art by Carmine Infantino 

Flying Fiend Comics

After Ernie Bushmiller. 

 

Wonder Woman Hand Puppet & Super Powers

 Two new commissions, redrawing some classic Wonder Woman merchandise (with some tweaks to the Ideal Hand Puppet package)

Spider-Man '67 Redux

 Here's another series of animation cel recreations, this time images from the 1967-70 SPIDER-MAN cartoon, produced first by Grantray-Lawrence animation, then Krantz films. One of the great things about the Krantz seasons was the gorgeous background paintings, rivaling those of the 1960s PEANUTS specials. Oh, and sorry for the earworm of the greatest superhero cartoon theme of all-time I've now put in your head. Actually, I'm not sorry at all. 

Black Light Galactus

 After the great Jack Kirby, of course. 

The Empire Strikes Back Wrapper Redux

Another Wrapper Redux (or Wredux, if you will). 

More PEANUTS recreations...

Some more PEANUTS cel and panel recreations. All of these (the originals) are available at the Tough Guy Goods Etsy shop. Prints of one or two may pop up on there as well. Hope your holidays were merry and bright (or at least as much as modern times can allow!)!