Johnny Seven

Here you have one of my favorite Christmas Presents circa 1966 or 67. JOHNNY SEVEN. This was a "toy" gun in the sense that it wasn't real but it weighed a freakin' ton, had all kinds of connecting and disconnectable parts and was virtually impossible to actually "play" with as a seven or eight year old really could NOT lift the damn thing! The name comes from the fact that it could be used as seven different weapons. The pistol was detachable, there was a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher and others I don't recall and can't immediately recognize from this picture. I kept it behind the couch for a couple years and it earned me a lot of points with new kids who came to visit just because it was cool and most kids wanted it and never got it. I finally traded it to some kid--possibly the one seen here (holding my much easier to handle SECRET SAM gun) next to a young and shoeless booksteve--for some coverless Marvels. I believe I probably pulled a muscle lifting that gun for this photograph!

New Popeye Comic Book

Not sure if this is exclusive to Best Buy, but I recently purchased volume 3 of the wonderful POPEYE cartoon collections they've been releasing and it comes with a mini-comic! The mini-comic reprints, in full color, Segar's classic 1934 adventure with the Sea Hag and Alice the Goon. All of the then-regulars of the THIMBLE THEATRE strip appear and a lot of time is given to J. Wellington Wimpy, here with his portable meat grinder and a knife which he uses to make hamburgers out of...well...anything he can! The comic plugs the great Fantagraphics reprints series so I presume it was packaged by them. A fun item and a potential future collector's item in its own right!

Worst Comics Logo Ever?

Okay, here's a new category that will require some audience participation. I'm wondering what the top 10 WORST comic book logos ever might be. Seen here is my personal, off-the-top-of-my-head suggestion. INSANE from Dark Horse in 1988 ran at least two issues (published 7 months apart)of old-fashioned MAD-style parody. There may have been more but these are all I have and it seems thus far to have escaped the notice of the GCD. They're not bad, offering the expected X-MEN parody as well as Godzilla, an excellent take on the Frank Miller-championed LONE WOLF AND CUB, Ah-nold and a dead-on dig at the company's own CONCRETE. The highlight of these two issues, however, is an incredible riff on GRIMJACK by the criminally underappreciated Hilary Barta (do we still have to point out that he's a "he"?). That said, would ANYONE have picked up these titles based on that ridiculous logo alone? Hmmm...Maybe nobody did but me and that's why I can't find 'em in the GCD. Okay. Your turn. You got a worse comic logo?

Phil Harris, Alice Faye and Captain Marvel

Always enjoy seeing celebrities reading comics. Here we have Phil Harris, legendary outdoorsman, drinker, cartoon voice, recording artist, bandleader, actor and JACK BENNY cast member, sneaking a WHIZ (pardon the expression) inside a copy of ROGET'S THESAURUS, apparently much to the dismay of his wife, the equally legendary musical comedy star, Miss Alice Faye.

Random Panels of Comic Book Weirdness # 44

You know, going through DC's Archive editions and other reprints featuring the Golden Age BATMAN, it gets easier and easier to understand how Dr. Wertham came to the conclusion that Bruce and Dick were exploring an alternative lifestyle...or at least catering to the fetish market.

The First Wonder Woman PSA

This is probably the very first WONDER WOMAN PSA, contemporary with WONDER WOMAN # 3. This one page strip is in support of the March of Dimes, the popular anti-polio charity supported by President Roosevelt (and named by Eddie Cantor as a parody of the March of Time). The "autographed" picture of WW looks a lot like those back cover portraits that Timely had (and that we ran awhile back).

An Unlikely Comic Book Ad

Unlikely...but real in those pre-code days. Who says comics weren't educational?