Christmas Covers - December 24

 

Superman is having a "Wonderful Christmastime" with Paul McCartney on the cover of Batman / Superman - World's Finest #10 (2022) by Dan Mora.

For each day of December until Christmas we're featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover.

Come back tomorrow for our final Christmas cover of 2023.

Just 1 more 'get-up' until Santa!

(2022: Les Légendaires - Parodia, Tome 3: Gagastrophique!)

(2021: Limited Collectors' Edition C-50)
(2020: Ghostbusters #11)
(2019: Christmas Eve #1)
(2018: Archie Comics Double Digest #283)
(2017: Katy and Ken Visit Santa with Mister Wish)
(2016: Archie Double Digest #235)
(2015: Adventure Comics #113)
(2014: Limited Collectors' Edition #C-20)
(2013: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #8)
(2012: Four Color #525)
(2011: Sergio Aragonés Funnies #6)
(2010: Ole Brumm Julehefte 1993)
(2009: Ninja High School #156)
(2008: Tommy og Tigern Julehefte 2007)
(2007: Action Comics #105)
(2006: Dell Four Color #666)
(2005: Dell Four Color #1274)
(2004: Captain Marvel Adventures #19)

Monkey Covers

Remember when Sunday was Monkey Covers Day here at YACB? We haven't regularly posted a Monkey Cover since 2013, but maybe it's time to return to the tradition?

We welcome in the New Year with Superman punching Titano on the cover of Superman: Man of Tomorrow #5 (2020) by Paul Pelletier & Drew Hennessy.

(Standard disclaimer about giant gorillas not really being monkeys applies.)

Christmas Covers - December 14

 

Superman faces his past in a series of Christmas ornaments on the cover of Superman: The Man of Steel #109 (2001) by Duncan Rouleau & Jaime Mendoza.

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover. This year we're celebrating the dark, dreary, and twisted side of the holiday, as befits 2020. 

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

Just 11 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2020: X-Men Classic #47)

(2019: Flare #30)

(2018: Disney Princess #16)

(2017: World of Archie Double Digest #73)
(2016: Four Color #178)  

(2015: Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #99) 

(2014: Tezuka Magazine Leo #3) 

(2013: Action Comics #762) 
(2012: On a volé le courrier de Petit Père Noël) 
(2011: Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics #87) 
(2010: Sal y Pimienta #151) 
(2009: Sugar & Spike #50) 
(2008: Tom-Tom, The Jungle Boy #3)
(2007: Sugar & Spike #68)
(2006: Sugar & Spike #38)
(2005: Sugar & Spike #26)
(2004: Sugar & Spike #32)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Superman and all your friends here at Yet Another Comics Blog!

(Cover to Action Comics #81 by Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye.)

Christmas Covers - December 20

Superboy has to survive A World Without Christmas on the cover of The New Adventures of Superboy #39 (1983) by Gil Kane.

For each day of December until Christmas we're featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover.

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

(2017: Pondus Julen 2017)

(2016: Big Shot #30)
(2015: Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #5, Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #5, and Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #3) 
(2014: Flash Gordon Holiday Special)
(2013: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #79) 
(2012: Nemi julehefte 2002) 
(2011: Laugh #5) 
(2010: Sleivdal Julehefte 2002)
(2009: Bamses Julehefte 1998)
(2008: Larry Marder's Beanworld Holiday Special)
(2007: Archie Giant Series Magazine #218)
(2006: 52 week 33)
(2005: Strangers in Paradise #70)
(2004: The Amazing Spider-Man #314)

(Also see: The 2018 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar) 

Christmas Covers - December 18

Superman delivers toys to the children of Metropolis on the variant cover to Action Comics #1005 (2018) by Francis Manapul.

For each day of December until Christmas we're featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover.

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

Just 7 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2017: Wendy Witch World #23)

(2016: Bugs Bunny's Christmas Funnies #4)
(2015: Superman's Christmas Adventure) 
(2014: Doctor Who #12)
(2013: Archie Double Digest #246)
(2012: Teen Titans #13)
(2011: Tivoli med vänner #11)
(2010: Looney Tunes #97)
(2009: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #4)
(2008: Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #364)
(2007: Guy Garder: Warrior #39)
(2006: Impulse #45)
(2005: Adventures of Superman #487)
(2004: Mutt & Jeff #32)

(Also see: The 2018 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar) 

Christmas Covers - December 17

Why are Geo-Force and Superman fighting over a Christmas Tree on the cover of Batman and the Outsiders #19 (1985)? Perhaps artist Jim Aparo knows?

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover.

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

Just 8 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2017: Harley Quinn #10)
(2016: World of Archie Comics Double Digest #64) 

(2015: Scooby-Doo #67) 

(2014: Katy Keene #29) 

(2013: The Spirit #13) 
(2012: Critters #11) 
(2011: Star Trek: The Next Generation #2)
(2010: Heathcliff #6)
(2009: Gold Digger X-Mas Special #2) 
(2008: Little Dot #29)
(2007: Classics Illustrated #53)
(2006: Patrick The Wolf Boy Christmas Special)
(2005: A Patty Cake Christmas)
(2004: Superman #165)

(Also see: The 2018 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar) 

Winter Covers - December 28

Superboy doesn't need skis on the cover of Adventure Comics #139 (1949) by Al Wenzel.

Christmas may be over, but we're filling out December with winter-themed comics covers!

(2016: The Sisters, vol. 2: Doing It Our Way) 
(2015: Superman #46) 
(2014: Dead Boy Detectives #8) 
(2013: Strange Adventures #149) 
(2012: Batman #337) 
(2011: Liberty Meadows #30)
(2010: Daffy #12)
(2009: DC Universe Holiday Special '09)   

Christmas Covers - December 9

Superman proves that it's not just Santa who can come down a chimney on the cover of Action Comics #117 (1948) Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye.

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover.

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

Just 16 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2016: Garfield #32)
(2015: The Spectre #26) 

(2014: Marvel Two-In-One #8)  

(2013: The Tick New Series #1)
(2012: Pelle Politbil Julen 2010)
(2011: The Disney Afternoon #3)
(2010: The Tick's Big Yule Log Special 2000)
(2009: Funny Stuff #30)
(2008: March of Comics #77)
(2007: Spaceman Discovers Christmas)
(2006: All-American Comics #10)
(2005: Roy Rogers Comics #49)
(2004: Pogo Possum #11)

  

(Also see: The 2016 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)

Christmas Covers - December 11

Geo-Force and Superman face off inside a Christmas tree ornament on the cover of Batman and the Outsiders #19 (1985) by Jim Aparo.

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover.

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

Just 14 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2015: Sweet Rein vol. 3) 

(2014: Sweet Rein vol. 2)

(2013: Sweet Rein vol. 1)
(2012: Garfield #8)
(2011: The Simpsons Winter Wingding #6)
(2010: Marvel Super Hero Squad #12 )
(2009: P.S. Magazine: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly #157)
(2008: More Fun Comics #39)
(2007: The Tick: Big Red-N-Green Christmas Spectacle #1)
(2006: The Best of DC #58)
(2005: Batman #27)
(2004: The Brave and the Bold #148)

 

(Also see: The 2016 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar) 

(Also see: Comic Book Librarian Supreme’s Christmas Comic Countdown) 

 

Happy Birthday, Superman!

Winter Covers - December 28

Depowered Superman is freezing in the cold alley on the cover of Superman #46 (2015) by John Romita Jr. & Klaus Jansen.

Christmas may be over, but we're filling out December with winter-themed comics covers!

 
(2014: Dead Boy Detectives #8)
(2013: Strange Adventures #149)
(2012: Batman #337)
(2011: Liberty Meadows #30)
(2010: Daffy #12)
(2009: DC Universe Holiday Special '09) 

Christmas Covers - December 24

Superboy gives Santa Claus an assist on his present deliveries on the cover of Adventure Comics #113 (1947) by Stan Kaye.

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover. (Click on the image to get a larger version.)

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

Just 1 more 'get-up' until Santa!
 
 
(2014: Limited Collectors' Edition #C-20)
(2013: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #8)
(2012: Four Color #525)
(2011: Sergio Aragonés Funnies #6)
(2010: Ole Brumm Julehefte 1993)
(2009: Ninja High School #156)
(2008: Tommy og Tigern Julehefte 2007)
(2007: Action Comics #105)
(2006: Dell Four Color #666)
(2005: Dell Four Color #1274)
(2004: Captain Marvel Adventures #19)

(Also see: The 2015 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)   

Christmas Covers - December 18

Are the kids more excited to see Santa Claus or Superman? It's unclear on the cover of Superman's Christmas Adventure (1944).

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover. (Click on the image to get a larger version.)

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

Just 7 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(2014: Doctor Who #12)
(2013: Archie Double Digest #246)
(2012: Teen Titans #13)
(2011: Tivoli med vänner #11)
(2010: Looney Tunes #97)
(2009: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer #4)
(2008: Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #364)
(2007: Guy Garder: Warrior #39)
(2006: Impulse #45)
(2005: Adventures of Superman #487)
(2004: Mutt & Jeff #32)

(Also see: The 2015 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)  

Christmas Covers - December 14

The Demon forces Superman to act as his Reindeer on the cover of Action Comics #762 (2000) by Humberto Ramos and Wayne Faucher.

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Holiday-related comic book cover. (Click on the image to get a larger version.)

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


Just 11 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

(2012: On a volé le courrier de Petit Père Noël)
(2011: Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics #87)
(2010: Sal y Pimienta #151)
(2009: Sugar & Spike #50)
(2008: Tom-Tom, The Jungle Boy #3)
(2007: Sugar & Spike #68)
(2006: Sugar & Spike #38)
(2005: Sugar & Spike #26)
(2004: Sugar & Spike #32)


(Also see: Bully the Little Stuffed Bull's A Four Color Christmas)
(And: The 2013 Comics Should Be Good Advent Calendar)

Superman 75

Happy 75th Anniversary to the Man of Steel!

 

Action Comics #75 (1944) by Wayne Boring
Superman #75 (1952) by Al Plastino
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #75 (1964) by Curt Swan
Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane #75 (1967) by Kurt Schaffenberger
Superman #75 (1993) by Dan Jurgens & Brett Breeding
Superman: The Man of Steel #75 (1998) by Jon Bogdanove & Dennis Janke
Superman/Batman #75 (2010) by Frank Quitely

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover!

Can Beppo the Super Monkey save Superman from Titano the Giant Ape? Find out in Superman Family Adventures #4 (2012) under a cover by Art Baltazar.

(Standard disclaimer about giant apes who are definitely not King Kong not really being monkeys applies.)

Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

DCnU Reviews, Week 4: Superman

(Back in June when the new DCU titles were announced, I ranked all 52 titles on my likelihood of buying them. Only fair then to look back and see if my initial assessments hold up. My plan is to review each of the new titles as they come out.)

Superman #1
by George Pérez & Jesús Merino

Original Rank/Assessment: 2. (Definitely Yes) - I'm actually a bit apprehensive about the Superman reboot, like I am with every Superman reboot. But with Morrison & Perez at the helm, I'm fairly optimistic this time out. Plus, I've bought every issue of Superman since 1982, and I'm likely not stopping until I'm dead or it stops being published.

And thus we come to the end, the last of the New 52 number ones. I opened week 1 with Action Comics, so it seems fitting to close out week 4 with Superman.


This is pretty much what I would want out of a first issue of a new version of Superman: plenty of action with Superman being super, and an introduction to the supporting cast. As with Action Comics, we don't need an origin story; we basically know who Superman is, and despite some funny minor changes to his costume we still recognize this Superman as Superman. One of Pérez's skills as an artist is that he can make any super-hero costume look good, no matter how ridiculous it is!

Another of Pérez's skills is the ability to cram a page full of story without it seeming too crowded. There are an average of seven or eight panels per page in his layouts, compared to for example this week's Teen Titans which averages just half that (and you could probably read this month's Supergirl seven or eight times in the time it takes to read this one issue of Superman!). And with the extra five pages in this inaugural issue,  we get a lot of Superman story. Merino, no slouch of an artist himself, works admirably on Pérez's layouts, and I suspect that these next six issues will see him kick his art up to the next level via the experience.

One of the things I like is how the citizens of Metropolis react to Superman. They're not afraid of him—he's obviously saved the city too many times for that sort of silliness—but neither are they reliant on him. As the comic opens, it appears that Superman has been away for a while, and that this is not an odd occurrence. Superman is still something of a mystery to the City of Tomorrow. Clark Kent has settled in at the Daily Planet, but is not (yet?) a Pulitzer-winning front-page journalist. He is clearly in the shadow of an older and wiser Lois Lane, who is moving up in the world of Morgan Edge's media empire.

We've seen bits and pieces of Superman over the first month of the new DCU, but he is still something of a cipher. Even here is his own title we mostly see Superman through the eyes of others and have yet to get inside his head; even the newspaper 'voice-over' by Clark Kent is a detached objective view of the action. I look forward to seeing how Pérez and Morrison, working in tandem at opposite ends of Superman's career, flesh out the character over the coming months.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5).

DCnU Reviews, Week 1: Action Comics

(Back in June when the new DCU titles were announced, I ranked all 52 titles on my likelihood of buying them. Only fair then to look back and see if my initial assessments hold up. My plan is to review each of the new titles as they come out.)

Action Comics #1
by Grant Morrison, Rags Morales & Rick Bryant

Original Rank/Assessment: 1 (Definitely Yes) - They had me at Grant Morrison + Superman.

Of all of the New 52 relaunch titles, this is the one which had me the most excited. Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman (with Frank Quitely) is in my opinion the best super-hero comic of the past twenty years. So Morrison's new take on Superman has a lot to live up to. Thankfully, it mostly does.

It is tempting to compare Action to All-Star; where the later presented a Superman at the end of his career, Action starts the story in Superman's early days. All-Star was an ode to the silver-age Superman, while Action draws upon Superman's earliest golden-age adventures for inspiration. But I think that such comparisons at this point are a bit premature; All-Star is a completed work, while Action is just the first issue in what is meant to be the foundation of a new mythology for the Man of Steel.

True to its name, Action Comics has plenty of action. A young Clark Kent is new to Metropolis, and is committed to fighting injustice, both as a would-be hero-of-the-people and as a crusading reporter for the Daily Star. We get introduced to Kent, as well as his best friend Jimmy Olsen and Olsen's boss Lois Lane, both of whom work at the rival Daily Planet. We also get a glimpse of Lex Luthor, who is working with a homeland security-type organization to try to bring the brash young hero down.

What we don't get is an origin story. In All-Star, Morrison covered the well-known origin of Superman in just one page. In Action, he dispenses with it entirely. This is good. If any super-hero's origin is well-known, it is Superman's. Instead we are thrown right into the action, drawn with dynamism by Morales, in an escapade that could have come right out of one of Superman's earliest stories by Siegel and Shuster in the original Action Comics.

In fact, keep your copy of the first volume of The Superman Chronicles handy, as there are and I presume will continue to be many allusions and call-backs to those formative stories of the late 1930s. Those were the days when this country was straining to climb out of the great depression, and there was still great mistrust in politicians, corporations, bankers, etc. Not a completely analogous situation to today's America, but not far off either. And thus we get a Superman for our times, a crusader who stands for truth and justice. Every generation gets the Superman it needs; and Morrison is giving us ours.

Rating: 4 (of 5).

It's Time for a New Superman

Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938.

The Silver Age (aka "Earth-1") version came about sometime in the late 50s/early 60s; there was no hard reboot, but for the sake of this argument let's say it was 1960, when he appeared alongside other silver age heroes in the first appearance of the Justice League of America.

The Post-Crisis (aka the "Byrne") version debuted in Man of Steel #1 in 1986.

And now the DCnU reboot will come out in 2011.

22 years between the debut and the silver age version
26 years between the silver age and Post-Crisis versions
25 years between the Post-Crisis and the DCnU versions

Looks like we're right on schedule!

Expect a brand new reboot of Superman for his 100th Anniversary in 2038...