Showing posts with label humor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humor. Show all posts

Monday, December 20, 2021

Heroine Holidays PUSSYCAT "'Twas the Night Before Xmas..."

We presented this heroine's politically-incorrect premiere adventure HERE...

...but this tale never appeared in any Marvel publication!
(We'll explain later!)
Marvel Comics' first publisher, Martin Goodman, also owned several other magazines including For Men OnlyMale and Stag (predecessors to present day "laddie magazines" like Maxim, and Smooth).
One of the ongoing features appearing in them was Pussycat's strip, a non-nude clone of Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder's Playboy strip Little Annie Fanny with a secret agent theme (It was the 1960s, when James BondMan from UNCLE, et al, were phenomenally-popular).
In 1968, at the same time Curtis and Marvel tried a b/w Spectacular Spider-Man magazine, they issued a Pussycat one-shot featuring a number of the lady's already-published adventures!
Though the spy fad faded, the Pussycat strip kept going, with her now a ditzy working girl in PG-13 adventures such as this one from Curtis' FunHouse V2N11 (1980), written by Larry Lieber and illustrated by penciler Bill Ward and inker Jim Mooney.
(It had appeared several times before in the Curtis mens' magazine line, but this was the copy I managed to find.)

Thursday, December 9, 2021

WEST SIDE STORY becomes BEST SIDE STORY

With the remake of West Side Story opening tomorrow...

...we wondered...
What if the Silver Age Doctor Strange and Wonder Woman fell in love, just like Tony and Maria?
(After all, they were from two feuding "gangs", DC and Marvel)
We probably would've ended up with a serious version of this titanic titilating tale...

Written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Tom Sutton, this comic company crossover classic was included in Marvel's Not Brand Echh! #6 (1968)...

...a romance-oriented issue that also included a look at how a Human Scorch (Human Torch)/Gristle (Crystal) marriage would work out, and Spidey-Man (do I have to tell ya?) marrying the unlikeliest character of all!
Spoiler Alert: Its' The Wasp!
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Friday, June 7, 2013

ADVENTURES OF PUSSYCAT: "Merry Mixed-Up Miss"

Didn't know Austin Powers had a sister, did you?
Art by Bill Everett
Actually, he doesn't.
Marvel Comics' publisher, Martin Goodman, also owned several other magazines including For Men Only, Male and Stag (predecessors to present day "laddie magazines" like Maxim, King, and Smooth).
One of the ongoing features appearing in them was Pussycat's strip, a non-nude clone of Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder's Little Annie Fanny with a secret agent theme (It was the 1960s, when James Bond, Man from UNCLE, et al, were phenomenally-popular) added.
Enjoy her pulsating premiere tale from Male Annual #3 (1965) and reprinted in the one-shot Adventures of PussyCat #1 (1968), written by Stan Lee and drawn by Wally Wood and Bill Ward!
...for now!
But, Pussycat will return...

Friday, July 13, 2012

MODELING WITH MILLIE "Millie the Marvel"

If you think Marvel and DC are rebooting their characters more frequently than ever...
...you've never followed the many incarnations of Millie the Model from 1945 to the present!
This particular story is from the early Silver Age "romance comic" phase of her career.
This never-reprinted story from Modeling with Millie #54 (1967); written by Gary Friedrich, penciled by Odgen Whitney, and inked (uncredited) by Frank Giacoia; was Millie the Marvel's only appearance.
It was also the final issue of this particular title.
Over at her ongoing "sister" title, Millie the Model, the character returned to her previous Archie Comics-influenced format, once more becoming a teen-humor title without ongoing storylines.
Trivia: From 1945 to 1973, there was always at least one Millie title from Atlas/Marvel, for a total of five different series, plus annuals, a couple of one-shots, an ongoing series in Comedy Comics, and a spin-off series for her rival, Chili!
Her main title ran for 207 issues, and was, until Fantastic Four #207 came out in 1979, Marvel's longest-running character-named book!
(Books with longer runs like Mighty Thor, Incredible Hulk, and Captain America had different names [Journey into Mystery, Tales to Astonish, and Tales of Suspense, respectively] before becoming "character" titles.
Millie's flagship title was always Millie the Model!)
Millie was rebooted several times going from a romance/humor hybrid to Archie-style humor to romance/soap opera and finally back to Archie-style humor with changes to the characters' ages, professions, and relationships at each stage.
Millie Collins, despite being shown as outside the Marvel Universe in this tale, has appeared as part of the mainstream Marvel universe in several titles, including the "Wedding of Reed and Sue" in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (and Marvels #2), Dazzler #34, Sensational She-Hulk #60, and the Models, Inc mini-series.
In the 1980s, a middle-aged Millie appeared in the Star Comics mini-series Misty, about the teen-age daughter of Millie's brother!
(The best thing about this Trina Robbins-produced mini-series was the retro look and use of readers' designs for the characters' clothes.)
Millie was scheduled to be rebooted in 2003 as a teen-age tennis player in a manga-style mini-series called 15-Love.
When the project was finally published in 2011 (yeah, eight years later), the lead character was Millie's teen-age niece (though Millie herself did appear briefly)!

Be here next week, when we present another tale of classic comic grrrl power!