Someone didn't pay attention in Anatomy Class

(From "Blue Bolt" number 11, 1941.)

The Fantastic Fruit of the Loons

This is Benjamin Grimm, also known as the ever-lovin' Thing, as he was originally envisioned by the great Jack Kirby and Stan Lee:

He's a man whose body has been unwillingly transformed into a hulking, rocky, inhuman form. His soul aches to be normal again, even while the world runs in fear from his tortured visage.

This is the common pineapple, also known as a tasty fruit snack:

Now, I have nothing against tasty fruit, and I have in fact been known to indulge myself in the tart goodness the beloved pineapple brings to the palette on more than one occasion. I also am a fan of The Thing, who brings some great pathos and tragedy to the First Family of Fantasticness.

However, these two worlds should not meet. I mean, Ben Grimm can eat all the pineapple he wants, he just shouldn't become one. Unfortunately, at some point Marvel missed that memo:


Oh, I know, he's supposed to be spiky and extreme, because if Image Comics taught us anything, they taught us that pointy is cool. But it doesn't come off as savage or wicked or awesome. It comes off like pineapple. And no one fears pineapples. Though maybe that's what Ben wanted, maybe now he can open his massive arms and cry "Hug me, I'm fruity!" and the people will love him at last!

If so, I fear he's in for yet more disappointment.

Look, if you're going to continue the cosmic ray-induced metamorphosis of Mr. Grimm, turn him into an orange. He's already that color, after all, so it's not that much of a stretch. But a pineapple? Please.

The new CIA children's book was a flop

(From "Blue Bolt" number 11, 1941.)

To hop or to cop? That is the question.

Our little stuffed bunny has paused outside the zombie-ridden street in front of his Celica, pondering his next fluffy move. Dive into the car and race for the nearest carrot patch, or dash away dash away dash away home on his hoppity little bunny feet?

You all have spoken, and running it is:

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Cops, Daniel Boone, and LOLCats. Comics, everyone!

(From "Blue Bolt" number 11, 1941.)

META: Yet more tweaking

Tonight I added two slightly nifty features to the ol' blog. First, I added a "current contest" widget in the right side bar that will (duh) show you whatever contest is the current one. I bet you could not have figured that out had I not said it so forthrightly.

Second, the "Sketch of the Day" category now shows you the actual images instead of just the list of headlines. It's the same thing I did for the "Hall of Fame" category a few days ago.

SOD.246

I drew this on the plane Sunday. Like, on real paper with a real pen. Crazy talk! I kept looking for the undo button.

Caption Contest 119: Howdy!

Your challenge this week is to come up with the best replacement dialog for this comics panel (which comes to us courtesy of the always awesome Glenn3's "Say What?" PhotoBucket site):

The best entry (as judged by yours truly) wins the author's choice of either any item they like or any portrait to be included in HeroMachine 3′s final release, or a custom black and white “Sketch of the Day” style illustration (you pick the subject, I draw it however I like).

All entries must be left as a comment (or comments) to this post. Keep ‘em clean (appropriate for a late-night broadcast TV show), but most importantly, keep ‘em funny!

No limit to entries, but please, self-edit and only put up ones you genuinely think are good!

(Original panel © DC Comics, Inc.)

Character Contest 86 Winners

The "Seven Deadly Sins" contests got to be a bit of a slog, so last time I combined the final two into one joint effort. I thank all of you who stuck it out to the end!

We had some really good entries, and since the overall numbers were fairly low, I thought I'd put every one into a slideshow so you can go through them all like I do each week. Afterwards I'll call out the ones I thought were particularly good and then the overall winner. Enjoy!

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Forget the sound, there's a hand eating your face!

(From "Blue Bolt" number 11, 1941.)