Saturday, August 06, 2016

A Month of... Board Games! Day 6: The board game for twenty men...twenty big men


I'm not just whistlin' dixie there in the title to today's post (mainly because, like Peppa Pig, I cannot whistle).


Nope, you really can play this game if you have nineteen friends to play it with! Or, judging from the title of the game, 998 friends! Wow! I don't think anybody has that many friends Facebook excepted.


So for tokens you can use nine hundred ninety-nine different things. Buttons, stamps, Batman action figure variations...it's your call! Do not use bananas.

"999" from Bananaman Annual 1985 (D.C. Thomson & Co., 1984)
(Click picture to Attack of the Giant Bananas-size)

Yes, Bananaman! You remember him from Nickelodeon cartoons, right after Dangermouse! featuring the voices of UK comic icons Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie, a.k.a. The Goodies!



So, Bananaman!


Not Bananarama.


Hmm, I wonder if Bananaman likes Bananarama...hey!


366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 219: Say a prayer in the darkness for the magic to come


Panels from Silk (2015 series) #4 (July 2015), script by Robbie Thompson, pencils and inks by Annapaola Martello, colors by Ian Herring, letters by Travis Lanham

Friday, August 05, 2016

A Month of... Board Games! Day 5: Do Not Pass Carggg, Do Not Collect Two Hundred R.J. Brande Fun Bucks


Little-Known Members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Entry SP-9:


Panel from Legion of Super-Heroes (1989 series) #49 (Early November 1993), script by Tom Bierbaum and Mary Bierbaum, pencils by Darryl Banks and Stuart Immonen, inks by Pam Eklund and Ron Boyd, colors by Tom McCraw, letters by Bob Pinaha

Spaceopoly Lad (2977-2999) was never an official member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, but he played one on 3-D Holovision Televisual Entertainitudinal Prisms.


Obsessed by Parker Clones' Famous Board Game of Space Property One Thousand Years in the Future™, Spaceopoly Lad was the go-to Legionnaire whenever Mon-El or Ultra Boy were on assignment and the rest of the Legion was bored senseless. Despite his torrid affair with Dream Girl, he never quite cracked the Top 100 "Legionnaires You'd Like to Spend a Day With" popularity list.


Sadly, because there is no real Spaceopoly game, I can't bring it to you. Instead: here's the Legion of Super-Heroes History Board Game! Please make sure the dice are not made of Kryptonite or lead, and Invisible Boy is not allowed to be the banker. It's a game so galactically huge that it has to come in two pieces! (Use some Space Tape to glue 'em together.)

"Legion History: The Board Game!" from Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1 (February 2011); pencils and inks by Brian Douglas Ahern, colors by Nathan Eyring
(Click picture to Gim Allon-size)


366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 218: Dead Again


Panels from Peter Parker: Spider-Man #25 (January 2001); script by Paul Jenkins; pencils by Mark Buckingham; inks by Dan Green, Rodney Ramos, and Mark Buckingham; colors by Joe Rosas; letters by Richard Starkings and Troy Peteri

Thursday, August 04, 2016

A Month of... Board Games! Day 4: Board 'Em, Danno


I have two Magnum, P.I. British annuals, but they don't (sob!) have games in them. In the absence of those or a Jake and the Fat Man annual, here's another salute to our fiftieth state in board game form!

"On the Hawaii Five-O Trail" from TV Action Annual 1974 (Polystyle Publications UK, 1974)
(Click picture to Big Island-size)



Today in Comics History, August 4, 1988: John Fogerty has a really rough start writing the song "Fortunate Son"...oh, geez, that's enough of this joke.


from D.P.7 #26 (December 1988), script by Mark Gruenwald, pencils by Paul Ryan, inks by Danny Bulanadi, colors by Paul Becton, letters by @TheJaniceChiang

You do know that August 4 is technically winter in Central Brazil, don't you?


"Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (Fantasy, 1969), wrotten by John Fogerty

Today in Comics History, August 4, 1914: Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong have a really rough start writing the song "War"


from "Sir Charles Portal" in Real Life Comics #5 (Pines, May 1942), creators uncredited and unknown

"War" By Edwin Starr (Motown/Gordy, 1970), written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong

Today in Comics History, August 4, 1959: Gus Kahn has a really rough start writing the lyrics to "It Had to Be You"


from Jupiter's Circle (2015 series) #1 (Image, April 2015), script by Mark Millar, pencils and inks by Wilfredo Torres, colors by Ive Svorcina, letters by Peter Doherty


"It Had to Be You" performed by Ruth Etting in the short film "Melody in May" (1936), song written by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn, movie directed by Ben Holmes

366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 217: Just the Facts, Jonah



J. Jonah Jameson entry from Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man 2005 one-shot (April 2005), art by Gregg Schigiel

Wednesday, August 03, 2016

A Month of... Board Games! Day 3: A Doom with a View


Doomlord!

Panels from "Doomlord" in Eagle #1 (IPC Magazines Ltd., 27 March 1982), script by Alan Grant, photography by Gary Compton


DOOMLORD!

Panels from "Doomlord III" in Eagle #50 (5 March 1983, an issue yours little stuffed truly actually picked up at the newsstand in London when he was first there), script by Alan Grant and John Wagner (as T.B. Grover), photography by Gary Compton


DOOMLORD, fan of Bob Dylan!


Panels from "Doomlord" in Eagle #100 (18 February 1984), script by Alan Grant and John Wagner (as T.B. Grover), pencils and inks by Heinzl

And now...

DOOMLORD THE GAME!

"Destroy Doomlord!" from Eagle Annual 1983 (IPC, 1983)
(Click picture to Double-Doomsday-size)


Today in Comics History, August 3, 1987: "Going down, Mr. Gaiman?"


from Miracleman #17 (Eclipse, June 1990), script by Neil Gaiman, pencils and inks by Mark Buckingham, painted colors by Sam Parsons, letters by Wayne Truman



"Love in an Elevator" by Aerosmith (Geffen, August 1989), written by Joe Perry and Steven Tyler

366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 216: Whoa, Abe Beame is a jerk


Panels from Amazing Spider-Man (1963 series) #134 (July 1974), script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt, colors by Linda Lessmann, letters by Artie Simek

Tuesday, August 02, 2016

A Month of... Board Games! Day 2: Get the Doctor Who Does Both


Prisoners of the Prefusions! Boy, howdy, I tell ya! There's nothing I'd like better than being a prisoner of the Prefusions. Why, I'd be a prisoner all day for the Prefusions and enjoy every dang minute of...what's that?...Oh, I'm sorry, I've made another one of my silly mistakes. I thought that said "Prisoner of the Laura Prepons."

Anyway, here's the first (of several this months!) Doctor Who games from the approximately six billion Doctor Who Annuals published in the UK from, oh, 1622 until about now. Annuals in England are a much more intense affair: they're hardbound and come out every year just in time for the holidays so you can ask Father Christmas for the Doctor Who Annual, the Top Gear Annual, the Peppa Pig Annual, the Hey Duggee Annual, and the Empress of Blandings incorporating the Pig-Breeder's Weekly of Schropshire Annual.

This aptly-designed game captures the pure essence of Doctor Who, that is, running down corridors away from rubber monsters. Even tho' the Prefusions are non-canon. Anyway, print out, clip it out, and play and enjoy!

"Prisoners of the Prefusions" from Doctor Who Annual 1979 (World Distributors, September 1978)
(Click picture to Post-fusion-size)


366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 215: You've got a nice newspaper here, Mr. Editor. We wouldn't want anything to happen to it, would we?



Panels from Spider-Man: With Great Power... #5 (September 2008), script and pencils by David Lapham, inks by Stefano Gaudiano, colors by Matt Milla, letters by Joe Caramagna

Monday, August 01, 2016

A Month of... Board Games! Day 1: Bat-Track the Leaper


Now that we've had our fill of pancakes (as if!), let's while away the hot dull dog days of summer by playing board games! (You can play 'em inside if it's a rainy day, and outside if Mama Bull tells you to go out and get some exercise.) No, I'm not talkin' about one of my many many versions of Monopoly


No, no, come back, game snobs! I'm not gonna teach ya about Monopoly. Of course, as you can probably guess, I like Monopoly. If you play it RIGHT and follow the danged RULES with no Free Parking money and unbought properties get auctioned off and actually tally up the 10% surcharge on mortgages and do not, I repeat do not let my little sister Marshall be the Banker I find it quite enjoyable. But I know many of you think that game is the Devil's Spawn and I promise you, the only use you'll get out of Monopoly this month is raiding a box for dice and tokens and pawns. And Ventnor Avenue.

All of which you can use with the comic book board games I'll be presenting this month, all month! Actual (mostly) playable board games taken from the pages of comics — to be honest, primarily British Annuals, so get yourself ready for lots of Thunderbirds and Doctor Who. You can look at them on the screen or you can cut 'em out and actually play 'em! Make sure to get your mom or dad or parental guardian's permission to use scissors first, and if there's any heavy hardware involved, don't do this at home! (Go over to a friend's house and do it there). Games are mostly reproduced as originally printed except in some cases where I've mildly re-arranged tokens or instructions on the page to fit better. 'Kay?



Let's start out with a fast-drivin', high-octane, burnt-rubber-scented motor race game, okay? Naw, it's not Top Gear: The Game, but Batman's Bat-Track, from the long-lost classic Batman Giant Games Book!

"Bat-Track" from Batman Giant Games Book (World Distributors, Manchester, 1966), creators unknown
(Click pictures to Batman '66-size)

HOW TO PLAY:


You can download and print out the board, and either create the pieces as shown or raid another board game for pieces (like I said, you've got an unplayed Monopoly around there somewhere: they issue them to people when they move to the suburbs).

Join us here tomorrow for another day in A Month of... Board Games! Until then: no cheating! (Lookin' at you here, Marshall.)

366 Days with J. Jonah Jameson, Day 214: The reports of Spider-Man's death have been greatly exaggerated


Panels from Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (1976 series) #66 (May 1982), script by Bill Mantlo, breakdowns by Ed Hannigan, finishes by Jim Mooney, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Diana Albers

It doesn't have Jonah on it, but the cover of this ish of PPSSM has one of my favorite '80s comic book covers ever!:


Cover of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #66, pencils and letters by Ed Hannigan, inks by Al Milgrom

A Month of... Pancakes! Day 32: That's all, forks


I know what you're all wondering: Are there any more pancakes left?


Panels from FF (2013 series) #6 (June 2013); script by Matt Fraction, pencils and inks by Joe Quinones, colors by Laura Allred, letters by Clayton Cowles

No. There are no more pancakes left. Sorry.

The MAD 1960 2016 calendar for Aflamed August!


"The MAD 1960 Calendar: August" from MAD #52 (January 1960), script by Larry Siegel, art by Joe Orlando

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Ten of a Kind: A stack of ten pancakes












(See also. And there's even more Ten of a Kind here.)