Archive for July, 2021
The X-Men (1963) 10
July 29 has been set aside to raise the awareness of the dwindling number of tigers, the biggest cats on Earth.
Today is International Tiger Day.
The X-Men (1963) 10
Over the past 100 years, the number of tigers has dwindled from over 1 million to fewer than 4,000 in their 13 indigenous countries. Those include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
These nomadic felines tend to roam. Their turf can be as large as 386-square miles. They are the largest of the cat species and the third largest meat eater, only behind polar and brown bears. An adult tiger can consume up to 88 pounds of meat in one meal.
Representing the classy cat is a predecessor, Zabu the saber-toothed tiger.
Zabu first appeared in The X-Men issue 10 with his partner, Ka-Zar, born Kevin Reginald.
His parents discovered the Savage Land, where prehistoric creatures still roam and home to Zabu. It also became their final resting place.
Ka-Zar was subsequently raised by Zabu; Ka-Zar literally translates to “son of the tiger” in Savage Land speak. The tiger possesses near-human intelligence due to radioactive mists that caused a mutation.
Later, Zabu would become a member of Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers. The four-issue limited series was published from July to October 2009. It proved popular enough to go into a second printing. A sequel, Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers Unleashed hit comic book shops from May to August 2010.
A third series, Avengers vs. the Pet Avengers, began December 2010 and ran through March 2011.
Later they would guest in Power Pack, Thor and the Warriors Four and Guardians Team-Up issue five.
All have been collected in trade paperbacks.
The Pet Avengers are playable in Marvel Avengers Academy.
For more information on International Tiger Day, visit the Facebook page.
Amazing Fantasy (1961) 15
Yes, another holiday featuring Spidey or someone in the Spider Family.
Amazing Fantasy (1961) 15
This time its Ben and May Parker, uncle and aunt to nephew Peter Parker. Together they’ll represent the non-holiday National Aunt and Uncle’s Day.
This perennial day of recognition falls on July 26 of each year. Its origins are unknown. It does serve to honor parent’s siblings who sometimes prove to be huge parts of other’s lives.
In the case of Peter Parker, they became his surrogate parents after his biological ones died.
Uncle Ben’s death became the catalyst launching a newly (super) empowered Peter into his life of heroism. Aunt May would continue to support and nurture her charge as he grew into adulthood.
Ben began his fictional life in Brooklyn, NY, as did May. Both attended the same school, but did not become romantically involved until later in their lives. When Ben’s brother and sister-in-law, Richard and Mary, were killed in a plane crash, he and May adopted their nephew.
Peter would repay the debt by allowing a burglar to escape while he sought fame. That same criminal would murder Ben. Peter donned his Spider-Man costume and set out to bring the murderer to justice.
It was then he learned the man he allowed run past him earlier was the same man who killed his Uncle Ben.
Aunt May became his sole custodian and continued to care for her nephew.
Since the first telling of Spider-Man’s origin in 1962, little has been changed. Even his rebirth under the Ultimate Spider-Man imprint and later movies would remain true to the original telling.
The only notable change was in What If…? (1977) issue 19. It postulated a story where Aunt May had been killed rather than Uncle Ben.
While most aunts and uncles don’t play as pivotal a role in our lives, they still should be recognized. Take time to drop a text, actually call or visit.
Action Comics (1938) 252
National Cousins Day has a mysterious past, but is still marked in red on the National Day Calendar each July 24.
Action Comics (1938) 252
The day is designed to celebrate bonds formed between those sometimes closer than siblings. Or, to commemorate a kinship that can form when siblings are not there.
Such is the case with Kara Zor-El and Kal-El, better known as Supergirl and Superman.
Depending on which reboot you last read, Kal and Kara are the sole survivors of Krypton. Originally, she arrived on Earth in 1959. Kara was sent into the heavens in a rocket of her own following Kal’s departure. The explosion caused a malfunction in the guidance equipment and she meandered in space for a bit. When she arrived on Earth, she was already a teenager.
Supergirl later became a victim of Crisis on Infinite Earths. She would be re-introduced to the DCU in 2004 in issue eight of the Superman/Batman comic book. Jeph Loeb authored an ongoing series following her reintroduction a year later.
Supergirl appeared in a self-titled movie in 1984. Unlike her cousin, Kara was not well received at the box office.
She would be given a supporting role on the CW incarnation, Smallville, in season seven.
CBS launched the latest celluloid version in 2015. To date, it has been renewed for a sixth season.
Supergirl has appeared in several incarnations in the animated DCU as well. Her first was on Superman: The Animated Series where she was voiced by Nicholle Tom. Later, she would slide over to Justice League Unlimited. Her new origin would be retold in the direct-to-video feature-length Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.
More recently, she has been a fixture on the pre-teen-oriented DC Super Hero Girls series.
So, set a little time aside and remember the sibling who wasn’t a sibling, but still there when you needed them.
Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 124
An estimated one sixth of the Earth’s population in 1969, 600 million, watched as Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on a stellar body other than Earth.
That was 52 years ago today.
June 20 has been set aside to remember the effort put forth by a nation and generation to put a total of 12 men on the moon with National Moon Day.
Last year Moon Knight was Four Color Holiday’s master of ceremonies. This year we celebrate with John Jonah Jameson III.
Jameson is the son of Daily Bugle owner/publisher J. Jonah Jameson II. The younger Jameson is also a former astronaut. He appeared in Amazing Spider-Man issue one, but is better known for his lycanthropic Man-Wolf persona.
Prior to his full-moon fever, Jameson was infected with space spoors that gave him super-human strength. Those were contained and on a subsequent mission to the moon, he found a space gem he kept and had fashioned into a necklace.
Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 124
The gem was later reveled to be the Godstone, a ruby from another dimension. It embedded itself to his throat causing Jameson to be transformed into a werewolf in the moonlight.
Spider-Man first battled the Man-Wolf in Amazing Spider-Man issues 124 and 125. Spidey was able to rip the pendent from Jameson’s throat saving everyone involved.
Morbius, the Living Vampire would later re-attach the pendant in an effort to find a cure for his blood disease. He did not and Spider-Man was forced to confront the monster duo and save Jameson a second time.
Man-Wolf would head up Creatures on the Loose from issues 30 to 37. He then returned to Amazing Spider-Man by the end of the decade for another two-issue story arc.
Jameson would bounce around the Marvel U after that. He would date She-Hulk, help Captain America prior to and during Civil War and return to space for the nation of Wakanda.
To observe National Moon Day, participants may recall where they were when Apollo 11 first made landfall. Break out the telescope and gaze at the moon for yourself. Discuss space travel.
President Richard Nixon was the first to proclaim June 20 as Moon Day in 1971. The observance stalled until Richard Christmas began a writing campaign. By 1975 he had 12 states making their own proclamations.
In 2019, President Donald Trump proclaimed July 20 as the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing. Again, the tradition has not be continued.
The Flash (1987) 1
Hitting the lottery is the dream of millions – or, is that a dream for millions.
Today is a reminder of how much money we have lost, or “invested,” in our local lotteries; this is National Lottery Day.
The lotto has been around since at least the 15th century. Like today, cash prizes were awarded to winning ticket holders. Monies collected would be used to fund the village, feed the poor and strengthen defenses.
The Flash (1987) 1
Later, the European lotteries would award a tax farm on wine transporters. At times, winning ticket holders would also be allowed quality control of the wine.
The United States continued the lottery fever when it formed. Ticket sales paid for cannons during the war for independence as well as paved roads.
In today’s spotlight is Wally West, DC Comics original lottery winner.
Following Uncle Barry Allen’s seeming demise during Crisis for Infinite Earths, West assumed the mantle. Carrying on the tradition of the Flash also meant a new book.
As readers began the new adventures, they learned West had won six and a half million dollars in the lottery. For a time, he had it all; the fame, money and women.
Fate, and writer Mike Baron, would soon rob West of his fortune and return him to the working world. Unlike his predecessor, the new Flash was not afraid to flaunt his Christian name and hawk his superpowered talents to the highest bidder to gain employment.
The series began as a fun read in the wake of DC’s original Crisis. The title, with other books receiving a reboot, brought a breath of fresh air into the comic book world. A much needed one before the bust of the next decade that nearly destroyed the industry.
National Lottery Day was founded by the Massachusetts State Lottery in 2018.
To celebrate, see if a local or state lottery offers a promotion recognizing the day.
Don’t play unless you have the means. If suffering from a gambling problem, please seek help, either through Gambler’s Anonymous or other organizations designed to help with this addiction.
7-Eleven: Free Slurpee Day
It may be hard to comprehend, but there was a time before super hero movies opened the floodgates to merchandising.
1977 7-Eleven Spider-Man Cup
Since Superman first rocketed to Earth, there have been crossover promotions and toys and apparel. Not on the scale it is today, but enough to allow the fanboy faithful to show their allegiance with the four-color counterpart of choice.
In the 1970s Marvel proved masters of merchandising. Just on the fringe. Superman the Movie may have proved popular at the box office, but the collectibles were still not forthcoming.
Let’s face it, if you wanted a super hero shirt, it was purchased from the ad pages of a comic book. You weren’t buying off the rack at the local department store.
That’s why promotions like the Marvel Slurpee cups were so welcomed. They provided another dimension to our worlds. We could not only read about our heroes, but drink from cups with their likenesses plastered on the front.
And, it was something our parents would buy us without much fuss. It was like a reverse Trojan Horse; you got your Slurpee, but it came in a super hero cup. A two-fer.
There were only 40-drinking glasses in the 1977 series. The 1975 collection featured 60. However, the ’77 offerings were visually more stimulating with an action sequence. Like the 1975 predecessors, the more popular characters are featured on more than one cup.
National 7-Eleven Day was first celebrated in 2002. The convenience store is widely regarded as the first of its type, established in 1927, then known as the Southland Ice Company. When the company expanded its hours in 1947, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., it changed its name.
Drink responsibly, don’t risk a brain freeze.
Video Game Day
Need we say more?
Well, we’re gonna.
There’s no real history for the day, but there are a plethora of games that can be sampled. Rather than bore you with a lengthy dissertation, we’ll let Nixian’s YouTube offering on the Evolution of Superhero games give you a sampling.
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Captain America (1941) 1
Before the hamburgers and hotdogs, before the sun-soaked dip in the pool and before the fireworks, take time to remember today is Independence Day; America’s day.
What better hero to represent the Fourth of July then the one draped in our nation’s stars and stripes, Captain America?
Cap has been called the living embodiment of America. Not because of his red, white and blue costume, but the ideals he has manifested. Captain America provided a prelude to the second World War when he socked Adolf Hitler on the jaw on the cover of his first issue, six months before the “…day of infamy…” speech.
Captain America (1941) 1
Captain America became a casualty to the nation’s beliefs in the 1950s. As senators conducted witch hunts, Cap fell out of favor. His absence went unnoticed for a decade.
By the early 1960s, America and its avatar were about to embark in a period of strife not seen since the Civil War. This struggle within the nation was mirrored in pages of Captain America. When he finally had had enough, Cap tossed aside his heritage and donned a black suit and new name reflecting his and other’s dissatisfaction with the country and its leaders.
As a new era dawned in the 1980s, Cap was asked to run for the presidency. His decision to stand aside was based on the greater good of America.
He later became a symbol for individuality during the nation’s second Civil War. His name has been smeared and death cheated, but Captain America remains the nation’s champion.
Unlike so many of Four Color Holiday’s observances, this is the real thing. The federally-sanctioned holiday has been commemorated since 1777 when 13 gunshots were fired in Bristol, RI. The salute was fired once in the morning and once in the evening recognizing the original 13 colonies.
In 1778 General George Washington remembered the day by toasting with his troops as the artillery sounded the celebration. In Europe, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, ambassadors, held a dinner party with fellow Americans in Paris, France.
The Massachusetts General Court became the first state legislature to recognize July 4 as a state celebration in 1781.
In 1791 the first recorded use of the name Independence Day was noted.
In 1870 the United States Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees.
Not until 1938 did the Fourth become a paid holiday for federal employees.
Dust off the Captain America’s and the pride in the nation to commemorate America’s day.
Tick (1988) 7
Here’s a non-holiday most of us can really sink our teeth into, Cow Appreciation Day; no offense to the vegetarians in the audience.
Bad puns aside, this calendar traveling day is celebrated seemingly at the whim of…I don’t know. This year it’s observed on the first, but it can be moooved (boo) to other days based on the wishes of the calendar gods.
Originally Cow Appreciation Day began as a Chik-Fil-A gimmick. Heff R. Jones (sound it out) started the “Eat More Chikin” billboard campaign in 1995. Even allowing for the attention span of most Americans, the first observance of Mr. Jones’ promotion wasn’t celebrated until 2004.
To commemorate, Chik-Fil-A passes out free meals on the day.
As for Four Color, well, Mr. Jones may be the original mascot, but he doesn’t work for the Web page. The Man-Eating Cow does.
The Man-Eating Cow first appeared in Ben Edlund’s Tick issue seven, The Moon Menace. Inside, the Tick seeks Pez, but finds himself the beefy sidekick to a back-alley detective. They are soon at the mercy of the underworld and a pit of man-eating alligators and cows under the employ of Chairface Chippendale.
In addition to introducing the Man-Eating Cow, the Tick also utters his “Spoon!” battle cry for the first time. Also making inaugural appearances were Angus MacGuire and Professor Chromedome.
By battle’s end, the Tick and Arthur have triumphed and depart for New York City, leaving The City in the hooves of the Man-Eating Cow.
The Man-Eating Cow would prove popular enough that she spun off into her own book that ran from 1992 to 1994 for 10 issues. The Tick would return for guest appearances.
A two-issue mini ran in 1996 called Man-Eating Cow Bonanza.
The Man-Eating Cow also made an appearance on the Tick’s two-season Fox network’s Fox Kids block animated series.
Happy Cow Appreciation Day, no matter how you celebrate.
Garfield (2012) 1
While there is already a National Garfield Day, June 19, to celebrate the king of cats, there is another day we need to recognize him as the mascot of: National Lasagna Day.
The origins of the pasta’s day are murky, but it does exist. National Day Calendar has its own post. The site even offers ways to observe. The first being to bake a lasagna. The second, to visit a local Italian bistro for someone else’s recipe.
Oddly enough, the word lasagna originally referred to the pot in which the dish was prepared. As early as the 14th-century, recipe books began to carry preparation methods for the pasta dish. Arguably the most famous spokesperson (?) for lasagna is Garfield.
Hence, our look at the comic book history of the fat cat.
Garfield went worldwide in 1978. Riding his coattails were – and still are – owner Jon Arbuckle and sidekick, dog Odie.
Though rarely mentioned, Garfield resides in Muncie, IN.
It only makes sense considering creator Jim Davis’ first published work appeared in the Pendleton Times of Pendleton, IN. National distribution began in 1977 when United Feature Syndicate accepted Davis’ proposal. Garfield was launched with a Sunday strip June 25, 1978.
Garfield went from strip to screen to comic book with Boom! Studios publishing the monthly Garfield comic book beginning in 2012. Mark Evanier, cartoon advisor for Garfield and Friends and The Garfield Show, handled scribing chores.
So, wash your paws, cuddle in with your favorite furry feline and chow on some lasagna with a colorful issue in hand.