Halloween isn’t always about the scares. It’s about fun, sweets and sharing with friends. Scream Comics demonstrates all three on its cover of issue 17.

   With the popularity of Archie Andrews and the like of the Riverdale gang, teen comics proved to be one of the strong successors in the wake of the Second World War. When the masked mystery men began to lose favor, other genres stepped forward.

   The teen adventures were simple fare. Writers targeted a younger audience attempting to mirror their interests and habits. While the cover depiction may not preview what lay within, Scream authors merely wished to sell the concept of seasonal fun poking humor at teen fears.

   The first recorded evidence of spin-the-bottle doesn’t exist until the late 1920’s, sometime around 1927.

   Conventional rules state players must reward the bottle spinner with a kiss if the spun bottle neck is pointed toward them. Over time variations on the game were implemented, but its roots never faltered.

   The game fell out of favor until it is more a tradition to be reminded of on a Golden Age comic no cover.

   Superman and Batman have been linked to each other since 1941. They first appeared in the same comic book, All-Star Comics (1940) seven in 1941.

   They had shared covers on World’s Fair Comics and World’s Finest, but All-Star issue seven paired them on a mission with the Justice Society to raise $1 million dollars for war orphans. However, they would not share the same panel.

   It wasn’t for another 11 years that DC’s big two would meet – for the first time.

  It would take an over-booked cruise ship to pair Superman and Batman. Superman (1939) 76 thrust Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne together as they shared a room on an ocean liner. When a tanker exploded near their cruise ship, they were each found out in the moon light’s shine through the portal in their room.

   They would promise to keep each other’s secret as the teamed to help with the disaster.

   History would be repeated when DC kicked off their New 52. This time in Justice League (2011) one.

   In other media, Batman and Superman met at different times and for different reasons.

   They would join forces even before their comic book encounters during the Adventures of Superman radio serial story arc Mystery of the Wax Men in 1945.

   Another first would be for the Superman: The Animated Series two-parter World’s Finest. Together they thwarted Lex Luthor and the Joker.

   Yes, they did meet on the big screen, but the less said about that, the better.
It would be interesting to know when these costumes were paired for sale allowing kids to have their own World’s Finest adventures.

At first glance this Ben Cooper classic looks like Gotham’s guardian, but upon closer inspection it’s really Hell’s Kitchen’s protector.

Daredevil first appeared in his self-titled comic book cover dated April 1964. DD was the creation of Stan Lee, Bill Everett and Jack Kirby. The protagonist’s alliterative alter ego became part of Lee’s stable of damaged heroes in which they battled more than just crime. Matt Murdock’s handicap was his lack of sight. As a lawyer it also proved the axiom Justice is blind.

For his initial six issues, Daredevil sported a red and yellow costume, but illustrator Wally Wood made the executive decision to change it to all red for the seventh book.

By that point Wood had been working through the Marvel Method meaning he was plotting, penciling and inking the book. Lee would receive the pages and make editorial changes as well as filling in the dialogue.

Daredevil remained a second tier character until young artist Frank Miller began penciling the book with issue 158. He would assume writing duties, in addition to illustrating, 10 issues later. Daredevil 168 would also introduce Elektra.

Miller would leave the title only to return for the Born Again story arc running through issues 227-233. The title may sound familiar having been adapted for the Disney+ channel this year.

Makes ya wonder how much candy wearers reaped way back when.

Welcome to October.

The 10th month is the first of the big Trifecta leading to Thanksgiving and Christmas. To celebrate, we’re going down another rabbit hole like we did last December and February.

First, we’re gonna look at the costumes that defined our hobby. The costumes we begged mom and dad for each Halloween so we could represent the good and bad of the four-color universe we lived in.

Check out this Uber cool Doctor Doom costume from Ben Cooper. Yes, the mask may seem a bit flimsy, but that was part of the charm. Ben Cooper costumes were mass manufactured and marketed, filling Woolworth, Ben Franklin and other now defunct department store chain aisles.

The price tag was a mere $1.98. American. Not Latverian. Makes you wonder if Doom allowed Latveria to adopt the Euro.

Probably not.

Anyway, Ben Cooper was the answer to cheaply dressing children in masks that restricted breathing and costumes guaranteed to rip after the second wearing.

Ben Cooper costumes were more about anticipation. There was no subtlety with crude characterizations of who you were imitating drawn on the front along with the name of that choice.

With Doom’s ego, this isn’t a problem.

For those, if any, not familiar with Fantastic Four founder Reed Richard’s former college roomie, Doom was born Victor Von. A misadventure caused an explosion scaring his face. Doom would adopt his trademark mask to cover his shame. His armor would house his many defenses.

Over the past 60 years and into the next 60, Doom and the Fantastic Four have clashed. Theirs is the first big rivalry of the Marvel Universe.

My favorite throw down will always be the epic showdown that climaxed in issue 200. Len Wein and Marv Wolfman planned and penned for over a year to deliver the over-sized anniversary payoff.

Doom has had a huge impact on the Marvel U appearing in pretty much every title offered since his creation.