To paraphrase Albert Einstein, God doesn’t play dice.

But, we do.

For at least the past 5,000 years.

Welcome to National Dice Day.

The history of today is even more mysterious than the tools themselves. While no one really knows where the thought for today’s celebration came from, we have found a backgammon-like game excavated at the Burnt City in present-day Iron that dates back to 5000 BC. Evidence has been found in the Indus Valley, Egypt, Rome and China of dice games.

Roman soldiers rolling die for a crucified Christ’s robes is told about in the New Testament.

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Dice were originally made from talus of hoof material of animals. Later, they would be made of ivory, wood, plastic and other materials. Modern dice are more commonly manufactured from plastic or synthetic resin.

Which, leads us to today’s symbolic four-color representation of the non-holiday: TSR’s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons comic book issue one and subsequent issues.

The comic book’s premise began in 1974 when Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson introduced the polyhedral dice driven drama of imagination.

Each player developed a character that evolves over a series of games. Games are chaired by the Dungeon Master or plays god to the events and lives of those participating.

The outcomes of certain actions are determined by a literal role of the dice. Different polyhedral dice are used for different actions.

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The game continually increases in popularity with 2018 noted as the biggest sales year to date; an increase of over 52 percent of the previous year’s sales.

D&D first appeared in comic book as published by Planeta DeAgostini from 1985 to 1986. The book was an adaptation of the Spanish-language D&D animated television series.

Game publisher TSR solely published the first comic book featuring the Dragonlance setting in 1987 in graphic novel format. TSR partnered with DC Comics for the second and third issues.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons began its 36-issue run in 1988 featuring the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

DC Comics continued publishing adventures through 1991 with other titles like Dragonlance, 34 issues; Forgotten Realms, 25 issues; Spelljammer, 15 issues; and Avatar: War of the Gods, three issues.

Marvel Comics released a one-shot based on the Dragon Strike board game in 1991.

TSR and Baldur’s Gate closed out the old millennium with limited series.

Several publishers kept the D&D name on the spin racks through the early part of the 2000’s, but IDW has held the license since 2010 and continues to issue titles today.

So, roll the dice or don’t; today is day to celebration a cog in the evolution of fun and imagination. Chutes or Ladders, Monopoly, Clue or D&D, the choice is yours.

Today commemorates a planet first explored by a mariner.

Mariner 4 recorded the first photographs of the surface of Mars in a flyby. National Red Planet Day celebrates the launch of that probe which took place Nov. 28, 1964.

Visible to the human eye, Mars has been the planet of legend. The Babylonian’s began recording celestial events some time around 400 BC. Before it was Mars, they referred to the fourth planet from the sun as Nergal, their King of Conflicts due to the planet’s red coloration. The Greeks and Romans made the same deduction referring to the red planet as Ares and Mars, gods of war, respectively.

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As the possibility of space travel became more of a reality, Mars appeared the logical choice as the first planet to visit. In turn, we wondered if we would be visited by inhabitants from Mars.

In the DCU, that visitor came in the form of the Martian Manhunter, or J’onn J’onzz aka John Jones. His first appearance was Detective Comics (1937) 225 in the back up story The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdel in 1955.

Dr. Saul Erdel inadvertently transported J’onzz to Earth. As a result of their meeting, Erdel is struck blind and the Martian is stranded.

Eventually J’onzz adopts Earth as his new home world, develops an alter ego and becomes a super hero using his new found powers. He is accepted in the caped community and joins the Justice League of America. Over the years, J’onzz became the cornerstone of the organization.

As the Post-Crisis era became the Post Zero Hour period, J’onzz was given his own solo series. It lasted 38 issues.

His origin, powers and story would continue to evolve through each following Crisis and company reboot.

A live-action incarnation, played by David Ogden Stiers, became a bootleg VHS curiosity when the Justice League of America television pilot was filed away before it could air. Another version appeared on the Smallville show. Lately he has guested in the Arrowverse as portrayed by David Harewood.

In our U, the only green men from Mars have all been imagined, though we have discovered its soil does have water to extract and fictional stories take root in real locations.

As the first Monday of November, today is Color the World Orange Day.

Harley Quinn/Gossamer (2018)

Today is a day set aside to educate the populace on an illness still poorly misunderstood. Today is a day to better understand Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, also classified as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), a rare ailment that targets society’s middle-aged members.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome is a neurological discomfort that includes heightened nerve impulses in a specific body site. Medical specialists speculate the condition is a result of a dysfunction in the central nervous system. An injury to the leg or hand can also bring on the syndrome. A triggering of the immune response can cause injury-related CRPS, which may lead to symptoms such as redness and swelling in the affected area.

The first known situation was documented in 1812 by a British surgeon who published a case report of a soldier wounded by a bullet in his upper arm.

Commemorating the day is Warner Bros. Looney Tunes’ hulking orange monster: Gossamer.

Gossamer debuted in the 1946 animated short, Hair-Raising Hare. Created by Chuck Jones, the legendary Mel Blanc voiced the mainly silent, shaggy monster.

He returned in 1952’s Water, Water Every Hare, reprising his henchman role. Gossamer had along layoff not appearing until 1980 in Duck Dodger’s and the Return of the 24½ Century. It also marked the introduction of his name.

Gossamer would next appear in 1996’s feature film Space Jam.

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In A Hairy Predicament! Gossamer is found washed up on the beach following Hurricane Randy. Harley’s fondness for all things fuzzy moves Gossamer in with her menagerie of misfits.

An attack by an oversized robot leads Harley to believe the Joker has made another attempt on her wellbeing. Visits to the Scarecrow, Penguin and Mr. Freeze finally lead her to the Joker’s lair where the Prince of Pranks has Batman in another death trap.

A second attack by a mammoth mechanical manbot frees the Caped Crusader, disposes of the Joker and leads Harley and Gossamer to the real threat: his creator, the mad scientist introduced in Hair-Raising Hair and returned to reprise his role in Water, Water Every Hare.

Harley Quinn/Gossamer (2018)

A shared meal and ride home bring the story to a close with a very special guest star.

Writer Sholly Fisch seals the book with a flourish to the animated shorts from the Golden Age of both comic books and Looney Tunes in Monster Crush.

With a nod to the lighthearted mascot of the day, the more important aspect is CPRS has no cure. Correct medication and counseling help, but with some patients’ symptoms can last for years and even worsen.

To commemorate the day, wear orange, learn more about the ailment and donate for continued research.

Chapter One: Crime

Like a scene from the Godfather, Batman the Long Halloween opens with a wedding acting as a backdrop rather than the focus of the scene.

Crime Lord Carmine Falcone wishes to enlist socialite Bruce Wayne in helping him launder money. The pillar of Gotham refuses, taking his leave to allow Falcone to ponder the future of the organization.

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Later, Batman returns to investigate the house where he finds Catwoman pilfering the safe. They are able to evade guards who discover their presence, each going their separate ways.

Batman joins Police Commissioner Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent as they agree to take down Falcone. Through underground intelligence Dent personally destroys a Falcone warehouse safekeeping millions of dirty dollars.

His civic diligence is met with a package bomb sent to his house on Oct. 31, Halloween. It detonates when Dent attempts to open it, leaving a raging house fire and the reader wondering what’s to come as the first chapter closes.

The opening storyline clocks in at 48 pages, setting the stage, though the remainder of the run, less the final issue, is a standard 23 pages.

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale authored the maxi series as the monthly holidays were observed during the 13-issue journey.

The series is said to be an indirect sequel to Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One. Batman and his contemporaries are all starting out, early in their careers. The city is as much a character as it was in Miller’s story. Batman’s rogue’s gallery can be seen graduating from evil doers to the villains they are today.

Though released 25 years ago, the story is still highly regarded, finding its way into other sections of the Batman mythos. The Long Halloween is credited with influencing Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy as well as portions of the final season of Gotham.

Currently a direct-to-video film adaptation of the series is in the works. It has been decided to make it a two parter the way Batman: The Dark Knight Returns was.

It has been collected in trade paperback, Absolute Edition and graphic novels.

Return for Thanksgiving as we review the series during the finish of this and the coming year as we count down the holidays and books.

Scott Peterson pens a trifecta of terror tales for the 2008 Halloween issue of Scooby-Doo.

Horror host the Crypt-Reaper opens the book with The Terror of Transylvania. Mystery Inc. find themselves in a spooky castle seeking help for the ailing Mystery Machine. Their vampiric host isn’t what he appears to be and the gang is treated to an impromptu concert.

Mad Science has the gang caught between rioting villagers and a good doctor attempting to create artificial life. All is well that ends well when the two parties come to an understanding.

Finally, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby are strapped to a table as they live the Pit and the Pendulum story with their version, The Perilous Pendulum. Scooby saves the day at the last minute.

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Spoiler:  the emcee Crypt-Reaper is revealed to be Shaggy filming a Halloween home movie.

Halloween has roots in the festival of Samhain, a Celtic ritual in ancient Britain and Ireland. It was believed the souls of the dead would return home during the Samhain festival. Bonfires were lit to scare away evil spirts. Masks and disguises were worn so as not to be recognized by ghosts.

When the Romans conquered the Celts in the first century, other festivals were added including Feralia commemorating the passing of the dead.

Pope Boniface IV moved All Saints’ Day from May 13 to Nov. 1 in an attempt to usurp what was perceived as a pagan holiday. The evening before became known as a holy, or hallowed, evening becoming Halloween.

It was not until the middle of the 19^th century Halloween took hold in America. By the following century, the festival become a major holiday.

The average American spends in excess of $100 on Halloween every year. As many as 148 million participate in one form or another. It is second only to Christmas.

Batman wasn’t always a creature of the night.

In the 1950s and ‘60s he treaded the slippery slope of the Comics Code Authority, leaving the comfort of the shadows to step forward into the light.

Light has much bearing on today’s non-holiday, National Color Day.

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National Color Day was launched in 2009 by General Motors to hail its new Chevrolet. It’s been a part of the calendar since – even if we didn’t realize that.

Until today.

While initially a car campaign, National Color Day has become an opportunity for people to understand the significance of color. Hues often represent feelings and moods. Colors can bring us up or down.

Sir Isaac Newton started the ball rolling with the color wheel. His discovery of the spectrum of light allowed scholars to study color for the first time. Johann Wolfgang Goethe is credited with the advancement of color in the psychological aspect. Jule Duboscq invented the first colorimeter to measure wave lengths absorbed by a particle. Alfred Munsell invented the photometer to measure luminance.

Interesting color facts include: blue is the most popular, as voted by 40-percent of the world’s population.

Red is the first color an infant can see, maybe due to the fact it has the longest wavelength.

Pink is said to relieve anxiety and stress because it has a calming effect.

The color yellow can cause nausea, but green has a calming ability.

Batman pulled from a color palate resembling the rainbow for issue 241; from pink to orange to yellow to purple.

The caped crusader doffs his traditional grim garb for more dapper duds after Dick Grayson injures his arm rescuing a girl’s life. While saving the victim, the young ward sees the criminals faces and is eventually able to track them down with the help of Batman.

Readers learn at story’s end Batman chose his colorful costumes to draw attention away from Robin and to himself. His fear was people would see both Dick Grayson and Robin had hurt arms and make the connection.

The book contained two companion stories, The Man Who Couldn’t Touch the Ground and The Impossible Manhunt!

Open wide, the eyes that is, and enjoy the brilliance the day has to bring.

The DCU celebrated Halloween 2019 with a trade paperback of reprint material issued the previous two years entitled A Very DC Halloween.

The first half of the trade is pulled directly from DC House of Horror (2017).

Keith Giffen gives readers Bump in the Night with a retelling of Superman’s arrival on Earth. This time it doesn’t end well.

His next offering is a slasher tale featuring the ghost of Wonder Woman in Man’s World.

Another ghost story, Crazy for You, features Harley Quinn haunting a man into killing his wife.

The Last Laugh is more original as Giffen debates the yin and yang of vigilantism.

Blackest Day is a zombie apocalypse on Earth with plot by Giffen and script by Brian Keene.

Ronald Malfi scripts Giffen’s Stray Arrow with Green Arrow as a vigilante killer.

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Two-Face is featured in Unmasked, a story by Giffen and Wrath James White.

Uttering Shazam takes the speaker to darker realms in The Possession of Billy Batson.

Swamp Thing stars in The Spread, as taken from Swamp Thing Halloween Horror Giant issue one. This Walmart exclusive was a 100-page special offered in 2018 with an original story followed by reprints from previous Halloween specials.

The remainder of this book is filled with stories from 2018’s Cursed Comics Cavalcade in the order they originally appeared, the first being Gorehound.

Batman saves the final girl who – spoiler – is really the killer.

Siren Song is a tale of myth and mystery starring Wonder Woman.

Alien zombies spoil Guy Gardner’s vacation in Life Sentence.

Demon Etrigan possesses a man a woman hires Jason Blood to find in Yellow Jack.

A ghost from the Phantom Zone haunts Lois and Clark in Strange Visitor.

The Monster in Me pits a doppelganger of Green Arrow against himself on a long, hot night.

Black Lightning and Katana get some love in Mercy Killing as they protect a young girl from a demon.

An unlikely pairing of Solomon Grundy and Robin share top billing in The Devil You Know. Professor Pyg threatens three runaway girls under the protection of Grundy.

Finally, Halloween Hayride is a simpler story showcasing Zatanna. The magic mistress plies her trade to stop an older brother from scaring his sister.

With this many stories to pick and choose from, there are plenty of tricks and treats.

Today we go down the rabbit hole for 24 hours of “silliness.”

National Mad Hatter Day is a day to explore the more whimsical side of our personalities. Modeled after Alice in Wonderland’s namesake, Mad Hatter Day teaches us to put aside the seriousness and unleash the silliness; ditch the dialectics for the doltish.

The fictional character was created by illustrator and political cartoonist, Sir John Tenniel. The phrase, mad as a hatter, is taken from him.

In the 19^th century, hats were considered status symbols. The finer the “hat” couture, the higher the believed social standing. Hatter, his real name, became associated with wearing hats with labels. The 10/6 didn’t stand for a size, but the cost.

When National Mad Hatter Day was proposed, October 6 was chosen due to the 10/6 tucked in the hat band. It was inaugurated in 1986 by a group of computer programmers, then officially recognized in 1988.

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Jervis Tetch is the easy emcee choice for the day.

Making his debut in Batman (1940) issue 49, Tetch is a technological talent able to craft mind control devices. Usually these are hidden in a hat or other headwear.

He is the child of Bill Finger and Lew Sayre Schwartz, first appearing in 1948.

His backstory consists of an unhealthy interest in both hats and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the sequel, Through the Looking Glass. When agitated, the chapeau criminal reverts to rhyming often adding quotes from the Wonderland works.

Tetch would appear only once in the Golden Age of comic books. His Silver Age appearances would be explained away as made by an imposter. The original Tetch did not reappear until Detective Comics (1938) 510 in 1981.

His imposter would return also, but not until six years later in Detective Comics issue 573.

The Mad Hatter’s canonical comic book mind control devices were first used in Detective Comics 525.

Though impersonated in the comic books during the 1960’s, the character would appear several times on the live-action Batman series of the same decade. Tetch was portrayed by David Wayne.

Benedict Samuel would play the villain in the 2014-19 Gotham series and by Liam Crandle in the third season of Batwoman on The CW.

Ted Knight voiced the animated version of The Mad Hatter in The Batman/Superman Hour show. Roddy McDowall would do the honors for the Batman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond and Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

For the Young Justice Outsiders, Dwight Schultz brought the character to life with his vocalization.

The Mad Hatter has also appeared in the Lego Batman video games as well as Batman: Arkham.

So, rather than bother yourself with the question, “how is a raven like a writing desk,” go find some Batman back issues, a silly hat and enjoy a day away from sanity.

(Yes, we’ve used the Mad Hatter in a prior non-holiday, but why reinvent the wheel for a day tailor made for him?)

Whether you enjoy your job or not, today is Labor Day and for those who work for a living, we salute you.

Labor Day is celebrated the first Monday in September to honor the American labor movement. By the late 19^th century, trade unions and labor movements were on the rise. Unionists championed a day to celebrate the working man. The Central Labor Union and Knights of Labor organized the first parade, which marched through the streets of New York in 1887. Oregon was the first state to make it a public holiday and the notion was celebrated in 30 states by the time it became a federal holiday.

In the past we’ve had Superman do his share of heavy lifting to keep the site going. Today we call upon the Man of Steel once more with his appearance in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (1954) issue 107.

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The short and sweet of the story is Superman must perform menial jobs as commanded by an alien court for stopping an alien bounty hunter from killing the destroyer of his world until the killer is caught.

Or, something like that.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen was a bi-monthly begun in September-October 1954. The title ran until March of 1974, publishing a total of 163 issues.

All thanks to the popular Adventures of Superman television series that began airing in 1952.

Olsen was played by Jack Larson during the shows’ run. He was offered a solo series in 1959 after George Reeves was found dead. Old footage of Reeves and a stunt double would have been used for additional footage, but the show was to focus on Olsen and his career as a photo journalist. Larson refused to cash in on the dead and the idea never materialized.

The book spent much of its history knocking around the absurd with writers and artists offering imaginary tales featuring Olsen in improbable situations.

Some of those adventures involved Jimmy turning into a werewolf, a woman, morbidly obese, a human porcupine, a gorilla, radioactive, etc.

Jack Kirby changed all that when he took over in 1970 with issue 133. His universe expanded the consciousness of Superman’s buddy and the world around him. Literal New Gods were introduced and old memories brought back like the Newsboy Legion and the Guardian.

So, enjoy the day with a little rest – if possible – and, check out Scott’s take on the title at Nerdsync.

Neither today’s non-holiday nor the accompanying “funny” book are pleasant topics.

Slavery Remembrance Day – or, International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition – is observed on August 23 worldwide. Today has been chosen by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to remember the transatlantic slave trade.

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Today is a day to commemorate the over 15 million men, women and children uprooted from Africa to be abused as slaves in a practice that lasted over 400 years. The slave trade began in the 15^th century with the Portuguese as the first slave traders. Slaves were supplied to America from Africa and paid for by Europe.

Slaves first arrived in what would become the 13 colonies in 1619 in Jamestown, VA.

The first Slavery Remembrance Day was celebrated in Haiti in 1998.

August 23 was chosen due to its importance in deposing the trade. On August 22 to August 23, 1791, the first major slave uprising during the transatlantic slave trade happened in Saint Domingue in modern-day Haiti.

Dubbed the Haitian Revolution, it became a 13-year struggle lasting until 1804 when the natives wrested control of their island from French colonists.

America’s slave trade would not end until 1865 with the War Between the States.

Director Quentin Tarantino turned his eye to the old west in 2012 with Django Unchained. His Oscar winning movie focused on escaped slave and title character played by Jamie Foxx.

Django and bounty hunter cum savior Dr. King Schultz would spend the remainder of the movie searching for Django’s still enslaved wife.

Django Unchained would earn five Golden Globe Award nominations, but would go on to earn the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

The movie would earn $425 million on a $100 million budget and be Tarantino’s highest grossing movie to date.

DC’s seven-issue comic book adaptation was released to compliment the film, running through September of the following year.

Slavery continues to this day with an estimated 40 million people affected worldwide. Modern slavery is most prevalent in Africa, Asia and the Pacific.