Yep, another Hostess ad for Pi Day.

But, it’s so cool.

I promise.

A big thanks to Brian Cronin over at CBR for this National Pi Day gem.

Mr. Cronin did the leg work, so give him all the credit by visiting his article on a Hostess Fruit Pie villain who became part of the Marvel Universe.

Here’s the link to Brian’s article and here’s the original ad.

There’s a little confusion on this one. National Action Figure Day is supposed to be the first Friday in March, Sideshow’s self serving Take Your Action Figure to Work Day seems to fall on the same day. Yet, there’s no real determination on which is the official non holiday.

   National Action Figure Day is the first of the two I found, so let’s go with that one.

   To showcase the point this handsome two-pack of Spidey and Mary Jane is the focus of the day. Done for Christmas 1997, it fits the bill perfectly.

   These were released toward the tail end of ToyBiz’s run of Spider-Man the Animated Series action figures. The line featured seven series of figures from 1994 to 1998.

   ToyBiz originated north of the border as Chantex, Inc. It became Charon Industries in 1980 when it merged with Takefman’s Randim Marketing, Inc.

   The toy division would be rechristened ToyBiz in 1988 and become an American firm.

   Ike Perlmutter acquired Charon in 1990 with Avi Arad joining in 1993. That marked the same year ToyBiz for “exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free licenses of Marvel characters for 46-percent of ToyBiz equity.”

   When Marvel Entertainment Group filed for bankruptcy in the late 1990’s, ToyBiz helped save the company. They merged in 1998 becoming Marvel Enterprises. ToyBiz served as a subsidiary.

   In 2006 Hasbro and Marvel Entertainment signed a five-year licensing agreement for $205 million. 

   ToyBiz attempted to continue producing toys, but failed to remain solvent without the Marvel franchise.

   While short lived, it was a magical time offering such prizes as the holiday-inspired  Spidey-Mary Jane featured today.

    Before branding meant something outside of cattle drives, Marvel was slapping its label on any product they could license outside of the four-color field.

   One of those companies that came calling was Topps.

   Under the Comic Book Heroes moniker, Topps produced a set of 40 stickers, each featuring a Marvel character. Each reprinted image sported the equivalent of a “dad joke.”

   Turned over and placed together, nine of the cards reprinted the cover of Fantastic Four 100.

   All for a dime.

  Our trip down memory lane today is sponsored by the non-holiday National Sticker Day.

   January 13 is National Sticker Day in observance of R. Stanton Avery, credited with the creation of the adhesive label with removable back. Happy posthumous birthday R.

   Stickers, so called because they, well, stick, are said to have first been utilized by European merchants. They stuck labels to their products, beginning in the 1880’s, so buyers would notice.

    The first National Sticker Day was celebrated in 2015.

Well, we made it to another Christmas.

Three hundred and sixty-five days. All the holidays – and non-holidays – and, here we are. Ready to close out another year.

This has been a year of ups and downs. Most poignantly Jeff and I said good-bye to dear family members of the four-legged variety. Fuzzy soulmates who saw us through more than a decade.

In my case it was Doublenaught, my furry Russian Blue who spent many an evening curled on my lap as I read. He found me when I needed him most and I am so grateful for our time together.

I won’t speak for Jeff and Robin. They were together for 15 years and is dearly missed.

Another end, but with better tidings, is that of my Incredible Hulk collection. As I mentioned during last year’s countdown, the Hulk run officially began in 2005. Always a favorite character, it wasn’t until then I decided to make a run at the second volume, numbers 102 through 474.

Even then, my pursuit of the title wasn’t a be all, end all. Issues were bought at shows as found and, little by little, the collection grew. It wasn’t until a couple years ago when I acquired a 181 at a yard sale of all places I thought I would actually finish the run.

Then, a month ago LCS owner, Jeremy, bought a collection that included issue 180. After a Black Friday discount I was able to add the next-to-last piece to the series. All that was left was issue 141, the first Doc Samson.

Incredible Hulk 141

I’d seen it the Christmas before at a shop, but it had a subscription crease. Plus, I already had a stack of other comic books in hand, so I passed then.

Now, it was gonna be in my sites. The last issue to finish my collection. That would be the priority for 2026.

When Jeff, our wives and I met to exchange gifts this year, that book was the last present I opened.

Yes, Jeff and Teresa allowed me to finish the series. Not only finish, but be done with it 20 years after I initially started, a much more poetic timeline.

So, like the many presents before, I wish to thank them both.

And, as always, wish them and you a very Merry Christmas.

Finally, for our last day before Christmas, the history of Advent Calendars.

     As early as the 1800s there are records of German Protestants counting down the days to Christmas by marking doors or lighting candles to count the passage of days. Later, homemade wooden calendars would be made including those in a Nativity motif.

     Gerhard Lang would offer the first commercial Advent calendar in the early part of the 20th century. It was based on a tradition his German mother passed down to him with 24 boxes that opened to reveal pictures. Other versions would feature Bible verses.

     Advent calendars would lose popularity during World War II due to paper rationing. They would come back in the public eye when President Dwight D. Eisenhower was pictured with his grandchildren holding one.

      Placing chocolates behind the countdown doors became the norm sometime later, though when exactly is open for debate.

      Now Advent calendars are conduits to Christmas containing everything from sweets to any number of prizes from our favorite franchises as evidenced here with a Funko variety.

Of all the Christmas traditions, maybe the biggest is gift giving.

Like all reciprocal obligations, there are rules. Christmas is no different with four to be exact.

The first, and probably the most fun, is Something They Want. Yeah, the category the includes toys and video games.

Next up is Something They Need. Not as much fun, but at least helpful.

…than receive

While this may fall under the above noted category, the third on our list is Something to Wear. It could be an article that’s needed like a coat or something whimsical like showy sneakers.

The final tic on our leader board is Something to Read. This can fall under the first category on our list, but it can also qualify for the second.

To help decide what to buy that special person, it never hurts to ask. It may also help those on a seasonal budget. A little suggestion of what to give also helps reduce some of the holiday stress.

However, one downside of asking questions is it leads to fewer surprises when correct assumptions are made about what’s under the wrapping paper. That doesn’t mean some aren’t above a little cheating. Some 10 to 20 percent of recipients admit to a little peeking prior to the big day.

Gift giving doesn’t have to be upsetting – unless you’re buying for someone like Jean Grey – so have fun.

    If you haven’t made your travel plans before this, now if the perfect time to catch up on our Advent calendar as today marks the first of the busiest travel days of the Christmas season and you may expect delays.

Tomorrow and the 22nd are the other two.

The after Christmas rush to get home is no picnic, either. Those days are the weekend following the holiday or Dec. 27 and 28.

It might not be a big surprise Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are much less congested days to travel. Fares are cheaper, too.

A record 122.5-million people are expected to travel at least 50 miles this year for the holidays between Dec. 22 and Jan. 1.

The cost for all this transportation is projected to be $1.35 trillion.

Some are a bit more fortunate in that they can fly under their own power, i.e.Rogue, thus saving a bundle in money and time.

For as long as most of us can remember, the ideal has been for a white Christmas.

    The  classic concept may have began with Charles Dickens and his A Christmas Carol. The snowy backdrop set a tone for holidays to come for centuries.

    Composer Irving Berlin tugged at patriotic and home sick heartstrings with his White Christmas recorded in 1940 just in time for the war.

    Bing Crosby would lend his name and fame to the composition and concept with his rendition in 1941. The song would make its way to Hollywood for the movie Holiday Inn.

    Crosby would further the myth with the self-titled White Christmas in 1954. The film co-starred the crooner’s comedic partner Bob Hope.

…White Christmas.

    On a personal note, it wasn’t Christmas in our house when I was growing up unless my mother got to watch White Christmas on television. This was pre VHS, DVD/BluRay and streaming. You had to be in front of the cathode ray tube when one of the big three networks decided to air the film.

    Life was a little easier for the mutants of Xavier’s mansion with Storm in residence.

The practice of photo Christmas cards dates back to at least 1891 when Annie Oakley (Google her if you don’t know) mailed a pic of herself from Scotland as holiday greetings.

However it wasn’t till the turn of the 20th century when the practice became a little more common. More economical, mass marketed Brownie cameras allowed middle class Americans to become photographers.

The 1960s marked a boom period for the practice of sending family-photo cards. These may have seen their heyday with the advent of social media and the ease in which photographs can now be sent.

Helping commemorate the tradition is Marvel’s resident shutterbug, er, shutter-arachnid, Spider-Man.

     Christmas gift giving is an amalgam of Saturnalia and the Magi and we couldn’t care less as long there’s at least one present under the tree with our name on it.

Former winter festivities featured much revelry and gift giving. Saturnalia would later be shanghaied and converted for religious purposes. Of course we’re talking about the ceremonies we currently call Christmas.

Many of the traditions designed to ward off the long, cold winter nights were also abducted and converted for the big day. One of those is offering presents. Mimicking the Three Wise Men and their presentations to the Christ child, gift giving was justified and became part of Christmas.

The practice was further enforced by fourth-century St. Nicholas who was a notorious gift giver to the needy. It wasn’t until the Victorian era when focus shifted to the children.

Industrialization and mass production encouraged commercialism and gift buying (and giving).

We probably don’t wanna know what Loki is offering, but even he seems to have the spirit of the season.