Originating in the United Kingdom, National Toast Day has migrated to the United States as part of the non-holiday calendar.

National Toast Day is the brainchild of The Tiptree World Bread Awards celebrating toast and all the breads made with it. The non-holiday was inaugurated in 2014 and is celebrated on the last Thursday of February.

Emceeing the event is Powdered Toast Man of Ren & Stimpy fame.

PTM began as a background commercial on Nickelodeon’s animated series airing from Aug. 11, 1991 to Oct. 20, 1996. Serving as the spokesman for the cereal of the same name that, “tastes just like sawdust,” Powdered Toast Man was based on a Frank Zappa character from his song Billy the Mountain.

He stepped beyond his recurring, background role to star in episodes Powdered Toast Man vs. Waffle Woman and Powdered Toast Man.

PTM would appear in the Marvel Comics licensed adaptation of Ren & Stimpy even fighting Spider-Man once in issue six. Two years later in 1994 he would receive his own 48-page one-shot, The Powdered Toast Man Special. The book was written by Dan Slott with pencils by Ty Templeton.

So, with the pseudo hero in hand, drop the handle on the toaster and toast the toast we honor today.

What do Alessandro Volta and Green Lantern have in common?

National Battery Day.

Volta is the father of the battery. Maybe not as we think of it today, but his combination of silver, cloth/paper soaked in salt or acid and zinc forming “voltaic piles” generated the first limited, portable electrical current.

Alan Scott was the Golden Age Green Lantern. The lantern served as a battery to power his ring.

All-American Comics (1939) 16

Thus, we have however-many-degrees-of-separation between Volta and Green Lantern joined for the non-holiday.

While the Italian scientist invented the first battery, England’s William Cruckshank designed batteries for mass consumption in 1802.

The battery was improved upon over time. In 1896, the National Carbon Company, later christened the Eveready Battery Company, produced the first commercially available battery. Two years later, the first D-sized battery was unveiled for flashlights.

Martin Nodell and Bill Finger birthed the first Green Lantern.

The Golden Age Green Lantern, aka Alan Scott, became owner of a magic lantern. With the lantern he was able to create a ring allowing him a variety of powers.

By the early 1950s, the Golden Age mystery men had fallen out of favor. It would be almost a decade before another Green Lantern would grace comic book pages.

Following the success of the Silver Age Flash’s debut, DC Comic’s revamped Green Lantern. The 1959 version was sleeker and received his lantern and ring courtesy of an alien from space.

From his debut in Showcase issue 22, Green Lantern spawned an ever-growing legend that would include a corps of similar heroes who police the universe and beyond.

Together they help commemorate Volta’s birthday to honor a common tool we take for granted and the man who made it possible.

To celebrate, dust off the old flashlight and prop the covers over your head as you read an issue or two of Green Lantern by the light of the handheld device.

Over three billion pizzas are sold in the United States each year reinforcing the need for today’s non-holiday:  National Pizza Day.

The origin for today’s celebration is unknown. What we do know is pretty much everyone loves pizza. In addition to the three billion ordered, another billion are purchased in the freezer section of grocery stores. That’s an average annual consumption of of 23 pounds of pizza per person.

In the United States, 17 percent of all restaurants are pizzerias. The first was opened in Naples, Italy, in 1738 with Gennaro Lombardi opening the first American counterpart in 1895 in New York City.

The Pizza Hut Super Savings Book Featuring the X-Men (1993)

So, teaming one of the largest pizzerias with the biggest comic book act of the day wasn’t a stretch of the imagination for Pizza Hut and Marvel Comics in 1993.

The X-Men animated series premiered the previous year, October 31, on Fox Kids Network. The series was a commercial and critical success, reaching over 23-million households.

Initially, Marvel and Pizza Hut offered the 12-page promotional giveaway mini comic (4 5/8”X7 ¼”) featuring a full-color abridged retelling of the history of the X-Men. Professor X was the guide. Included were Pizza Hut coupons.

The Pizza Hut franchise began in Wichita, Kansas. Brothers Dan and Frank Carney were the founders. After six months, they opened a second restaurant and within a year had six franchises.

Pizza Hut was obtained by PepsiCo in November 1977. The Hut joined fellow PepsiCo restaurants Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken to form Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc. In 2002 the company was rebranded as Yum! Brands.

The chain currently has over 18,000 restaurants worldwide.

To celebrate National Pizza Day, nab your favorite pie, pepperoni being the most popular, and settle in with some semi-old school X-Men comic books or the series currently streaming in Disney+.

Some comfort food with some comfort entertainment.

Pizza Hut Coupons (no longer valid)

It’s February 1 and time for National Serpent Day.

Again.

Last year we celebrated the non-holiday by focusing on the first appearance of the Serpent Squad in Captain America 163 and the group’s history. This year we return with another tale of the slithering society, but in a much more kid friendly version.

Spider-Man teams with an awestruck Ms. Marvel and Lockjaw to teach the importance of not falling in with the wrong crowd.

The flashback story takes the wayward wallcrawler across state lines to New Jersey. There he finds The Serpent Society preparing to loot the dockyards for a cool million in cash.

This being Ms. Marvel’s neighborhood, the Joanny-come-lately leaps on the scene to help Spidey and teach new Society member Garden Snake she doesn’t need to follow where others lead.

Marvel Super Hero Adventures began as an animated series in an attempt to wrangle a younger audience for the Marvel franchise. It has aired for four seasons with 10 specials and the four-color version complimenting the series consisting of five number one issues written by Jim McCann and illustrated by Dario Brizuela.

Marvel Super Hero Adventures (2018) 1

Hasbro provided a toy line.

Some quick snakey facts include:

Only 1/8 of the known species are venomous,

Snakes eat their prey whole,

Most snakes are nocturnal,

They smell with their tongue,

Snakes are cold-blooded and sun themselves to regulate body temperature, and

While most snakes lay eggs, some give live birth.

To learn more about today’s celebrants, research them with the normal methods and use #NationalSerpentDay to post info on social media.

Sometimes life is puzzling enough, so here’s a day to celebrate our confusion.

National Puzzle Day was created in 2002 by Jodi Jill, no stranger to creating conundrums. Jill is a professional quiz and puzzle maker, offering her handiwork to classrooms.

Our representative is one of Batman’s colorful rogue’s gallery, The Riddler. Created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang in 1948, Edward Nigma first appeared in Detective Comics (1937) 140.

Nigma delights in leaving puzzles and riddles prior to conducting his crimes to foil the Caped Crusader. The obsession usually leads to his capture.

During his early years in the waning days of the Golden Age, The Riddler was a straight up costumed criminal matching wits with Batman and Robin. His modus operandi continued into the Silver and Bronze ages until he would be updated for new breed of readers in modern times.

Detective Comics (1937) 140

Nigma would become more of a broker of information until his reformation following a blow to the head resulting in the Riddler falling into a coma. His new profession was that of a private consultant helping to solve a murder. He would later become a detective.

Another head trauma returned Nigma to his villainous ways just prior to The New 52. In both this reboot and DC Rebirth, the Riddler spends a good portion of his time in Arkham Asylum, until his eventual escape.

For long-time fans, the Riddler will forever be Frank Gorshin and his live-action antics on the 1966 Batman television series. The veteran actor received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal.

Cory Michael Smith was the living embodiment for the Gotham series airing 2014 to 2019.

The late Ted Knight voiced the Riddler in Filmation’s Saturday morning The Batman/Superman Hour. Michael Bell did the honors in Hanna-Barbera’s Challenge of the Super Friends as well as the 1980s version of Super Friends.

John Glover gave the character voice in Batman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Superman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond.

Freddy’s Robert Englund was the voice of the Riddler in 2005’s The Batman. John Michael Higgins did the honors during the Batman: Brave and the Bold run.

He was given life by Jim Carrey in Batman Forever in 1995. The big screen box office bomb is a forgettable appearance.

What to do for National Puzzle Day shouldn’t be as, well, puzzling. Catch up with a crossword in the local paper, find a digital dilemma online or just read up on the green-clad cad with the penchant for puzzles.

This kick-starter project represents the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust as observed by the United Nations.

Simon Says is a graphic novel loosely based on the life of Simon Wiesenthal as told by Andrea Frattino and Jesse Lee. Like his real-life counterpart, Simon is a death camp survivor who lost his family to the NAZIs. He survived by using his artistic skills to paint swastikas on train cars. Following his liberation and the end of the war, Simon is employed by the Americans to hunt war criminals. When the operation is curtailed, Simon began a vigilante operation with help from a former camp guard and angel of mercy.

Simon Says (2019) TPB

While using Wiesenthal’s life story as a springboard for the graphic novel, Frattino pulls from other post-war fiction tropes. As the world recovered, paranoia ran rampant as survivors looked for lost persons, both innocent and guilty. Simon Says is reminiscent of many 1960s and 1970s paperback thrillers on the hunt for escaped war criminals.

It was Frattino’s goal to raise $5,000 to publish the first issue. As of April 2020, 474 backers had pledged $11,667. The same year, Simon Says was nominated as Best Original Graphic Novel in the Ringo Awards.

The Holocaust has become known as the systematic destruction of European Jews during World War II. Over six million Jews were murdered in German-occupied Europe, equivalent at time to about two-thirds of the Jewish population in Europe.

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust was established 2004 to commemorate the anniversary of the liberation of possibly the most notorious concentration camp, Auschwitz on Jan. 27.

While many of the Holocaust’s engineers and practitioners were tried and prosecuted, as many if not more escaped justice. Simon Says is a story keeping the story of those silenced still in the public ear.

Welcome to National Opposite Day.

This non-holiday has murky origins dating back to January 25, 1928. On this day incumbent President of the United States Calvin Coolidge told reporters he would not participate in the coming election. While this date and reason are often cited as the father of the day, no one really knows.

Others speculate it started in the previous century, but as a nonsensical children’s game.

Whichever the reason – if either – Four Color Holidays will commemorate it with Eobard Thawne, aka Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash.

Thawne was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, debuting in Flash (1959) 139.

His origin began with the discovery of a time capsule containing one of Flash’s uniforms. The 25^th-century villain learned the costume contained a Tachyon device that amplified the suit’s speed energy. Thawne reversed the suits colors and christened himself Professor Zoom the Reverse Flash before embarking on a crime spree.

The Flash traveled to the future and defeated Reverse Flash, starting a feud that led to the death of Flash alter-ego Barry Allen’s wife, Iris West. When Allen found a second love, Thawne threatened to murder her on their wedding day causing Flash to kill his would-be doppelganger.

Flash (1959) 139

Thawne would return post Crisis on Infinite Earths. Not only would he adopt the Reverse Flash persona again, but the Flash’s powers by replicating the accident that gave Allen his super speed.

Geoff Johns gave Thawne new life during The Flash: Rebirth. A corps of speedsters joined forces to halt the Reverse Flash’s murder spree finally depositing him in Iron Heights.

Thawne would continue to rewrite his history in the post Infinite Crisis DCU, Flashpoint, The New 52 and DC Rebirth.

In 2017, during The Button and aftermath, Thawne’s pre-New 52 memories are returned. Blaming the Flashpoint Batman for his death, Thawne comes close to killing the Dark Knight only to meet defeat and death himself at the hands of Dr. Manhattan.

His body is taken to S.T.A.R. Labs where he is resurrected only to meet death by Iris Allen.

Never a company to let a good villain stay dead, Thawne was returned to the DCU continuity to assemble the Legion of Zoom to plague the Flash again.

To celebrate the day, you can try to sort out the sordid lives of Thawne or just enjoy any of the above-mentioned eras and revel in the battles waged between the speedsters.

Or, maybe, just do the opposite and ignore the comic book villain all together. Your imagination and interpretation offer the only limitations to this non-holiday.

Continuing with the celebration of International Hoof Care Week, we introduce Bat-Cow, one of Grant Morrison’s more bizarre re-creations.

And, that’s saying something.

Batman Incorporated (2012) 1

She was originally featured as part of the Tiny Titans’ Pet Club and the Just Us Cows. An ordinary cow, she stole a cowl from the Bat Cave. Thus, she began her career as Bat-Cow.

Bat-Cow’s in-continuity debut was Batman Incorporated (2012) issue one. While the updated Dynamic Duo trailed Professor Pyg, they found the soon-to-be bovine bat-family member. Believing the beast to be tainted with a mind-altering toxin, Batman took it back to the Bat Cave for testing.

Robin, Damian Wayne, took a liking to the animal and made it a pet. She now lives on the Wayne estate in a barn.

Bat-Cow has no super powers, but is distinguished by a bat-shaped patch on her face and star-shaped brand on her side. Her nick name is the Battlin’ Bovine.

Dairy cattle spend much of their life standing. They require special treatment so they do not become lame or experience sore feet, foot rot or toe injuries. Those who specialize in the care of hooves are known as farriers. They care for hooves by trimming them and putting shoes on them, if necessary.

The American Farriers Journal began hosting its annual International Hoof-Care Summit in 2003. The American Journal also founded National Farriers Week, held the second week in July.

International Hoof Care Week is held the third Tuesday in January, running through Friday.

To celebrate, read more about Batman’s bovine buddy in Tiny Titans issues 17, 21, 23, 28, 38, 40, 43, 45, 48 and 50; Batman Incorporated (2012) 1, 3, 6, 7, 9 and 13; Robin Son of Batman 1, 9 and 10; and Batman and Robin 35 and 40.

Impress your friends and family – of which there may not be many after this – with your knowledge by relating this is International Hoof Care Week.

You may need to print your own cards for this non-holiday. No matter, it gives us a chance to showcase Comet, the super horse.

Adventure Comics (1938) 293

This Uber Equua ferus caballus was first introduced in the pages of Adventure Comics issue 293 in February of 1962. Comet shared the book with the debut of the Legion of Super-Pets.

While the team was new, other than Comet, the members weren’t. Making up the Legion of Super-Pets were Krypto, the Super-Dog; Streaky, the Supercat; and Beppo, the Super-Monkey.

Though this marked Comet’s first appearance, his first chronological appearance would be in Action Comics (1938) issue 292 when he would meet Supergirl. Comet was from the future and lived there for the issue. He was heralded as a “super-pet Supergirl will own some day in the future!”

It was the Silver Age of DC.

Comet shared many of the same powers as others in the super family. He could fly, had super-strength, super speed, telepathy and telescopic vision.

Following the shake up of Crisis on Infinite Earths, a different Comet was introduced into cannon in Supergirl (1994) 14. He was described as a man with three fingers, horse-like legs, long white hair and a star mark on his forehead. He flew and had cold-generation powers. When he used his powers, he resembled his namesake.

Comet has appeared outside the printed page. His cameo in DC Super Hero Girls: Hero of the Year introduced him as Kara Zor-El’s pet horse from Krypton.

During this week, the American Farriers Journal hosts an annual International Hoof-Care Summit. Participants may sit in on workshops, roundtable discussions and instructional clinics.

Most of us may look up Comet on Wikipedia or pull an errant issue stashed in the back of a long forgotten long box.

Welcome to Blue Monday.

What is Blue Monday?

Blue Monday is mathematically the most depressing day of the year.

In 2004 Cliff Arnall, a tutor at the Center for Lifelong Learning, declared the third Monday in January the day we as humans in the northern hemisphere feel the lowest. The holidays are over, sunlight is at a premium and the winter lay ahead.

Arnall even calculated why we feel so “blue”: [W+(D-d] x T^Q} – [M x N_a] with “W” standing for weather, “D” standing for debt, “d” standing for monthly salary, “M” for motivational levels and “Na” standing for the need to take action.

According to the Holidays Calendar, this has since been debunked and attributed to a promotional travel campaign by Sky Travel.

No matter, Four Color Holidays is accepting Blue Monday as an official non-holiday.

Blue Monday (2000) The Kids Are Alright

Representing such is the comic book Blue Monday, taken from the song Blue Monday. Not the Blue Monday as crooned by Fats Domino or the White Lion tune penned in 1991. The Blue Monday in question is by the post punk scene group New Order released March 7, 1983 as a 12-inch single. Over three million copies were sold.

Our Blue Monday was created by Chyynna Clugston Flores chronicling the exploits of the loosely based avatar Bleu L. Finnegan and her high school friends in the early 1990s.

Flores published one-page dramas and short stories in Dark Horse Presents, Action Girl Comics and Oni Double Feature from 1997 to 2000. As the new millennium dawned, Flores saw her creation expand and Oni released a mini series called The Kids are Alright. It was followed by three more over the next five years and one-shot in 2009.

After a six-year hiatus, Blue Monday was given a new life at Dark Horse. The Kids Are Alright appeared in 2016 followed by Absolute Beginners that December and In between Days in July of the following year. Painted Moon was solicited, but never shipped.

Flores hasn’t given up on her wayward cast of misfits, promising to continue their exploits post high school and into young adulthood.

Whatever the fate of Blue Monday the comic book, we can choose to embrace the non-holiday either by wallowing in the miasma of day with sad music, staying home and refusing solace. Or, we can battle back the blues with some creature comforts.

However you celebrate/commiserate, maybe check out these books; what’s a little more debt this time of year?