Adventures in Sound — Part 8

Panel from Not Brand Echh #1
Letterer: Artie Simek

13 for Halloween: The Terror of Titano!

Without a doubt, Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. And one of the things I like most about it is sharing the morbid fun with all the wicked boys and girls out there (hey, that's you!).

So every day for the next couple of weeks (er ... except for weekends) I'll be posting some of my favorite monstrous comic book moments, wrapping it up on the big day with a look at an overlooked title I personally believe helped kick off the latest resurgence in horror-type comics. It's a book I enjoy every time I read it, so stick around, and let's have some gruesome fun!

Let's start things off with a classic drive-in movie vibe; grab your life vests and prepare to be ...

TRAPPED BY TITANO!

Panels from Where Monsters Dwell #1
Originally published in Tales to Astonish #10
Stan Lee, writer; Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, pencillers; Dick Ayers and Steve Ditko, inkers


Click here to see more 13 for Halloween!

WTF Wednesday: Top o' the Skrull Home-world, Ma!

Hey, remember when a bunch of Skrulls decided they wanted to look and act like gangsters? I wonder where those intergalactic conquerers got that idea?

Click to Super-Skrull size!

Waaaait a minute — whadya think I am, some kinda mook? What could possibly explain the Fantastic Four (oh, and that Crystal dame) putting the lean on a couple of Skrulls in the back of a flying Model-A?


Oh, yeah ... STAN LEE and JACK KIRBY.

Panels from Fantastic Four #75 (1978)
Originally published in Fantastic Four #93
Stan Lee, writer; Jack Kirby, artist; Frank Giacoia, inker

WTF Wednesday: Taking his clothes was a precaution?

I promise to get off the Nick Fury kick - eventually - but you sharpies out there might recognize someone awfully familiar in this panel. No, not Col. Fury - look closer!

Holy shit - Don Caballero is the Supreme Hydra?!? Your eyes do not deceive you; that is indeed Don Caballero, world-famous bon vivant and renowned party-thrower, and he's got Fury right where he wants him!


That must be some potent jungle juice HYDRA mixes up - our favorite director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is waking up woozy and half-dressed. No means no, Caballero!

(I just realized this is the second WTF panel in a row featuring half-naked dudes. I'm sure my wife will find that interesting.)

Panel from Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Stan Lee, writer; Jim Steranko, artist

Only sorta about comics (but not really)

The other day my wife and I were telling a co-worker about our hometown, and somehow the conversation ended up on Jay J. Armes, a former city council member and WORLD-FAMOUS PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR!

Since I grew up with Armes as a regular part of the landscape, it was easy to forget how much pure awesome this guy is packed with; I don't remember him being much of a councilman, but check out this resume:

Blew off both of his hands with dynamite when he was 12, later replacing them with gripping steel hooks!

Last name: Armes!

Rescued Christian-son-of-Marlon Brando from kidnappers!

Has a specially made prosthetic housing a .22 magnum!

Played a deranged sniper called The Hookman on Hawaii Five-O!

Has his own action figure!

Runs his own international PI business!

Has a movie in development with Stan Lee's company, Pow Entertainment! (there's your comicy content)

OK, honestly, I don't know what's going on with that development deal since it was first announced in January 2005 and I haven't been able to dig up anything more recent, but I hereby officially support this film. According to some sources, Scott Lobdell (more comicness!) has already written a first draft of the script.

And it's called "Hooked" for God's sake. This, kids, is Stan the Man's special genius.

If nothing else, looking all this up helped endear him to me all over again (he would genuinely seem like a nice guy when you ran into him around town). His huge plot of land, only a couple of miles from where I lived, was legendary in my neighborhood. I didn't grow up in a well-off area, so a mysterious compound surrounded by a tall golden fence featuring gates emblazoned with a huge "J.J." and crossed guns had an effect. Plus, he was known to have jungle cats that prowled the property after dark.

Holy crap ... I think I just overdosed on kick-assery.

I hope the movie does get made someday. At the very least, I'd love to see a Human Target-style comic come out of this - after all, the guy's practically OMAC! He's even got a similar affection for wacky head decor.


How could you lose?