iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 7h

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 331.

Another Strange Tales cover, this is issue #130, which features The Defeat of Dr. Strange and Human Torch & The Thing Meet the Beatles.
Sadly only Thing and Torch are sporting Beatles moptops; Mordo could definitely pull off that look.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 330.

The cover of The Man-Thing #2. Titled Himalayan Nightmare, the cover has a bear charging at a woman while Man-Thing observes from behind her. Whatever Knows Fear Burns at the touch of the Man-Thing and this is definitely not a terrified bear.
Well, unless it's scared about its Fat Bear Week ranking.

111

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 329.

For the sake of comparison, here's the second issue with the Nick Fury rebrand. Strange Tales #136 has a bunch of Hydra soldiers with jetpack operating under the orders "Find Fury or Die!" Their mission? "Destroy Shield."

The bottom of the page has a strip advertising the accompanying Doctor Strange story as well as "If you can find a better mag than this, let US know. We'll buy it ourselves!"

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 328.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 328.

The cover of The Little Stooges #3 from Gold Key. The cover has the Little Stooges demonstrating their car wash to a trio of girls; the redhead is named Pixie, the brunette is Moon, and I don't know if the blonde was ever actually given a name despite being Little Curly Joe's girlfriend. There seems to be a dearth of information about this series in general beside the fact that it ran for seven issues and the writing and art were done by Norman Maurer, who was married to Moe's daughter Joan.
This series has the three teenage sons of the Stooges, all named for and mostly identical clones of their fathers; it came out in that period where Larry was still part of the group on paper but unable to do anything because of health issues. It also came out at the time when about half of all kids media was some variation on the Scooby Doo formula; the Little Stooges didn't have an animal mascot with them but did have improbable run ins with criminal gangs.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 327.

The cover of Groo the Wanderer #100, which has Groo and Rufferto fighting Abecedario, the guardian of King Manlo's long lost treasure, in the midst of said treasure hoard.

One of my all-time favorite comics, this issue features Groo reassessing a lot of his life, what he wants out of it, and taking a big step forward as a person by deciding that he wants to learn how to read. Which definitely alters the way Groo sees the world and how a small part of it finally sees Groo for who he really is as a person.

So this is sort of a Dolly Day special since Parton understood the transformative power of reading far more than most.

210

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 326.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 325.

The cover of the second issue of 2001: A Space Odyssey from Marvel. Marvel's adaptation of the film was so successful that they asked Jack Kirby to make a monthly series based on the film though he had to work with certain conditions. One of them was that Marvel was uncertain as to who would own any characters created in this series so they wanted recurring characters kept to a minimum.
So most of its relatively short run featured completely different characters each time; they must have figured something out since this series is where the character that would evolve into Machine Man came from.
As part of that new cast each time, the first half dozen or so issues featured stories based on the opening sequence of the film where a character would encounter The Monolith and become enlightened. In the case of this particular issue, it's Vira, The She-Demon and her distant descendant Vera.
The cover has half of the face of Vira in her She-Demon outfit next to half of Vera's face; a caveman with an axe is in the background of Vira's half of the image and an alien with a laser is behind Vera. A Kirby energy bolt is between the two faces.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 324.

The cover of Daredevil #41, titled with The Death of Mike Murdock. Mike was, of course, Matt's "identical twin" that was his way of shifting suspicion away from him being Daredevil.
The main image is a street scene where Daredevil is stretching his hand out to the reader. His body is translucent so that you can see the street behind him though with a reddish tint.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 323.

For the last day of summer, it's the cover of Archie Giant Series Magazine: #224. This particular issue Presents Betty and Veronica Summer Fun. The cover has a beach scene where Veronica is questioning why Denise si suddenly so popular with the boys and Betty reveals that it's because her dad bought a gas station. This came out in 1974 so the cover would have been drawn and the dialogue written when the country was undergoing massive inflation, facing geopolitical issues around the world, and the President was a crooked stooge. Well, Nietzsche did say history is just a flat circle.

That Denise character looks familiar; I think that character design might have been originally used for a version of Ethel before that character's more famous look became standard. I believe those stories might have called her Myrtle or something along those lines in reprints.

The cover also has small drawings of Betty and Veronica comparing heights and talking to each other in baseball uniforms.

210

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 322.

The cover of The Flash #313, which has two panels. The first has Flash zipping up to a mental battle between Gorilla Grodd and Psykon and saying that he needs to stop this senseless battle. The second panel has both of them telling him to keep out of it and blasting him with their psychic powers. Which, first of all, well, yeah, that's obviously going to happen and, second, why did Barry even think for a second it wouldn't?

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 321.

The cover of Action Comics #424, which has Gorilla Grodd spinning Superman right round, baby, right round, like a record, baby, right round, round, round. I know Clark was physically invulnerable back in these days but this had to be really embarrassing. Green Arrow also appears in this issue but declined to appear on the cover for obvious reasons.

Just goes to show that there wasn't much parody comics could do to DC that they didn't already do to themselves.

111

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 320.

The cover of Mad #289 from Sept. 1989, which has Alfred E. Neuman as the Keaton Batman. The least credible thing about this cover these days is the notion of Alfred being a billionaire since he's way too intelligent and dignified to be one.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 319.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 318.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 317.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 316.

The cover of Plop! #4, another entry in the "We have Mad Magazine at home" genre though one with a bit more direct connection than usual since it has Sergio Aragones and Basil Wolverton.
This is a much more typical cover for the series than the previous issue I posted since the cover is a grotesque monstrosity called Nooly Nostrildamus by Wolverton who also did a few gag pages inside.

130

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 315.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 314.

The cover of Cosmo #1, which has the main cast clustered around the titular Cosmo. Now this is a much better way to update an older property; taking one that hadn't really been used in decades, updating the look (especially by making the characters much more visually distinct), expanding the cast, and switching it over to being a more adventure based series but still keeping a light-hearted tone. All without mocking the original, which, admittedly I'm not all that big a fan of either. Most Archie humor comics from that era besides the core cast in Riverdale fell flat for me; Super Duck in particular is one that I just can't see the appeal of.

000

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 313.

The cover of Blackhawk #228; a banner at the top heralds this as The New Blackhawk Era. The main cover features Superman, Batman, The Flash, and Green Lantern looking at some small figures of the Blackhawk Squadron, who are clearly losing a fight to what looks to be Robotman in a detective outfit. It's actually a training robot called The Champ, who knows all of the team's weaknesses, which seems like a security breach waiting to happen.
Superman and Batman are discussing the deficiencies of the Blackhawks as superheroes; Batman labels them "junkheap heroes". Which is both a major step down from being a jukebox hero and feels off for Bruce to say in general.
Clark calls them "washed up" and that's something I can't see the Kents letting slide; if anything, Clark would get his mouth washed out with soap for being rude.
I don't have a background in marketing or anything like that but it's hard to see how this sort of cover is going to help this sort of drastic change with the existing fanbase. "Hey, those characters you like, they really suck!"

210

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Posting a comics collection cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 312.

The cover of Garfield Hits the Big Time. This is a 15th anniversary collection from 1993 but is billed as a silver one since it's his twenty-fifth book. So it has a shiny foil cover and Garfield is wearing shades that also have that foil effect but in blue instead.
The book is one of those horizontal collections that collects part of a year since they have two daily strips to a page or a Sunday strip that lacks the title and throwaway panels at the top. So you did lose some of the jokes from Sundays but at least this series collected all of the strips from a given period rather than skipping some of them to fit the year into a certain page count like other collections like Bloom County used to do.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 311.

The cover of The Jetsons #8 from Charlton Comics. Mostly yellow with a Hanna Barbera Production and a banner saying All New Stories & Art above that.
The main image is of George trying and failing to fix what looks to be a portable foodarackacycle. It's firing off various foodstuffs in various directions; Rosie looks to be laughing in the background though it's left to the reader to decide whether that laughter is at the idea of Mr. J, who can't even operate a treadmill without incident, fixing a household appliance or in solidarity with her fellow oppressed mechanism. Either way, it's likely now a problem that will have to be fixed by Jane.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 310.

The first issue of the Star Trek series from DC; this started about half a year before STIII came out so the first eight issues take place in a universe where Saavik remained on the Enterprise, which remained active after the events of the previous film and began a new ongoing mission to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new lifeforms and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.
The cover shows the command crew of the Enterprise below an image of the saucer section in space. They're in the Wrath of Khan uniforms here and everybody is present besides Spock on account of him being dead at the time.
The ninth issue started an extended storyline that altered the universe to include STIII which also created an alternate universe where Kirk is given Excelsior and Spock the USS Surak. That would run up until issue #37 where things are reset to take STIV into account. Volume 1 ended before the fifth film came out and Vol. 2 afterwards so no more retcons were necessary since there was a lengthy gap between the fifth and sixth films for stories to have taken place in.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 309.

The cover of Ralph Snart Adventures #8 for Labor Day. There's a tagline at the top that says "Shocking Humor Unbound!!" The image on the cover has Ralph being chased by his boss who is cracking a whip. A word balloon has "I'll give ya a raise! I'll give ya a raise of welts all over yer thick skull!" in it. Papers are flying everywhere and Ralph is, of course, fleeing for his life.
Based on some things I've read, this was basically just an average day of work at Now Comics.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Posting a comics collection cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 308.

$The cover of Mad's Greatest Artists: Sergio Aragones: Five Decades of His Finest Work. The cover has Sergio doodling marginal on the walls of an art gallery while a museum guard looks shocked in the background. Today is Sergio's 89th birthday and this book collects only a fraction of all the great work he's done over that time. Collections of his Marginals were some of my favorites as a kid and I need to find some of them to post as part of this series.$

210

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 307.

The cover of Rom #65. Subtitled The Final Conflict, Rom is flying over a battle between the various superheroes of Earth and Dire Wraiths. Wolverine, Tigra, Captain America, Iron Man, and Beta Ray Bill are all on the cover but a lot more appear inside of it. One Dire Wraith is peeping over a ledge towards Cap America, either he's trying to climb up to get in the fight or is trying to hide.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 306.

The cover of Strontium Dog #3 from Eagle Comics. The cover has Johnny Alpha in front of a ruined city. The sky behind him is purple and blue. Not sure if this is supposed to be Earth and the sky is a side effect of the Strontium-90 that mutated Johnny along with a lot of other people in the setting or if this is another planet altogether. The issue's story is set in New Britain but the cover isn't really connected to it.
Strontium Dog is one of the 2000 AD titles I'm somewhat familiar with but less than Rogue Trooper and far, far less than Dredd.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 305.

The cover of Tales of Suspense #75. Featuring Iron Man and Captain America, the cover has a bald man in what looks up be some sort of tunic or robe on a ledge dropping Pepper Potts while Iron Man lies on the ground beneath them. The reason she is being dropped is because one of four police officers just shot the man in his arm. A banner in the bottom corner declares this is The Fury of The Freak. I think we're supposed to assume that the bald man is the Freak but he's relatively normal looking and the real furious Freak here is somebody firing a gun in a way liable to get an innocent bystander killed.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 304.

The cover of Blackhawk #240: the mostly red cover has Andre's head floating in front of a silhouette of a woman with a gun and beehive hairdo. The disembodied heads of the rest of his team are in a circle around Andre. The title "He Who Must Die" is at the top of the page while accusations of Lady killer and coward float in and around the various heads.
This was during that era where DC attempted to "reinvent" the team by giving them superhero alter-egos and putting them to work for a spy agency called G.E.O.R.G.E, which meant the Group for Extermination of Organizations of Revenge, Greed, and Evil. U.N.C.L.E. should have sued.
Andre's hero alias was M'Sieu Machine while (clockwise from the top right) around him are Dr. Hands (Wu Cheng), The Leaper (Olaf), The Golden Centurion (Stanislaus), The Weapons Master (Hendrickson), The Big Eye (Blackhawk), and The Listener (Chuck). The outfits weren't much better than the names, especially for poor Chuck, whose suit looked like pajamas covered in ears.
This whole idea was dropped not long after this came out but not in time to save the comic since the last issue of this run was #243.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 303.

The cover of the Whitman version of Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny #39. The cover has Bugs taking a carrot break around the corner of his garage while an irritated Sam is checking his pocket watch in the front seat of a jeep. Judging by the stuff in the back, he's wanting to go prospecting and is actually showing a lot more restraint than you'd expect. Fake rabbit legs are sticking out from under the jeep to make Sam think Bugs is still working on his vehicle.
I would say it was bold of Bugs to try this on somebody whose response to pretty much any provocation is gunfire but that's true to pretty much everybody Bugs interacts with.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 302.

The cover of Superman and Bayman co-starring in World's Finest #219. A banner at the top dares the reader to guess the secret of "The Prisoner of Rogue's Rock". The bottom right advertises a Metamorpho backup story entitled "Tick-Tock Boom-Boom" with a small bubble containing a headphone of Metamorpho, who looks less than thrilled with the title of his newest story.
The main image of the cover has Superman standing in a giant footprint that Batman is kneeling to study. Superman is utterly baffled by the footprint and says that there's no way anything that big could exist, which, first of all, Clark, Giganta, and second of all, Titano.
While they're confused by this footprint despite living in the DC universe, people are fleeing from a giant, Neon Noodle-shaped shadow in the background. This shadow is undoubtedly what made that footprint. The people running from danger are headed AWAY from Superman so his thinking that footprint is impossible still manages to not be the most questionable logic on the page.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 301

The cover of Red Sonja, She-Devil With a Sword #11. Sonja is surrounded by enemies and has struck blind while Suumaro, her only ally on the page, has been knocked out and lies at her feet. The tagline "Fire and Fury In the Age of Conan!" is at the top of the page above the title.
Cape aside, Sonja is objectively wearing more than Naga but her chainmail bikini armor seems less useful since she's a melee fighter rather than a mage.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 300.

The cover of Slayers Special #2. See, it's the accessories that make that sort of outfit work as Naga the Serpent shows. Pauldron spikes and a really smug skull along with an iconic laugh to seal the deal.

I am curious though as to whether or not Hag's costume was a reference to Naga who was introduced about a year and change before Hag or just one of those covergent evolution deals that happens in comics from time to deal.

020

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 299.

The cover of Ghost Rider / Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #4. The phrase "Deathwatch is dead..." "but Hag and Troll are back!" is split into two small boxes on the cover.
The cover image has Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch being attacked by Troll and Hag respectively; Johnny is being wrapped up by Troll while Hag is doing the old Judge Death "hand in the chest" move on Danny.
Hag's outfit looks really familiar but somewhat off, like it's missing a few accessories or something...

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 298.

The cover of X-Factor #38, which has Madelyne Pryor as The Goblin Queen struggling with Jean Gray as Marvel Girl. This was part of the Inferno storyline that sprawled across almost all of the Marvel titles of the time and is an extra long issue.

Pryor turning evil isn't surprising considering what all she went through in just a few years:
Look alike to a recently dead Jean.
Potentially Jean reborn but not since it was Mastermind making illusions.
Nearly dies.
Has powers given to her.
Has powers taken away.
Gets pregnant and has kid.
Scott finds out Jean is alive and ditches her.
Kid gets kidnapped and she nearly dies.
Actually does die and gets resurrected.
Finds out Jean is alive and Cyclops went back to her.
Punches a computer so hard it knocks her out and summons a demon.
Makes a deal with demons to get powers.
Turns out she was a clone all along.

Scott Summers is lying in the background since playing dead is his best option here.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 297.

The cover of The New Mutants #8, which has Dani and Sam fighting a group of what appear to be Amazonian natives in a Southern American jungle but are actually members of a lost Roman civilization founded by a legion that apparently puts even Roronoa Zoro to shame when it comes to getting lost.

Dani isn't having the least bit of trouble with her three opponents to the point of using one of them as a flail on another but Sam is on the business end of a spear.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 296.

The cover of D.P.7 #4, which refers to the seven Displaced Paranormals that make up the cast. At the top is a strip that says that this is part of the New Universe and text at the bottom says Beware The Wompus!
The seven main characters are all on the cover and are, from the top right and going clockwise:
Jeffrey Walters (Blur), Jennifer Swenson (Chrome), Stephanie Lindquist (Viva), Randall O'Brien (Anti-Body), Charlotte Beck (Friction), and Dennis Cuzinski (Scuzz). David Landers (Mastodon) is in the center of the ground and is touching the ground. Behind him apparently looms the titular Wompus, which looks less like some sort of cat like the Fearsome Critter of a similar name and more like the movie poster for John Carpenter's The Thing.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 295.

The cover of Warlock #4, a text bubble has "Where Dwells The Star Thief!" in it. The UPC box has an image of Spider-Man that celebrates the 30th Anniversary of that character in 1992.
The main image of the cover is Adam Warlock fighting a crowd of winged demons. Instead of blasting them with Quantum energy, he's just punching them in the face. This works on demons and we'll as other ghoulish creatures like Nazis.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 294.

The cover of Darkhawk #6, which has a panel noting that this issue is "Guest-Starring Captain American and Daredevil!" A banner at the bottom reads "Three Against the Odds!"

Captain America, Darkhawk, and Daredevil are standing in an alley with Darkhawk; Christopher is standing in front of Steve and Matt. Captain has his shield and Old Hornhead has his trust baton. In most cases, I'd say that three heroes in one alley would just get in each other's way but that definitely doesn't apply when Cap and Daredevil are in the mix.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 293.

The cover of Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja #5, which features a scene set in a stable. A woman with a gun is telling a young man named Sasha to drop his own pistol since she doesn't want to shoot him. Sasha is aiming his pistol directly at the face of a man reclining on a haystack. The man, John Doe and titular Nth Man, seems singularly unimpressed by any of this.

The corner box has an image of John with the background split between the flags of the US and USSR since this came out in the late eighties and is set in a near-future universe where the Cold War went hot. It's also a universal where Marvel Comics characters are fictional.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 292.

And, Now, another member of the Reid family that is a masked crime fighter with a compatriot that goes by one name. This is the cover of The Green Hornet #3 from Now Comics, this is a direct market edition since the UPC code in the lower left corner has been replaced with the slogan NOW Better than Ever.
The cover has The Green Hornet with his gas gun and Kato striking a fighting pose in front of a burning building. Black Beauty is in the lower right corner. This particular Hornet is Paul Reid, who, by Now Comics lore, is the nephew of the nephew (Britt Reid II, TV show Hornet) of the nephew (Britt Reid, radio Hornet) of the Lone Ranger (John Reid). Kato is Hayashi Kato, son of Ikano Kato; in this series, this is the same Kato as the '60s TV version while Ikano was the radio version.

210

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Posting the first page of a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 291.

This is the first page of Yellowstone Kelly #1056, this is the first and only issue adapting the film of the same name; the numbering comes from this being part of the Four Color series though that title was dropped a full decade before those though the numbering scheme continued well on afterwards.

Well, to an extent, since they sometimes skipped or reused issue numbers so I don't have the slightest idea as to whether or not this is actually the 1056th issue in that line. They also released multiple issues in individual months with this coming out in August of 1959 but having a higher issue number than other comics that came out after it. It was also in a batch that included Huckleberry Hound Winter Fun, Walt Disney's Daisy Duck's Diary, Walt Disney's Goofy, Walt Disney's Donald in Mathmagic Land, and, of course, Ben Hur. Not from Walt Disney though that certainly would have been an interesting film.

This is another comic where I never had the cover so the front page is divided into three panels. About half the page is a big splash panel of Kelly on horseback and hailing a riverboat to sell his furs while leading a mule. The bottom two panels are people pointing out that he's two months late with his delivery.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 290.

The cover of The Mighty Marvel Western #32. This particular issue features the Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, and Matt Slade, who was also called Kid Slade but they either thought that was too many Kids on a cover or felt having it come first would have thrown off the flow of the page. There are images of those three characters next to their respective names below the main title. At the bottom is a round bubble promoting this title as "Western Action in the Mighty Marvel Manner!"
Matt has no relation to Carter Slade who was the Ghost/Phantom Rider that I know of (or Evil Roy Slade sadly) though there were other Matt Slades in later comics that were his descendants.
This series reprints Marvel Western comics except in the case of Matt Slade since that was still when the company was named Atlas.
The feature reprint of this issue is the origin story of The Rawhide Kid, which is illustrated on the cover. Rawhide Kid is reacting with dismay to a man tumbling to the ground after being shot by one of the two men Kid and his uncle were facing. His uncle was named Ben, which, if I had a nickel every time a Marvel hero's origin story involved a beloved Uncle Ben being murdered by a crook, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 289.

The cover of the Whitman version of Daffy Duck #116. The cover has Daffy as a pirate; he has a traditional cartoon pirate and a wooden sword; his ship is a slightly larger pirate hat that he's steering with a paddle. Overall this is still a more dignified start to a pirate career than Luffy had.

Also in the picture is an anniversary duck from Long John Silver's who decided to round their 57th anniversary up to their 60th. This duck has a slightly less fancy pirate hat but makes up for it with an eyepatch and hook.

I have a Classics Illustrated version of Treasure Island put out by LJS somewhere but I don't have the slighest idea where it is to take a picture of it.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 288.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 287.

010

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 286.

The cover of The New Teen Titans #34. The cover has a group poster of the team being shredded from behind by Deathstroke the Terminator and a machine gun. There's a box reading "Trouble is spelled Terminator!"

The poster on the cover has, clockwise from the top,: Raven, Robin (Dick Grayson), Wonder Girl, Starfire, Terra, Beast Boy, and Cyborg. Kid Flash is hanging out in the corner presumably because they couldn't make him fit in the circle with Slade between Cyborg and Beast Boy. Most of the group in the poster are smiling but Raven looks like she'd rather be somewhere, anywhere else.

110

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 285.

The cover of Usagi Yojimbo #30; Usagi is using wooden boards as a shield from a hail of arrows. I can't help but think of Throne of Blood where Kurosawa went for maximum accuracy by just having archers actually shoot at Toshiro Mifune.

110

Reposted by Michael Stakely

Unsounded Updates! @unsounded.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Today is my birthday so you HAVE to share my Kickstarter. It's just the law, man. www.kickstarter.com/projects/iro...

910982

Michael Stakely @michaelstakely.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Posting a comic or graphic novel cover once a day until I run out of them or get tired of taking a photo. Day 284.

Speaking of unsanitary food delivery systems, the cover of Woody Woodpecker #168 has Woody as a waiter who is bringing food to Wally Walrus. The latter seems, understandably, less than happy that Woody is carrying Wally's hamburger by impaling it with his beak. Sure, the cupcake and what appears to be pink lemonade appear to be safe but why take that risk?

I'm not sure if the artist forgot Wally had tusks or if the design had just shifted them over to being a mustache by this point. He looks like Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Robotnik as a result.

110