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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 11h

The people who design modern newspaper banners are all cowards. (1856)

The banner of an issue of The Liberator published in Boston, Friday October 24, 1856. A wide image -- at the left is a slave auction, at the right is a group of Black people coming out of a house, headed toward a gate marked "Emancipation". At center, in a badge marked "I come to break the bonds of the oppressor", is a glowing Jesus himself, being worshipped by a shackled Black man while a white man starts to flee in fear. Running through the title is a ribbon that says "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as they self."

Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 03/10/2026

Why are may children misunderstood? Undernourishment. And "Crisco, a pure vegetable fat, supplies this necessary energy in a form that is digestible." Note: Do not use Crisco to make your boys grow big and tall. Crisco is shortening. Some good guesses, but no winners.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 02/10/2026

Time limit is 24 hour from this post. Green Book option is US only; the Sergio book is available if the winner is in the US, Canada, UK, Japan, or Europe. Entrants must be 18 or older. Decision of the judge is final. No more than one guess per account, please.

Cover to Aunt's In Your Pants: Memoirs of a Dirty Old Woman (available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1949996131 ) features a woman peeking in the keyhole of the men's room.

Cover to the facsimile of The Negro Motorist Green Book 1940, a travel guide for African Americans, shows a list of the sort of things included (Hotels, Taverns, Garages, etc.) Go to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MR9SPZB if you want to order a copy without winning this dang contest.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 02/10/2026

I will send a free copy of either a facsimile of the 1940 edition of The Negro Motorist Green Book or Sergio Aragones's Aunt's In Your Pants to the first person who can GUESS (no looking it up, play fair) what still-available name-brand product this 1922 ad is for.

Headline: Why many children are misunderstood!
Start of sub-headline: What official investigations.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 30/09/2026

Prepare to hear all the teenyboppers scream!

Under the words "The new A.I. boy band sensation that will set all young girls' hearts ablaze!" are seven copies of the Muse AI fuzzy/friendly promo figure, labeled "The Cute One", "The Shy One", "The Bad Boy", "The Bi Boy", "The Sexy One", "Bob", and "The Dyslexic One".

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 29/09/2026

Oh, those kids and their crazy "planking" craze!

A pile of stiff figures of the Peanuts characters. Marcie seems nonplussed by the downward angle she finds herself in.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 29/09/2026

And I wonder how that moment serves the young uns, who have likely seen School of Rock before this, because I was certainly unaware and that moment hit hard. One disappointment of the cancellation of the fine High Fidelity TV series is not getting to see Da'Vine Joy Randolph have that moment.

Image from High Fidelity TV series with Da'Vine Joy Randolph (right), Lisa Bonet (left), and I forget his name, sorry (center).

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 29/09/2026

So I can order a 100-pill bottle for $4.54, or a 300 pill set, which is just three 100-pill bottles, for $18.48. Plus, I save another $1.10 if I order a least two items. Sometimes the math is not hard.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 28/09/2026

For clarity for those commenting: The Woman Grandmaster title (WGM) has different criteria than the Grandmaster title (GM). The Grandmaster title is not gender-specific and a woman can (and has) become a GM without being a WGM.

The "Women's titles" section of the Wikipedia page "FIDE titles":

Though the open FIDE titles are not gender-segregated, the following four titles given by FIDE are exclusive to women and may be held simultaneously with an open title. The requirements for these titles are about 200 Elo rating points lower than the requirements for the equivalently named open titles. These titles are sometimes criticized by both male and female players, and some female players elect not to take them. For example, Grandmaster Judit Polgár, in keeping with her policy of playing only open competitions, never took a women's title. In 2024, FIDE announced that trans men would no longer be eligible to keep any women's titles that they might have earned while competing as a woman, attracting criticism.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 27/09/2026

"This whole sexy "furry" thing is a brand new phenomenon that we didn't have back in my day, I tells ya!"

Panel from a 1923 newspaper comic strip ("In Rabbitboro" by Albertine Randall) has a girl bunny draped sexily in a hammock, beckoning to a bespectacled male bunny in a clown outfit. She's saying "Come on in, Dick—the hammock's fine!"

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 26/09/2026

Alexa, what is the meaning of "slow news week"?

Front page of The Broad Ax, Chicago, Illinois, Saturday December 14, 1921. Headline: Mr. and Mrs. Morris Lewis Clebetated Their Twenty-Fifith Wedding Anniversary, Wednesday Evening, December 21, at Their Beautiful Home, 3633 Giles Avenue. The Affair Was Attended by Many of the Best and Most Promintent Citizens Residing in Chicago. (yes, that's all headline, not sub-headline.)

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 25/09/2026

Because I ordered on a special early deal, I also got a piece of Ryan Estrada's art... only good comics art has words in the balloons. Should I add "I just made a fart." and "Smells like you used the finest ingredients!"? Any better suggestions??

Cartoon image of a young woman bending over to sweep the kitchen and a woman smiling while putting a bowl in the cabinet. Each has an empty word balloon.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 25/09/2026

I just got the new color edition of Banned Book Club with an additional 20 page story by @ryanestrada.com and Kim Hyun Sook! So now I can take my (ever-so-valuable) first printing of the original edition and set it free in the corner Little Free Library!

Covers to the original black-and-white Banned Book Club (right) and the new color edition (left) feature a girl hugging a book in front of a chaotic scene.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 24/09/2026

Remember: Tommy Tuberville became famous for leading his group of teen and twenty-something male "Tigers" into victory. He helped recruit new Tigers, leading them to victory over not just the Tigers of LSU, but various teams of Bulldogs, Razorbacks, Wildcats, Cougars, Cardinals, and Gamecocks.

The mascot of the Auburn Tigers, a person in a tiger costume in a football jersey.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 24/09/2026

Ahhh! Now I understand who this card is for.

Greeting card that says “Happy Passover to our beloved Rabbi.” Image is of a squirrel in a yarmulke, eating matzoh.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 24/09/2026

I think Dinky, Spunkie, Draftie, and Bo were the original Pac-Man ghosts.

The Evening Star daily newspaper section for May 8, 1941, features the strip Dinky Dinkerton by Art Huhta, Spunkie by Loy Byrnes, and Draftie by Paul Fogarty, in that order.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 23/09/2026

I should note that Everett True, Osgar, Adolph, and Diana Dillpickles were all created by Condo, the same guy who was drawing the Futuregraphs.

Cartoon of Osgar und Adolph's Yuletide Fun. Osgar and Diana and Adolph are on a sofa, and Diana is saying "Adolph, Osgar, listen — dear little inquisitive edwin has never seen Santa Claus. Why doesn't one of you dress up so he can see how Santa Claus looks!"

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 23/09/2026

Oh wait, I was wrong, there is (at least) one woman... comic strip star Diana Dillpickles!

A hefty woman writing in her diary, a pile of diaries beside her. This is Diana Dillpickles in 1958.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 23/09/2026

...but some weren't even real, like comic strip stars Everett True (hi, @tonyisabella.bsky.social) and the team of Oscar & Adolph.

A wrinkly, jowly visage of Everett True in 1940.

A wrinkly, bearded old man looks through spectacles at a shorter, broader, white haired man, labeled as Oscar and Adolph in 1935.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 23/09/2026

Some were sports figures like boxers Jack Johnson and Ad Wolgast...

Portrait of a balding, white-haired, beefy black man with a suit and tie. Caption explains it's not Uncle Tom, it's Champion Jack Honson.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 23/09/2026

Back in 1911, some newspapers ran Futuregraphs, a series of illustrations of what famous men (yes, all men as far as I've seen) would look like as they aged. Some were political figures like Woodrow Wilson and Eugene V. Debs...

Drawing of Woodrow Wilson as he would look in 1929.

Drawing of Eugene V. Debs as he would look in 1928.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 22/09/2026

Okay, I was drawn to this for the cartoonist-related crime, but I stuck around to see the villain arrested by a Policeman and a Detective Guy. (1912)

Newspaper text: Charged With Stealing
Watch of Cartoonist
Arrested on a charge of stealing a
watch valued at iSO from Ablan Wohl
gren, a newspaper cartoonist, William
Armstrong, thlrtv-ftve venri nld. nh.
tainen a continuance or ins case in the
United States branch of the Police
Court today and wbb released on his
personal recognizance for his appear
ance In court on the date sot for trial.
He will bo given a hearing next Tues
day morning.
Armstrong was taken Into custody by
Detective Guy Walsh and Policeman
Dudley, of the Seventh precinct. When
arrested the man had the watch In his
pocket, according to the police. He de
nies stealing the timepiece and declares
that Wohlgren gave It to him the day
The latter left Washington to take up his residence In Philadelphia.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 22/09/2026

I am the 2346th most active editor on Wikipedia, but I am the 639th in the number of "thanks" I have gotten. Clearly, I am doing something right!

Text display showing Rank:639, User: NatGertler.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 19/09/2026

THE FACTOR: Alt-superhero short stories (there's a hero, but he's never actually seen. Stories about his impact on others.) 20-some stories writ by me, art by Joe Staton, Carla Speed McNeil, Adam Rex, Matt Feazell, many more. Got me my first Eisner nomination. www.amazon.com/dp/194999645X

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 18/09/2026

Whoever was typesetting the ad headlines for the November 7, 1878, issue of The Anti-Monopolist (the organ of the Independent Party of Minnesota) was not doing a good job and should probably be sacked if he hasn't been already.

An ad with a picture of a thresher, announcing "the trseher of the day!".

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 18/09/2026

Remember, posts on Bluesky are called "skeets" after the messages that vaudevillian (and arguably vaudevillain) Irene Martin sent her ex-husband Richard "Skeet" Gallagher, seeking reconciliation.

Text from a 1927 newspaper clipping featuring a photo of an attractive woman in a coat:
Divorced in haste by her angry husband after she ran away from him for the sake of the seductive Pat Somerset, Irene Martin, of vaudeville fame, is repenting at leisure and wants to be taken back.
Richard "Skeet" Gallagher, the former husband, is receiving a steady stream of telegrams from Irene, pleading for reconciliation.
She admits, to him and the world, that she was "a little fool" when she permitted the blarneying English actor to talk her into love with him. Not only that, she is ardently in favor of the deportation of Mr. Somerset, and, has offered to give the authorities any assistance she can if they wish to establish his status as that of an undesirable alien.
Just at present, the disillusioned "Skeet" is reading the pathetic and eloquent messages and saying nothing.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 18/09/2026

It is absolutely an old joke, and was before it appeared in Nancy. Here's an example from 1905. And an odd variant from 1892. And an earlier one along that same line from 1872.

Jolly Joker newspaper column, third joke: Teacher—Now, Tommy, if you had twelve plums and your little brother asked you for one-half of them, how many would you have left? Tommy (promptly) Twelve.

“Now, Frank, if you had five oranges, and Aunt B. was to ask you for four, how many would you have left?
The youngster thought for a moment and then said "I'd ask Aunt B. if she wanted the earth.”

A father bent on instructing his three-year-old son said "If you had three apples and should give me one. how many would you have left "I wouldn't do it, pa," was the prompt reply.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 17/09/2026

And if any of my romance-writing friends need the full reference, find it at: www.loc.gov/resource/sn8... Also, to save you the squinting, the sub-sub-headline is "Are 'horsey' women morally weak?"

Beginning of illustrated article: Why Do Rich Women Run Away With Stablemen? Why do They Fall in Love with the Coachman—But Never with the Butler, the Valet, the Chef Nor the Chauffeur?

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 17/09/2026

On the same page: The justification for a thousand romance novels.

Newspaper clipping from ad for the Sunday issue: Why Do Rich Women Run Away? Especially with stablemen. The Sunday Light Magazine nest Sunday will contain ten portraits of the rich women whose romances with coachmen brought them into the public eye.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 17/09/2026

I don't think I've run into this terminology to announce a death before. (1908)

Newspaper headline clipped from The San Antonio Light, January 16, 1908.
Pioneer Cattleman Joins Great Majority: Col. D. R. Fant, Who Drove Largest Herd Over Historic Trail, Dies at Goliad.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 17/09/2026

Why do you need any other media when comics can give you a beaver of any dimension??

The cover to issue 11 of the comic book Space Beaver by Darick Robertson shows several beavers involved in a brawl. Adjacent to that is the cover to Time Beavers, a graphic novel by Timothy Truman, with an array of Beavers ready to face down something off-page.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 17/09/2026

Hey @jimmykimmel.com , If you do decide to do something about this, get yourself a copy of the Squadron Supreme trade paperback, first printing. Y'see, to fulfill one of Mark's desires, his ashes were mixed into the ink for that book. That way, you'd have a bit of Mark himself onstage with you.

Cover to the Squadron Supreme trade paperback, painted by Alex Ross.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 15/09/2026

One of the cool things about a life in comics is that even a minor creator like moi will work with many people... like this story for one of the TSR comics, pencilled by a pre-The Boys @darickr.bsky.social and inked by George Freeman, a combination that worked quite well.

Splash page of a comic book story called Crumbs, Writer: Nat Gertler, Artist: Darick Robertson, Inker: George Freeman, ColoristL Ray Murtaugh, Creative Director: Flint Dille. A grampa gingerbread man talks to his gingerbread grandchildren, getting ready to tell a tale.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 15/09/2026

Start saving up your sleep now, those who draw and those who are willing to...

Banner announcing 24 Hour Comics Day: October 3, 2026.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 14/09/2026

Agreed, which is why I brought it to your attention. For a test, I just asked Google AI if Weevils Persist Publishing, a made-up publisher name, is legit. It didn't point me to Writer Beware, so it's not automatic. (It did, however, make up facts about the publisher.)

AI Overview : Weevils Persist Publishing is not a widely recognized, mainstream traditional publisher. While the company may provide physical book printing or assisted self-publishing setups, it operates similarly to a vanity press or self-publishing service provider rather than a traditional publishing house.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 13/09/2026

Thought I'd found a prologue to Dogs Playing Poker, but it turns out that this 1922 drawing is decades too late. But I already copied and pasted it, so here you go: Daschunds' Den of Iniquity.

Cartoon drawing of three daschunds gathered around a stump. Two of them are playing dice, one also appears to be playing cards, and the third, I think he's smoking a hookah of some sort. There's an open box of cigars. Title: Ein fein Kollegium (which translates from the German to: A fine body of colleagues.) Caption: Und da sagt man noch: der Herr Förster redet Jägerlatein! (which translates to: And to think people say Forester So-and-so is spinning tall tales!)

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 13/09/2026

Michael J. Pollard does his Michael J. Pollarding. Rob Reiner has a role small enough that you might not notice him. But it's Jack Gilford who keeps me rivieted when he's on screen.

Shot of the play within the film. In red is the director of 1987's most beloved film, The Princess Bride. At right is the director of 1987's most notorious film, Ishtar.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 13/09/2026

Just watched Enter Laughing on Tubi: Carl Reiner's film adaptation of the stage adaptation of his semi-autobiographical novel about his start in acting. Can't say much for the lead, but the cast is packed: Jose Ferrer, Shelley Winters, Don Rickles, Richard Deacon, Elaine May, Jack Gilford!

Promotional drawing, Enter Laughing, including Ferrer, Pollard, Winters, May, Rickles.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 12/09/2026

Recycling is a way to preserve our precious humor resources. www.ebay.com/itm/37719356... www.ebay.com/itm/23566617... www.ebay.com/itm/29860762...

Toilet seat cover with a picture of a man in the toilet bowl getting ready to flush himself down and the words "Good-bye cruel world".

Photographic poster of a man in the toilet bowl getting ready to flush himself down and the words "Goodbye cruel world".

Small statue of a man in the toilet bowl getting ready to flush himself down and the words "Goodbye cruel world".

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 12/09/2026

Here's the Marvel comics you asked for! (1946)

Newspaper ad for Marvel Enriched Bread features a two-panel fumetti. Fumetto? Photo comic.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 12/09/2026

Speaking of Willie Lumpkin.... ever notice that you don't see his brother Virgil around anymore?

Newspaper clipping from 1921: Brothers Engage In Pistol Duel That Results In Tragedy. Lafayette, Ga., March17.—Willie Lumpkin shot and killed his brother, Virgil Lumpkin, late yesterday afternoon, as the result of a feud of long standing between the two. The tragedy occurred in the eastern section of Walker county, in what is known as Furnace. It is reported here that Virgil Lumpkin had threatened the life of his brother. Late yesterday afternoon, Virgil Lumpkin approached a field in which Willie Lumpkin was at work and opened fire on him, whereupon, Willie produced a pistol and riddled Virgil, five shots taking effect. His death was instantaneous. Willie Lumpkin was arrested by the sheriff and is lodged in jail at LaFayette.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 12/09/2026

I stumbled across another odd linkage of Judson Press and Marvel Comics. One of the books Judson publishes currently (and is not part of that old transfer to Marvel) is written by Willie Lumpkin.

Cover to Baptist Confessions of Faith: Second Revised Edition, credited to William L. Lumpkin and Bill J. Leonard, editor.

Panel of Fantastic Four postman Willie Lumpkin, showing he can wiggle his ears real good.

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Nat Gertler, only mildly scarier @nat.gertler.com · 11/09/2026

I kinda love the looseness of this. One wouldn't have to edit it much to apply it to any year. Reporters have always been short.

Four panel cartoon titled "Our 1924 Interviews", from The Holly Chieftain, January 3, 1924. A miniature reporter is talking to various labeled figures in each panel -- Mr. Voter who sees it as a busy year ahead with a "big party" in November, a Congressman who tells the reporter to quote in bold type that he aims to carry out the wishes of his people back home, a farmer who complains about "dollar wheat and six cent hogs" but sees better things coming, and a flapper who assures that "bobbed hair is here to stay".

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