Technolandy

Day 177 (of 2024/25) I’m too tired for a good/full reflection of our school comic con… so here is our Comic Kahoot -Answer addition

Or try the quiz first: https://kahoot.it/challenge/05364865?challenge-id=b978468e-141e-4f58-88fb-042949de96a9_1750307089654

1. The Beagle Boys first appeared in “Walt Disney Comics & Stories” #134 (November, 1951), “Terror of The Beagle Boys”. Despite having top billing, by virtue of being included in the title, they didn’t appear until the final frame, nor did they have any lines, but it is implied that the Boys had been around for some time.The Beagles first encounter Scrooge McDuck in 1880 on a Mississippi Riverboat. At the time the gang consisted of Blackheart Beagle, the grandfather of the current gang of boys, and his three sons. The boys have all been to prison and their convict numbers are variations of the digits 176. The only exception to this is Blackheart whose number was 186-802. In the “Ducktales” series there are seven main Beagles; Bigtime, Burger, Bouncer, Baggy, Bankjob, Bebop and Babyface. (Alliteration gone mad – they all start with ‘B’). There are quite a few other Beagles who make cameo appearances in the series and the majority of these also have names that start with the letter ‘B’.

In 1933, a premium not sold on newsstands, “Famous Funnies, A Carnival of Comics” was printed by Eastern Color Printing and put out by Delacort, but found only in Woolworth’s department stores. When Delacort (later known as Dell) declined to continue printing the title, an Easter Color printing salesman, Max Gaines took it upon himself to issue “Famous Funnies” #1 in 1934. Max Gaines would later become the notorious publisher of EC Comics.

Peanuts’ is a comic series created by Charles Schulz and published by United Features Syndicate on 2 October 1950. It features Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy. The series was one of the most popular newspaper strips. The series ended on February 13, 2000, a day after Schulz’s death.

Garfield’ is a comic series featuring a cat Garfield and its owner Jon Arbuckle. The series was created by Jim Davis in 19 June 1978 and published by United Features Syndicate. It is one of the most widely syndicated comic strips and is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. Odie is the dog in Jon’s house, Mrs. Feeny is the neighbour whom Garfield likes to irritate and Pooky is a stuffed bear, a favourite of Garfield.

Wolverine’s “official” first appearance was a cameo in “The Incredible Hulk” #180. His first full appearance came with issue #181 valued today at around $2000 though the record high sale for a copy was $40 000… 

Bob Kane created Batman for Detective Comics – it became one of the most popular (and collectible) comics – the Library of Congress even has a Batman #1 in Washington

Kate Beaton Her first full length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is the first graphic novel to win Canada Reads, and was named Best Book of 2022 by The New Yorker, Time, NPR, The Chicago Tribune, and The Washington Post.

 Richie Rich’ is a comic series by Harvey comics, first published in the comic book ‘Little Dot’ issue number 1 dated September 1953. It features the stories of Richie Rich, the richest kid in the world. Richie’s father is Richard Rich, his mother is Regina Rich and he has a dog appropriately named Dollar. Some other popular characters in the series include his girlfriend Gloria, his cousin Reggie, the butler Cadbury, robot maid Irona and Professor Keenbean the inventor. Vanessa is Reggie’s mother and Noovo is Richie’s aunt.

Spidey’s first appearance in “Amazing Fantasy” #15 is worth around $40,000 today. I thought it would be more…!

The Punisher has become very popular after his first appearance in Spider Man #129 – but also one of Marvels most violent characters

Archie Comics was also the title of the company’s longest-running publication, the first issue appearing with a cover date of Winter 1942. Starting with issue #70, the title was shortened to simply Archie. It is still being published and purchased in ‘digest form’

Catch phrases go well with superhero… I like Hulk’s “Hulk Smash” – it’s easier to remember than Green Lanterns “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight, let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power, Green Lantern’s Light.”

There have been many Robins over the years – in one storyline, the readers got to vote in “A Death in the Family” if one Robin (Jason Todd) would survive or not… it was a landslide to have that robin not live.. until he was resurrected as The Red Hood – a great villain for batman

Pizza is strongly associated with TMNT – and, in case you were wondering, Michelangelo approves of pineapple on pizzas…

Arkham Asylum regularly houses Batman villains – so it is in Gotham…

Why Yes, Landy does have that issue of Superman… and the novelization! Much better than how the movie portrayed it…

Initially, fire was a general weakness for all Martians. Later interpretations, particularly in the 1988 miniseries, established it as a personal phobia stemming from the memory of his family’s death by fire.

Calvin is named after the Swiss Protestant Reformer, John Calvin, and Hobbes is named after the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes.

There are some other options, including a newspaper strongman named Hugo Hercules who appeared in Sunday comics in 1902.- 36 years before Kal-El – but as far s a comic book hero, The Phantom appeared two years before Clark Kent emerged – his purple uniform (in a jungle!) translated a lot better on printed pages than it did in the bad movie attempt… other superhero’s highlighted include the Shadow – who had a very popular radio show where the ‘theatre of the mind’ allowed him to be invisible to those around him – the movie for him was better than the Phantom, but still not all that great.. The Batman appeared a year after Superman… who may not have been first, but was definitely the biggest deal in publishing!

The Far Side was one of the few comic strips that actually had a significant impact on newspaper sales.. it and Calvin & Hobbes were identified as key reasons why people would purchase the newspapers – and their collections were annually best sellers. It’s most famous single was one called Cow Tools because one tool looked kinda like a saw, and everyone wanted to figure out what they other tools were supposed to represent… none of them were meant to be seen as human tools… 

Not too tired to share this though: Best comment from the day – first time my child wanted to attend anything at a school…