Countdown to New Year: Day 5

 From Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge #16 (December-February 1957)

Countdown to New Year: Day 4

2014 is the Chinese Year of the Horse

Keep on Tryin' your New's Year's Resolutions

Countdown to New Year: Day 3

Two and a bit New Year's-themed stories from Big Shot #9 (January 1941).

New Year's resolution be durned! Mike the Mascot. Feature is uncredited.

 

Reprinted newspaper strip The Bungle Family by H. J. Tuthill. The Little Brother header strip is uncredited.

Countdown to New Year: Day 2

Eagerly waiting for 2013 to be done. The New Year of 2014 is an arbitrary change but like the phenomenon where a person walks through a door and forgets what they are doing maybe the simple change in the date will cause a psychological re-think in people.

Until the Obama election sent a clear message that the old ways of oppression were dying the bigots remained for the most part under their nasty dank rocks. When exposed outside of their little circle of like-minded creatures they scurried away and erased their tracks. 

Their bold and increasingly horrible behavior since 2009 is made most publicly evident in the hero worship of bigoted faux-hillbilly Duck Dynasty matriarch and the crocodile piety and exploitative hucksterism of George Zimmerman. For every Phil Robertson that manages to stick around there is a Justine Sacco and Christine Neese that has to flee, deleting every aspect of social media as they run and cower. George Zimmerman is the bloated poster boy of an America so racist they will rally around a figure that a relatively short time ago they would have ridiculed and ostracized as a representative of the very people they target for discrimination. George may be their public face of the moment but he is also considered "one of those" and will undoubtedly be discarded as soon as some other more attractive figure is thrust into the national spotlight by circumstance.

2014 has to be better, even as it appears 2013 was the nadir of recent years. This public parade of hate disguised by religion and freedom is the reflexive twitching of a loathsome and mortally wounded beast too stupid to know it is dead, limbs flailing long after the body is deceased.

Countdown to New Year: Day 1

Arts and Craters, Do It Yourselfers and paper doll enthusiasts can get ready for the New Year by assembling this vintage animated paper doll set of Father Time unpacking the baby New Year!

From Child Life (December 1928). Art by Dukes McKee. 

Christmas: Day 26

Christmas is done for another year. In America that means it is back to work for most people but in quite a few countries the day after Christmas is something called Boxing Day. For those places that recognize Boxing Day it is basically an extra holiday. There are parades, parties and an extravaganza of retail sales similar to those of the day after Thanksgiving sales of Black Friday in the United States.

Boxing Day originally was a special day for people to recognize the workers of the service industry by giving tips and gifts to the people who did all the practical work of maintaining a culture's lifestyle. I'm cynical enough to ponder if the timing of Boxing Day meant the poor and tradespeople received the leftovers of the previous day as gratuities but I guess it is the thought that counts.

I'm actually jealous of Boxing Day. It would be great as Christmas becomes less mystical and more secular that the US would graft an extra day off  onto the holiday. More parades and shopping seems like a great idea to me.

Christmas: Day 25

I hope you have a safe and Hayley Holiday!
 

And to mark the day...if you haven't seen it before here is Hayley Mills in her first 

uncredited silver screen appearance from 1947's So Well Remembered!

Christmas: Day 24

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!  

via

Christmas: Day 23

The classic silver age story Invaders from the Ice World! as published in Strange Adventures #79 (April 1957). Cover by Gil Kane. Featured story by Gardner Fox with art from Carmine Infantino and Bernard Sachs. The story is a standard "clever earth man defeats invaders" story that populated about all the science fiction and horror comic books of the era but I love that cover so much.

 

 

Christmas: Day 22

From 1962...Kay Martin and Her Body Guards on the classic adult (for the era) party album I Know What He Wants For Christmas...But I Don't Know How To Wrap It.

Good story about the album, Ms. Martin and the search for her works from a fan at A Christmas Yule Blog. And for those interested an internet search reveals plenty of songs in online video services. Don't get too excited. Those who know the marketing of 50s and 60s LP cover art know that often the package is misleading. Yet still much of her works I wouldn't play in an environment that could raise eyebrows. 

Christmas: Day 21

On December 3rd, 1992 the very first text message was sent to and received via an Orbitel 901 phone.
The message?

"Merry Christmas."

Christmas: Day 20

The Giant Snowball published in Ha Ha Comics #37 (Jan 1946). Feature uncredited.

Christmas: Day 19

Hated the aluminum Christmas tree as a kid my Aunt set up in the early 60s but I would have kicked a puppy to get one of those color wheels for my year round use.

Christmas: Day 18

Santa Claus visits the troops, art by Thomas Nast, circa 1863.

Read about President Lincoln at Christmas time via Presidential History Geeks.

Christmas: Day 17

 

THE WREATH OF KHAAAAAAAAN!

via Annie Shapiro

Monday with Hayley Mills: Pressbook

Well, this is keen.

Complete Twisted Nerve pressbook via Exploiting Exploitation.

Christmas: Day 16

Always like having parity since the holiday themed cheesecake is very centric to women as subjects of the  gaze. Sorry, really hard to find any vintage Christmas-themed good-boy art featuring men so here's the best I could do. Hot.

Famous Funnies #161 (December 1947). Art by Stephen Douglas.

Christmas: Day 15

 

Yvonne Craig circa 1967 via

Christmas: Day 14

 

"And then Jack chopped down what was the world's last beanstalk, adding murder and ecological terrorism to the theft, enticement and trespass charges already mentioned, and all the giant's children didn't have a daddy any more.

But he got away with it and lived happily ever after without so much as a guilty twinge about what he had done. Which proves that you can be excused just about anything if you're a hero, because no-one asks inconvenient questions" 

 Governess Susan Sto Helit reads to her charges in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather (2006).

Christmas: Day 13

Christmas: Day 12

Make it so, make it so, make it so...

Christmas: Day 11

Jason Woodrue as Seeder, the newest avatar of The Green, tries to make an impression. From Swamp Thing #26 (February 2014).

Christmas: Day 10

Hypocrisy: 'Christian values' Hobby Lobby purchases its products from #1 'family planning' nation China

Monday with Hayley Mills: Moon-Spinners

 

Hayley Mills and some other guy in 1964's The Moon-Spinners.

Want to read the comic? Get it here: Gold Key's pdf of The Moon-Spinners.

Christmas: Day 9

Uncredited text story The Christmas Tree from Ha Ha Comics #37 (January 1947).

Christmas: Day 8

All the Humbugs

Christmas: Day 7

The 10 Worst Holiday Gifts For Comic Book Readers, 2013 Edition

 via Comics Alliance

Christmas: Day 6

 via

Christmas: Day 5

 

A Christmas Carol, Part 2

"God bless us, everyone - AGGHHH!" Tiny Tim yelped in horror as the tip of his crutch slipped on a spot of goose grease that had dripped onto floor during the surprise Christmas feast supplied by Scrooge. Bleating in fear Tiny Tim staggers, off-balance, headfirst into roaring fireplace, knocking himself unconscious on the bricks at the back of it. He lays still. The shocked family is silent, staring. The only sounds a muted sizzling as Tiny Tim's clothing catch fire.

The End

Christmas: Day 4

"Let's review..."

Patton Oswalt's NSFW classic rant about the awful, awful, song about what those psychotic members of the Disgusting Cult of Suffering believe constitutes the eternal love of a God.

Christmas: Day 3

Where's my jet pack, Santa? Short of that, enjoy this story from Magnus, Robot Fighter #11 (August 1965).

Christmas: Day 2

Stuck on what gifts to get family and friends for Christmas? Try some of this...your wallet will thank you!

Don't wait too long, those personal checks take a few weeks to process.

Christmas: Day 1

 Segue from one holiday to the next via art by Andy McNally!