Wonder Woman by Jack Kirby 1967 (almost)

The other day Kurt Busiek was wondering what a Wonder Woman drawn in 1967 by Jack Kirby might have looked like.

Mr. B mentioned his thought to Alex Ross, and the next day Mr. R sent the above drawing to Mr. B.

So that's that.

A Comic Strip Clue for Final Jeopardy!

Alex Trebek commented yesterday that he believed the category of Comic Strip Title Characters was being employed for the very first time. The gentleman should know since he's been the host for the past 35 years (and I've watched Jeopardy every day since that debut of Mr. Trebek in 1984)!

All three contestants began writing their response instantly and all three answered correctly. I got it right also. My favorite comic strip series of all time!

Unboxing the Scary Godmother Doll

It was many moons ago that I participated in the Kickstarter campaign for the manufacture of a Scary Godmother doll. Regular updates about the design and production processes were sent by email through the years, and now the long wait is over. I thought you might enjoy watching the unboxing!

Donald Trump is Tariff Man

The New York Times often has flirtations with printing comics on its pages but can't seem to quite pull the trigger and make a commitment to any ongoing comics-content.

A recent example of a one-off is its Tariff Man article in their Business section which I thought you might like to see. The artwork is by Paul Hoppe.

The Flash Sings?

I read the Birthdays Paragraph in the newspaper every day so I can see who is how old. I was a little surprised yesterday when the Paragraph notified me that "Singer-actor Grant Gustin is 29."

Mr. Gustin stars as The Flash on his television show that I feel is quite good. What startled me was not the age of 29 but the designation of "singer-actor." Singer? My fingers did the walking right over to youtube so I could see evidence of Mr. Gustin's musical gifts. I found exactly one song sung by the gentleman.

The label "singer-actor" appears to be quite a stretch (or at least proof that Mr. Gustin's promoter and/or agent does yeoman's work earning his fee) but you should judge for yourself:
                 
                    

Stan Lee by Todd McFarlane

By any metric, Stan Lee will be remembered as one of the all-time giants of the comic book industry. It was my pleasure to watch and enjoy Mr. Lee on the stage in panel discussions at the Chicago Comicon just about every year from 1976 to 2017. The gentleman was quite an entertainer!

Presented above is Todd McFarlane's tribute drawing of Mr. Lee that was printed recently in The New York Times Sunday magazine.

Scarcer than a Double Cover?

Most mornings on the way to school I stop at Panera Bread for a bagel and coffee. It's right on the way so why not?

So it was the other day. I poured the coffee into my paper cup (it's self-service at Panera, which I like), then I added the sugar and cream. I opened the paper wrapper around the coffee stir so I could mix my special recipe all together, but you'll never guess what happened. Are you sitting down?

There were TWO coffee stirs in the wrapper. Tee Doubleyou Oh coffee stirs in one coffee stir wrapper! I never saw such a thing in my life before.

Of course comic book fans have all come across comics with double covers. In my decades of comic fandom I've owned a few double covers, but I have never, ever before heard of two coffee stirs in one wrapper.

I accept this as a sign. Posts on The Hayfamzone Blog have frozen to absolute zero over most of 2018 but now it's a new year. It's time for the Hfz to thaw out just like Steve Rogers did. Keep watching this space!