The Oatmeal is certainly the first site I think of for cards when I want to slide a note over to my secret crush at the Neatorama office. That’s why the site’s Valentine’s Day cards are just so darn wonderful… of course, that might also be why Zeon has a restraining order against me.

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Falcon Girl is artist James Hance’s wonderful mash up of Princess Leia and Tank Girl. I don’t know about you guys, but I kind of want to see this become a whole comic book instead of just a cool poster.

Link Via BoingBoing

With a soggy and totally psychedelic style to his character renditions, it’s no wonder that Edwin Vazquez and his eye catching artworks have become a popular part of publications such as MAD magazine and Bongo Comics. Trip out on the drips, and some sweet tattoo inspired pieces, at the links below.

Link  –via ComicsAlliance

Ever want to make your own sweet Cyclops visor? Well then head over to Lounge Geeks where you can learn how to make your own for less than $30. Now that’s a value for some sweet style.

Link Via io9

Ladies Night Hinge Wallet – $14.95

Are you planning your next girls night out? Make sure your personal items are well protected with the Ladies Night hinged wallet from the NeatoShop. Your friends will Marvel at your ability to be so fashionably geek.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more super Wallets, Purses & Coin Bags!

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While there’s always a good chance the movie publication won’t get completed, something tells me a petition with less than 300 signatures won’t have much to do with it.

Link Via The Mary Sue

At the end of the year, the Comic Alliance likes to rundown the changes in comics over the last year via charts. I’m particularly fond of this great graph showing fan interest in Harley Quinn versus the amount of bare skin she has showing.

Link Via The Mary Sue

In the alternate reality presented by these slick illustrations by Coran Stone, Calvin and Hobbes grew up to be super spies, and Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear are hell bent on bringing them both down.

These illustrations, and the story behind them, are just begging to be made into an animated series of some sort, and you can read the whole thing at the Geeks Are Sexy link below.

It’s the ultimate battle of imaginary friends, and I like the fact that, in the Pooh picture, Hobbes is still a stuffed animal!

Link –via GeeksAreSexy

What happens when you combine one of the world’s greatest comic books with one of the cutest cartoons on TV? You get a great mash up piece like this one by Dan Hipp.

Link Via The Mary Sue

That’s why we here at Neatorama wanted to share a little bit of history and trivia about the world-famous character. Even if you are already a fan of Tintin though, read on because there might just be a few tidbits you didn’t know about.

The History of A Hero

Image Via Dylan Parker [Flickr]

Tintin was created by Belgian artist Georges Rémi, who wrote under the pen name Herge. He was largely based on one of the author’s earlier characters, a chubby boy scout named Totor. While he was thinner and better dressed than Totor, Tintin maintained the earlier character’s high ideals and kindness, as well as his knack for getting into sticky situations.

The first Tintin strip was printed in the Belgian right wing newspaper, Le XXe Siècle (The 20th Century), on January 10, 1929. Going along with the paper’s right wing beliefs, the character’s first adventure, titled Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, featured him fighting against socialist leaders in the Soviet Union. After the comic proved to be a success, Herge went on to send Tintin on adventures throughout the world, both in real and imaginary locales.

While Herge started out with a right wing mindset, his opinion quickly changed as Hitler’s legions began to ramp up their occupation of other European countries. By 1939, Tintin began to fight off authority figures from the far right, even battling Musstler, the leader of the imaginary fascist state Borduria, in King Ottokar’s Sceptre. If you couldn’t tell by the name and the time period, Musstler was Herge’s take on a combination of Hitler and Mussolini.

Later that very year, Belgium was invaded by the Nazis, who quickly closed down the majority of the newspapers in the country. They did leave open the leading paper, Le Soir, under the condition that it be put under German management. After Le XXe Siècle, was closed, Herge was briefly unemployed, but soon was hired to work as an illustrator for Le Soir. Soon enough he started printing new Tintin stories in the paper’s children section, but under the repressive political atmosphere, he was forced to strip the comic of its political affiliations. In an effort to get around these limitations, Herge changed Tintin’s occupation from that of a reporter to an explorer, which allowed him a much more politically-neutral world in which to operate.

By 1949, Herge’s character was so popular that he was offered the opportunity to publish his own magazine exclusively dedicated to Tintin. He immediately left Le Soir and go to working on Le journal de Tintin. The character became a massive success and was adored in countries throughout the world, eventually having his adventures translated into more than 50 languages.

As for Herge, he continued working on new stories for the character all the way up until his death in 1983.

The Enigmatic Tintin

Image Via CoffeeGeek [Flickr]

At first glance, Tintin seems like a pretty straightforward guy. In fact, fans of the series often praise how uncomplicated the character is, as it makes him entirely relatable even when confronted by an array of bizarre and eccentric characters in fantastical cities. But when you look a little deeper, you soon realize that Tintin’s lack of complexities make him quite enigmatic.

For example, how old is Tintin? No one really knows. He’s old enough to not be concerned with school or family, to go to a pub and drink, to hold down a job and to live alone, but everyone still calls him a young boy. In 1979, Herges said that when he first started the comic, he thought of Tintin as being about 14 or 15, but by that point, he considered the character to be 17.

But shouldn’t even a 17 year old have some kind of family connections? Tintin’s family is never mentioned in the series, but he is also never called an orphan. In fact, it seems that he seems to have no actual back story before the series starts. Whereas other characters reveal tales from their past, Tintin never does, nor does he ever run into someone that he knew before the storyline started.

It seems particularly strange that he never mentions his family given the fact that they must have given him quite an impressive education. After all, Tintin knows multiple languages, can drive cars, ride horses, fly airplanes, climb massive mountains, do yoga and more. These aren’t just skills you pick up while sitting back in Belgium or even after a few reporting assignments.

Additionally, Tintin must earn money to be able to live on his own without family assistance, but while Tintin is supposed to be a reporter in the early parts of the series, he never is seen actually writing or turning in a story. He never goes into the office, nor does he ever meet any coworkers or even get in touch with his employer.

Even his name is a mystery. Is it a first name or a last name? No one knows. Maybe it’s a nickname or maybe he’s like Madonna and that’s his only name. Some speculate that it’s a pseudonym he uses for his journalism career, but that it doesn’t do a reporter much good to go by a pseudonym if that’s the only name he goes by.

With Friends Like These…

Image Via sinanyuzakli [Flickr]

Of course, with all the vagueness in Tintin’s life, his friends are complex and help provide the character development and back story that the main character is lacking. While there are tons of recurring characters in the stories, two of the most popular are the two that also happen to be featured in the upcoming film (no surprise there). Those two characters are, of course, Snowy (known as Milou in the original and French versions) and Captain Haddock.

Snowy is Tintin’s longest-lasting friend, the only character who stays with him throughout the series. Originally Snowy is there to provide a cynical contrast to Tintin’s constant positivity, his thoughts portrayed in speech bubbles that cannot be understood by the humans around him, but once Captain Haddock steps in, Snowy is relieved of this duty and he becomes much more light-hearted. Unfortunately, while the pup is incredibly loyal, he also has some serious weaknesses. Like all dogs, he can easily be distracted by a bone, but more problematic are his clumsiness and his affinity for Scotch. Additionally, he is terrified of spiders, which makes him less than heroic in certain situations.

As for Captain Haddock, he is also a bit clumsy and quite enamored with Scotch. While he starts out as an alcoholic, he eventually becomes a rather respectable and heroic character. Haddock is quite sarcastic, providing a good balance to Tintin’s optimism. Up until the last story, his first name remains unknown, but at long last, it is revealed to be Archibald.

The Many Roadblocks of the Movie

Image Via Georges Biard [Wikipedia]

You know the movie was successfully created, but at many points, the thing almost fell through. In fact, Spielberg was planning to work on the movie from all the way back in 1983. The director was a huge fan of Tintin after discovering the series after someone compared Raiders of the Lost Ark to a Tintin story. At the same time, Herge was quite a fan of Spielberg and the two were quite excited to work together, Herge even noting that he thought Spielberg was “the only person who could ever do Tintin justice.” Unfortunately, the same week the two planned to meet in 1983, the illustrator passed away. Herge’s widow still agreed to give the rights to the movie to Spielberg because she knew how much her husband was looking forward to working with him.

Spielberg hired one of the screenwriters from E.T. to write a film version of Tintin, but he was disappointed with what she came up with. Unfortunately, he was too busy to work on it any more at the time, since he was starting production on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Eventually, the rights returned to the Herge Foundation and Roman Polanski started trying to work with the group to secure the rights to the film. The foundation felt he would be unable to provide the creative integrity Spielberg promised though, so they declined to issue him the rights. Eventually, in 2001, Spielberg got back in touch with the foundation.

When the rights were secured, Spielberg had intended to make a live-action adaptation of the film, but he wanted Peter Jackson’s company, Weta Digital to create a computer-generated Snowy. If you love or hate the motion capture that was used in the film, you should know that you have Jackson to thank, as he was the one who suggested live actors would not do justice to the style of the comic books.

Unfortunately, only a month before the duo was slated to start principal photography for the film, Universal backed down on financing the film, citing the low box office tallies of other motion capture movies like Beowulf. After some frantic searching, the team finally secured a contract with Sony, who has agreed to make two Tintin films with Jackson and Spielberg.

Yes, that’s right, there will almost certainly be a sequel to the first film, although no one is sure which Tintin stories the next one will be based on. The second film is expected to be released in late 2014 or mid-2015.

Image Via Gregory Bellemont [Flickr]

In fact, if all goes well, Jackson and Spielberg actually want to make another sequel after that, but we’ll just have to see how well the film does before we get too excited. If the box office grosses from the countries it has already been released in are any indication, we will very likely get to see a third film.

The movie was already released throughout most of the rest of the world and as of December 11, it already made $233 million. In fact, it’s already the highest grossing animated film ever released in India.

What do you guys think? Are you excited for the new film or could you care less? Also, were you already a Tintin fan or is the movie your first real exposure to the adventurer?

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, #3

Who knew that Super Mario and the X Men could go together so well? Apparently artist Casey Edwards did because she’s the one who came up with these clever mash ups.

Link Via BuzzFeed

Kickstarter might be great for starting new projects, but I certainly support the idea of Kickstopper. Personally, I’d be happy to donate my support to stopping the new Akira movie.

Link Via The Mary Sue

I guess size doesn’t matter when it comes to messing with Tintin. Illustrator Mike Holmes created this piece for an exhibit called Toronto Draws Tintin, running from November 2-27 at the Beguling. These guys must have been talking trash about Tintin’s mother!

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Artist artist Julien Bazinet found himself wondering what would happen if The Peanuts gang were mixed in with the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. The resulting comics are funny and cute, particularly little Snoopy posing as Cthulhu.

Link Via Flavorwire

Don’t worry, this comic and the link are both still SFW. It just shows us what sex would be like for us if we had the same mating rituals as giraffes. Be sure to visit the link to see what it would be like if we were split gill fungi or leopard slugs.

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This wouldn’t be nearly as sad if everyone who ever used YouTube couldn’t attest to the fact that it’s totally true.

Link Via Laughing Squid

This cartoon, that Geeks Are Sexy rightfully titled “You’re A Skywalker, Not A Street Walker,” just goes to show how everyone’s adolescent years are pretty much the same -even Princesses.

Link Via Geeks Are Sexy

Which is the Real First? Historians May Never Agree

If you’ve ever wondered why so many dramatic titles have all been lumped under the title of “comic books,” that’s because the whole medium started out as a way for publishers to put together compilations of their  newspaper comic strips. While historians debate what defines an actual comic book, and thus, what the earliest comic book is, one of the earliest American contenders is 1842’s The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, which was a hardcover book featuring an array of chronological stories about M. Vieux Bois.

The earliest contender for a comic book in the format we recognize was The Yellow Kid in McFadden’s Flats, printed in 1897. The magazine was a reprint of the newspaper strip Hogan’s Alley, which starred the Yellow Kid. Hogan’s Alley was already one of the earliest weekly comic strips and when the black and white, 5×7 inch magazine was released on newsstands, it may have been the first real comic book as well and even featured the words “comic book” on the back cover.

The first monthly comic book was Comics Monthly, first printed in 1922. The magazine would reprint a variety of newspaper comic strips from that month and its success was short-lived, folding after only one year in print.

The first comic book printed in a format we’d recognize and on a monthly basis featuring some material created specifically for the magazine was 1933’s Famous Funnies, which many historians believe to be the first true comic book. The original Famous Funnies was distributed exclusively at Woolworths, but was later sold at news stands for the price of ten cents an issue.

With a number of publishers printing existing comic strips in magazine form, it was only a matter of time before someone started creating original material specifically for comic books instead of newspapers. The first comic book featuring all new material was New Fun, which was printed in 1935 by National Allied Publications, which would eventually evolve into a little company now known as DC Comics.

Making Comics Super

Once comic books got going, it wasn’t long before superheroes entered the picture. While there are tons of contenders for first comic book, practically everyone agrees that Superman, introduced in 1938’s Action Comics, was the first ever superhero. Interestingly, the character almost never made it into the public consciousness. The creators, Siegel and Shuster tried to pitch the idea to newspaper syndicates for years and had pretty much given up on it when DC editor Vin Sullivan dug their story out of a slush pile and decided to run it as a secondary story in the first issue of Action Comics. Despite the fact that he wasn’t even in the lead story, Superman was featured on the cover and he quickly outshined practically all the other comic books DC had published up until that time. In fact, the term “superhero” comes from Superman and before that, heroes were ordinarily called “mystery men” or “masked heroes.”

These days, Action Comics #1 is arguably the most valuable comic book on the market and of the four comics to ever be sold for over one million dollars, two of them were Action Comics #1 issues.

After Superman’s meteoric rise to fame, it wasn’t long before other superheroes entered the fray, including Wonder Woman, Batman, Captain America, Green Lantern and Aquaman. Of all these characters, Captain America was the first to be given his own book without being tested in other stories first. Strangely, while he’s one of the lesser-known of the classic heroes these days, Captain Marvel was actually the most popular character at the time, outselling even Superman.

For a short while, superheroes dominated the marketplace, creating what historians call the Golden Age of Comics, but after WWII ended, it wasn’t long before the public grew weary of the infallible characters. Comic publishers started dropping superhero titles and instead began publishing more Western, sci fi, crime and horror comics. By 1952, the superhero trend was so dead that practically all the hero books were out of print with the exception of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, this ended up being the end of the industries hey day.

Won’t Someone Think Of The Children

True crime and horror comics may have been incredibly popular with comic book readers in the fifties, but for parents, these titles were seen as a devastating attack on their children’s innocence. When Dr. Frederic Wertham released his book, Seduction of the Innocent, blaming comic books for causing “maladjustment” in the children of the day, parents became even more alarmed and more organized. Soon enough, distributors were refusing to sell comics, schools were holding comic book burnings and the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency started to take an interest in comic books. By the mid-1950’s, 75% of comic publishers had been forced out of business. It wasn’t long before industry heads realized that if they wanted to stay in business, they had to start censoring themselves.

In September 1954, the main publishers formed the Comics Magazine Association of America and their leader established a strict set of guidelines for publishers to follow, known as the Comics Code Authority. The CCA seal was affixed to all comics that met their guidelines and soon it became impossible to get a distributor to carry any title that didn’t bear the CCA mark.

CCA rules banned the use of the words “horror” or “terror” in a comic’s title. Vampires, werewolves, walking dead, ghouls, etc. were prohibited. Women had to be drawn without any exaggeration of their physical qualities. While “crime” was allowed to be in the title, it had to be in a smaller print than the rest of the title. No acts of seduction could be featured in any way. No drug use could be portrayed. And, when crime was shown, those committing the offenses could not display any gain from the act.

Interestingly, one classic comic book, Mad, was able to circumvent these rules by switching to a magazine format after the CCA was enacted.

Rules Are For Squares

As the sixties counter culture started to expand, a new movement in comic books was quickly born, eschewing the CCA in favor of sex, drugs and violence. The first underground comic was Frank Stack’s 1962 work, The Adventures of Jesus. In order to escape harassment in his bible-belt home, Stack published the title under the name Foolbert Sturgeon.

Many of the comics used the word “comix” on their covers to help identify them as being non-mainstream. The “X” was also a way to indicate that the content was made for adults. Rather than being delivered to newsstands like traditional comic books, these commix were mostly sold through head shops. Unfortunately, this also ended up putting an end to the movement in the mid-seventies as legislators started cracking down on the sale of paraphernalia and the head shops were closed. This meant mail order was one of the only ways for people to order the underground titles.

Loosening The Noose

Fortunately, mainstream publishers took notice of the success of the underground comics and in 1971, the CCA was revised to allow for sympathetic depiction of criminal behavior and corruption among public officials, the suggestion of seduction, vampires and werewolves.

It wasn’t long before Marvel started to push the boundaries of the remaining rules. The same year, the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare approached Stan Lee and asked him if he could include a few story lines that would warn kids about the dangers of drug use. Lee agreed and wrote a special three-part Spider Man story that included someone being saved by the hero after falling off a building because he was high and one of Spider Man’s friends was revealed to be a drug addict. Lee tried to get the issues approved, but the CCA administrator was sick and the acting administrator refused to let drug use be shown in the issues.

Having the U.S. government on his side, Lee published the comics anyway and despite lacking the CCA approval seal, the issues sold well and were praised by critics. The media coverage embarrassed the CCA and soon the code was revised to allow the depiction of drug use if it was present as a vicious habit.

The End of A (Censorship) Era

As the years passed, comic books began to take a dark turn and became increasingly gritty and many were intentionally printed for adult readers. As a result, fewer and fewer titles bothered to seek CCA approval. By the 2000s, advertisers no longer cared whether or not the issue was approved or not and new publishers didn’t bother to join the CCA no matter how light-hearted their material was.

In 2001, Marvel withdrew from the CCA in order to establish their own ratings system that was based on potential age groups for each comic. In 2010, Bongo Comics quit using the code and in the beginning of 2011, so did DC, opting to use a similar system as Marvel. A day after DC quit, so did Archie Comics –the last publisher still using the code, and with that, the code became defunct.

I know a lot of our readers are comic book fans, so those of you who have knowledge in the area, do you have any good trivia to add? Or even some favorite moments from your favorite comic books?

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, Mental Floss #1, #2

I’ve shared a few BuzzFeed fan art collections before and because they’re just so darn fun I couldn’t help but share another of these galleries with you. This particular gallery features this delightful WolverMickey.

Link

Before World War II, cartoons with war themes attempted to use humor or satire to sway public opinion. The spread of military newspapers and the inclusion of cartoons as a feature designed to boost morale changed all that.

UP FRONT

Arguably the most well-known of the World War II cartoonists, Bill Mauldin created the characters Willie and Joe, who were depicted as rank-and-file soldiers dealing with the realities of war without sugarcoating that some leaders, including General George S. Patton, would have preferred to see. Mauldin’s caricatures, which began in 1940 when he was an 18-year-old in the U.S. Army’s 45th Infantry Division, were initially published in the division’s newsletter and soon became hugely popular with the soldiers on the front lines. In 1943 Mauldin’s cartoon was picked up by Stars and Stripes and was then distributed domestically by United Features Syndicate as Up Front, thanks in part to the war correspondent Ernie Pyle, who helped bring the cartoons to the attention of the general public.

Bill Mauldin did not attempt to glorify the fighting in any manner; rather, he used wry humor to demonstrate the absurdities of war. For example, to make an exaggerated commentary on the practice of sending increasingly younger soldiers to the front lines, Mauldin showed Willie and Joe in a bunker, reading a notice handed to them by an adolescent dressed in a soldier’s uniform. One says to the other, “I guess it’s okay. The replacement center says he comes from a long line of infantrymen.”

SAD SACK

At the time that he was drafted in the U.S. Army in June 1941, George Baker was a struggling animator on the verge of losing his job with the Walt Disney Company in Los Angeles. Although the war in Europe had been raging for several years, the possibility of the United States entering the war seemed remote to many at the time. Baker and other soldiers went through the motions of their training with little sense of purpose, waiting for their one-year enlistment to be up so they could get on with their lives.

To break up the monotony of Army life, Baker began to create drawings on his own time, attempting to explain pictorially what life was like in the armed forces. After taking his drawings to several New York publishers and being rejected, a despondent Baker put his cartoons away and tried to forget about them. However, a few months later, the armed forces sponsored a cartoon contest for servicemen. Baker decided to enter one of his drawing into the contest -and won first prize. This caught the attention of the editor of the Army’s Yank magazine, Major Hartzell Spence, who secured Baker a position on the Yank’s staff. Baker worked for Yank for the duration of World War II, moving from one training camp to another as a salesman for the magazine while also being exposed to the many facets of Army life, which he then used for the basis of his cartoons.

Baker’s character, named the Sad Sack, was a stumbling, bumbling soldier trying to fit in an Army comprised of stereotypes: trim and well-dressed men in perfect marching lines, belligerent drill sergeants, and unsympathetic cooks, doctors, and barbers. The Sack represented the common man trying to live up to the perceived ideal of what a soldier should be, and usually without success. Baker tried to show situations that troops in all branches of the service  -situated in any theater or at any training base- would recognize. One famous cartoon, titled “Drill,” showed the Sack in a marching drill, repeatedly bumping into taller, neatly-groomed men lined up in perfect formations, and then getting trampled and carted off in a stretcher. (Neither the Sack nor anyone else in the cartoons spoke a word.) Baker took a more lighthearted approach with his illustrations than did Bill Mauldin, which may be why Baker didn’t get into much trouble with his superiors.

After the war, Baker returned to civilian life and continued to draw Sad Sack until 1958, but Sack the civilian was not as popular as Sack the soldier, in part due to the younger audience for comic books. Baker had to use entirely new settings and use less suggestive material -and in the comic books, the Sack engaged in conversations, which changed the style of the cartoon considerably. Although Sad Sack (illustrated by other artists after 1958 and distributed by Harvey Comics) lasted into the 1990s and produced several spin-offs, it never matched the popularity of the cartoons done by Baker during World War II.

MALE CALL

Prior to World War II, Terry and the Pirates, produced by Milton Caniff, was one of the most popular comic strips in American newspapers. The serial comic followed the exploits of a young boy, Terry, and his adult sidekick, Pat Ryan, in the Far East, and the supporting cast included a beautiful blonde woman named Burma. When war broke out, Caniff, who was unable to enlist due to a childhood illness that damaged his lungs, wanted to contribute in his own way to the war effort. He created a special version of Terry and the Pirates, with Burma as the star, for the military’s newspapers. When civilian newspapers complained about not having access to the “unauthorized” version of the comic strip, Caniff changed it completely (including revising the material from a serial to a stand-alone) and renamed it Male Call. The new star was Miss Lace, a dark-haired woman who visited men on military bases and addressed everyone as “General.” Male Call’s intended audience was comprised exclusively of men in the military, so it was raunchier than what would appear in civilian newspapers, and contained numerous double entendres of a sexual nature. One of the strip’s notable features is that it showed injured soldiers in a genuine manner, including those who had been blinded or had lost a limb. Male Call last appeared in military newspapers in 1947.

Another of Caniff’s creations was the serial comic Steve Canyon, which he began in 1947 and continued until his death in 1988. The title character started out as a civilian pilot but joined the Air Force during the Korean War. Steve Canyon did not reach the heights of popularity seen by Terry and the Pirates and contained less-suggestive material than Male Call to appease the general public, but it achieved a wide circulation and lasted four decades, much longer than a typical comic strip.

G.I. JOE

Before Hasbro created the G.I. Joe action figure in 1964, Dave Breger introduced the original G.I. Joe to his comic strips in 1942. Begun upon Breger’s enlistment in 1941 and originally entitled Private Breger, it was distributed domestically by King Features Syndicate. In order to have the strip published in military newspapers, Breger had to rename his character. Joe was an ordinary private who attempted to be respectful of his superiors but often ended up doing something that was good for a chuckle. By no measure was the boyish-looking Joe even close to being the gruff hero idealized by the more well-known Hasbro action figures. G.I. Joe caught on with the troops so much that it became a name given to the common foot soldier. The 1945 movie  The Story of G.I. Joe was about correspondent Ernie Pyle, and Habro’s action figures simply pirated the name. After the war, Breger -both the cartoonist and the character- returned to civilian life. The new comic, Mister Breger, began to appear in newspaper, and continued until 1969.

TODAY’S MILITARY COMICS

As the World War II-era comic were phased out and others that had a military theme, such as Sgt. Rock, came and went, more comic books focused on the exploits of superheroes, and newspapers tried to make their funny pages, well, funnier. The unpopularity of the Vietnam War was another contributing factor in the decline of military-themed comics in the public eye. One exception was Beetle Bailey, which debuted in 1951 and has continued to this day, seemingly stuck in time and never engaged in combat (which may help explain its long tenure), but still good for a laugh.

Does that mean that military comics are becoming extinct? Not at all -they have simply become modernized via the internet, and continue to be printed in newspapers wherever U.S. troops are stationed. Today’s military comics aren’t just for the soldiers, either -one of the more popular is Julie Negron’s Jenny the Military Spouse, which revolves entirely around the lives of Air Force spouses and makes little mention of the enlisted men and women. Other comic strips focus on a certain service branch, as the ease of distributing a comic through the web means that any artist with a bit of skill and a computer can be successful without the direct support of the armed forces. Reading the funnies has long been a means for soldiers to share a daily laugh, to relieve a bit of the stress that comes with a military lifestyle, and to realize that they are not the only ones who want to roll their eyes when the red tape becomes almost overwhelming.

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The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Salutes the Armed Forces.

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts.

If you like Neatorama, you’ll love the Bathroom Reader Institute’s books – go ahead and check ‘em out!

The Oatmeal has a hilarious collection of things we should have learned in school, but my favorite is the math lesson above. After all, we’ve all been in that frustrating situation before.

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While those of you with kids might have gone to see the Smurfs movie, I’m assuming the rest of you haven’t. From what I’ve heard, you aren’t missing much if you haven’t seen it, but I can’t talk from first-hand experience because I haven’t gone either. Regardless of what you think of the new movie, it’s always nice to look back at the things that made The Smurfs so great in the first place.

Image via It’s Meng! [Flickr]

What’s In A Name?

You may have wondered where the heck the word “smurf” came from and why the characters use it so often in the show, but as it turns out, the original characters weren’t “smurfs,” they were “schtroumpfs.” The whole thing started when the creator of the comics, Peyo, was at lunch with a fellow Belgian comic artist named André Franquin. If you’ve ever had a moment where you forgot the name of something, then you’ll understand Peyo’s frustration when he couldn’t remember the word “salt.” Being a goofy guy, he instead pointed at the salt and asked his friend to pass the schtroumpf. Franquin responded, “Here’s the schtroumpf — when you are done schtroumpfing, schtroumpf it back.” The rest of the meal, the two joked around using the word “schtroumpf” periodically throughout their conversation.

From Schtroumpfs to Smurfs

Now you know why the characters use their name so much in conversation, but suddenly, the question of how the comics became The Smurfs instead of The Schtroumpfs. Well, as I said, this all happened in Belgium, where the native language is French. The first language the comic was translated to was Dutch and while the name could have stayed the same (do you really need to translate an imaginary word?), Schtroumpfs didn’t quite sound right to Dutch speakers, so the name was instead changed to smurfen. When the comic was translated to English, the word “smurf” sounded good, so it was based on the Dutch version.

Image via Stephen and Claire Farnsworth [Flickr]

From Minor Diversion To Lead Characters

The first introduction of the Smurf characters started in Peyo’s earlier comic, Johan and Pirlouit. This strip took place in the Middle Ages and incorporated elements of sorcery and sword fights. In 1958, Peyo started a new series of the strip, which revolved around the characters searching for a magic flute. At one point in the story, the characters run into a number of schtroumpfs, small creatures with blue skin and human-like features. The smurf characters were a smashing success, so Peyo wrote them their own strip that first appeared in 1959. Although the smurfs would periodically interact with Johan and Pirlouit, the spin off was largely based on their own stories.

Why Is There Only One Girl?

Technically there are two girls, Smurfette, who everyone is familiar with, and Sassette, who first appeared in the fifth season of the cartoon. According to the smurf back story though, there are actually no smurf females. Smurfette was actually created by Gargamel in part of an evil plan to cause jealousy amongst the smurfs and Sassette was created by the smurfs using the same magic formula they stole from Gargamel. Sassette was intended to provide Smurfette with a female friend, but because Sassette was a pretty big tom boy, the two didn’t get along at first. If you’re wondering why Sassette is so much smaller than the adult smurfs if she’s not supposed to be a baby, it’s because all adult smurfs stand 3 crab apples tall, but they only had two crab apples worth of clay when they created her.

Strangely, after making sure the two female characters were both made from clay and magic spells, season 8 featured another female, Nanny Smurf, with no background story explaining her creation. Nanny Smurf was Grandpa Smurf’s gal, but she disappeared in a haunted house for 500 years before the smurfs rescued her. She only lasted one season and appeared in one episode in season 9 before disappearing forever again.

If you’ve been itching for more female characters in the comic, Peyo’s son who is the current writer of the French comics has promised that he will be introducing more females in upcoming years.

Image via Scottobear [Flickr]

What Is A Smurf Berry?

Most people seem to think that smurf berries aren’t real, but as it turns out, they are really supposed to be the berries from the sarsaparilla tree. Interestingly, in the comics, the smurfs don’t eat smurf berries, but instead gorge on the leaves of the plant.

Classic Cartoon Voices

If you’ve ever watched the cartoon and thought that Papa Smurf or Gargamel’s voices sounded familiar, you’re right, you probably have heard them somewhere else. Papa Smurf was voiced by legendary cartoon voice actor Don Messick who also did the voices of Boo Boob Bear, Ranger Smith, Astro, Muttley, Scooby Doo, Scrappy Doo and Droopy. As for  Gargamel, his voice was performed by Paul Winchell, a professional ventriloquist who became a voice actor later in life. Some of Winchell’s more famous roles included Dick Dastardly (that’s right, he and Mesick worked together before) and everyone’s favorite spring-tailed predator, Tigger.

Image via DNNYA17 [Flickr]

Do you guys dig The Smurfs? What about the movie, if you’ve seen it, what did you think?

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, Smurfs Wiki #1, #2, #3

Anyone who has ever owned a cat knows all they really want is a place to nap, food, a nice scratch post, things to play with and an occassional petting session (that had better be on their terms). That’s why this comic is just so dead on.

Link Via ICanHasCheezburger

Jill Harness is getting ready to cover Comic Con this week in San Diego. I hope she brings back lots of pictures! As a preview, she’s posted a roundup of quite a few products that will be officially unveiled at, or exclusive to, the convention, like this awesome limited edition Nerd Domo. See the rest at Rue the Day. Link

Jim asked Julie to marry him by creating a website with comics drawn of their lives together. This may sound like something you’ve seen before, but there are parts along the way that will draw you in and make you wish them happiness forever. A video of her reaction has been added at the end. Link -via the Presurfer

These dorky comics by Adam McCauley are great for anyone who loves puns, particularly those that involve classic sci fi jokes. There are more at the link, including a few Star Wars ones as well.

Link

He became increasingly feral as time went on just for something to do, despite that being the exact opposite of what happens when you hang around with people all the time. His one glorious moment came when a squad of “Warpies” assumed his sound-mimicking powers were no threat because they’d never seen Police Academy. His character was such an unemployable failure even in the X-community that his “happy ending” was finding and moving back in with his parents.

Read more about Kylun and seven other strange X-men at Cracked. Link -via Rue The Day

Be warned, if you tend to cry after watching emotionally-charged moments, this article (particularly the videos) might have you spraying your computer with tears. I know I was misty-eyed while writing it.

1. Borderlands

I have to admit, this just might be my favorite wedding proposal ever. Ben and his girlfriend, Tora, were both seriously addicted to the popular Gearbox RPG shooter Borderlands. That’s why when Ben decided to ask Tora to marry him, he decided to ask Gearbox for help popping the question. The company’s response was more positive than Ben ever could have hoped for, as they spent a week working on a special Borderlands-themed wedding proposal video for the couple. It even featured a few hilarious quips from the robot character, Claptrap.

Ben got all of Tora’s friends and family members together under the guise of throwing her a birthday party and unveiled the video by saying he got a hold of a new Borderlands trailer. Needless to say, after watching the video, Tora’s response was a big fat “yes,” although she did later admitted that she was a little upset that Ben got to go to the Gearbox studio without her.

Video links #1 and #2

2. Mario

This guy and his girlfriend both seriously love Mario (if you couldn’t tell already by looking at the room) so in order to ask his girlfriend to marry him, he set up a functional Mario question mark box that would drop the ring when she hit it with her head. While the set up is exactly as geeky as you might expect, it’s surprisingly emotionally touching when she tries to hold back her tears as she jumps to hit the box.

Video link

3. Bejeweled

If your girlfriend loves the game Bejeweled and you happen to be a software programmer, you can do something above and beyond if you’re so inclined. Or at least, that’s what Bernie Peng did when he decided to propose, using his programming skills to create a custom Bejeweled game. Once the score got high enough, the regular screen would clear out and a ring would appear on the DS screen. Bernie then dropped to one knee and presented her with a pink ring that looked like it belonged in the game.

As if the story weren’t great enough on its own, the company that makes Bejeweled was so impressed by Bernie’s proposal that they offered to pay for the couple’s honeymoon and they volunteered to supply all of the wedding guests with a free version of Bejeweled. Now that’s a great way to capitalize on the publicity of the wedding proposal!

4. Google Maps

Michael Weiss-Malik’s girlfriend already agreed to marry him during a low-key, at home proposal, but Michael felt the occasion needed more pizazz, so he moved on to his proposal 2.0 plan, which involved a hot tip he learned at work. Did I mention Michael works at Google?

When the Google Street View car was set to drive by the company’s headquarters, everyone was invited to go outside and wave at the car, but Michael opted to do something even more memorable. He dressed in some kind of animal costume and stood outside holding a banner that read “Proposal 2.0 Marry Me Leslie!!”

Then, instead of emailing her the link directly, he asked internet users to email her and tell her why she should marry Michael or to link to his website that included the Google Street View scene.

5. Muppets

Anyone can order a custom Muppet doll to propose for them, but Sid Ceaser decided to go one step further by making a three minute long, professional-looking video staring Muppets made to look like him and his girlfriend. He then brought her to the movies where the proposal film was played before the feature presentation. When she said yes, the lights came on, revealing that her friends and family made up the entire theater audience.

Video link

6. Light Writing

Light Writing Proposal from Derick Childress on Vimeo.

Light graffiti involves using lights and a camera to “tag” a building or other surface. Usually, it’s taken close up in one long-exposure shot, but when one photographer decided to use the technique to ask his girlfriend to marry him, the production got pretty massive pretty fast. In order to spell out “Emily Will You Marry Me?” the photographer decided to shoot the massive light letters from a high vantage point that would show a huge chunk of downtown Raleigh.

After scouting out the perfect building, he rented a hotel room there and had his friends help him shoot the images and throw out the lights to create the writing. The process was incredibly tedious and technical, but if you want to learn more about how it was done, his website has a lot more information. If you don’t care about the technical side of things, the video shows all you need to know…how the lights spelled out his message.

Video link

7. LOL Cats

I Can Has Cheezburger played a critical role in this marriage proposal, where a man used photos of his cat and ICHC’s classic LOL builder to create a one-of-a-kind proposal that went on the site’s front page. When she gave her answer, they added a few captioned pics of the girl with her kitty to the post so everyone knew she gave a resounding “afurrmitive” to the question.

8. Comics

As a freelance artist who has worked on a number of major comic books, Leigh Gallagher knew he didn’t spend enough time at home or give his girlfriend nearly enough attention. That’s why he made sure his proposal comics were filled with heart-filled confessions, humor and an unbelievable attention to detail. Despite his self-confessed flaws, the comics made one thing abundantly clear: Leigh is one heck of a catch.

If all the touchy-feeliness of this article has gotten to you and you want to read about a few proposals that haven’t gone this smoothly, then you might want to check out this older Neatorama article featuring 14 Romantic Gestures Gone Terribly Wrong.

Of course, if you are feeling the emotions here, feel free to share your own proposal stories in the comments!

The history compiled in Dr. Von Fangirl’s post goes beyond common knowledge and delves deep into out-of-print minutiae regarding Selina Kyle’s turn to our favorite pleather-wearing bad girl.

If you were to wander into a comic shop and ask the clerk behind the counter why Selina became Catwoman, chances are they wouldn’t be able to tell you in great detail. Not because she doesn’t have a detailed history, but because most of the comics that touch on her origin stories are out of print–and have been for a long, long time. In fact, this problem isn’t limited to just the clerk in the comic shop; so little information is available online regarding Selina’s origins that there is no way to get a complete picture of who she is from any source.

About eighty percent of Catwoman’s post-crisis comics appearances remain uncollected, including all of her 90‘s solo-series (except four issues in ‘The Cat File‘–which is out of print). This means the only way you’ll find them is by scouring back issue bins–and even then, you might not know what to look for. If you ever want to read Selina’s complete origin story, it’d take forever to track everything down and piece it together.

Thus, after nearly nine months of preparation, searching, research and hard work, I have compiled the most complete post-crisis Catwoman origin in history. Since I own about four hundred of Selina’s four hundred-sixty comics appearances published since the crisis–indeed, I own EVERY appearance from 1986 to 1999 as well as her 1989, 1993 and 2002 series and am slowly filling in what few gaps are left–I was able to comb through every appearance, looking for mentions of her origin so that nothing would be left out.

It’s a long post, but worth it if you like knowing things other people don’t–it’s full of those. Read more at Well, What’s the Matter? Link

Link | Featured image: Paul Sizer

Artist Lucy Knisley has recreated the series (up through Order of the Phoenix) in comic book form, making it much easier to read for people who maybe just want to skim the plot lines instead of reading all seven books word-for-word. And for those of us who loved reading all seven books word-for-word, repeatedly, the comics are just plain funny. “Snakey talky” and “Yur Krumbelievable” are my favorites.

Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire

Order of the Phoenix

Link via Flavorwire

I’m not big into comic books, necessarily, but I love artist Fabian Gonzalez’s graphic representation of some of the most beloved superheroes of all time. I think Zorro is my favorite. The print is available in various sizes.

Link via Flavorwire

D’oh no! Its’ the Smithers Love Song by Your Favorite Martian.

Please allow me to introduce you to team PROBLEM SOLVERZ, created by artist Ben Jones and Eric Kaplan, one of The Big Bang Theory writers. If this doesn’t blow your mind, nothing will. (Hat tip to Dave Goetsch!)

Allie at Hyperbole and a Half relates four tales of something she did that turned out completely different from what she expected. At her expense. You can imagine they are all hilarious. Link

Your piggies will look Marvel-ous if you can find a geek pedicurist to reproduce this comic book look.  On second thought most of these look easy enough to DIY.

Link – Via  Geekologie

If you like these, be sure to scroll to the bottom for links to all sorts of other great Comic Con coverage from this year and previous years. Now, on to the costumes!

All images by Jill Harness (Hey, that’s me!), and Zeon Santos.

Heroes:

Now this is Sparta!

This Xena has incredible leather-working skills. She made the whole costume herself.

Normally I try to leave myself out of these things, but I could resist a photo opp with White Gold.

Mad Max costumes are always pretty cool.

Villains:

Normally, I try to avoid putting youngsters up, but this little one’s costume was just too “Kick Ass” to pass up, and it’s pretty hard to guess his true identity. I do have to wonder if his parents actually let him see the movie or not though.

Is Doctor Horrible still considered a villain even though you support him?

Oh no, Pedobear is on the loose!!! And he’s a even more of a predator this time.

Doctor Who:

There were quite a few doctors this year, and I was thrilled to see that most of them dressed up as two of my favorites, David Tennant and Tom Baker.

All of the David Tennant doctors looked a lot like him, but I liked this one the best because he even brought along accessories from the era, including 3D glasses.

Tom Barker’s always a fun one to do thanks to his wonderful scarf.

Of course, where would any doctor be without his trusty T.A.R.D.I.S.?

Steampunk:

This group is the coolest group of Steampunks I’ve seen around. All of the League of S.T.E.A.M.’s stuff actually works and most of it is powered by steam. They’ve even been featured on Boing Boing before.

This whole wheelchair was decked out and it looked wonderful.

Steampunk was such a huge trend this year that there was at least 6 separate booths selling gear. This girl was advertising for one of them by sporting their clothing around the convention.

Sci-Fi Theatre:

There is no try, there is only do… and this guy does make a great Yoda.

Poor, poor little red shirt. At least he managed to survive.

How perfect is this guys Morpheus costume? Seriously, it was awesome.

Horror:

If they put this guy in a box, he would make quite the Ash doll.

I particularly love this costume because the bloody nurses were some of my favorite Silent Hill characters.

Child’s Play:

Do you prefer your Alice In Wonderland in classic…

Or modern version. (BTW, am I the only one who thinks this Alice looks a lot like Rachael Berry of Glee?)

Carmen San Diego is in…San Diego, and hey, there’s Waldo!

Fans of The Dark Crystal are sure to recognize this woman as a very  sexy skekis.

Speaking of Jim Henson movies, how awesome is this girl’s Goblin King costume? And yes, she does have a massive bulge.

There were two girls dressed as the main girl in How to Train Your Dragon and both of their costumes were great.

This one even had her hair and axe look perfect for the part.

These days, you can’t mention children’s flicks without someone talking about Disney princesses, and these two really fit their parts.

Mario Love:

This father and son team made quite the Mario and Luigi.

And here’s everyone’s second-favorite characters together, Luigi and Princess Daisy.

Does anyone know what the blue version of Princess Peach is called, if anything?

And, as promised, here is some major linkage to other posts and photos involving Comic Con. There are over 100 more costume pictures from this year on my blog, along with some from 2009 and 2008. I also have a collection from last year featured on Neatorama, along with a list of 10 Types of Comic Con Fans.

For the convention itself, I have some cool photos of the exhibits from both 2010 (to be uploaded soon) and 2009. On Mental Floss, there is also coverage of celebrities and independent artists at this year’s event.

If you like hot girls in costumes, I’ve also got an extensive collection of cute girls in costume at the convention from both this year and 2008.

I also have a video of two Elvis storm troppers singing Evil and awesome Stitch Vinyl toys on display at the 2009 Comic Con.

The new look — with an understated “W” insignia, a midnight blue jacket and a flinty fusion of black tights and boots — is darker than the famed swimsuit-style outfit, and aims to be contemporary, functional and, as Tim Gunn of “Project Runway” might say, less costumey.

Given the hope that the character will one day have her own international film franchise (a feature has long been gestating at Warner Entertainment, DC’s parent company), one test of the design was to imagine how it would look standing next to, say, Batman’s politically neutral ensemble. “The original costume was the American flag brought to life,” Mr. Lee said. “This one is a little more universal.”

Link

The Bayeux Tapestry {wiki} illustrated the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Historic Tale Construction Kit allows anyone to use pictures from the original tapestry to illustrate other things. Many panels have been made to illustrate pop culture and internet memes, and you can see in two collections. Link one and link two -via The Litter Box

Anything you’ve ever wondered about Simpson’s Comics, Radioactive Man, Bartman, Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror, Roswell – Little Green Man, or Futurama, etc. etc, etc.? Now’s your chance to ask the main principal writer and artist/editor. (Also the editor of this new book!)

So go ahead and leave your question in the comments below and we’ll select some to put in front of Bill!

It’s been 15 years since the beloved characters Calvin and Hobbes left the comic pages. Creator Bill Watterson hasn’t given an interview to anyone since 1989, but he recently answered some questions for Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter John Campanelli. Here he explains what he would tell grieving fans.

It’s always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip’s popularity and repeated myself for another five, 10 or 20 years, the people now “grieving” for “Calvin and Hobbes” would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I’d be agreeing with them.

I think some of the reason “Calvin and Hobbes” still finds an audience today is because I chose not to run the wheels off it.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by rosekat.

What if Shakespearean costumes were designed by an artist who drew superheroes? That would never happen, right?

In 1969, Sheldon Feldner contacted Marvel Comics, asking if one of Marvel’s artists would be interested in designing costumes for a production of William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar by the University Theatre Company at Santa Cruz at the newly-built Cowell College of the University of California at Santa Cruz.

As luck would have it, the Kirby family had recently moved to California, and Stan Lee recommended that Feldner contact Jack Kirby.

Jack Kirby {wiki} was the creator of such characters as Captain America, The Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. But he went to work designing not only the costumes but also a poster for the student production. His sketches, and some pictures of the actual costumes, are posted at the Kirby Museum. Link -via Metafilter

If you have a cat or you just like cats, here are seventeen facts about them that you might find interesting from that fountain of strangeness, Matthew Inman. Who knew Abraham Lincoln was a cat lover?

Link – via artsyspot

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by sanela.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Ape Lad.

After almost 70 years, Archie, the perpetual teenager will finally choose which girl he really wants and will propose in an upcoming issue:

Archie Comics’ official blog confirmed the epochal news, digging into its cache of exclamation marks to declare: “ARCHIE ANDREWS IS GETTING MARRIED!”

In the story, Archie has finally graduated from Riverdale High School; in fact, he’s five years older and a college graduate. (We told you this was the apocalypse.) He may even have an actual job when he gets engaged.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ccmushroom.

Sure, werewolves are frightening when the moon is full, but the rest of the month they’re just ordinary people! "The Kind You Don’t Bring Home to Mother" is a werewolf comic without the werewolves, created by Ryan Estrada, the artist behind the Neatorama comic.

I had an ill-fated romance in India a few years back. I was on a plane to Mumbai to pick up my girlfriend, who had decided to travel the world with me, despite her parent’s protests that she was seeing a foreigner.

It was a long flight, and I was nervous, excited, and scared. So I decided to draw a comic just to pass the time. I gave myself a completely random jumping off point: to make a werewolf comic without a werewolf in it.

But with all that was on my mind, the comic subconsciously became about a relationship, with lycanthropy basically being a metaphor for cultural differences, and the characters came to represent where I was in my relationship.

Though the girl dumped me shortly after I got off the plane, the comic stuck with me.

Link – via ryanestrada

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ryanestrada.

I highly recommend reading this brilliant article that details the exploits of real life superheroes. Their main focus is on the man on the right in the photo, his name is Master Legend and he makes his own weapons to fight crime. And he give socks to homeless people to help fight staph infections.

While their hearts are in the right place, I have to believe there’s less insane ways to save the world. Still, it’s hard to resist adoring their great stories:

There was the time Master Legend and the Ace shut down a crack den; the drug kingpin they put out of business; the money Master Legend forcibly retrieved from a thief who stole from a handicapped Vietnam vet; and the recent mission when the Justice Force had to “put the stomp on a child molester and his gang of crackheads.” They had a plan, but things went awry when Master Legend’s brother was captured in the thick of battle by the child molester, whom they call Tree Man Roy.

UPDATE: For more pictures and a touch more info from the author of the article itself, be sure to visit this link.

Link