Apparently police training includes the all-important "Self Control Near Fried Pies" course, which I imagine involves Ding-Dongs wired to induce electrical shocks.

And i assume everyone's already seen Sean Baby's hilarious commentary on the ads, but just in case... http://seanbaby.com/hostess.htm

Do you think he could issue an executive order to have it ret-conned?

Because Hal slipped in the shower and knocked himself unconscious.

Can't believe T. hasn't shown up on this thread yet with his new avatar.

Nosebleeds...not just for nugget miners anymore...

I still think GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS (1982) was the first comic book evidence of the psychic nosebleed.

The History of the Psychic Nosebleed
Filed under: Comics, Medicine | 10 Comments »

There’s been some debate over the earliest appearance of the “psychic nosebleed.” The first reference I’m aware is not from a comic book, but instead from David Cronenberg’s movie Scanners.

Here’s two quick quotes from the film:

I, I must remind you that the, uh, scanning experience is usually a painful one, sometimes resulting in nosebleeds, earaches, stomach cramps, nausea.

and

Cameron: [sees that Kim has had a nosebleed] What happened?
Kim: I was scanned. The woman in the waiting room…
Cameron: She scanned you?
Kim: No, not her. Her child. Her unborn child scanned me.

Scanners is from 1981. Somebody once suggested Stephen King’s Firestarter, published in 1980, but I couldn’t find any occurrences of any sort of psychic bleeding when I read the book. Maybe they meant the movie, which was released in 1984, but I haven’t seen it and Scanners predates it.

For now, I’m going to consider Scanners the earliest psychic nosebleed unless anyone can show me an earlier example.

For comic books, the first example I’m aware of is from the X-Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson, published in 1982, just one year behind Scanners.

For monthly comics, the earliest psychic nosebleed I’ve run across is Adventures of Superman #427 (April 1987) by Wolfman and Ordway, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there are earlier examples.

The principal writer of the ads was E. Nelson Bridwell, with Rozakis doing a few. Curt Swan drew most of the DC strips. Neal Adams and Dick Giordano each penciled one strip. Giordano and Ted Blaisdell did some inks, but Vince Colletta inked most of them. Sol Harrison was the editor.

Andru, Romita, Dave Cockrum, George Tuska, Don Heck, Gene Colan, Sal Buscema, Alan Kupperberg, Herb Trimpe, and Frank Goddamn Miller (wo drew an ad featuring the Human Torch) were among Marvel's pencilers. Inkers included Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Bob McLeod, and Klaus Janson. One ad was drawn by either Keith Pollard or Arvell Jones, and inked by Pablo Marcos. Marvel's writing credits are more obscure. Marv Wolfman said he "might have" written a few, but "couldn't be certain." Sol Brodsky, head of licensing, commissioned them.

I think there's a more complete answer to be given as why there were all those 100-page giants. Here's my understanding: in 1974 the price of paper and the price of gas (for shipping) both suddenly doubled, which meant that Marvel and DC were both suddenly losing money on every 15 cent comic they published, so they needed to suddenly jump to much higher prices to make any money at all, but they couldn't just alienate all their readers. As a result, Marvel started "Giant-Size" comics and DC started "100 Page Giants", both stuffed with reprints to pad them out, so that they could make a profit on at least SOME of their comics at least until inflation was brought under control.

I think that may be the sort of explanation Jerry was looking for. I can't actually site a source on any of this. I've just sort of gleaned it over the years. I don't know if it's right, and I'd love to hear the full story.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/26/barackobama-uselections2008

Rully Dasaad, a childhood friend from Indonesia, recalls:

"At the time, my father and President Sukarno were the only people in the country with Cadillacs, and both were presents from my grandpa, who was the richest man in Indonesia. Grandpa bought me all the DC Comic books, and I was the only one who had them, so Barry and Yanto would borrow the books and copy pictures of Batman and Spider-Man out and ask me to judge which was better. Barry was always better than Yanto. Even Yanto always agreed with that. Barry had a great eye."

Now that's the real thing. I love that paragraph because it conveys the significance of having American comic books in Indonesia circa 1969, and maybe it even suggests what they might have meant to an American boy living overseas and otherwise cut off from them.