Happy Fourth of July

To our countrymen, have a wonderful holiday! And to the rest of our friends -please enjoy this awesome picture from the 1976 Marvel calendar!

 

Independence Day 2013

Happy 237th Birthday, America!!

Doug:  Since the Godfather of Soul came up in the Soul Music post a few weeks ago, here's a heaping dose of American patriotism for you:

Holiday Comics -- Have a Favorite?

Doug:  Earlier this fall, Karen and I were debating what to do with our schedule as we'd made up our mind that we were going to take a vacation in January.  For those of you who look up and down the sidebar, you know that we have sort of a "coming soon" feature.  A long time ago we announced about six months worth of stories or topics that we were going to review.  As it became obvious that December was going to be an issue in filling the Mondays as we do with our partner reviews (we didn't want to be stuck in the middle of a storyline as January dawned), I asked if we could do a couple of Christmas comics.  Of course, nothing really leapt immediately to mind; about the only one I could come up with off the top of my head was the Spidey/Stegron/Lizard clash that ran in Amazing Spider-Man #'s 165-166.  Later, I recalled that an early Marvel Team-Up was set over Christmas.

Doug:  Since we nixed the idea, at least for this year, I thought we could at least throw this out there to our readers and perhaps get some suggestions that we might use next year or even later.  You know we do up Halloween pretty big around here each year, but I don't know that we've ever really hit on another holiday with a comic review.  So what do you know of that is maybe a favorite Bronze-era story of yours?  Of course there are no guarantees that either Karen or I would have a particular book that gets nominated, but hey -- shopping is fun, and who knows?  You might inspire us!

Happy Fourth of July

Karen: Another year in the history books for the old US of A. We hope all our fellow Americans have a wonderful day with family and friends. Get that grill going and get your fireworks ready!

Happy Birthday, America!

Doug: Through the highs and lows, the good times and bad, and even in spite of some of the stupid things we do, I still look with pride on the Stars and Stripes. Thanks for being a Land of Opportunity.

Doug: The following story was relayed to me by my wife's uncle, a Vietnam veteran who works with other vets. He put out an e-mail that simply asked his clients, "What do you think of on the 4th of July?" Here is one of the replies:

My first contact with the American military was when I was a young boy living in Beirut Lebanon. Though I don't remember why, Eisenhower sent the Marines to Lebanon and after they landed they set up camp on the beach, directly under our 4th story balcony.

After a few days, we developed a game where we'd throw water balloons off of our balcony at them and if we hit them they'd give us a chocolate bar. They were all bigger than life and so nice.

They were there for one of the holidays (July 4, Memorial Day, Veterans Day -- I can't remember) and they had a big party on the beach. They told us stories about living in America and how wonderful it was. I was enthralled and wanted so badly to move here.

The luckiest day in my life was the day our ship came through New York Harbour and Lady Liberty shown down upon me true freedom.

Corny, but true to this day.

Happy 4th ....

Farid