Forty years ago, I was in my senior year at Cornell University and a proud member of the Ithaca Comic Book Club. We had monthly meetings, ran ITHACON and even had a newsletter, The Panel, in that pre-digital age.

I supplied the cover to The Panel’s December 1984 issue. Clearly I was riffing on one of my favorite Christmas stories – “The Christmas Peril”. It was originally published in Batman #27, from 1944) but I read it as a reprint in Batman #239 (one of my all-time favorite comics.)

Of note – that’s my boyhood house they are flying above, and the neighbors’ houses too. Even Mr. Meyers’—the next-door neighbors’—pick-up truck is there! And in those days before Google Maps, we had to draw stuff like that without any satellite photo references. It was all memory and imagination, baby.

A 1984 Christmas List

I also wrote a column for this issue called “Why not? It’s the Annual Christmas List”. I do believe I collaborated with Carmela Merlo and Bill Turner for this one. It’s a goofy complication of the club member’s Christmas wishes and comics characters’ (circa 1984) Christmas wishes.

Funny to see how it is so “of the moment”. For example, it includes bits like The Flash reacting to editorial decisions by Dick Giordano, or the Hulk wistfully recalling past artists who illustrated his late-Silver and Bronze Age adventures. And I tell you what, you don’t see many references to Ruben Flagg’s cat in today’s world of comics.

What the World Needs Now, Is… Kubert, Sweet Kubert

It’s been a great year here at Pop Culture Squad and for With Further Ado. Let’s wrap it up with a couple of Christmas treats that even long-time comic fans might have never seen: Joe Kubert Christmas art from PS magazine back in 2003.

Buon Natale!

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Next week : It’s a big, bold New Year!