Tessera

What music do you embrace that was recorded before you were born?

This 1959 promo photo of "Bat Masterson" comic strip artist Howard Nostrand is bugging me, because... look at that strip. Is he a right-handed guy inking from right to left???

Photo, man at art table with unfinished strip on it.

peter james zarrella@peterjameszarrella.bsky.social · 2d ago

PREDICTION: Pirro will have strong non-justice reasons for dropping the case, to keep mistakes in dealing with the grand jury from coming out as they have in recent cases. She will be fired anyway, because Trump cannot afford the optics of being disobeyed without penalty.

wtop.com/dc/2026/08/f...

Retailer: WHERE ARE THOSE 50 COPIES OF A BOOK THAT I ORDERED 3 WEEKS AGO?!? Me: They arrived a week ago. Retailer: (sound of checking) So they did... and we've sold out already?? Yes. Guess I better order another 50! Some days, business works.

In 1923, H.T. Webster drew a cartoon showing how a century in the future, the machines would draw the comics.

An electric "idea dynamo" machine is attached to a Cartoon Dynamo mechanical device and a bottle of ink and is drawing away while someone stands talking on a candlestick phone. There are piles of completed comcis pages around.

“Mom, Billy Pilgrim’s come unstuck in time!” “Again? I swear, if that boy’s mother wasn’t on the building committee at the church, I’d just him drift. Some people just don’t, y’know? Fetch me the Elmer’s and a spatula—not the good one, the green one.”

Do you have a Wikipedia account? Have you changed how you wish to present yourself to the public? You CAN change your user name! This will update how your name shows up in editing histories both new and old. (It will not, however, change how your name shows up in signatures in editing discussions.)

Wikipedia:Changing username - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This is dollars cheaper than 2-packs of bagged salad normally costs at Costco. And yet, late in the day, the cases still seem full. Hmmmm, what could the reason be?

Display of two-packs of Creamy Dill Salad $4.99. Manufacturer: Taylor Farms.

The $1.25 Topaz DC reprints that were showing up at dollar tree at first focused on first issues. Now they focus more on issues with multiple heroes, which explains why the latest batch has four different issues of Trinity, each given a subtitle and renumbered as #1.

The Hollywood Reporter@thr.com · 4d ago

The "superhero movies are dead" folks are forgetting a leeeeetle fact about superhero deaths...

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is swinging far higher than expected, as the superhero feature starring Tom Holland and Zendaya is becoming a breathtaking triumph in its opening weekend at the box office for Sony Pictures.

Mike Sterling, Funnybooks Guy@mikester.bsky.social · 4d ago

And now I'm getting philosophical about Snoopy's Van Gogh. The painting was stolen from Snoopy in January, 1966... but he tracked down the thieves and got it back, and so it was in his house when it burned down that September. Had the thieves gotten away, that masterpiece might still exist.

Snoopy on top of his dog house, thinking "They're stealing my Van Gogh", as two birds carry a painting.

Snoopy's house is ablaze. He had his head on Charlie Brown's shoulder, as the think "My books! My records! My pool table! My Van Gogh! Sob!"

Just sitting here processing comics when the question "did Snoopy have the Andrew Wyeth painting in his doghouse before or after the fire?" popped unbidden into my head. (It was after...it replaced the Van Gogh he lost when the doghouse burned down.)

Sheepie@bastardsheep.com · 4d ago

No matter how much you pay companies these days, you are still not just the customer, you are also the product.

Holy fuck! On 27th of July 2026, BMW put a FULL SCREEN ad on all their cars at startup time for Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026). Not loan cars or demo, on cars people had already purchased and fully paid for.

I like how the design makes it look like Gil is walking past a framed picture of a high school. (Yes, it's "Nat looks through old newspapers" day. You're getting stuck with some of my findings.)

From a September 14, 1958 Washington Examiner ad, there's a picture of kids leaving Milford High School, and then overlapping that is a waist-up picture of Gil Thorp.

Martians in the news, 1903.

Editorial cartoon of "Mr. Mars" offering Uncle Sam a martian canal to use, if he stirs up a scrap between Panama and Colombia.

If we let the Jewish refugees in, then the risk is they let us know what is actually going on and then we might have to oppose Hitler. (1938) Those who oppose looking after refugees do not have good history behind them.

newspaper text:
Refugees Likely to Create
A Disturbing InPiuence
In consideration of whether we
ought to let a deluge of refugees
enter, I cannot help thinking of a
possible spread of trouble. For example, if our definite national position of protest against Hitler’s policies should bring retaliation, every
Jewish refugee allowed in this country would be clamoring for the United States to take revenge on Germany and Hitler. Their influence
would be great because they could
tell what happened to them and give
an idea of what is happening. You
and I and millions of others would
believe first hand information.
There is no doubt about it. The
germ of trouble could be incubated
ten times more rapidly: instead of
staying out of European troubles,
we would be pushed in deeper and
deeper.

If a Wikipedia article claims PW wrote that your book shows "how to access your inner gifts and reshape your whole outer life in the process", someone may replace that with a real PW quote ("lacks any narrative drive, the characters are thinly rendered and the dialogue is almost comically wooden").

The Cartoon Art Museum just sent out a letter announcing that they are closing their location, but will continue as an organization and will take some time to figure out what to do next. Cartoon art museums have always had a rough time in the US. This one lasted a fair while.

While many Reddy Kilowatt appearances (including the one at left) may still be under copyright, he first appeared in 1926 and those appearance's are public domain. And unlike some other recently-PD characters, he'd actually make sense to integrate into a superhero universe.

Ad featuring a picture of Reddy Kilowatt getting beat up by a tall figure representing the high cost of living.

The first Reddy Kilowatt ad, from 1926, featuring Reddy described as "the universal servant" and showing him working a vacuum cleaner and working several other electric devices at the same time.

Culture Crave 🍿@culturecrave.co · 6d ago

Alas. ( But season 1 does stand as a complete work and is recommended.)

'Wonder Man' has been canceled The show is no longer returning for S2 (via Variety)

While people are upset that AI companies are destroying rare books to feed their machine, I think you should look at the upside: you great granny's book about how her cats are the smartest people she knows, the one she paid a vanity press $987 to publish, may help in deciding future missile targets!