In Which I Veer Into Waters Uncomfortable for Everyone Including Myself

A new feature that Google put on in my absence is the ability for me to check out the stats on my page.  It doesn't tell me anything personal, but it gives me an idea of whether or not folks have rediscovered the magic of our little comic book funhouse.  I was especially wondering since you folks are so dang quiet in the comments.

Well, lo and behold, traffic is dang near back to where we were in our heyday.  So, even though you are a crowd of few words, I appreciate the hundreds of eyeballs that have put me back into your rotation.  It's amazing, and very gratifying.  So a big "thank you" to everyone for coming back after my lengthy hiatus.

So how can I thank you?  By reading All-Flash Quarterly #5, so you don't have to!  And it's a surreal one, to be sure.  For example, it has talking horses:

And seriously, I know you kids don't believe this, but we comic book nerdlingers were tormented  back in the day for reading comics because folks thought they were for people to stupid to read "real" books.  I cannot imagine the grief that would have been heaped upon me by my cruel peers had the talking horses come to light.  I mean, Gardner Fox is awesome.  He gives us goofiness of Billy Haney-esque proportions, but this is just an invitation to a beating for your loyal readers.

A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM CMNS:  Know what the most dangerous room in the house is?  The bathroom?  The kitchen?  I would have thought so, but apparently not.  It's the darkroom.  It's a place where people used to develop photographs back in the time of the Spanish Revolution or something, and it appears it was very dangerous:

A DISCLAIMER FROM CMNS REGARDING THE PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Hmmmmm...  I've got a good willing suspension of disbelief, but I Googled "has anyone ever died in a darkroom" and it goose-egged.  I presume there was going to be some kind of follow-through.  So, never mind.  You probably don't have a darkroom in your house anyway.  I guess this was the worst PSA ever.

No, wait... HERE'S the worst PSA ever:

Apparently, in the 1950's, the difference between being a homosexual and being a pedophile was a moot distinction.  "Dangerous as smallpox," it was!

Actually, before I was distracted by The Adventures of Lazy "Walkin' is for Chumps" Jimmy and His New Best Friend Creepy  Ralph , I was looking for this:

What do you think?  Eh?  Eh?

Hello?

Anyone there?

Okay, back to comics.  

The Flash is not fooled by your paltry attempts at Photoshopping, 1940's photographers!

and... AND 

That's right, Jay!  Any photographer knows that purple grass is a cool dusky... color.

Too much detail.  Egad, we've gone from talking horses to a photography seminar. 

Enough of that.  Remember yesterday when I talked about "electric baseball"?  Well....

They were actually pretty close in their artist's rendition!  Cool, huh?

This was developed by Jim Prentice, who filed a patent on Electric Baseball in 1927, when he was a mere 17 years old.  This particular version was produced from 1938 to 1941.  All-Flash Quarterly #4 came about in 1942, so the seed company probably bought out his leftovers for a song. 

To be fair, though, I doubt the profit margin on seeds really justifies giving out top tier merchandise as premiums to your sales force.  I'm just guessing, of course.  I've never been in the seed industry.  I probably shouldn't assume, but it seems reasonable. 

See?  I'm all about the infotainment here.

See you Monday!