MORRISON MONDAYS meets TOYHEM — one more time!
By BILL MORRISON
There used to be a website named Superdickery.com, on which they showed mostly Silver Age DC covers that featured Superman and other heroes being jerks. They were what I like to call “fake-out covers,” designed to get kids to frantically plunk down their allowance money so they could find out how their favorite hero could possibly be behaving so badly, only to discover within the story that there was a reasonable and very necessary explanation.
In that spirit, I drew this Carmine Infantino/Murphy Anderson-inspired fantasy image, portraying a clueless Batman insulting Batgirl by gifting her with a toy utility belt. If there were a story attached to this image, the Ideal Utility Belt would probably contain exactly the plastic implement Batgirl would need to get her out of a death trap. How Batman could possibly know Batgirl’s future and exactly what she would need to save her life is my secret. If DC wants that story, they’ll have to pay me!
I didn’t intend for this drawing to be a fantasy cover when I drew it several years ago for an art show at a wonderful store in Los Angeles called “Big Kid Collectibles.” It was just a pin-up. But I came across a scan of the art on one of my hard drives and decided it would be fun to color it. When I showed it to Dan Greenfield, he suggested we give it to fellow 13th Dimension regular Walt Grogan to not only color it, but also give it his vintage printed/well-read treatment, and turn it into a cover for the annual TOYHEM celebration:
So, in the spirit of the season, we hope you enjoy this cover, and also hope you get everything you wish for, and nothing that you don’t. And may we all enjoy the peace and joy that the holidays represent.
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Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a commission? See below!
Want more TOYHEM? Click here!
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MORE
— Dig These 13 Eye-Poppin’ Classic POPEYE Toys. Click here.
— A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS at 60: 13 SECRETS Behind the Holiday Classic. Click here.
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Eisner winner BILL MORRISON has been working in comics and publishing since 1993 when he co-founded Bongo Entertainment with Matt Groening, Cindy Vance and Steve Vance. At Bongo, and later as Executive Editor of Mad Magazine, he parodied the comics images he loved as a kid every chance he got. Not much has changed.
Bill is on Instagram (@atomicbattery) and Facebook (Bill Morrison/Atomic Battery Studios), and regularly takes commissions and sells published art through 4C Comics.
December 22, 2025
I love it!!!
December 22, 2025
Very nice!
December 22, 2025
I love a good Silver Age cover. The only thing I might have changed is I would have had the bat emblem Robin is putting on the top of the Xmas tree with a red outline. As if he had taken it off one of the wheels of the TV show Batmobile.
Great job to you both! Comic book fun still exists!
December 22, 2025
The Christmas color Go-Go Chex (Ho-Ho Chex?) are a nice touch.
December 22, 2025
Ho-Ho Checks! Love it!
December 22, 2025
I second the ‘love it!”
December 22, 2025
Fantastic! I love how you nailed that wondeful Silver Age feel, even the Infantino upturned cowl nose! Walt did a great job with the colors and cover design elements too. And this cover is no more insulting to Babs then Detective #371 with her “Costume Cut-Ups”
December 22, 2025
True. I guess the difference is in one she’s insulted by Batman, and in the other by her creators.
December 23, 2025
Great point!