Really, Dave Gibbons may be one of the more underappreciated comic creators out there.

Talk to any big name writer out there, and they’ll gush over how great he is, not only as an artist, but as a storyteller.

And yet, he is still mainly known just as “The guy who drew Watchmen.”

That is a shame, because he is conistently one of the best writers (forget his awesome art) in comics today.
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* Kevin Smith killed off Mysterio without permission from the Spider-Man office.

* The recent Norman Osborn/Gwen Stacy relationship in Amazing Spider-Man was never intended to occur!

* Marv Wolfman created Black Cat as a foil for the Amazing Spider-Man

* Kurt Busiek was NOT the first choice for Untold Tales of Spider-Man

* Jack Kirby drew the very first cover featuring Spider-Man.

* Electronic ankle bracelet monitors were created based on a Spider-Man comic strip.

* Gerry Conway did not intend to include the “snap” in the death of Gwen Stacy

* Venom was originally going to be a woman.

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* Jim Steranko was the inspiration for the escape artist character in Michael Chabon’s Kavalier and Klay as well as Jack Kirby’s Mister Miracle.

* Mickey Spillane wrote comic books.

* Steve Skeates reworked an unused issue of Aquaman as an issue of another comic for ANOTHER company - TWICE!

* Steve Englehart brought a character with him from Marvel to not one, but TWO other comic companies!

* Steve Ditko does not use the original art that Marvel has returned to him, except sometimes as CUTTING BOARDS!

* Robert Loren Fleming is dead.

* Dave Cockrum once sold the same character to both DC and Marvel…at the same time!!!

* Joe Orlando illustrated the famous depictions of Sea Monkeys.

* Devin Grayson named herself after Dick Grayson.

* Mike Deodato used to draw four books a month during the mid-90s.

* Kieron Dwyer is John Byrne’s son.

* Ernie Chan had to be credited under a different name for years due to a typographical error.

*Marty Nodell created the Pillsbury Doughboy.

* Will Pfeifer was briefly married to actress Michelle Pfeiffer (joke)

* Matt Fraction once took a restraining order out against Ed Brubaker (joke)

* Wendy Pini used to attend comic conventions dressed as Red Sonja.

* Mike Grell got his start working as an assistant to Dale Messick on Brenda Starr.

* James Kochalka performed the theme song for the FOX show, “The Loop.”

* The co-creator of Tank Girl co-created The Gorillaz

* The creator of Crime Does Not Pay went to jail for killing a woman

* Jack Kirby wrote comics under the pseudonym of Martin Burtsein during the 40s.

* Denny O’Neil named Optimus Prime.

* Mark Gruenwald’s ashes were mixed in with the printing of a comic book.

* Al Milgrom was fired by Marvel after sneaking an insult to Bob Harras into a comic book.

* Mark Bagley got his start by winning the original Marvel Try-Out Contest.

* DG Chichester left Daredevil with #332.

* DC dictated the format of Marvel comics for more than a decade.

* Thunderstrike was outselling Thor and Avengers combined when it was cancelled.

* Marvel killed off a Thunderbolts character because of a rights problem.

* Roger Stern left Avengers over Captain Marvel’s leadership of the team.

* Marvel HAS to publish a Captain Marvel comic book.

* In 1975, Marvel came up with four new titles in one lunch.

* Speedball was invented for the New Universe.

* Marvel UK turned Killraven into “Apeslayer.”

* Hank Pym appeared in comics BEFORE the Fantastic Four!

* Spider-Woman was created by Marvel to secure a trademark.

* Akira Yoshida is a pseudonym.

* Spider-Woman ended up getting Wolverine’s original origin.

* Frank Brunner and Steve Englehart faked a fan letter to themselves.

* Triathlon was gay.

* The GI Joe series was partially based on a previous Marvel pitch Larry Hama made to Marvel.

* The famous “Silent Issue” of GI Joe was originally meant to have dialogue in it, but it was left out due to some sort of error.

*Stan Lee created the Black Marvel

* Jimmy Carter’s diplomatic policies led to the Contest of Champions.

* Jack Kirby sued Marvel Comics.

* Marvel changed the name of the Black Panther because of the political group by the same name.

* Dr. Strange has a daughter named Sofia.

* Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe was held back for five years because of Justice League of America vs. The Avengers.

* Steve Ditko once had a story censored for using the devil in a comic.

* Dave Cockrum’s resignation letter from Marvel was placed into an issue of Iron Man as a prank.

* Marty Pasko wrote a short prose story for Marvel Comics under the name “Kyle Christopher.”

* John Romita broke into comics pretending to ink for a penciller, while the penciller was actually inking Romita’s pencils!

* John Byrne had a much longer storyline in store for Scarlet Witch before being taken off Avengers West Coast.

* Terror, Inc. was a continuation of a previous comic from another line of comics.

* Paul Simon named some of the rhymes in “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” after the old Marvel bullpen.

* Jim Shooter and Dave Cockrum once shared an apartment.

* The second volume of Ghost Rider never had an ending.

* Alias was originally going to star Jessica Drew, but writer Brian Michael Bendis had to change Jessica Drew to Jessica Jones.

* Yellowjacket II was originally going to be a member of the Thunderbolts.

* J.M. DeMatteis had to toss out a plot involving Dr. Strange’s father due to the title’s imminent cancellation.

* Neal Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys used to be an editor for Marvel Comics.

* Kurt Busiek was going to call Carol Danvers Nemesis during his Avengers run, but the X-Men office would not let him.

* Scott Lobdell was fired from Alpha Flight over controversy regarding Northstar “coming out.”

* In the 1970s, Marvel had a designated “first page” letterer.

* Grant Morrison and Mark Millar had a pitch for a revamp of Marvel’s 2099 line of comics.

* Due to Don Perlin, a profanity accidentally snuck into an issue of Defenders.

* Namor and the Human Torch had the first team-up in comic history!

* Marvel has never intended to publish the final chapter to “The Last Galactus Story” serial that ran in Epic Illustrated magazine.

* Marvel published a game tie-in years after the company that made the game was defunct.

* Jim Shooter wrote comic books when he was 13 years old.

* DC must publish at least four issues of Wonder Woman a year or else lose the rights to the property.

* Youngblood was a reworking of a pitch Rob Liefeld made to DC for Team Titans.

* Fawcett Comics had to stop publishing Captain Marvel because it lost a copyright lawsuit brought by DC Comics.

* Wonder Girl was added to the Teen Titans by mistake.

* DC changed the outcome of a comic book because the original ending had been leaked to the public.

* All-Star Comics #3 was an inter-company crossover.

* Woody Allen was once featured in an issue of DC’s Showcase.

*After the Captain Marvel decision, DC bought Fawcett’s characters.

* DC had an ongoing comic that simply repackaged old TV tie-in comics.

* The woman on the cover of House of Secrets #92 (Swamp Thing’s first appearance) is Louise Simonson.

* A DC comic character invented in 1964 did not make his debut until 1992.

* Christopher Priest killed off a character in a comic because of ownership rights.

* Aquaman’s first cover appearance was with the Justice League, nineteen years after he first appeared!

* Justice Society of America was cancelled for a reason other than sales.

* The Protector was created to co-star with the Titans in the pages of their Anti-Drug comic book.

* The Golden Age Green Lantern’s name was originally Alan Ladd.

* Elliot S! Maggin’s big break came from a story he got from Jeph Loeb!

* Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston invented the polygraph test!

* John Byrne wrote TWO separate first issues of Blood of the Demon!

* The characters in Watchmen were originally meant to be based on a defunct line of superheroes.

* The recently killed off Phantom Lady, Human Bomb and Black Condor are in the public domain and are not actually owned by DC, therefore with their deaths, anyone can now come along and publish stories about them

* James Robinson decided to kill off a group of superheroes to show how deadly Jack Knight’s ememy, The Mist, was.

* DC was forced to change La Renard Rouge (”The Red Fox”)’s name to “Crimson Fox

* Grant Morrison’s script for BULLETEER didn’t actually request that level of cheesecake, and certainly didn’t ask for the lead character to spend most of the issue in her underwear.

* The DC character Triumph was gay.

* Ferro Lad was originally meant to be black.

* Aquaman was not from Atlantis for his first eighteen years of existence.

* DC produced a completely different version of Emerald Twilight before it was scrapped.

* Rob Liefeld once drew a book in landscape style without being asked, leading to the book having to be cut and paste to look like a normal comic book.

* Simon Bisley once drew a penis on Lobo’s arm on a comic cover.

* Elliot S! Maggin’s first comic book work was originally written for a college class.

* Green Lantern lost the cover of his own comic book to his dog.

* An artist who wrote and drew a comic book adventure of fighter pilots became an actual flying ace himself during World War II.

* A change in postal laws led to the elimination of letters pages in DC comic books.

* The Comics Code Authority once banned not the content of a comic, but the art style of the artist.

* Chuck Austen was J.D. Finn

* Blue Beetle was originally going to star in a weekly comic anthology BEFORE DC came up with Action Comics Weekly.

* Julie Schwartz once had to write a comic story in a day because of an mistaken cover instruction

* Alan Scott intentionally created a garish costume.

* Michael Fleisher’s Spectre issues had so many problems with script continuity that they needed a separate writer to keep the continuity straight.

* DC stopped letting writers edit their own titles in an attempt at squeezing Jack Kirby from the company.

* The Spectre had a comic relief sidekick.

* Wildcat was inspired to become a superhero by the comic book character Green Lantern.”

* Warlord was cancelled after its third issue.

* Black Canary was raped in Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters.

* Nancy Collins’ Dhampire series was scrapped due to behind-the-scenes tragedy.

* Keith Giffen originally meant for the adult Legion and the Legionnaires to battle, with casualties being chosen randomly out of a hat.

* Keith Giffen managed to destroy the Earth in Legion of Superheroes due to nobody watching the book.

* Archie Goodwin’s passing led to how the last Manhunter story appeared.

* DC had an unpublished Green Lantern Annual that they sat on for almost forty years before publishing.

* Earth X was originally going to be called Earth [Swastika].

* DC licensed characters for use in alcoholic drink mixes.

* Ethan Van Sciver took over from Alan Davis on Green Lantern: Rebirth.

* Swamp Thing is a rip-off of Man-Thing/Man-Thing is a rip-off of Swamp Thing.

* Marvel and DC own the trademark of the word “Super Hero.”

* The first Marvel/DC crossover was The Wizard of Oz.

* The original ending of Marvel vs. DC involved the two companies swapping two characters, but this ending was changed due to external pressure.

* John Byrne got the idea for Darkseid vs. Galactus from a fan.

* The first appearances of the Squadron Supreme in the Avengers were “crossovers” with the Justice League of America.

* Neal Adams redrew a significant portion of Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man.

* Freedom Fighters and The Invaders had an unofficial crossover.

* C.C. Beck based Captain Marvel’s appearance on a movie where Fred MacMurray daydreams about being a superhero.

* Charlton printed its comics using a cereal box press.

* For almost a decade, there were born again Christian comics produced starring the Archie characters.

*The film Hardware just took the movie’s story from a 2000 AD comic.

* US Postal Laws made for some interesting comic title transitions.

* Firebreather was originally the son of Fin Fang Foom

* John Byrne’s 2112 was initially designed as a launch of Marvel 2099.

* Elvis Presley based his famous hairstyle upon Captain Marvel, Jr.

* The character Nightveil had to take her name because of violating a DC Comics trademark.

* William Gaines pretty-much single-handedly destroyed 3-D comic books.

* Mad became a magazine because of the Comics Code.

* New editions of Grant Morrison’s Zenith tradepaperbacks were printed but are currently stuck in a London warehouse due to rights issues.

* Gyro Gearloose was cut off from the rest of the Uncle Scrooge gang due to postal rules.

* Plastic Man was originally named India Rubber Man.

* M.I.T. once cribbed design work for a multi-million dollar grant from a comic book!

* Daredevil Comics #2 was created over a weekend.

* Lisa Marie Presley made Nicolas Cage sell his comic collection.

* Nicolas Cage took his last name from Luke Cage, Hero For Hire.

*One of the G.I. Joes was based upon Larry Hama himself.

* Mario Puzo once wrote comic books.

* Marvel changed the names of X-Force, Deadpool and Cable to avoid paying Rob Liefeld royalties.

* Destiny and Mystique were intended to be Nightcrawler’s parents.

* When Len Wein created the “All New, All Different” X-Men, he created Thunderbird with the intention of killing him off two issues later, which is what he did.

* A character once escaped from X-Men custody in 1977 and did not have the plot resolved into another comic book…thirteen years later!!

* Dazzler’s life was saved by Marc Silvestri.

* Kurt Busiek came up with the idea for Jean Grey’s return.

* The woman who was the titular basis for Kitty Pryde has since changed her name due to unwanted comic book fan attention.

* Apocalypse was originally going to be the Owl.

* Wolverine was initially intended to be a genetically mutated wolverine.

* Wolverine’s costume was patterned in part on the uniforms of the Michigan Wolverines football team.

* Almost all the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club were based on famous actors, both visually and titularly

* Dazzler was created as a cross-promotion between Marvel and Casablanca Records.

* Colossus was originally intended to be Ferro Lad’s brother.

* The Scarlet Witch accidentally appeared in an issue of X-Men in place of Storm when John Byrne was drawing both books.

* Right before becoming an X-Men, Nightcrawler was going to be a member of the Legion of Superheroes.

* Igor Kordey once drew an issue of New X-Men in a week.

* Grant Morrison took an old French character out of the public domain and made him an X-Men character.

* Ed Brubaker came up with the idea behind there being a secret team of X-Men before the All-New, All-Different Team.

* Scott Lobdell didn’t want Storm to be a killer, so he brought Marrow back to life.

* Wolverine originally was going to kill Sabretooth - 25 years ago!

* Scott Lobdell became the writer of Uncanny X-Men by happening to be walking in the right place at the right time.

* Artist Joe Jusko dressed up as Captain America for the cover of a comic book.

* Jonathan Frakes used to dress up as Captain America for conventions.

* The shape of Captain America’s shield was the result of another comic book company.

* Martin Goodman was paid money for a Captain America movie that he never shared with Joe Simon or Jack Kirby.

* John Byrne left Jack Kirby off of the 20th anniversary cover of Fantastic Four.

* Walt Simonson based the concept of the Time Variance Authority in his Fantastic Four run on the Time Lords from Doctor Who.

* The Human Torch was replaced by H.E.R.B.I.E. in the Fantastic Four cartoon because the network was afraid that kids would, inspired by the Torch, set themselves on fire.

* Steve Englehart protested an editorial decison by Marvel by using the pseudonym John Harkness.

* When Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Steve McNiven began work on their Fantastic Four run, it was intended to appear in the pages of the regular Fantastic Four

* John Byrne’s first Fantastic Four work as writer/artist originally was meant for a Coca-Cola giveaway.”

* Marvel had a special insert in an issue of Fantastic Four because they irked the Nixon Administration.

* Chris Claremont was going to bring Kitty Pryde into the cast of the Fantastic Four.

* Fantastic Four was snuck on to the schedule against the terms of Marvel’s distribution deal.

* Marvel Comics licenses the use of the name “Hulk” to Hulk Hogan.

* Bruce Banner got a new first name due to Stan Lee’s forgetfulness

* Marvel is sitting on an unpublished Peter Bagge Hulk comic book.

* The Hulk is green because of poor color separations.

* She-Hulk was created based upon a rumor.

* Kenneth Johnson wanted the Hulk to be red on the TV show.

* Bruce Banner’s name was changed in the Incredible Hulk TV series because the show’s creator thought that the name sounded “too homosexual”.

*DC had a Superman storyline set during the Holocaust that did not mention the word “Jew” or “Jewish.”

*Superman once got into trouble for spilling American nuclear secrets.

* Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, the Daily Planet and Kryptonite all appeared on the Superman radio show before they ever appeared in the comic book.

* Superman’s secret identity was made up by combining the first names of two popular pulp heroes.

* Orson Welles once teamed up with Superman.

* In the comic books, Superman was declared 4-F because he accidentally read the eye chart in another room with his X-Ray vision.

* The Super-books were not going to marry Clark and Lois until the TV show got involved.

* Doomsday made his first appearance during the end of the “Panic in the Sky” storyline.

* Nazi Germany once took it upon itself to rebut a Superman comic story.

* Batman and Superman began to team-up because of inflation

* Joker was originally killed off in his SECOND appearance!

*Renee Montoya was invented for the cartoon show before she appeared in the comic books.

* Frank Miller’s lack of interest in Batman continuity ended up with Barbara Gordon being adopted.

*Batman and Superman began to team-up because of inflation

*Frank Miller coined the term “The Dark Knight”

*A Batman story Jeff Parker drew was pulled by DC just before it went to press because Batman was having a great time with the ladies (not a joke).

* Mike W. Barr was initially inspired to write Batman: Year Two upon reading Frank Miller’s seminal Batman storyline, Batman: Year One.