Most Bizarre Easter Eggs In Comics

The first official crossover between comics' two biggest publishers, Marvel and DC, was 1976's Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man. Before this, however, there were a surprising number of secret crossovers done by writers and artists, partly for funsies, partly to wink at their readers, and, presumably, partly to see if they could sneak one past their bosses. One notable example of this is a story written by Steve Skeates in 1971's Aquaman #56 (the final issue of that series) that was continued three years later when Skeates was writing for Marvel in The Savage Sub-Mariner #72.

But the first-ever Marvel/DC crossover, unofficial though it was, had its origins in a Halloween parade in Rutland, Vermont. Thanks to Rutland local Tom Fagan, the Rutland parade gained many fans in the comics creator community due to its inclusion of superhero-themed costumes and floats. Soon the parade and Fagan himself were appearing in comics, like 1970's Avengers #83 and 1971's Batman #237.

But it was in 1972 that writers at both Marvel and DC decided to try something new. By cleverly utilizing the real-life Rutland parade as well as including the real-life creators of the books as characters, they were able to weave a story through the pages of Marvel's Amazing Adventures #16 and The Mighty Thor #207 with DC's Justice League of America #103 sandwiched in between. The story hinges on Felix Faust stealing writer Steve Englehart's car. It's pretty bananas. You can read the full history of the story and parade at ComicsAlliance.

If you love the classic 1987 cartoon DuckTales or its excellent 2017 reboot, you largely have one man to thank: Carl Barks, Disney's number one Duck Man. In a time when creators of Disney comics weren't allowed to sign their own names to their work, Barks became known among fans as "the Good Duck Artist" due to his ability to move deftly from hilarious short gag stories to expansive, globe-spanning adventures. Barks created such enduring characters and concepts as Magica DeSpell, the Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose, the number one dime, and, oh yeah, Uncle Scrooge himself in stories ranging from the 1940s to the 1970s.

There have been many Barks imitators in the U.S. and Europe (where Donald Duck comics are incredibly popular) since then, but Uncle Carl's greatest successor would come in the form of American cartoonist Don Rosa, who began producing Duck stories in the mid-1980s, including the critically acclaimed 12-part Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.

Rosa openly and proudly acknowledges the debt he owes to Carl Barks, a fact he makes clear by including a special dedication hidden in the covers and first panels of (almost) all his Duck stories: D.U.C.K., which stands for "Dedicated to Unca Carl from Keno." (Keno is Don Rosa's real first name.) This one is like a true Easter egg in that you have to really search for it and it's often hidden in the grass.

Despite Starlin's critique of the big bosses at Marvel, he would continue to make Adam Warlock comics for quite a while. One artist wasn't so lucky when he decided to critique the suits in the background of one of his comics.

In 2001, Marvel produced one-shot specials as tie-ins to the mini-series Universe X, which was a sequel to the earlier Earth X, itself more or less a Marvel take on DC's earlier (and more successful) mini-series Kingdom Come. One of these tie-ins was Universe X: Spidey, written by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross and featuring pencil art by Jackson Guice. Some scenes are set in a illusory world in which Gwen Stacy never died. To complete the illusion of these events happening in a different world, these scenes were inked by classic Spider-Man artists Jan Hatroomi — er, John Romita — and Al Milgrom.

One of these scenes takes place in a room full of bookshelves, and some of the books have titles on the covers. Mostly these are things like Marvels (another Alex Ross project) and The Sound and the Fury (this one is not a comic book). But the one that got Al Milgrom fired from his staff artist position at Marvel was the row of books that read "Harras/ha, ha/he's/gone/good ridd/ance to/bad rubbish/he was a/nasty S.O.B," referring to Bob Harras, the then-recently fired editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. The book got recalled and reprinted with the message erased.

Wow, lots of middle fingers to editors here. Let's see if we can find an example of a secret reference to how good an editor is instead.

In 1993, Kelley Puckett and Mike Parobeck introduced a trio of new villains in the pages of Batman Adventures #10 who would go on to be known as the Threatening Three. Batman Adventures was the title meant to tell stories in the style of Batman: The Animated Series, but the Threatening Three were completely original characters known as Mastermind, the Perfesser, and Mr. Nice. Long story short, these characters were based on three real-world DC editors: the obsessively detailed Mastermind was then-executive editor Mike Carlin; the loquacious Perfessor was Batman group editor Denny O'Neil; and Mr. Nice was writer/editor Archie Goodwin, whom writer Chris Sims described as being "regarded as one of the most genuinely kind people that the industry has ever seen."

Mr. Nice, true to his name, is not a very effective criminal due to being constantly distracted by his own nice instincts. Nevertheless, he is well respected by his peers, just like the man who inspired him. Archie Goodwin died of cancer in 1998, and the next year Batman: Gotham Adventures #13 featured the last Threatening Three story, titled only "The End." While the story of the Three dealing with their friend Mr. Nice leaving Gotham holds up on its own, it's much more powerful when you know it was actually DC saying goodbye to a beloved friend.

What's that you say? More secret crossovers? Well, okay, if you insist.

This one happened during the period when Marvel and DC were actually doing official crossovers and includes more or less an entire issue, so it's more of an Easter basket than an Easter egg, but it still requires having more information than just what's on the page to fully appreciate.

In 1986, the second man known as the Flash, Barry Allen, died saving the multiverse during Crisis on Infinite Earths, running so fast that he more or less dissolved into the Speed Force. For about the next 20 years after that, the Flash was Barry's nephew and former sidekick, Wally West, who held the title until Barry unexpectedly emerged from the Speed Force again in 2009's Final Crisis, only to take back over as the Flash, accidentally ruin reality, ruin it in a different way, and then get rewarded with his own TV show.

But he may have emerged from the Speed Force even earlier and even more unexpectedly than that. In Marvel's Quasar #17 from 1990, one of the Elders of the Universe arranges a race for all the fastest folks in the Marvel universe, including Quasar, Makkari of the Eternals, Quicksilver, the Whizzer (yes, this is a real character), and more. Suddenly a guy in red and yellow rags appears in — ahem — a flash and smokes them all. When the stranger is asked what his name is, he can't remember, saying it's something like "Buried Alien."

All right, so this one goes down a bit of a rabbit hole, and like a rabbit hole, it's going to get a little dark. Hang in there; this one is wild.

In the 1960s, many DC comics featured a little bonus strip called Cap's Hobby Hints, which were basically tips for different arts and crafts written and drawn by Henry Boltinoff, brother of editor Murray Boltinoff. The 1988 special Christmas With the Super-Heroes #1 featured the first new Cap's Hobby Hints in years, with the signature "Ty Templetoff" suggesting it was drawn by cartoonist Ty Templeton in homage to Boltinoff.

But, if you read the strip, you may ask yourself, "Where's the spoof? What's the joke?" There doesn't appear to be one. It just looks like a regular hobby hint about hammer safety. Well, hold on to your hats. The clue is in the box that thanks one "Lee Travis" for the suggestion. Lee Travis is the secret identity of the Golden Age character the Crimson Avenger, who in 1988 had gained renewed attention thanks to a well-received mini-series by writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Greg Brooks.

Despite critical acclaim, however, Greg Brooks didn't have much of a career after Crimson Avenger. He was in prison by Christmas 1988 for murdering his wife. With a hammer. (And according to writer Bob Rozakis, the Brooks murder story takes even weirder turns than that, with stolen identities and secret babies and all.) Dark stuff, Templetoff, whoever you are.