The first 2024 trivia extravaganza at Mission Comics is in the books, and it featured one of the best turnouts yet. Our friends from Shortboxed were on hand (they even finished third!), generously sponsoring the event by giving away passes to this weekend’s Shortboxed Live show in Santa Clara. That’s the day after Free Comic Book Day, folks. Your weekend looks great.

First place went to Tears of X-Men ’97 Episode 5, starring Uncanny Ben, Kevin, Chris, and Marcus.

Second-place went to EC Comics, the team of Ellie, Chris H., Emilio, and Charles. (See what they did there? “EC”)

This installment of trivia also debuted a new “variant” question category. While it didn’t count for the overall score, The Blunderbolts team of Matt, Loriana, and Cam took home a four-pack of sweet retailer variants for performing the phrase “One more comic, Mon’ca vomits” to the tune of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song.

Now for a chance to test your knowledge. Here’s the quiz in its entirety. Do it without Google, true believer!

Question #1 – Easy Opener
Prior to the relaunch of new episodes on Disney+, in what year did the final episode of Marvel’s X-Men: The Animated Series, “Graduation Day” air?

Question #2 – Awards
The GLAAD Media Awards celebrated their 35th anniversary this year, recognizing media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ community. This year’s award for Outstanding Comic Series went to this Star Wars spinoff by Alyssa Wong, Minkyu Jung, et al.

Question #3 – Secret Identities
Name the super-powered alter ego of Dr. Pamela Isley.

Question #5 – First Appearances
In which comic book series does Zatanna make her first appearance?

Question #6 – Writers
Somewhat controversially, this long-time Marvel writer is being given Wolverine co-creator credits in this year’s Deadpool & Wolverine movie. His role at Marvel when Wolverine first appeared was Editor-in-Chief.

Question #8 – Manga
This series, originally by Takao Saito, debuted in 1968 and, in 2024, is the longest-running manga series and second-best-selling manga series of all time. The series follows the assignments of the title character, an assassin-for-hire.

Question #9 – Sports
Todd McFarlane’s Spawn success in the 90’s allowed him to achieve a dream of sports team ownership, becoming a minority owner of this NHL team. An autographed picture of him with Wayne Gretzky is proudly on display in his office. In 2001, he designed the logo for the team’s third jersey.

Question #10 – Toys & Games
In 1979, Marvel was engaged to produce the ROM: Spaceknight series to promote the production of this company’s toy.
The debut marked the first entry into the toy market for a company that had previously only produced board games such as Monopoly and Clue.

Question #11 – Cartoonists
Cartoonist Bill Watterson reappeared after nearly three decades of retirement to release The Mysteries last year with John Kascht.
A multiple award winner and Hall of Famer on two continents, Watterson is most well known for this long-running strip.

Question #12 – Science & Technology
Despite doing his best to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Swamp Thing may actually be releasing excess amounts of this greenhouse gas (which is 30x more harmful than CO2), a common by-product of microbial growth in oxygen-poor environments such as, well… swamps.

Question #13 – Geography
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, headquarters of the Great Lakes Avengers, is nicknamed “Cream City,” because of the distinctive color of its what?

Question #14 – Music and Pop Culture
Neil Tennant was the production editor at Marvel UK in the 1970’s before launching a music career as the co-founder of this celebrated pop band, known for such hits as “Opportunities” and “West End Girls.”

Question #15 – Business & Retail
Started by Joe Field of Concord’s Flying Colors Comics in 2002, the first Saturday of May is annually celebrated by comics fans and retailers as..?

Question #16 – Around the World
When the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phenomenon hit europe, what word replaced “Ninja” in the title of cartoons, games, and comics?

Question #17 – Conventions
It is widely believed that the first fandom conventions revolved around celebrations of this literary character. The earliest recorded “con,” was a meeting of the Baker Street Irregulars at Hotel Duane in New York City in 1934.

Question #18 – The MCU
Kevin Feige has often credited this movie franchise for inspiring his MCU films, reflected in the way the third movies in various series “blow up,” “shatter,” or otherwise destroy something significant.

Question #19 – Politics
The 2022 documentary, Catwoman vs. The White House, details how this actress and singer took Lyndon B. Johnson to task (and reportedly reduced Lady Bird to tears) over the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam War.

Question #20 – Matching
Match the modern comics publishers to their former names.

a) Marvel
b) Rebellion
c) Archie
d) DC

1. Fleetway
2. Timely
3. MLJ
4. Mational

Variant Question #16B
Question 16B: give me your best phrase/title that can be sung to the theme of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
For example…

Question #21 – On the Big Screen
British comics artist Brendan McCarthy broke into screenwriting when he co-wrote this Oscar- winning 2015 film with director George Miller.

Question #22 – Comix
WaRP Graphics, established in 1977, was formed primarily to self-publish the founders’ ElfQuest book. The company name is an acronym formed from the names of these two creators. What are their names?

Question #23 – Friendly Competition
In-house commentary and editorials from DC refer to Marvel Comics as “the marvelous competition.” This was a playful rejoinder to Stan Lee’s reference to DC as what?

Question #24 – Hall of Fame
To be inducted into the Comic Con Hall of Fame at this summer’s SDCC, this artist is only the fourth traditional colorist to enter the Hall. Her palette and technique on books such as Frank Miller’s Ronin and Dark Knight Returns heralded in a new era of comic book coloring and presaged many of the tools used by digital colorists today.
Who is..?

Question #25 – Myths & Legends
Rachel Smythe’s multiple-award-winning Lore Olympus, currently the most popular webcomic on Webtoon with over 1.5 billion views, is a modern retelling of the relationship between which two deities?

Question #26 – Creator Rights
This satirical anthology series, first published by Eclipse in 1982, helped push for creator rights in the industry. The title character was created by Steve Gerber and Jack Kirby, two key combatants in legal struggles against Marvel.

Question #27 – On TV
Based on a webtoon of the same name, this superhero television series debuted internationally in 2023 and in only seven days became the second-highest-streaming Korean drama ever.

Question #28 – In Memoriam
In addition to her pioneering work in the male-dominated 60’s comix underground, Trina Robbins was an accomplished fashion designer, comics historian, and, in 1994, founder of this advocacy group for women comic book creators and readers.

Question #29 – This Is Not a Toy
This fifth-generation Austrian-based jewelry company recently revealed the latest in a line of Marvel-themed crystal figurines, retailing from $700 to $1,000 apiece.

Question #30
Unscramble the anagram (team of villains):
AGELESS OASIS SNAFU

Questions #31 through 35 are artist identifications, one each from five different eras of comic book history.

Question #31
Golden Age (< 1956)

Question #32
Silver Age (1956 – 1972)

Question #33
Bronze Age (1972 – 1985)

Question #34
“Steel” Age (1986 – 2000)

Question #35
“Diamond” Age (2001 – Present)

Questions #36 through 40 are part of the Imagram. Identify the characters in the puzzle, and then use the circled letters to solve the final clue.

And, finally, a tiebreaker question…

According to geological data scientist Miles Traer, what are Iron Man’s maximum* annual carbon dioxide emissions? The annual emissions of the average American are 44,000 lbs.
*assuming he spends the year using his least efficient armor, and still rocks the billionaire playboy lifestyle