Sports

While you may not be interested in sporting events, the history of Olympic Mascots ties into such familiar Beat territory as licensing and furries. According to the Smithsonian , the Germans, who innovated the pictographs we spotlighted earlier, also invented the Olympic mascot with Wendi, a lovable dachshund who introduced the 1972 Summer games in Munich. It was only the beginning of a parade of characters hated and loved, but most often hated.

On our periodic forays to Bergen Street Comics we've been watching the new Barclays Center go up a few blocks away, so it's good to know that comics loving Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez knows where to get his books:

So thrilled I got to see the end of this game and the Mets no-hit dearth—a 50-year legacy of 9th inning heartbreak—ended.

Cursing the basketball gods because your bracket is broken? Searching for a tournament bracket which better suits your knowledge base? We present a multitude of 2012 non-sports tournaments, from popular culture, food, and corporate America!

Ben Towle's baseball sketches remind us that pitchers and catchers have already reported.

It's a story of twists and turns as only a 9-7 season can be, but perhaps the most incredible thing about this online graphic novel chronicling the New York Giants' championship season is that it is being created by someone known as Chris in Philly. Preferring to remain anonymous—surely because his fellow Philadelphians would egg bomb his house if they knew about it—Chris is using Photoshopped archival materials to tell the exciting story of how Eli Manning led his team to a Super Bowl upset of the New England Patriots. It's a classic story of the underdog coming out on top.

While they don't equate him with a miracle, Disney stablemates ESPN and Marvel have teamed up for a brief cartoon painting Tebow as a superhero. The segment is barely a minute long, and really only features some stills drawn in the mighty Marvel style, so "minimum comics content." And no Tebowing.