Saturday, August 3, 2013

Reading Room: "Into the 4th Dimension"

Is this another lost "Kirby Klassic" from the 1950s?
Read this never-reprinted tale from Monster of Frankenstein #31 (1954) and judge for yourself...

When Prize Comics' Monster of Frankenstein title was revived during the horror comic boom of the early 1950s, besides a wonderfully-gruesome version of Dick Briefer's Monster, it featured a number of two to four page "fillers".
Most of these tales appear to be, at the very least, laid-out by Jack Kirby.
This story is a prime example.
The Grand Comics Database lists the story's illustrator as Marvin Stein, who worked primarily for the Simon & Kirby studio, so this most likely was an S&K "inventory" story laid-ouy by Kirby and meant for insertion wherever editorial material pagecount came up short.
Sadly, the writer of the story is, as in so many cases, unknown...

Friday, August 2, 2013

Reading Room: "Doorway to the Future"

Is this a "lost" Kirby Klassic from the 1950s?
Read this never-reprinted tale from Monster of Frankenstein #33 (1954) and judge for yourself...
When Prize Comics' Monster of Frankenstein title was revived during the horror comic boom of the early 1950s, besides a wonderfully-gruesome version of Dick Briefer's Monster, it featured a number of two to four page "fillers".
Most of these tales appear to be, at the very least, laid-out by Jack Kirby.
This story is a prime example.
The figure poses, faces, machinery, even the futuristic buildings all but scream "KIRBY"!
The Grand Comics Database lists the story's creators as "unknown", but considering the volume of work Simon & Kirby did for Prize before leaving to form their own company, Mainline, it's not unlikely this was an "inventory" story meant for insertion wherever editorial material pagecount came up short.
Sadly, the writer of the story is, as in so many cases, unknown...

Thursday, August 1, 2013

2014 12-Month Calendars Now Available!

Here are the  
Atomic Kommie Comics
2014 12-Month Calendars 
by genre

Mystery / Crime
Sherlock Holmes: the Greatest Sleuth of All! 
Basil Rathbone IS Sherlock Holmes!
Mr District Attorney


Horror
WereWolves and Vampires
Horror Comics of the 1950s
Vampires of Pulps and Comics
Werewolves of the Comics and Pulps
Zombies of Comics and Pulps
(shown above)

Camp / Kitsch
3-D Movies
3-D Comic Books
Seduction of the Innocent!!
Jungle Girls
Good Girl / Bad Grrrl


Romance
True Love Comics Tales


Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Martians, Martians, Martians!
Art of Barsoom 
Thrilling Science-Fiction Tales 
Bugs and Creepy Crawlies of Comics and Pulps
Dinosaurs of the Comics and Pulps™ 

SuperHeroes
Captains of the Comics
Heroines!
Classic Phantom Lady

Lost Heroes of the Silver Age of Comics
Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics
Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics Team-Ups
1st Appearance Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics
Flag-Waving Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics

Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics vs HITLER
Classic Captain Future

Classic Green Hornet
Classic Monster of Frankenstein 

Classic SuperSnipe

Western
Western Comics Adventures
Real-Life Western Comics
The Cisco Kid and Pancho



Military
Captain MidNight
Aviators of the Golden Age of Comics
WAR: Past, Present and Future
Classic Korean War Comics

NOT available in stores, only on-line! Order now...before time runs out! ;-)

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Reading Room: WEIRD THRILLERS "Shadow on the Screen"

For all those whose parents told them "TV is bad for you"...
...and "comics are bad for you", well, they were right, as this comic tale about TV proves!
This tale from Ziff-Davis' Weird Thrillers #3 (1952) was illustrated by Bob Powell.
Powell, besides being a gifted illustrator was also a pioneer in the use of "color holds" in comic books.
The same technique he used on the tv screen was also used in a tale of radio and pulp hero The Shadow HERE, taking artwork that normally would be black-line and making it one of the color plates.
It was a very tricky thing to do back in those days since the interior pages were almost never proofed due to time and cost restraints.
But, Powell does some amazing things with the holds, making them line up exactly almost all the time!
Sadly, the writer of the story is, as in so many cases, unknown...

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Before Percy Jackson was...Nature Boy!

Long before Percy Jackson met the Olympians and fought a Sea of Monsters, there was another teen given amazing powers by ancient gods...
Rich teenager David Crandall was yachting with his parents when a storm sank the boat and David was stranded!
Rescued by "gods" who control various aspects of nature, he is given a portion of each of their powers...
Neptune--water
Gusto--wind
Furo--fire
Eartha--earth
Electra--lightning
Allura--love
Azura--skies
Friga--cold
(Yeah, I know a couple of them overlap, and only one was an actual mythological god, but why quibble?)
David used his new powers to return home and reunite with his still-alive family.
He also decided to battle evil in various forms as Nature Boy, since he controlled the forces of nature, and the gods gave him a spiffy new outfit to show off!

He only had three issues of his own title (which started with #3*) before he disappeared from the comics scene..until now!
But, within those three issues, the seeds were planted for an entire superfamily of Nature-heroes including Nature Man (an adult version of the hero from the future) and female counterpart Nature Girl.
This isn't surprising, since he was created by Jerry Siegel (co-creator of Superman) who knew a thing or two about that sort of thing.
To add to his hero cred, Nature Boy was drawn by the great John Buscema who later did Conan, Avengers, Fantastic Four, and damn near everything at Marvel in the 70s thru the 90s, so even if the stories were a bit silly, they looked spectacular!
You can read several of his tales at our "brother" blog, Hero Histories™!

Technically, Nature Boy should be considered one of the last Golden Age heroes as his premiere was in 1956, just a couple of months before The Flash re-emerged in Showcase #4.
However, like Captain Flash, and the Martian Manhunter, though he predates The Flash, he's thought to be one of the first Silver Age characters instead!
On that basis, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have revived Nature Boy as part of our Lost Heroes of the Silver Age of Comics™ line, on t-shirts, messenger bags, mugs and other kool kollectibles!
He was one of the first, but hardly one of the worst...

*To save money on paying for a new second-class mailing permit,  comics publishers would often just rename an existing comic, rather than start a new one!
Today, with #1 issues being such "hot" collector's items, publishers wouldn't dream of doing that sort of thing!

Monday, July 29, 2013

Wind up "Lone Ranger Month" with a Classic LONE RANGER Comic Story!

Here's a tale written by the co-creator of the Lone Ranger...
...originally-published in the newspaper strip, and probably based on a radio show episode!
Click on the link HERE to read it!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Design of the Week: Steve Savage Over Korea!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another.
This week,with the 60th Anniversary of the end of the Korean War, we look at one of the more popular characters to come out of the conflict, aviator Steve Savage with this kool retro-style cover from his 1950s Avon Comics run.
Available on t-shirts, mugs, iPad and laptop cases, and other goodies!