Friday, February 13, 2015

It's Friday the 13th...Let's Have Some HORROR (and a little Sci-Fi)!

Here's a quartet of intro pages illustrated by Berni Wrightson...
...for DC 100-Page Super Spectacular #4 (1971)
Titled "Weird Mystery Tales", the reprint anthology featured brand-new art for the section headers with Berni himself as a "host" doing intros...
BTW, none of the headers has ever been reprinted!
So, unless you own this HTF issue, this will be the first time you've ever seen these pix!
And be here tomorrow when we present the book's text piece, a story with a large Wrightson illo!

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Reading Room: LIFE STORIES OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS "Abraham Lincoln"

There's no better way to celebrate Lincoln's Birthday...
..than to read his life story.
Note: there are a few politically-incorrect panels referring to African-Americans as "Negro", which was the accepted term in the 1950s.
BTW, did you note that, at the top of the last page of the story, Grant and Lee have the wrong uniform colors?
Dell's never-reprinted Life Stories of American Presidents (1957) was both sold on newsstands and distributed to bookstores (where I found my copy in 1963), a rarity in those days.
Though the author is unknown, the artist who penciled and inked the entire 100-page cavalcade of Presidents from Washington to Eisenhower was John Buscema!

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

If You Missed It: ABRAHAM LINCOLN: LIFE STORY

We ran this 100-page, never-reprinted story...
...featuring art by the legendary John Buscema immediately after the 2012 Presidental Elections.
You can read it right before Lincoln's Birthday HERE!
And, come back tomorrow for another, shorter, never-reprinted tale about Abe Lincoln by John Buscema!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Reading Room SPACE PATROL "Balloon Men of Jupiter"

Just when you think you've seen the weirdest art Basil Wolverton could create...
...you find something even weirder!
The multi-talented Basil Wolverton wrote, illustrated, lettered, and probably colored, this wild tale from Amazing Mystery Funnies #21 (1940).
I'd love to see someone animate these classics of surreal storytelling.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Reading Room STRANGE JOURNEY "Captain Kiddeo: Space Bum"

Is it humor?
Is it serious?
I can't decide...
...read the tale and judge for yourself!
The title is a variation of "Captain Video", a tv show which had been cancelled three years earlier when this never-reprinted tale appeared in Ajax-Farrell's Strange Journey #3 (1958).
Yet the story itself has nothing to do with Captain Video, not even as a spoof of it, like MAD's superb Captain Tvideo which you can read HERE!
The attempts at humor and wit are lacking in both, and the illustrations have none of the wonderful background detail (Called "chicken fat" by artist Will Elder) MAD's artists were famous for!
Plus, the art is so jammed-up, I have the impression the original (perhaps unpublished) story was longer, and re-edited to fit into the 5 page slot in an otherwise average sci-fi anthology.
We do know it's a product of the S M Iger Studio which packaged Ajax-Farrell's books, but not who the particular creatives were...

Sunday, February 8, 2015

War is Hell...but, then, so is LOVE!

We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ know that the path of love is not always smooth, especially in wartime.
In tribute to the brave men and women of the armed forces, we've created a new section of True Love Comics Tales™ about military-based love comic books entitled WarTime Love™ featuring greeting cards, teddy bears, clothing and a host of other goodies with vintage retro-style romance comic cover art.
Show your beloved, be they an officer, noncom, or GI Joe (or GI Jane) that you're thinking of them on Valentine's Day.
A Public Service message from Atomic Kommie Comics™