Saturday, December 26, 2015

25% OFF Exclusive 2016 Pop Culture 12-Month Calendars!

Plus MANY MORE!
Classic comic book and pulp magazine covers and movie posters, scanned from the originals and digitally-remastered and restored!
NOT available in stores, only on-line!
And, until January 1, 2016, they're FIVE BUCKS CHEAPER!
Normally $19.99, this week they're only $14.99!
Order now...before time runs out! ;-)

Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus' World War II-era attempt at updating his transportation...
...doesn't quite go as planned in this wraparound cover from Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942).
Unfortunately, the artist didn't sign it, and the experts at various comic indexing sites have been unable to offer possible illustrators.
Personally, I'm thinking Walt Kelly.
(The snarky reindeer are an obvious giveaway)
Any suggestions?
Merry Christmas to All!

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Holiday Reading Room FIRST CHRISTMAS IN NEW SUPER 3DIMENSION Conclusion

...he had just been born!
So get out those red-blue glasses and let's continue..

This never-reprinted 1953 comic from Fiction House was one of numerous Bible-themed titles put out by various comics publishers to try to counteract the growing tide of anti-comics sentiment created by Fredric (Seduction of the Innocent) Wertham and his ilk, showing comic books could also be wholesome entertainment.
You can see Atlas/Marvel's version of the Nativity HERE, and DC/EC's take on the story HERE.
The writer and artist are unknown, but it's a sure bet they were part of the Iger Studio which "packaged" (provided editorial and art) for Fiction House's comics division.
The cover is by legendary sci-fi pulp and book illustrator Kelly Freas!
MERRY
CHRISTMAS!!!

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Holiday Reading Room FIRST CHRISTMAS IN NEW SUPER 3DIMENSION Part 1

Get out those red-blue 3-D glasses, kiddies...
...because we're about to add a whole new dimension to Christmas comics!
Spoiler: the comic, while chronologically going beyond the usual Christmas narrative, does not cover Jesus Christ's entire life story.
This never-reprinted 1953 comic from Fiction House was one of numerous Bible-themed titles put out by various comics publishers to try to counteract the growing tide of anti-comics sentiment created by Fredric (Seduction of the Innocent) Wertham and his ilk, showing comic books could also be wholesome entertainment.
You can see Atlas/Marvel's version of the Nativity HERE, and DC/EC's take on the story HERE.
For Fiction House, unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the last titles the comics division published, closing up in early 1954.
Fiction's pulp magazine department struggled until early 1955 when it, too, passed into oblivion.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

The Doctor Who Met Santa Claus!

My favorite Doctor Who is #3, played by Jon Pertwee...
Jon as The Doctor with Eizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, his final companion
...so when this documentary about Kris Kringle, packaged as a tale featuring Pertwee as a psychiatrist with a patient (James Coco) who thinks he's Santa Claus, ran on A&E in the late 1980s, I taped it and showed it every Christmas...until the tape jammed!
Now I (and you) can enjoy it again...

Monday, December 21, 2015

Reading Room ADVENTURE COMICS "Adventurers' Club presents 'Whick! Whock! Whick! Whock!' "

On the shortest day of the year...
...let's tell a story about the world's most unique timepiece as we present the final chapter of The Adventurers' Club!
This never-reprinted story from DC's Adventure Comics #430 (1973) featured a new creative team, writer Arnold Drake and artist Luis Dominguez (who had illustrated the only cover the Adventurers' Club appeared on as shown HERE.) and an oddly-red-headed Nelson Strong!
Though the Adventurers' Club strip ended, Nelson Strong would reappear in Swamp Thing #145-150 (1994-5) as a hunter attempting to capture Swampy who dies and is briefly resurrected as an Elemental.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

"I'm Quitting -- before the Easter Bunny shows up with a CANNON!"

Ah, the Silver Age of Comics!
When situations like the one portrayed above were the norm, rather than the exception.
From Hot Wheels #6 (1970), the last issue of the first comic based on a TV series based on a toy line.
Ironically, it was the Christmas issue...

Long before He-Man, Micronauts, GI Joe and Transformers presented toys as animated action heroes, Hanna-Barbera's Hot Wheels animated series (based on the highly-successful Mattel toys) featured a politically-correct team of teens battling evil while engaging in auto races in nifty cars (with their seat belts firmly buckled, of course)!
Yes, it sounds like Scooby Doo without the annoying talking dog...
To see this never-reprinted story, click HERE.