Saturday, November 6, 2010

SkyLine: Quatermass for Dummies

I've been seeing trailers for a new cgi-laden alien invasion film called SkyLine.
It's about aliens hypnotizing humans, then transporting them up to their ships where they ingest the hapless people.
Too bad it's already been done...31 years ago, to be exact!
The final film in the legendary British sci-fi series about an alien-fighting scientist named Quatermass covered the same themes, on a much lower budget.
The first three entries were tv mini-series performed live, and then remade as feature films with different casts.
The final entry in the quadrilogy, entitled Quatermass, was a tv mini-series which was then condensed to feature-film length entitled The Quatermass Conclusion for it's American release, not remade.
It involves aliens who hypnotize humans then, using light beams, teleport the people to locations where the aliens ingest them.
But then, Americans have been using ideas from this little-known (on this side of the Atlantic) series!
The X-Files tv series and first film, Fight the Future, "borrowed" concepts and plots from all four entries as detailed HERE.
So, enjoy the film. The FX does look spectactular! These guys did an amazing job on a VERY low budget!
But remember, the story has already been told!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Design of the Week--Adventure into the Unknown with...Vampire!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...
We're continuing our roll-out of horror comics-themed goodies with this vintage 1950s horror comic cover from the new Vampires 2011 12-Month Calendar that'll be on assorted collectibles like mugs, t-shirts, iPad/Kindle/messenger bags and the like for only 7 days! After that, it's back to the tomb, only to be seen on the calendar!
Combine it with one of the demonically-delightful books or DVDs below for a kool-ghoul gift set for birthday or holiday!
So order now, before we have to put a stake thru this design!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Vampires! Vampires! Vampires!

Due to popular demand, we're expanding our Horror Comics of the 1950s™ department to include entire new sections devoted to specific types of monsters!
VAMPIRES!
Their very name causes shudders and tremors!
Before the 2000s , that trembling was from fear, with the primary example being Dracula, portrayed by everyone from Bela Lugosi to Christopher Lee to Louis Jourdan to Gary Oldman.
But, today, that trembling is more often from pleasure, as studly and sexy bloodsuckers reign on movies and TV in True Blood, Vampire Diaries, and the Twilight series!
For those who prefer sanguinarians who don't sparkle in the sunlight,  or Team Jacob fans who want to rib their Team Edward counterparts with gag gifts, we've resurrected the classic image of the fanged fiends on a line of collectibles including mugs, magnets, t-shirts, iPad/Kindle/messenger bags and other undead tchochkies!
If you're looking for a birthday or holiday present for a fan of the life-impaired (or a treat for yourself), why not combine one of our kool kollectibles with one of the books or DVDs below for the ultimate ghoulish gift set?
(And, yes, a WEREWOLVES collection is coming shortly!)

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

YouTube Wednesday: THE GREEN HORNET "The Preying Mantis"

Continuing our weekly feature "YouTube Wednesday"...
The spotlight is on Kato, as he and The Green Hornet battle a normally-benevolent Chinese secret society whose younger members are extorting "protection" money from helpless Chinatown business owners.
In addition, the society (or "tong") is being secretly manipulated by white gangsters using one of the tong members, Low Sing, as a cats-paw.
The Hornet wants to end the protection racket by removing Low Sing from his position of power by exposing the gangsters' influence on him.
Side Notes: When people mention The Green Hornet tv series, this is the episode they usually refer to. It was the featured episode (due to it's emphasis on Chinese martial arts) in a compilation movie released theatrically shortly after Bruce Lee died.
This is the ep for Bruce Lee fans as he finally gets to strut his stuff in solo combat against multiple foes! Lee choreographed the fights, including the one-on-one finale with Low Sing. Rumor has it that most of the tong members participating in the climactic fight scene were students from Lee's dojo.
It's the only episode where Kato is defeated in hand-to-hand combat as a masked Low Sing attacks him from behind early in the ep.
Also the only episode where Kato loses his hat in a fight. (The Hornet lost his fedora constantly!)
Besides blasting a door and a tommy-gun with it, The Hornet uses the Hornet Sting extended to full-length as a fighting staff several times in this episode.
There are things in this ep that beg the question; what's Kato's ethnicity in the tv series? On the radio show he's said to be "Oriental", which became Filipino after World War II began. In the two 1940s movie serials, he was Korean. In the 1980s comic and the current "graphic novels", he's Japanese. In this episode, he's familiar with Chinatown and many of it's residents, especially the lovely Mary Chang. He speaks Chinese, and translates conversations between tong members for the Hornet's benefit. Plus, he's well aware of social conventions and procedures of the tong itself. Of course, he's well-versed in the Chinese martial art of gung-fu. Is he Chinese? It's never specifically stated.
Curiously, at the end of the episode, when Britt Reid, Lenore Case, Mike Axford and the previously-blackmailed businessmen celebrate over dinner at one of the businessmen's restaurant, Kato is nowhere to be seen!
Weird Trivia: the toy company that resurrected the 1960s Captain Action action figure line 10 years ago with both a reissued Green Hornet costume and a never-before done Kato costume was called "Playing Mantis"!
Here's the tenth episode produced and aired; "The Preying Mantis".



Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!

Due to popular demand, we're expanding our Horror Comics of the 1950s™ department to include entire new sections devoted to specific types of monsters!
First up...
ZOMBIES!
Call them the undead, the unliving, reanimated corpses, or even the ultimate carnivores, zombies are HOT, HOT, HOT!
Between Walking Dead, Dead Set, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, 28 Days Later & 28 Weeks Later, the Return of the Living Dead series, and, of course, the George Romero Living Dead series, zombies have never been more popular!
But, all those films and tv series owe a debt to the visual depictions of zombies in the horror pulps and comics of the Golden Age (1930s-1950s)!
Like video games today, those periodicals were deemed so harmful to the psyches of impressionable youths that the government held hearings about possibly banning them altogether! 
The comics industry barely survived, but ended up toning down horror comics to a mere shadow of their blood-dripping selves, only recently, in the 1990s,  returning in all their gruesome glory!
Even with modern technology, today's zombie flix are hard pressed to match these classic comics for visceral visual thrills.
So, it's with pardonable pride that Atomic Kommie Comics™ re-presents some of the creepiest and koolest covers from those bygone days, digitally-restored and remastered, on a line of collectibles including mugs, hoodies, iPad/Kindle/messenger bags, and a 2011 12-month calendar!
If you're looking for a birthday or holiday present for a fan of the life-impaired (or a treat for yourself), why not combine one of our kool kollectibles with one of the books or DVDs below for the ultimate ghoulish gift set?

Monday, November 1, 2010