Saturday, May 7, 2016

Memorial Day is Coming...

Comic books played a major part in shaping the public's impression of both our troops and our enemies during World War II.
Among the classiest were these three beautiful covers for Contact Comics, an aviation-oriented title. Spectacular, intense, eye-catching color highlights these poster-style pieces of art.
Each one paid honor to the aviation division of one of the three armed forces branches. (The Air Force as a separate branch didn't come about until after WWII)
Tribute to the Navy Air Corps featuring F6F Hellcat fighters.
Tribute to the Army Air Force featuring B-24 Liberator heavy bombers.
Tribute to the Marine Air Corps featuring F4U Corsair fighters.

We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have digitally-restored and remastered them on a line of kool kollectibles which would make perfect Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day,  Flag Day, or 4th of July gifts for the WWII veteran in your life.
Choose from t-shirts, mugs, magnets, BBQ aprons, and many other goodies.
(And have a look at the other World War II collectibles we offer at War: Past, Present & Future™ while you're at it!)

Friday, May 6, 2016

Reading Room TALOS OF THE WILDERNESS SEA "...to the Wilderness Sea!" Part 3

(Bet you thought George RR Martin invented "warging" for Game of Thrones...)
Riding high on the success of the Sword of the Atom mini-series and follow-up annuals which re-imagined the hard sci-fi superhero in a barbarian adventure setting, Gil Kane (along with collaborator Jan Strnad) was given the go-ahead for another high-adventure series, this time based on a new character.
Planned as a 12-issue mini-series, cutbacks at DC dictated that the already-penciled and scripted first two issues be combined into a one-shot whose sales would determine if the project would continue.
Unfortunately, the unfamiliar character didn't attract a large enough audience (as The Atom had), and only the single, open-ended issue came about.
It's never been reprinted since its' publication in 1987.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Brain Destroyer"

This title reminded me of Donald Trump...
...even though the story itself has nothing to connect it to the Republicans' hilarious "candidate" for President!
No matter whether you agree for my reason for running the story, it's still a long-lost, never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959) you probably would never have seen otherwise.
Plotted by Stan Lee, written by Larry Lieber, and illustrated by Carl Burgos, it's typical of the sort of stuff Atlas was running as it transitioned into what we would know as Marvel only a couple of years later.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Reading Room: SPACE CLUSTERS Part 2

...don't you love it when the book does the synopsizing for you?
Written by sci-fi novelist Arthur Byron Cover and illustrated by Alex Nino, this never-reprinted tome from 1986 was the seventh and final magazine-size graphic novel DC published before abandoning the concept due to low sales.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Reading Room BUZZY BEAN AND HIS FLYING SAUCER "Mystery of the Meteor"

 ..it's been mere minutes for him and his sister...
This never-reprinted second tale in the all-too-brief series appeared in Good Comics' Johnny Law, Sky Marshal #2 (1955).
Written by publisher Edmond Good and illustrated by Robert Martinott, the story completes the "set-up" for further adventures, which we'll present in the next month or so.

Monday, May 2, 2016

Reading Room CAPTAIN JOHNER AND THE ALIENS "Space Derelict"

...writers Robert Schaefer & Eric Freiwald and artist Russ Manning brings us up to speed and drop us right into the action!
With only 4-5 pages per issue to work with, the new writer/artist still did an amazing job of putting together short, yet satisfying, tales.
(Manning, who had written and illustrated the premiere tale had to drop the writing duties due to time constraints.)
BTW, this short from Gold Key's Magnus: Robot Fighter #2 (1963) was not reprinted in the 1967 Captain Johner and the Aliens one-shot, but was included in the 1995 two-issue mini-series from Valiant/Acclaim.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Shakespeare: the Graphic Novels!

If you're both a graphic novel and Shakespeare fan (or know someone who is)...
If you're a home stager looking for an interesting, kitchy, yet inexpensive, display piece for a library or den...
If you know a budding thespian (or are one)...
Or, if you feel the need to inspire a youngster who just isn't into classic literature, yet...
Why not try one of these three kool posters based on the first comics adaptations of the Bard of Avon by Famous Authors Illustrated!
The comics these images were derived from were produced in the 1940s-50s by a company competing with Classics Illustrated for the educational comics market!
They were so successful, that Gilberton Publishing, the owners of Classics Illustrated, bought out the company to eliminate competition!
Since these books are so hard to find today, one can assume that, when Classics issued their versions of these stories, they "suggested" that libraries and schools destroy the Famous Authors editions (to avoid confusing the kids, of course).

At any rate, these posters, available in several sizes up to 16" x 24" are the perfect size for bedroom, dorm room, or den, and come in a variety of paper types, from a matte finish poster stock to canvas!

Ods Bodkins!
Verily and forsooth!
If thou dost not acquire yon wall decor, than what canst we say but..."Lord, what fools these mortals be?"