Space Hero Saturdays SKYROCKET STEELE "...in the Year 'X' "

Though best-known as the creator of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner....

...Bill Everett's first published strip featured this Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers clone...

...Bill Everett's first published strip featured this Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers clone...

In this premiere chapter, the series starts "mid-stream", indicating events crucial to the plot occurred before we join Skyrocket and his buddies.

The captions and dialogue balloons are heavier than normal as expositional dialogue is used to clue the readers in on the situations in the "world of the future".

You'll also note the use of upper and lower-case lettering, unique, even then.

Everett's unique inking style is already developing, though crude in comparison to his later work.

To his credit, Bill doesn't swipe layouts from Alex (Flash Gordon) Raymond, Hal (Tarzan/Prince Valiant) Foster, or any of the already-established masters of the graphic storytelling form as so many of his comic book contemporaries do!

He's not afraid to try his own "camera angles" to tell the story...not always succeeding, but experimenting and learning!

Trivia: Though the character debuted in this tale which appeared in Centaur's Amazing Mystery Funnies #2 (1938), he was the cover feature of issue #1...

....where no sign of him can be found inside of the book!

No one knows why!
Trivia: Pop culture historian and prolific genre author Ron (Star Hawks) Goulart utilized the name (but nothing else from Everett's strip) for a hysterically-funny novel about 1940s sci-fi movie serials...

(click for bigger image)

...which, while available on Amazon (as seen below) can't be found as this 1980 first edition with a kool cover by noted artist Carl Lundgren!
Snarky Note: I bought it in 1980,when it came out!
That and Goulart's very HTF Tremendous Adventures of Bernie Wine...

...a PG-13/soft R mass-market novel about a young (and horny) comic book artist in NYC, are among my favorite Goulart books in my collection (and I have a lot of them, including ghost-written standalones and series)!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Skyrocket Steele
by Ron Goulart

Friday Fun YAK YAK "How to Identify Road Nuts!"

"Road rage" is not a new phenomenon...

...although, as shown on TV shows like Road Wars, it's gone to new extremes!

Though this feature (written and illustrated by the legendary Jack Davis) from Dell's Four Color Comics: Yak Yak #1348 (1962) is over sixty years old, it's as applicable today as it was then!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Art of Jack Davis

Kirby Reading Room SECRET CITY SAGA "In Battle Joined!" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Ninth Men...

...after being revived from suspended animation for 15,000 years, the good Ninth Men (Captain Glory, NightGlider, and Bombast) are battling the evil Ninth Men (all the other revived Garzans) to protect the Tenth Men (aka present-day humans) in Chicago (which was built above the underground "Secret City"
Complicating matters is the fact that no Tenth Men (aka us) speak the language of the Ninth Men, so the Chicago constabulary doesn't realize the good Ninth Men are here to protect humanity...

Don't forget in 1993, Bill Clinton was the PotUS (President of the United States), so...

To Be Continued...

Next Tuesday!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Kirby: Genesis

A retelling of elements of the Secret City Saga which also combines other Kirby projects like Galaxy Green, Captain Victory and Silver Star!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder MONKEY PLANET Part 1

There have been numerous graphic adaptations of the Planet of the Apes movies...

...and even the short-lived tv series, as we've shown HERE, but there had never been a graphic novel version of the original novel, which is quite different from any of the live or animated adventures in English!

To Be Continued
...Next Wednesday!

Written and illustrated by Ernő Zórád, this 1981 Hungarian one-shot adaptation of the original French novel by Pierre Boule has never been officially-published in English.

But, thanks to the fine work of Kyriee (Scans), Swatura Od (translation) and Avoros (scripting), we're finally able to understand this tale in English.

Thanks, guys.

BTW, both the 1970s animated TV series and the 2001 remake utilized more elements from the book than the 1960s-70s films and TV series or the recent reboot movie series.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Planet of the Apes

by Pierre Boulle

The novel (Monkey Planet) that the movie (and the graphic novel) were based upon!

There was never a novelization of the movie itself!

Kirby Reading Room SECRET CITY SAGA "In Battle Joined!" Part 1

We Have Already Seen This Scene...

Bombast #1

(the man on the right dressed in red and purple)

NightGlider #1

(the woman on the left garbed in black)

Captain Glory #1

(the guy in the center who redefines "four-color"!)

... when these three people meet...each from their own vantage point!

Now that we've gone totally-Rashamon, lets see how that same concluding shot from three different characters' premiere appearances tie together (after this convenient synopsis from the inside cover of Topps' Secret City Saga #1 [1993])...

All caught up?

Let's dive in...

To Be Continued...

THURSDAY!

Created by Jack Kirby, developed and scripted by Roy Thomas, and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this never-reprinted tale from the first issue of a 4-book mini-series features a variety of concepts and designs Kirby had come up with over his career.
It was meant to be a tribute to his Silver/Bronze Age work...the period of his greatest artistic successes!
However, in the 1990s, the comics audience wanted "grim 'n gritty" and the project didn't sell well, despite the plethora of Golden/Silver/Bronze/Atomic Age comics creators who jumped at the chance to participate!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Kirby: Genesis

A retelling of elements of the Secret City Saga which also combines other Kirby projects like Galaxy Green, Captain Victory and Silver Star!