Atomic Kommie Comics: 2023-11-12

Saturday, November 18, 2023

Space Hero Saturdays AMAZING ADVENTURES OF BUSTER CRABBE "Thing From Out of Space"

This cover from Lev Gleason's Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe #4 (1954)...

...promises Flash Gordon-type adventure, complete with a Ming the Merciless surrogate!
But the interplanetary tale under the cover is quite different!

Each issue of Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe promoted tales in the three genres actor Buster Crabbe was best-known for...sci-fi, jungle adventure, and Westerns!
Usually, the cover art matched the characters and/or plot of one of the features!
But in this case, the cover had nothing to do with the interior story!
Was it meant for the next issue, and a story not yet created?
Did it replace a cover about this issue's Western or jungle adventures that missed the deadline, and since this was the last issue of the comic, did the editor say "why waste what I already paid for? It won't make any difference!"

The answers are lost to the mists of time...

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Friday, November 17, 2023

Friday Fun SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Santa in Wonderland" Conclusion

When Last We Left Santa Claus and Alice...

The night before Christmas Eve, Santa was disturbed when a little girl named Alice appeared at his door at the North Pole and pleaded for him to "bring Christmas to Wonderland".

The blonde girl lead Santa to the rabbit hole/entrance and showed him mushrooms that reduced both of them in size.

Once in Wonderland, Santa encountered inhabitants including the Mock Turtle and the White Rabbit, who shrank while using a white fan which Claus inadvertently also uses...

This story originally appeared in Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #2 (1943), but was not the cover feature!

It was reprinted in a stand-alone giveaway, Dell's Alice in Wonderland Meets Santa (1951), to capitalize on the release of the Disney animated film Alice in Wonderland, based on the Lewis Carroll stories Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass!

The reprint's new cover art (as shown at the top of the post) by an unknown artist, shows Alice rendered with the same hairstyle and blue dress as the movie version, rather than the hairstyle and violet dress shown in the comic story.
The other characters on the cover resemble their Disney versions, as well!

Since Dell was then currently-publishing licensed Disney comics (including the comic adaptation of the animated Alice in Wonderland)...

...it's likely the similarity on the cover was permitted!

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Thursday, November 16, 2023

RIP Roger Kastel 1931-2023

Best-known for his iconic posters for the movies Jaws and The Empire Strikes Back...

...artist Roger Kastel considered his third most-famous work to be a poster that pre-dated both of them, Doc Savage: the Man of Bronze!

In fact, the landing page of his own website (Click HERE) states...

Roger Kastel's Work Includes:

JAWS: Legendary painting featured on the cover of the paperback edition of the Peter Benchley novel as well as the poster for the blockbuster Steven Spielberg film.

Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back: Movie poster for the second episode in George Lucas' original Star Wars Trilogy.

Doc Savage: Movie poster and cover art for Issue #1 of the acclaimed 1975 Doc Savage comic book series.

Original painting

The art (usually cropped and silhouetted) was used both domestically and internationally on theatrical posters and various licensed products.
Trivia: In 1987, I participated in an auction of legendary sci-fi editor/historian Forrest J Ackerman's estate where I acquired, not the poster art, but the next best thing to it...

...the expanded art for the "Ron Ely" on-screen credit at the end of the film, which consists of a hi-res photo of the original painting along with acrylic art hand-painted on both sides and below to accommodate the wide-screen image!
The credit lettering was optically matted during post-production.

It sits proudly over the TV in the Atomic Kommie Comics Video Library...

...and everybody who has seen it is able to identify both the actor and film!

(No "what film is that from?" or "who is that?" from the people we hang out with!)

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder AGAR-AGAR "Harem of Bacchus"

When Last We Left our Interdimensional Flower Child...

...well that's really all you need to know about the plot...such as it is!

Rescued by a handsome centaur!

Considering the fascination some women have for horses...nope!

I'm going to stop before I get in trouble...

This story from New England Library's Dracula #6 (1971) was written by Luis Gasca under the pen-name Sadko and illustrated in a Peter Max-esque style by Alberto Solsona.

It's the last of three that were published in the 1972 Warren trade paperback (also called Dracula) that reprinted the first six issues of this bi-weekly British magazine.

The remaining stories have been unseen by American audiences, but will be posted here weekly until all have been re-presented!

It'll be a groovy trip, baby!

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Reading Room WEIRD MYSTERIES "Spirits from Outer Space!"

An astronaut returns from space and doesn't act like himself...

...yeah, it's a bit of a cliche, but this tale from Key's Weird Mysteries #1 (1952), has a surprise gimmick to defeat the baddies!

Illustrated by Walter Palais (brother of better-known Golden Age artist Rudy Palais) and Mike Esposito, this "possession by aliens" tale manages to present a variation of the old story with the fact that literally ANY pain causes the parasite to flee.

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