Showing posts with label 1940s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1940s. Show all posts

Saturday, January 31, 2026

Space...Hero??? Saturdays PLANET COMICS "Cosmo Corrigan in 'Martians, Mercurians and Money!' "

 Yeah, I know the logo says "Cosmic", not "Cosmo"...


...but he's called "Cosmo" in the story itself, as well as the next (and final) tale, so I consider the logo to be a typo!
Now, back to Pluto, the world that makes our current weather look like a balmy summer day!

Be here next Saturday for Cosmo's frigid final adventure!
Illustrated by George Tuska (who would handle the Buck Rogers newspaper strip in the 1950s, as well as becoming Iron Man's illustrator when he received his own book in the 1960s) the scripter for this tale from Fiction House's Planet Comics #10 (1941) is, regrettably, unknown.
("Ray Alexander" was a Fiction House pseudonom.)
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Saturday, January 24, 2026

Space...Hero??? Saturdays PLANET COMICS "Cosmo Corrigan: Exiled from Earth!"

Like Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and many other handsome space heroes...
...Cosmo Corrigan had a weird first name.
Unlike them, he was a bit of a screw-up and wise-ass...
...so he was sent to the Solar System's equivalent of Siberia...the frozen planet Pluto, qualifying him (sort of) for appearing as part of Space Hero Saturdays!
Planet Comics was noted for its...well...lack of scientific accuracy, being much more "science fantasy" than hard science fiction (which at least tried to apply known scientific facts to the storytelling).
But this series seems almost like a space opera sit-com, featuring a slacker as the hero!
Sadly, it only ran for three installments...which you'll see over the next few Saturdays!
Illustrated by George Tuska (who would handle the Buck Rogers newspaper strip in the 1950s, as well as becoming Iron Man's illustrator when he received his own book in the late 1960s) the scripter for this tale from Fiction House's Planet Comics #9 (1940) is, regrettably, unknown.
("Ray Alexander" was a Fiction House pseudonom.)
Support Atomic Kommie Comics
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Reprinting issues 9-12

Sunday, January 11, 2026

The Chicago Bears Beat the Green Bay Packers in the Playoffs for the First Time in Decades!

Celebrate the Chicago Bears' Playoff Victory Against Their Eternal Regional Rivals, the Green Bay Packers...

...with this cool, never-reprinted tale from Prize Comics' Babe V1N4 (1948-49) about the "Chicago Crushers" pro football team by writer/artist Gordon "Boody" Rogers, a graduate of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Institute of Chicago, who obviously was a Chicago football fan!
(Though we're uncertain if the strip's Crushers were a variation of the Chicago Bears...or the Chicago Cardinals, who later moved to St Louis, then to Arizona!)
But the guys in green she's mopping the gridiron against on the cover (whom she never actually plays against in the tale) are pretty clearly the Green Bay Packers!

...we thought we'd re-present an almost century-old example of how the game might be with a woman super-star...and what a woman she is!
Note: Though I'm a born-and-raised New Yorker (specifically Brooklyn), I currently have "dual citizenship" with residences in both Chicago and Manhattan,
Sadly, though, neither the Jets or Giants made the playoffs, so, this year I'm going with the Bears...
One of writer/artist Boody Rogers' wildest creations, Babe: the Darling of the Hills, was one of several hillbilly series "inspired" by the phenomenal 1940s success of Al Capp's Li'l Abner!
Babe Boone derived her abilities from "lightning juice" which was fermented from the bark of trees struck by lightning!
When it and Rogers' other ongoing series, Sparky Watts, were cancelled, Boody retired from commercial art and comics, opening a pair of art supply stores!
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Saturday, January 10, 2026

Space Hero Saturdays CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT "Without a Body!"

It's the Last Chapter of Captain Midnight's Adventures in Space...

...as he and Xog, Ruler of Saturn come to final blows!





Xog was never seen or heard from again, even though the comic ran for one more issue!
Illustrated by Leonard Frank, this cover-featured tale from Fawcett's Captain Midnight #66 (1948) proved to be the last journey into space for the intrepid hero as he returned to Earth-bound adventures!

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Friday, January 9, 2026

Friday Fun ABBOTT AND COSTELLO "Soup to Nuts"

From the Late 1930s to the Late 1950s, the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
...were multi-media stars, appearing in movies, radio, TV, and...comic books!
This feature from St John's Abbott and Costello Comics #7 (1949), illustrated by Lily Renee and Eric Peters, was typical of the sort of stuff you'd see (or hear) in their other media appearances!
The comic ran for 40 issues, from 1948 to 1956, including a 3-D issue!
But that wasn't the end of four-color fun for the pair!
With their old movies and 1950s TV series proving to be popular on syndicated TV, Hanna-Barbera revived the duo as an animated series in 1967 with Bud Abbott providing his own voice.
(Costello had passed away in 1959).
This resulted in a new comic book series from Charlton using the cartoon as a springboard for a 22-issue run from 1968 to 1971!
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Thursday, December 25, 2025

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!

Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Holiday Reading Roon SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Recitation"

Could anyone do these gentle one-pagers better than Walt (Pogo) Kelly?
Nope, as this never-reprinted piece from Dell's Four Color Comics #91 aka Santa Claus Funnies (1945) proves!

Sunday, December 21, 2025

Comics About the Guy Christmas is Named After!

It's the Sunday before Christmas, an appropriate time to look at comic book stories about...

...the birth of Jesus Christ, the one and only!
BTW, your eyes do not deceive you!
Marvel Comics published a one-shot about the origin of Christ!
You can read that long out-of-print story by clicking on these links...
But there's more!


Here's a shorter, never-reprinted version from Marvel's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics...


From a small publisher who did only a half-dozen comics, all based on Christian themes...


Fiction House, noted for really-fun series like Planet Comics and Sheena: Queen of the Jungle took a somewhat more sensationalistic approach to telling the story of the Nativity....using 3-D!
and Finally...


EC Comics, aka Entertaining Comics, the guys who later gave the world graphic horror in Tales from the CryptVault of Horror, and Haunt of Fear began as Educational Comics, publishing wholesome material like Picture Stories from SciencePicture Stories from American HistoryPicture Stories from World History, and Picture Stories from the Bible...which ran material based on the Old Testament!
They added a second series of Bible tales, this time from the New Testament, kicking off with Christ's birth!
As you'll see, they gave very little attention to the actual event, covering the whole thing in only 1 1/2pages!