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)!

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Skyrocket Steele
by Ron Goulart

Space Heroine Saturdays TARA "Death that Grew!"

You think COVID-19 was bad?

How about a disease created as a biological weapon, as in this never-reprinted tale illustrated by Gene Fawcette?

The writer for this never-reprinted tale from Nedor's Wonder Comics #20 (1948) is (as usual) unknown.

This was the final issue of Wonder Comics...but not then end of the adventures of the Queen of the Space Pirates!

Tara will return with a final tale from another Nedor comic as well as several illustrated text features we haven't run yet, and a cover art gallery!

Check out the

Tara: Queen of the Space Pirates™

Collectibles Store

Space Hero Saturdays FLICK FALCON IN THE FOURTH DIMENSION "To Mars and Back"

You know the scientist-hero of this strip is stark-raving bonkers...

...when, after seeing a test item come back through his teleporter inside-out, he leaps into the device!

This premiere tale from Fox's Fantastic Comics #1 (1939) ends right there.

No "To Be Continued" caption or anything else.

The next page begins another strip, Sub Saunders.

But fear not, Flick Falcon will return for 20 more issues of Fantastic Comics!
Unlike Brick Bradford or Doctor Who, both of whom used other people's tech to jaunt around the Universe (and eventually the Multiverse), Flick created his own mode of travel, avoiding tedious (and dangerous) interplanetary travel by ship.
BTW, "Orville Wells" was a pen-name, probably inspired by Orson Welles, who had, only a few months before, panicked America with the legendary War of the Worlds radio show.
The artist (and probably writer) was Don Rico, who would become one of the premier creatives working in 1940s-50s comics before turning to writing novels.
(You can read one of his wildest comic tales HERE!)
Unlike contemporary Fletcher Hanks, whose Stardust and Space Smith strips also premiered in this issue, Rico's never received the attention and acclaim his equally-offbeat work deserves.
(That's not to put-down Hanks in any way.
His wild creations are equally as deserving of critical study by aficionados of sci-fi/fantasy.)
BTW, this never-reprinted tale was Rico's very first published comics work.

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Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Holiday Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Easter Sunday"

Our final Walt (Pogo) Kelly post for Easter...

...is a never-reprinted piece from Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1949).

We hope you've enjoyed our presentation of these long-lost pieces by one of the field's masters.

Now go eat a chocolate bunny and some marshmallow chicks!

Gorgeous Goodies for Your Easter Basket!

Back in the 1940s and '50s, comic book companies produced a prodigious number of holiday-themed annuals and one-shots!

For example, a multitude of Christmas-themed comic books flooded America's magazine racks every November and December!
(In fact, a large part of our popular Cool Christmas collection is based on them.)
But, did you know that several publishers also did Easter-oriented books?
And, that noted comics illustrators including Walt (Pogo) Kelly contributed art to them?
Believing that there's always room for more classic comics collectibles, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ added a new line of goodies to our Happy Holidays section entitled Exciting Easter!
Yes, it's eggs, bunnies, chicks, and other fuzzy animals galore digitally-restored and remastered from Baby Boomer-era classic comics covers on baby bibs, infant creepers / onesies, toddler and kid t-shirts, greeting cards, mugs, and a plethora of other kool kollectibles!
They make great Easter basket stuffers! (And they won't rot your kids' teeth like marshmallow chicks or chocolate bunnies!)

So click over and see what's in our basket!

Easter Egg-citement with Walt Kelly!

April Fools Day is this coming Saturday...

...but we don't believe in waiting to play an April Fools Day trick on you!

This centerfold from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #103 (1946) is a splendid example.

Can you find the bunnies, chicks, and eggs hidden in the art?

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Exciting Easter

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Monday Madness REAL FACT COMICS "Rookie of the Year" & PICTURE NEWS "California Flash"

For the past few weeks, we presented a fictional tale about a ballplayer facing prejudice...

...today, it's the "real deal" with the guy who broke the racial barrier in Major League Baseball!

The story from DC's Real Fact Comics #14 (1948) presents the story in a straightforward, if slightly patronizing, manner.

The following tale from Parents Magazine's Picture News #4 (1946) by writer/artist Charles Wessel, predates his being called up to the majors.

Note it does contain a couple of racial stereotypes common to the era, and may be NSFW.

There was also an official Jackie Robinson comic book from major comics publisher Fawcett that lasted six issues (longer than most other comics based on real-life sports figures) from 1949-52.

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Buy the Cover of The Never-Reprinted Premiere Issue...

...of Jackie's Own Comic as a Collectible Poster or Print!

Digitally-restored and remastered from a scan of the actual original cover!

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Easter Bunny and the Dwarf"

To be clear, "dwarf" is not politically incorrect...

...so just sit back and enjoy the never-reprinted tale from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #140 (1947)!

This story, written and illustrated by Walt (Pogo) Kelly features a number of nursery rhyme characters including Jack and Jill (who went up a hill), Little Jack Horner, and Mother Goose herself.

But, it is not, as was often the case with Kelly's holiday pieces, an adaptation of existing nursery rhymes, but a totally-new tale!
It's also a prequel to the book's lead tale featuring an Easter party...which you'll see on Easter Sunday!

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Exciting Easter

Collectibles Shop

Space...Hero?...Saturdays ABBOTT AND COSTELLO COMICS "About Space" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our...Heroes?...
(Don't worry, you didn't miss a post!
Part 1 appeared yesterday as part of our ongoing Friday Fun feature!)

The unemployed Abbott and Costello are hired by a mad scientist to crew his experimental rocket aimed at Mars...which is currently at war with Jupiter!
Astra, beautiful ruler of Mars, mistakes them for Jovians and shoots them down.
Crash-landing on Mars in the "Swamp of Death", our dim-witted duo encounter and make friends with a fire-breathing dinosaur/dragon.
Good thing, since the Jovians have landed (without crashing) in the swamp and are about to launch a sneak attack on Astra's palace!
When the Jovians shoot at the duo and their dinosaur/dragon, the trio head for the nearest city!
Within, Astra prepares a special formula that enhances one's courage.
But, unknown to her, aide Taro is a traitor working for the Jovians, and he switches her formula for plain water...which she drinks, believing it to be the courage-enhancer!
A&C arrive, the city's robot guards scare the dinosaur/dragon off and the pitiful pair are captured!

Then the poop hits the propeller...

(Hey, it's a PG-13 blog!)

Written by John Graham and illustrated by Lily "Lilly" Renee and Eric Peters, this tale from St John's Abbott and Costello Comics #3 (1949) shows what a decent special effects budget could've done for decent (but not great) A&C flicks like Universal's Abbott and Costello Go to Mars!

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Abbott &Costello

Complete Universal Pictures Collection

(including Abbott & Costello Go to Mars, which doesn't have a solo DVD/BluRay!)