Atomic Kommie Comics: 1940s

Showing posts with label 1940s. Show all posts

Friday, March 10, 2023

Friday Fun ABBOTT AND COSTELLO COMICS "About Space" Part 1

Bud Abbott (the skinny straight man) and Lou Costello (the plump comedian)...

...were one of the most popular comedy teams in movies, radio, and TV for decades!

Yes, it's a cliffhanger!

And, no, you won't have to wait a week to see the conclusion!

Be here tomorrow, as we present the fantastic finale in our ongoing weekend feature,...

Space Hero/Space Heroine Saturdays!

Though some of their movies are (rightly) considered classics, it was always due to the duo, who were never given a decent-sized budget!

Even my all-time favorite, Universal's Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, had only a b-movie budget and a lot of recycled sets, props, and costumes!
This original (not adapted from radio or movies) story from St. John's Abbott and Costello Comics #3 (1948), written by John Graham and illustrated by Lily "Lilly" Renee and Eric Peters, shows how comics creators visualized spectacular tales unrestrained by financial limitations!

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Lily Renee, Escape Artist

Trina Robbins

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Man-Eating Lizards!"

It's fun to see early work by a talent who would become one of the all-time greats...

...like this rarely-seen work by a then-teenaged Joe Kubert!

Note: may be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to the era.

Oddly, the Pacific Islanders are colored green in this tale from Avon's Out of This World (1950) one-shot.

But when this story appeared several years earlier in Avon's Eerie Comics #1 (1947), they were various shades of brown and tan...

There's no explanation for the change to the coloring, especially since all the other color elements remained the same in both versions!

While artist Joe Kubert went on to become one of the icons of graphic storytelling, writer Edward Bellin disappeared from comics after scripting just this and one other story...which also appeared in that issue of Eerie Comics.

But that's not the end of the story!

Bellin (actually "Edward J Bellin") was an early pen-name for a writer already well-established in science-fiction/fantasy...Cyril M. Kornbluth...who was looking to expand beyond the prose market into other media, including comics, radio, and television.

Kornbluth had used the name on one of his earliest short stories, "No Place to Go", and decided to reuse it years later for his comics work.

Who sez comics ain't educational?

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Tribute to Joe Kubert

Creator & Mentor

Monday, March 6, 2023

Monday Madness BASEBALL COMICS "Rube Rooky Heads Down the Home Stretch"

When Last We Left Our Wholesome Hero...

...under coach Pop Flye's guidance, Rube has developed into a top-notch pitcher.

But even a first-rate hurler needs a great team behind him!

Fortunately, the formerly-mediocre Badgers are inspired by the pitching prodigy and...

Regrettably, there was no "next issue" of Baseball Comics, so no World Series appearance for Rube Rooky.

But we still have this one-shot wonder from 1949 by writer/penciler Will Eisner and inker Tex Blaisdell to remember.
And, after Kitchen Sink Press reprinted this issue in 1991, there was a second issue in 1992 reprinting a horror comics baseball story and a Will Eisner Spirit story about baseball, but without The Spirit!

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Baseball Comics #2

(A follow-up published decades later)

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Chicken Little"

It's a classic tale with a holiday twist...

...as told by the legendary Walt (Pogo) Kelly in Dell's Four Color Comics #140 (1947)

"Fudgy-wudgy" indeed!

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Exciting Easter

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Sunday, February 26, 2023

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE

Here's a short story featuring a plethora of fairy tale characters...

...as presented by a (then) future superstar of the comic strip or, (if you want to be pretentious) graphic novel form!

The title story from Dell's Four Color Comics #103: Easter with Mother Goose (1946) was written and illustrated by Walt Kelly, whose signature series Pogo wouldn't debut for another three years.
Trivia:
While Pogo as a stand-alone series began in 1949, various characters including Pogo himself and Albert the Alligator had appeared as supporting characters in other Walt Kelly-written and drawn strips since 1941.
Besides doing an annual comic of Easter stories featuring fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters celebrating the holiday, Walt also did an even-more popular series of annual Christmas comics utilizing the same concept!

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Exciting Easter

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