Reading Room STARSTREAM "City"

Here's a tangled tale of time travel...

...based on the prose short story "A Nice Place to Visit" by Stephen Goldin.

Adapted by Silver Age comics veteran Arnold Drake and illustrated by Jose Delbo, this story was part of the 1976 anthology mini-series Starstream, Western Publishing's move away from the Gold Key imprint and branding to create a less-juvenile presence in newsstands, supermarket magazine racks, and bookstores.

Note: there were less than a dozen dedicated comic book shops in America in 1976!

The 64-page anthologies featured comic adaptations of short stories by noted (and marketable) authors like Isaac Asimov, Jack Williamson, Theodore Sturgeon, A E van Vogt, and Anne McCaffrey, with a couple of non-adaptation stories by Arnold Drake and series editor Roger Elwood to fill out the page count.

Sadly, the project, which came out a year before Star Wars was released, disappeared within six months.

Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Buy...

Questar
OOP 1979 Trade Paperback Reprinting Most (but not all) of the Material from the Starstream Mini-Series
Paid Link

Frankenstein Friday Fun : ADVENTURES OF JERRY LEWIS "Scared Silly" Part 3

We Have Already Seen...

...Jerry Lewis had rented a supposedly-haunted house for $12 a month.

It was "haunted"...by former horror movie stars Boris Killoff (Krankenstein), Bela Le Ghouli (Drinkula), and Peter Leery (Dog Boy), who were preparing for a return to the silver screen!

The trio had invited a noted film director to visit, hoping to impress him with their ability to still scare potential moviegoers!

But there's been a complication, as Bela Le Ghouli explains...

Don't ya just love a happy ending?

As a bonus, here's a feature from this issue about artist Bob Oksner, whom I've felt has been under-appreciated by today's fans...

Next Friday, another firghteningly-funny story when the wind blows cold and the moon shines bright.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Artists and Models

Movie about a comic book artist, a fanboy, and a model in a threesome

starring Jerry Lewis & Dean Martin with Shirley MacLaine as "BatLady"!

Frankenstein Friday Fun : ADVENTURES OF JERRY LEWIS "Scared Silly" Part 2

When Last We Left France's Favorite Comedian (2 years ago)...

...he had rented a supposedly-haunted house for $12 a month.

It was "haunted"...by former horror movie stars Boris Killoff (Krankenstein), Bela Le Ghouli (Drinkula), and Peter Leery (Dog Boy), who were preparing for a return to the silver screen!

Explanation: We began this re-presentation of this never-reprinted tale in 2021 as shown HERE.
However, by the time next week rolled around, we ran a different Frankenstein tale, and never got around to running the other two chapters!
So here's Part 2, with Part 3 to follow next week!
Now, back to the story...

Who will trap whom?

See the inane answer...NEXT FRIDAY!

With the Comics Code limiting use of the classic monsters to humorous or decidedly non-threatening versions, DC decided work within those limits.

Jerry would go on to meet versions of the Mummy, Invisible Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon and other film and print fiction monsters.

And, fellow DC Comics comedian Bob Hope would end up with ongoing appearances by dopplegangers of Frankie (Coach Franklin Stein), Drac (Dr. Van Pyre), and Wolfy (Professor Von Wolfman) as the faculty of Benedict Arnold High School, which Hope's nephew attends!

That those other characters looked exactly like the trio of monsters in this story is attributable to the fact they share the same artist, Bob Oksner!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURERS' CLUB "Whick! Whock! Whick! Whock!"

Let's end the too-brief run of this retro (even when it was published almost 50 years ago) series...

...with a story about the world's most unique timepiece as we present the final chapter of The Adventurers' Club!

This never-reprinted story from DC's Adventure Comics #430 (1973) featured a new creative team, writer Arnold Drake and artist Luis Dominguez (who had illustrated the only cover the Adventurers' Club appeared on as shown last week) and an oddly-red-headed Nelson Strong!

Though the Adventurers' Club strip ended, Nelson Strong would reappear a couple of decades later in DC's Swamp Thing #145-150 (1994-5) as a big-game hunter attempting to capture Swampy.
Nelson dies in the attempt and is briefly resurrected as an Elemental!
Bet that would've been a helluva Adventurers' Club story, eh?

Next Wednesday

A New World of Wonder!

Friday Fun ADVENTURES OF JERRY LEWIS "Scared Silly!" Part 1

We're leading into October with a monstrous two-part tale (in more ways than one)...

...as a renamed Frankenstein and friends meet...Jerry Lewis???

To Be Continued...NEXT FRIDAY!

This rather weird tale from DC's Adventures of Jerry Lewis #83 (1964), written by Arnold Drake and illustrated by Bob Oksner, was typical of the sort of stories that appeared in the comics DC published based on real-life entertainment personalities.

Though all but non-existent now, from the 1940s until the 1970s, almost every company published a couple of them!

Most were based on adventure/action actors like John Wayne, Buster Crabbe, or Roy Rogers, usually with an Old West theme.
But DC's longest-running ones were based on Jerry Lewis (124 issues plus a Super DC Giant from 1952 to 1971) and Bob Hope (109 issues from 1950 to 1969), both of which leaned heavily on fantasy/sci-fi plotlines and haven't been reprinted since that aforementioned Super DC Giant a half century sgo!
Note: outside of Universal monster movie re-runs on TV, the place kids most frequently saw Frankenstein and his pals in the 1960s were in comic books like  the Lewis and Hope comics (where they became ongoing characters), Archie's MadHouse, and the short-lived campy Dell Comics superhero versions of Dracula, Frankenstein, and WolfMan (renamed "WereWolf")!
While the Comics Code Authority. didn't allow "serious" versions of the characters, they apparently had no problem with humorous versions...or versions clearly-shown to be aliens or androids/robots!
That changed when the Code was modified in 1971 to allow the "classic" versions to once more appear in four-color comics.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Artists and Models

Movie about a comic book artist, a fan, and a model in a threesome

starring Jerry Lewis & Dean Martin with Shirley MacLaine as "BatLady"!

Did You Know a Black Artist Penciled the FIRST Graphic Novel from a Comics Publisher?

Graphic Novels are the standard format for innovative storytelling today...

The complete presentation of the first graphic novel!

But "back in the day", as they say, it was an untried concept!
Written by Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller (as "Drake Waller"), illustrated by penciler Matt Baker and and inker Ray Osrin, the digest-sized 1950 one-shot from St John Publications is a pulpish "film noir" tale at its' coolest!

Dark Horse Comics (which published a high-quality reprint available below) explained it thusly...

In 1950, writers Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller, both attending college on the G.I. Bill, envisioned a sophisticated, novel-length comic tailored to their peers. Collaborating with comics art master Matt Baker, known for singularly defining the genre of "good girl art" on titles such as Phantom Lady, they crafted a film-noir inspired masterwork of romance, intrigue, and moral relativity. When cynical newspaperman Hal Weber reunites with old flame Rust Masson, he finds the beguiling widow of a mining magnate willing to do anything to undermine the local political machine--her only opponent for total control of Copper City!

Though not specifically-mentioned, penciler Matt Baker was one of the few Black artists of both comic books' Golden and Silver Ages!
It Rhymes with Lust was the basis of our 2017 Summer Blogathon spanning several RetroBlogs!
Start at True Love Comics Tales and experience not only comics history, but Black history as well!

Note: The thanks of a grateful nation go to Kracalactaka, who found the scans of the St John first edition in the wilds of the internet, cleaned them up, and made them available!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

It Rhymes with Lust

Deluxe Reprint Edition

Did You Know that Black Artist Matt Baker co-created the FIRST Graphic Novel???

Before Will Eisner created A Contract with God...
Before Gil Kane created BlackMark...

...there was It Rhymes with Lust!

Written by Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller (combined as "Drake Waller"), illustrated by penciler Matt Baker and inker Ray Osrin, the digest-sized 1950 one-shot from St John Publications is pulpish film noir at its' coolest!

Dark Horse Comics (which published a 2007 high-quality reprint available below) explained it thusly...

In 1950, writers Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller, both attending college on the G.I. Bill, envisioned a sophisticated, novel-length comic tailored to their peers. Collaborating with comics art master Matt Baker, known for singularly defining the genre of "good girl art" on titles such as Phantom Lady, they crafted a film-noir inspired masterwork of romance, intrigue, and moral relativity. When cynical newspaperman Hal Weber reunites with old flame Rust Masson, he finds the beguiling widow of a mining magnate willing to do anything to undermine the local political machine--her only opponent for total control of Copper City!

We presented the complete original 1950 edition in a summer 2017 blogathon that ran throughout several of our RetroBlogs.
Just follow the embedded links at the end of each chapter and enjoy the whole story!
Buckle up your seatbelts and begin the adventure at True Love Comics Tales...

Note: The thanks of a grateful nation go to Kracalactaka, who found the scans of the 1950 St John first edition in the wilds of the internet, cleaned them up, and made them available!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

It Rhymes with Lust

Deluxe Reprint Edition

Reading Room MYSTERY IN SPACE "With His Head in the Stars"

In 1980 DC revived the sci-fi anthology Mystery in Space...

...which was canceled in 1966.

Despite the use of first-rate talent, including Ditko, Jim Starlin, Marshall Rogers, Dave Cockrum, Jim Aparo and others, it only ran seven issues before disappearing into the void again!

This particular tale, from #116 (1981), may demonstrate why the book failed.

It looks and feels like a 1950s-60s tale, rather than something contemporary!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Mystery in Space

Pulp Fiction Library

(which contains only a couple of stories from this previously-listed volume)