Frigid Friday Fun WILD! "Frozen North"

A never-reprinted story from one of Atlas Comics' many MAD comic clones...

...is our snowbound story for today, as a cold wave continues to cover most of America!

Did you catch the cameo by the Golden Age Human Torch on page 3 panel 3, asking if this book was Young Men Comics (where he was appearing in 1954)?

This tale from Wild! #1 (1954) was illustrated by Sol Brodsky, who, while better-known to aficionados as Atlas/Marvel's production manager than as an artist, actually had over 1,000 stories and covers to his credit!

(He inked Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four #3 and #4 as well as Kirby's iconic cover for Avengers #16!)

Sadly, little of the material from Atlas' four humor titles from the 1950s has been reprinted, despite the fact that some of their "big names" like Bill Everett, Joe Maneely, Gene Colan, and Russ Heath all contributed stories that went far afield from their usual "realistic" styles...with amazing results!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Sincerest Form of Parody

Best 1950s MAD-Inspired Satirical Comics

Wednesday World of Wonder WORLD OF FANTASY "Prison 2000 A.D."

In January, We're Doing One-Shot Tales Instead of Continued Stories...

...beginning with this tale, which utilizes a concept that's commonplace today, but all but unknown when this story appeared in Atlas' World of Fantasy #16 (1959)!

WOW!

Editor/conceptualizer Stan Lee and plotter/penciler Jack Kirby were doing what we now call "virtual reality"...in 1959!

The story was reprinted in Marvel's Strange Tales Annual #2 in 1963, than lay unseen for more than a half-century before finally being resurrected in, oddly, Monsters: the Marvel Monsterbus by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby...

...when, despite the "monsters" in the title, the only requirement is that the story was conceptualized/plotted by Lee, scripted by Lieber (Stan's brother, BTW) and plotted/penciled by Jack Kirby!
But there are lots of kool Kirby sci-fi/sci-fantasy stories, some never-previously reprinted!
So don't let the title put you off!

Reading Room WORLD OF MYSTERY "Obey or Die!"

Here's an Ability Any Wanna-Be Dictator...

...like Don da Con, for example, would kill to possess!

This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Mystery #7 (1959), scripted by Carl Wessler and illustrated by Sam Kweskin poses an interesting dilemma!

If you can verbally-command someone else to do something, even against their will, why wouldn't it affect you...if you heard it?

Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...

Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Paid Link

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...

Part 1

Part 2

Conclusion

But there's more!

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

Bible Tales for Young Folks

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

Life of Christ Visualized

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!

Part 1

Conclusion

and Finally...

EC Comics, aka Entertaining Comics, the guys who later gave the world graphic horror in Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, and Haunt of Fear began as Educational Comics, publishing wholesome material like Picture Stories from Science, Picture Stories from American History, Picture 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!
Suprisingly, as you'll see, the gave very little attention to the actual event, covering the whole thing in only 1 1/2pages!

Picture Stories from the Bible: New Testament Edition

Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "By the Dark of the Moon"

The cover depicting this tale has a gothic horror feel...

...but, in fact, the story is hard science fiction!

No ghosts or ghoulies at all!

(Halloween was over a week ago!)

Was this story's ending rewritten to conform to the Comics Code?

Scripted by Carl Wessler and ilustrated by John Giunta, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Suspense #5 (1956) features a last panel with a rather convoluted explanation that seems, as the saying goes "out of left field".

Or is it just the result of trying to cram a lot of story into only four pages?

We'll never know...

Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "I Was the Changing Man!"

Here's a beautifully-rendered tale by comics legend Al Williamson...

...that elevates an average tale about mind/body transfer to near-classic status!

Published in Atlas' Strange Worlds #4 (1959), the story was likely-plotted by the book's editor, Stan Lee, but the actual scripter is unknown!

Since publication, it's been reprinted, only once, and only in b/w, in the volume below...

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Al Williamson

Hidden Lands

Reading Room ADVENTURE INTO MYSTERY "Beware...the Brimm!"

If there's one thing any fan of sci-fi/fantasy can tell you, it's that things that appear to be warm, cuddly, and cute are, in reality, rarely harmless...

Illustrated by Angelo Torres and likely plotted by editor Stan Lee, this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Adventure into Mystery #7 (1957) leaves the door open to a sequel, but one never appeared!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Paid Link

Reading Room ADVENTURE INTO MYSTERY "Inside the Iceberg"

If there's anywhere we'd like to be during this heat wave, it's inside an iceberg!

But then, we're not about to experience what Jeff Marlin is about to encounter...

Illustrated by Manny Stallman, the actual scripter of this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Adventure into Mystery #1 (1956) is unknown, though the plot is likely the brainchild of the book's editor, Stan Lee!

But any way you look at it, this is a kool tale for a hot summer day!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 
Paid Link

Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "Bright New World!"

How do you prove the theoretically-unprovable?

This never-reprinted story from Atlas' World of Suspense #1 (1956) presents one possible way!

It's a cute story with a kool "gotcha" ending...if you don't think about it too much!

But writer Carl Wessler and artist Al Hartley ignored a number of simple (and obvious) facts...

1) Jet engines aren't rockets.

They require an oxygen-rich atmosphere to function, otherwise they konk out!

2) Commercial aircraft, while somewhat airtight, are not designed for use in a total vacuum, where there's no external pressure!

The hull and windows would blow outward within minutes, if not seconds!
(Especially if they were made by Boeing!)

3) Any phenomenon creating a "tunnel" between Earth and Uranus in our atmosphere would've been noticed by scientists, even with the relatively-unsophisticated instruments of the period!

(They wouldn't have understood it...but they would have noticed it!)

4) Nobody paid attention to the little green tourists (in magenta robes)wandering around?

5) Though I love the point that Earth (Most likely just America) was, even then, expensive to live in, I have to ask; what were the Uranians using for money?

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Marvel Masterworks

Atlas-Era Journey into Mystery

Volume 1

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "Brain Destroyer!"

This title reminded me of Don (da Con) Trump...

...even though the story itself has nothing to connect it to the Republicans' hilarious convicted criminal candidate!

No matter whether you agree for my reason for running the story, it's still a long-lost, never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #19 (1959) you probably would never have seen otherwise.
Plotted by Stan Lee, written by Larry Lieber, and illustrated by Carl Burgos, it's typical of the sort of stuff Atlas was running as it transitioned into what we would know as Marvel only a couple of years later.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Ten-Cent Plague

Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America