Showing posts with label Death Rattle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Death Rattle. Show all posts

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Trump Reading Room DEATH RATTLE "Foreshadow"

Like Don da Con's "deplorables", the primitives below fail to actually listen...
...in this never-reprinted tale from Kitchen Sink's Death Rattle V1N2 (1973)!
Writer-artist John Pound is still going strong almost half-a-century later!
Besides underground comics, he also worked on Marvel's Howard the Duck, and was the primary artist on the original run of Garbage Pail Kids from Topps Cards!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...
(featuring the work of John Pound...plus an afterward!)

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Reading Room SAVAGE WORLD

Not every story created in the Golden Age was published in the Golden Age...
...like this story, meant for the 1950s title Buster Crabbe Comics!
"Larry Gordon" is a tribute to Larry "Buster" Crabbe who played Flash Gordon in the three movie serials from Universal Pictures.
The story itself, though signed by Al Williamson, is a jam-session featuring work from a number of now-legendary artists who called themselves "The Fleagle Gang".
The explanation for the story can be found here...
Our tale is from its' fourth appearance, in Death Rattle #10 (1987), where it was reprinted, unaltered from its' first publication in Witzend #1 (1966).
The second publication was in the first issue (1975) of Marvel's short-lived b/w magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction, where the only modification was reversing all the captions to black with white type...
The third printing was another story entirely...and I mean that literally.
You'll find out all about it...Thursday!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Order...

Thursday, June 11, 2020

CoronaVirus Comics DEATH RATTLE "Masque of the Red Death"

We've run numerous adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story...
...but this is the actual bone-chilling tale, uncut!
Illustrated by Daryl Hutchinson. this never-reprinted story from Kitchen Sink's Death Rattle V2N13 (1987) is fascinating, combining the complete centuries-old text with art that deliberately tries to evoke the style of 1930s-40s pulp artists like Virgil Finley and Hannes Bok!
Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!
Visit Amazon and Order...

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Reading Room DEATH RATTLE "Xenozoic!" Conclusion

...actually we haven't seen this...nor will we!
It's a "symbolic" cover, designed to hook you into reading the comic.
And, hoo boy, does it work!
On a post-apocalyptic Earth several centuries from now, a rescue team checks up on a scientific research outpost that went mysteriously silent.
They find one mutilated survivor, and the group splits up to search for others...
Wow!
Now THAT'S an introduction!
Up-and-comer Mark Schultz created, wrote, and illustrated this tribute to dinosaurs in general and EC Comics of the 1950s in particular.
Dennis Kitchen, editor-publisher of Kitchen Sink was so sure of the potential for this series, he didn't even wait to see how the sales were on Death Rattle #8, as shown by this ad in the back of the book...
The book ran for 14 issues, and sold well.
There was also a one-shot 3-D issue adapting earlier stories to the 3-D format.
Problem was that Mark Schultz, like Dave Stevens, Mike Kaluta, Neal Adams, and a number of other creatives, though incredibly-talented, was also exceedingly sloooooowww, so the book went from bi-monthly to quarterly to semi-annually.
Kitchen Sink tried using back-up tales (overseen by Schultz) by other writers and artists while Schultz did the lead stories, but the book always had trouble keeping a regular schedule.
Even with that, the series built up a devoted following and tie-in merchandise like t-shirts, action figures and other goodies were grabbed off comic store shelves as fast as they were stocked.
Marvel's Epic imprint reprinted the early tales in color under the name Cadillacs & Dinosaurs.
Interest from licensees in this version resulted in mainstream media tie-ins including a popular arcade game, home video console games, and an animated tv series...which resulted in its' own comic series from Topps that did new stories based on the tv show and sequels to Xenozoic Tales comic stories!
The stories continue to be reprinted (most recently in an IDW "Artists Edition"), and there are rumors of a feature film that could lead to an ongoing franchise!

Friday, July 15, 2016

Reading Room DEATH RATTLE "Xenozoic!" Part 1

With one simple, invented word and a passion for dinosaurs and EC Comics...
...a young writer-artist named Mark Schultz created one of the more successful comic series of the 1980s!
What has Jack discovered?
Find Out...
Plus, we'll toss in some background about both the series and the creator!