Friday Fun / CoronaVirus Comics WALLY "Give 'Em the Acts"

Not all "teen humor" comics looked like Archie (though most of them did)!

This never-reprinted story from Gold Key's Wally #4 (1963) demonstrates what a different "look" (but similar plotting/scripting) could be like....

Apparently the "different from Archie" approach by writer Herb Rogoff and illustrator Paul Robinson, didn't sell since the next issue was the final one, and the characters haven't been seen anywhere since!
BTW, you'll note the "contagious disease" subplot with measles that warrants our "CoronaVirus Comics" label...which we had hoped we'd be able to retire by now!

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Rabbit and Cat's CoronaVirus Jokes for Such a Time as This

Volume One

Happy 40th, Flash!

Before we end 2020, we wanted to acknowledge that it's the 40th Anniversary of Flash Gordon.

Though critically-reviled when it came out, the movie has attained cult-classic status, primarily due to the soundtrack by Queen...

...and over-the-top performances by (among others) Brian Blessed (Hawkman Prince Vultan), Topol (Dr Zarkoff) and Max Von Sydow (Ming the Merciless).

The adaptation was written by Bruce Jones and illustrated by legendary artist Al Williamson (who, ironically, was also doing the equally-magnificent graphic novel version of The Empire Strikes Back at the same time)!

Interestingly, Williamson inked the entire Flash adaptation, while allowing the talented Carlos Garzon (himself, no slouch) to ink the bulk of Empire.
Read it, from the beginning...HERE!

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Flash Gordon

2-Disk Limited-Edition BluRay

Reading Room TRAGG AND THE SKY GODS "Where Prowls the Devil Shark" Conclusion

So, what's going on with the cavemen, aliens, and dinosaurs in Tragg's prehistoric world?

...Zorek, learning that rebellious officer Fernek is still alive and that reinforcements are en-route from Yargon, decides to silence the rebel before he can tell the other Yargonians of the commander's failures.

Following the radiation from Fernek's jetpack, the Yargonian attack force comes upon...

The series ends with many open plotlines.

What happens when the other Yargonians arrive?

Do they arrest Zorek, or continue with his plans?

Does Fernek work with Tragg and the humans to resist the Yargonians?

Do he and Keera try to contact the others and tell them the truth?

Do the Yargonians end up abandoning their attempt at conquering the Earth?

Does Keera actually accept Fernek's love?

Sadly, we'll never know the answers.

Unlike most of the other Silver/Bronze Age Gold Key series, Tragg and the Sky Gods has never been reprinted or revived in new tales.

But...there is one more chapter in the story of Tragg and Lorn...a "lost tale" from their beginnings that finally saw publication just as Gold Key itself headed for extinction!

Click HERE to visit our "sister" RetroBlog Heroines! and read that final tale...

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Jurassic Classics

A Collection of Saurian Essays and Mesozoic Musings

by

Donald F Glut

(featuring the behind-the-scenes info on the creation of Tragg and the other Gold Key comic series Don worked on!)

Friday Fun TRAGG AND THE SKY GODS "Where Prowls the Devil Shark" Part 1

It's just another evening in prehistoric times...

...as Neanderthals assault a "sky goddess" (actually a stranded alien woman)!

To Be Concluded...
TOMORROW!
Ferenk was believed killed when Zorek shot at him...

...but, in the best tradition of comic book storytelling, unless you see the inert body, there's no guarantee he's actually dead!

Tragg and the Sky Gods was cancelled with the previous issue we presented, #8 (1977), but the next issue was in production when that occured!

Comics publishers are notoriously..."thrifty"...and, since the material had already been paid for, there was no reason not to use it!

Gold Key Spotlight was the "graveyard" for inventory material from various genres' cancelled titles, including sci-fi/fantasy, teen humor, and funny animals!
(It also served as filler for Whitman ComicPacs, sold in the 1960s and 70s in non-traditional markets like five-and-dime shops, supermarkets and grocery stores.

Read about them HERE and HERE!)

Unused stories from all three of writer Don Glut's books, (Tragg, Dagar the Invincible, and Occult Files of Doctor Spektor) finally saw publication in this anthology title.

Ironically, this issue of Spotlight was #9 (1977), which was the issue number of Tragg the story was intended for!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

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Jurassic Classics

A Collection of Saurian Essays and Mesozoic Musings

by

Donald F Glut

(featuring the behind-the-scenes info on the creation of Tragg and the other Gold Key comic series Don worked on!)

Friday Fun TRAGG AND THE SKY GODS "Jaws of Death" "Valley of the Shadow" "Spotlight on Keera"

Before we present the final chapter in the saga of Tragg...

...here's three one-page prose stories, all written by co-creator Don Glut...

(From Tragg and the Sky Gods #8)

(From Gold Key Spotlight #9)

(From Tragg and the Sky Gods #7)
The background info on Keera is especially interesting, giving some insight into the Yargonian social structure and mindset.
The story prepared Tragg and the Sky Gods #9 appeared in the anthology Gold Key Spotlight, which also featured the final appearances of numerous other characters, including Dagar and Doctor Spektor.
You'll see that tale next Friday!

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Chariots of the Gods

Deluxe Edition

Reading Room TRAGG AND THE SKY GODS "Master of the Living Bones" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Prehistoric Protaganists...

...a meteor crashes near Tragg, Lorn, and Jarn's new seaside cave home.

Keera, exiled from her defeated people's camp, sees the meteorstrike, and believing it to be another Yargonian ship, goes to investigate.

The alien sees three shadowy beings, The Dark Gods, crack open the meteor and revive the dead alien, Ostellon, within.

She also overhears the Dark Gods command Ostellon to slay Tragg, who is destined to be the father of the modern human race...including the Dark Gods' greatest nemeses in the future, Dagar the Invincible and Doctor Spektor!

Keera rushes to warn her unrequited love, Tragg, and is given sanctuary and food...

"Forget Ostellon! He and the Dark Gods are gone!"

Not in the future...which was already published!

Ostellon's battles with Dagar and Dr Spektor had already occured...and are available in the reprints listed below!

This was the last issue of Tragg's series to feature new material!

The next (and final) issue reprinted #1.

But that wouldn't be Tragg's last appearance!

One more adventure (with a shocking plot twist) was waiting to be told...

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Dagar the Invincible Archives

Volume 1

&

Occult Files of Doctor Spektor Archives

Volume 1
(featuring Ostellon vs the title heroes!)