Friday Fun /CoronaVirus Comics LITTLE DOT COMICS "Living It Up"

Think you have it rough, sheltering in place from a contagious disease?

Your suffering is nothing compared to the Poor Little Rich Kid's!

If the doctor can leave, why can't the kids?

The M.D.'s just as potentially-communicable as they are!

You'll note that, at no point do Mrs Rich or her husband offer Freckles and Peewee's father employment at a better rate than the below-poverty wages he's obviously making!

Before you ask, this story from Harvey's Little Dot Comics #19 (1956) predates the Rich family's butler Cadbury's first appearance!

It also predates Richie appearing in any of the over fifty titles (including one-shots and Annuals) that would bear his name and dominate the Harvey Comics line from the 1960s through the line's demise in the early 1990s!

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

Harvey Comics Classics Volume Two
Richie Rich

Baker Reading Room "Behind the Scenes of 'Half Man-Half What' "

Here's Saturday's tale...

...but from the original Matt Baker/Al Williamson art!

Take particular note of the areas "whited out", probably at the request of the Comics Code Authority!

BTW, note that in the story, Dr Talbot's right side is altered, but on the cover, his left side is affected!

Let's look closely at that final panel...

Dr Talbot's right side has been totally-whited out.

Was it still metallic?

And his face originally wasn't happy!

Did the original ending show him at the beginning of the process, wondering if it would succeed, and leaving the door open for a sequel if it didn't?

Was the Comics Code Authority responsible for the odd changes?

We'll never know...
Penciler Matt Baker was one of the few Black comic book artists of the Golden and Silver Ages, and was easily the most prolific of them!
Though known for his "good girl" art, including the famous (and infamous) Phantom Girl stories, he handled every genre with ease, including horror, war, sci-fi, and romance!
Sadly, though, few of his stories featured Black characters...who were rare in comics until the mid-1960s!
You can read a short, but complete bio HERE!
He'll be our featured artist this month in the Baker Reading Room at Atomic Kommie Comics, spotlighting his amazing cross-genre versatility!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

Baker Reading Room ALARMING TALES "Half Man-Half What"

"Scientists tampering with things Man should not meddle in" is an old cliche...

Art by John Severin

...given a new look by a most unusual assortment of artists...at least four, along with the writer...

Art by the Bob Powell Studio

OK.

Let's identify the talents involved in this never-reprinted tale from Harvey's Alarming Tales #5 (1958)...

Cover art by John Severin

Script by Dick Wood.

Opening page (which was actually the lower part of the contents page) by the Bob Powell Studio.

Story pencils by Matt Baker (who's the reason this is included in Black History Month, as you'll see Tuesday).

Story inks by Al Williamson.

Tuesday:

the entire story (and cover) in original art form, with some revealing alterations and footnotes!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

Reading Room BLACK CAT MYSTERY "Halloween Nightmare"

Here's a re-presentation of a topical terror tale about Halloween from Harvey's Black Cat Mystery #34 (1952).

Penciled by Manny Stallman and inked by John Giunta.
The writer is unknown.

Unlike many other Harvey Comics horror stories (as shown HERE), when this one was reprinted in Black Cat #52 (two years later), nothing was altered!

Happy Halloween!

Reading Room: "Supreme Penalty" Versions 1.0 & 2.0

A couple of months ago, we presented two different versions of the same tale...

...and we're doing so again!

This version appeared in Harvey's Black Cat Mystery #47 (1953) during the height of the horror comics boom.

It was re-presented in Harvey's Race for the Moon #1 (1959) after the Comics Code went into effect.

Let's see how things have changed...

Almost every panel has a change from the original, either in art or balloons!

Panel 4 has an interesting change in dialogue indicating the condemned survive in space...

Only change is dialogue in the first panel, which indicates the exiled criminals are still alive, but in orbit.

The figure of Judge Krenk being murdered in Panel 6, and his corpse in Panel 7 have been removed!

Panel One: Judge Krenk is said to be wounded, not dead!

Panel Six: Frances' face redrawn to look less maniacal and his sentence altered to confine him to his lab!

Interesting to note the alterations inflicted by the Comics Code Authority!

Art (and probably story) by Bob Powell.

Check out

The Future WAS Fantastic!

Comics Collectibles Store!

Friday Fun RACE FOR THE MOON "Lunar Trap"

In tribute to the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon...

...we present a change-of-pace tale from the 1950s, when we thought we'd be fighting with the Soviet Union over control of the Moon...

 

This tale from Harvey's Race for the Moon #2 (1958) features a fierce, fighting, female cosmonaut...extremely progressive for the time!
Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Al Williamson (who, along with fellow EC alumnus Reed Crandall, was doing a lot of work for Harvey at the time)!
Not sure who wrote it, but speculation is that Kirby himself scripted it.
Either way, a decent story with solid storytelling and magnificent rendering!

Reading Room BLACK CAT MYSTIC "A Weemer is the Best of All!"

"Whimsical" is not a word you usually associate with Jack (King) Kirby...

...but in this case, it's perfectly appropriate

Though Jack Kirby both penciled and inked (a rare occurance) this tale from Harvey's Black Cat Mystic #59 (1957), the identity of who wrote it is unknown, but it's probably Kirby or ex-partner Joe Simon, who was the editor of the book.

BTW, Black Cat Mystic, despite the title, was a science-fiction, not horror, comic!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Simon & Kirby Library

Science Fiction

Tomb of Terror Thursdays "End Result!"

On Thursdays this October, we're presenting sci-fi horror...

...from Harvey Comics, which, near the end of the horror line's run, applied specific story themes to the four anthology titles, as explained here...

There had been sci-fi tales scattered throughout all the Harvey horror titles for the two years they'd been around, but as of March, 1954, the editors decided to concentrate them in Tomb of Terror!

So let's dive in with the never-reprinted cover-feature tale...and note how different Lee Elias' bug-eyed aliens on the cover are from Bob Powell's insect ETs in the story itself!

Yeah, it's the old War of the Worlds "germs wipe out the unprepared aliens" concept.

Unfortunately, it's after the aliens wiped out all human life on Earth...and though two infants did survive, they'll soon die without attention...

Be here next Thursday as we present another long-unseen tale from Harvey's Tomb of Terror #14 (1954)

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Four Color Fear

Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s