Easter Reading Room LIFE OF CHRIST: EASTER STORY "Resurrection"

Under this Scott McDaniel cover...

...is one of the most unusual tales Marvel Comics ever told!

(And that's saying a lot!)

Written by Louise Simonson, pencilled by Mary Wilshire and Colleen Doran, and inked by Bill Anderson, this 1993 one-shot, co-published by Thomas Nelson Publishers is a companion volume to The Christmas Story by the same creative team, published earlier that year.

Easter Story tells the tale from Christ's entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to this final chapter, though we're running only the section taking place on Easter itself here.

If you'd like to buy a copy of the HTF comic, you can find it HERE.

Interestingly, Marvel.wika.com postulates Christmas Story and Easter Story link Jesus Christ into the Marvel Comics Universe!

Easter Egg-citement with Walt Kelly!

Easter is Next Sunday...

...but we don't believe in waiting , especially since getting real eggs has proven so difficult!

This centerfold from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #103 (1946) is, perhsps the closest some families will have to an actual hunt this year.

Can you find the bunnies, chicks, and eggs hidden in the art?

Holiday Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Candy Egg"

Here's a (literally) sweet, never-reprinted Walt (Pogo) Kelly short...

...from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1948)!

Imagine getting one of these 52-page annuals in your Easter basket along with jellybeans, chocolate bunnies and marshmallow Peeps!

Several 7-10 page stories, a number of 1-3 page features, games, and, usually, a wraparound cover!

Would've kept a 5-8 year-old me occupied in those dark days before TV (much less the Internet)!
Good thing I was born after that era...

Monday Holiday Madness EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Hot Cross Buns"...TWO WAYS!

Sometimes Walt (Pogo) Kelly liked a nursery rhyme so much...he used it twice!

Such is the case with this one...first from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #103 (1946), and then, with an extra rhyme, in Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1949)

You gotta admit, if there's anyone who can do a classic nursery rhyme and make it appear fresh both times, it's Walt!

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Lost Chick"

Some of Walt (Pogo) Kelly's Easter tales were totally-new...

...not just reworkings of classic nursery rhymes and fairy tales!

This never-reprinted short from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #185 (1948) takes characters who had not appeared together before and also explains where the Easter Bunny gets his supply of eggs from.

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Shorts"

Several one-pagers by Walt (Pogo) Kelly...

...from various issues of Dell's Four Color Comics' Easter with Mother Goose annual issues!

Note, none have ever been reprinted!

From Dell's Four Color Comics #103 (1946), #140 (1947), #185 (1948), and #220 (1949)

Enjoy!

Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "Fir Tree"

For Our Final Yuletide-Themed Post of 2024...

...we thought we'd present a tale of a Christmas Tree by a master storyteller...Hans Christian Anderson!

Walt (Pogo) Kelly both adapted the story and illustrated it for Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942).

Holiday Reading Room FIRST CHRISTMAS IN NEW SUPER 3DIMENSION Conclusion

When Last We Left the Messiah...

...he had just been born!

So get out those red-blue glasses and let's continue..

This never-reprinted 1953 comic from Fiction House was one of numerous Bible-themed titles put out by various comics publishers to try to counteract the growing tide of anti-comics sentiment created by Fredric (Seduction of the Innocent) Wertham and his ilk, showing comic books could also be wholesome entertainment.

You can see Atlas/Marvel's version of the Nativity HERE, and DC/EC's take on the story HERE.
The writer and artist are unknown, but it's a sure bet they were part of the Iger Studio which "packaged" (provided editorial and art) for Fiction House's comics division.
The cover is by legendary sci-fi pulp and book illustrator Kelly Freas!

Merry

Christmas!!!

Holiday Reading Room FIRST CHRISTMAS IN NEW SUPER 3DIMENSION Part 1

Get out those red-blue 3-D glasses, kiddies...

...because we're about to add a whole new dimension to Christmas comics!

Be here Thursday for the astounding conclusion.

Spoiler: the comic, while chronologically going beyond the usual Christmas narrative, does not cover Jesus Christ's entire life story.

This never-reprinted 1953 comic from Fiction House was one of numerous Bible-themed titles put out by various comics publishers to try to counteract the growing tide of anti-comics sentiment created by Fredric (Seduction of the Innocent) Wertham and his ilk, showing comic books could also be wholesome entertainment.

You can see Atlas/Marvel's version of the Nativity HERE, and DC/EC's take on the story HERE.

For Fiction House, unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the last titles the comics division published, closing up in early 1954.

Fiction's pulp magazine department struggled until early 1955 when it, too, passed into oblivion.