Showing posts with label Holiday Reading Room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holiday Reading Room. Show all posts

Monday, March 24, 2025

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!

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

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.

Sunday, March 16, 2025

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!

Sunday, December 29, 2024

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).

Thursday, December 19, 2024

Holiday Reading Room FIRST CHRISTMAS IN NEW SUPER 3DIMENSION Conclusion

...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!!!

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

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.