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

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Holiday Reading Room UNCANNY TALES "Executioner"

This may not appear to be a holiday tale...
...but it is...for everyone except the unseen (until the end) victim!
Could you tell that this Myron Fass-illustrated story from Atlas' Uncanny Tales #9 (1953) was done during the horror comics craze of the early 1950s?
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Holiday Reading Room MARVEL TALES "Man Without Fear"

"What holiday?"
Why, Halloween, of course!
Or...is it!
Is this never-reprinted story by writer Carl Wessler and artist Joe Sinnott from Atlas' Marvel Tales #140 (1955) a Halloween treat...or trick?
You tell us, kiddo!

Tuesday, July 4, 2023

Holiday Reading Room: EVERY DAY IS A HOLLY DAY: "Independence Day"

From 1956, here's a never-reprinted tale from a unique comic...
...produced to promote, of all things, sugar!
Why is the Brevity, Inc comic entitled "Every Day is a Holly Day" instead of "Every Day is a Holiday"?
Because it was given away to kids by grocers who sold Holly Sugar!
Illustrated by John Rosenberger, it's a unique pamphlet covering a number of American holidays, including both Lincoln and Washington's Birthdays (before they were combined into "Presidents' Day"), Mothers' Day (though not Fathers' Day), Flag Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, and a couple of holidays we've largely abandoned...Pan-American Day and American Indian Day!
We'll be presenting the other chapters on the dates they fall upon.
Watch for them!

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Sunday, April 9, 2023

Holiday Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Easter Sunday"

Our final Walt (Pogo) Kelly post for Easter...
...is a never-reprinted piece from Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #220 (1949).
We hope you've enjoyed our presentation of these long-lost pieces by one of the field's masters.
Now go eat a chocolate bunny and some marshmallow chicks!

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Easter Egg-citement with Walt Kelly!

April Fools Day is this coming Saturday...
...but we don't believe in waiting to play an April Fools Day trick on you!
This centerfold from Dell's Four Color Comics: Easter with Mother Goose #103 (1946) is a splendid example.
Can you find the bunnies, chicks, and eggs hidden in the art?
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Sunday, December 18, 2022

Holiday Reading Room TREASURE CHEST "Father Kiernan Tells About Christmas Customs in Other Lands"

Here's a rarely-seen Christmas piece...
...from the little-known (and never-reprinted) comic series Treasure Chest, only available by subscription in Catholic schools.
The Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact was a comic published bi-weekly during the school year (September thru June) and distributed to Catholic churches and schools from 1946 to 1966, featuring wholesome stories about historical, scientific, and sports subjects, adaptations of famous fictional works, and a number of original series.
Many Golden and Silver Age creators contributed work to the title including Joe Sinnott, Reed Crandall, Jim Mooney, Graham Ingels, Bernard Bailey, Bob Powell, Fran Matera, and Frank Borth.
It became a year-round bi-weekly from 1966 to 1968, then reverting to school-year-only until it's cancellation in 1972.
This particular story, written by George S Foley and illustrated by an unknown artist appeared in Vol 2 #9 (Dec. 24, 1946).

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Holiday Reading Room CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL "Santa's Red Red Nose"

What happens if Kris Kringle gets sick on Christmas Eve?
This tale from St John's Christmas Carnival (1952) 100-page one-shot gives you the answer!
It was all a dream!
Thank Heavens!
The thought of a Christmas without Santa is just too much to bear! ;-)
This tale (and the entire Christmas Carnival 100-page 25-cent book) were published twice!
Once in 1952 by Ziff-Davis and again in 1955 by St John Publishing, which bought the Ziff-Davis comics line's material when the publisher liquidated that division after the "Seduction of the Innocent" witch hunt!
Ironic, since Ziff-Davis Comics was one of the least-offensive publishers on the magazine racks!
The writer and artist(s) are unknown.
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Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Holiday Reading Room SPELLBOUND "When You Believe"

Considering A Christmas Story was directed by the guy who directed the original Black Christmas (1974)..
...it's almost a miracle that holiday classic didn't end up like this Xmas tale of a boy and his toy gun!
Rendered beautifully by Bill Everett, this Yuletide tale from Atlas' Spellbound #16 (1953) appeared during the height of the horror comics craze of the early 1950s.
The identity of the writer is, sadly, unknown.
When the story was reprinted in Marvel's Weird Wonder Tales #3 (1974), only the first panel of the opening page was slightly-modified, eliminating almost all the text!
I have no idea why!
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Thursday, December 8, 2022

Holiday Reading Room JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "They Wait in the Shadows!"

You saw a later version of this tale HERE...

...but this is the original story, behind a very misleading, but extremely-kool, cover by Bill Everett!
Illustrated by Bob Forgione and scripted by an unknown writer, this story from Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #47 (1956) was more "hard" science-fiction and less "science-fantasy" than the later tale following the same basic plot!
But they're both equally-good at getting the Yuletide message across, eh?
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Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Holiday Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Monsters on Mercury!"

Though it doesn't look like it...
...this is a Yuletide story, and thus, an appropriate entry into the Holiday Reading Room!
This long-forgotten Stan Lee/Steve Ditko tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #78 (1962) wasn't the first time this concept was used!
You'll find out what we mean...Thursday!
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Thursday, November 24, 2022

Holiday Reading Room EVERY DAY IS A HOLLY DAY "Thanksgiving Day" & HUMBUG "Like How to Carve Turkey"

A look at Thanksgiving...including before it was Thanksgiving!
Note there is a historically-inaccurate aspect below...
Interestingly, this page from Brevity Inc's one-shot giveaway Every Day is a Holly Day (1956) plays up the fallacy that turkeys were served at the first Thanksgiving, when the primary dish was eel!
In fact, Benjamin Franklin wanted the wild turkey to be America's official bird and you don't eat your official bird!
Why is this comic entitled "Every Day is a Holly Day" instead of "Every Day is a Holiday"?
Because it was given away to kids by grocers who sold Holly Sugar!
Illustrated by John Rosenberger, it's a unique pamphlet covering a number of American holidays, including both Lincoln and Washington's Birthdays (before they were combined into "Presidents' Day"), Mothers' Day (though not Fathers' Day), Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and a couple of holidays we've largely abandoned...Pan-American Day and American Indian Day!
We'll present the other chapters on the dates they fall upon.
Watch for them!
Now, let's switch from reverence to sarcasm, with a never-reprinted one-pager by Arnold Roth from Humbug Publications' Humbug #5 (1957) covering a major culinary conundrum...
Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS FUNNIES "First Noel" or "First Nowell"?

Is it "Noel"...
...as most spell it these days?
From Dell's Santa Claus Funnies #1 (1942), illustrator unknown
Or is it...
..."Nowell", as seen in Dell's Four Color Santa Claus Funnies #91 (1945)?
Illustrated by Arthur E Jameson.
"Nowell" is the English (British) spelling...and the hymn is of British origin.
"Noel" is the French (and other Old Latin-based languages') spelling.
Presumably it became the standard when the hymn was used in hymnals (which used Old Latin verses for many songs, though I've never heard an Old Latin version of  "First Nowell") in the 18th Century.