Space Hero Saturdays ZANY "Buck Dodgers" and "Flush Gordon"

A couple of comic strip parodies from one of the many 1950s MAD Magazine imitators...

...specifically, Candar's Zany #3 (1959), illustrated by Carl (Golden Age Human Torch) Burgos, writer unknown, though it might have been Burgos himself.

From Candar's Zany #2 (1958), artist and writer unknown.

The "Max Oboy" credit spoofs artist Mac (Green Lama) Raboy, who illustrated the Flash Gordon Sunday strip after co-creator/artist Alex Raymond left for other projects.

These HTF and never-reprinted space adventure parodies, were from Candar Publishing, which published risque titles like French Cartoons and Cuties and College Laughs.

Though Zany only ran four issues, it had a pretty damn good lineup of writers and artists including the aformentioned Burgos (who was also the editor for the first two issues), Bill Everett (who also painted all four front covers), Joe Sinnott, Dick Briefer, John Forte, Don Orehek, Morris Waldinger, Paul Reinman, and Pete Costanza!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Sincerest Form of Parody

Space Hero Saturdays ZANY "Buck Dodgers" and "Flush Gordon"

A couple of comic strip parodies from one of the many MAD Magazine imitators...

From Candar's Zany #3 (1959), illustrated by Carl (Golden Age Human Torch) Burgos, writer unknown, though it might have been Burgos himself.

From Candar's Zany #2 (1958), artist and writer unknown.

Note: "Max Oboy" is a spoof of Mac Raboy, Golden Age Captain Marvel Jr and Green Lama comic artist who replaced Alex Raymond on the Flash Gordon Sunday strip from 1948 to his passing in 1967.

These HTF (and never-reprinted) space adventure parodies, were from Candar, which published risque titles like French Cartoons and Cuties and College Laughs.

Though Zany only ran four issues, it had a pretty damn good lineup of writers and artists including the aformentioned Burgos (who was also the editor for the first two issues), Bill Everett (who also painted all four front covers), Joe Sinnott, Dick Briefer, John Forte, Don Orehek, Morris Waldinger, Paul Reinman, and Pete Costanza!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Sincerest Form of Parody

Monday Maternity Madness MAD "Mad's All-Inclusive Do-It-Yourself Abortion Newspaper Story"

With minor updating, this never-reprinted two-page feature...

...written by long-time contributor Frank Jacobs from EC's MAD Magazine #324 (1994) could be used today!

Sad, isn't it?

Friday Fun / CoronoaVirus Comics MAD "Look at Modern-Day Bacteria"

Think our concerns about diseases and a possible plague are something new?

This never-reprinted feature from MAD Magazine #153 (1972) combines humor with medicine and politics!

Among those whom writers Max Brandel & Frank Jacobs and artist Bob Clarke skewer are President Richard Nixon (R), Vice-President Spiro Agnew (R), conservative Presidential candidate George Wallace (I), and the radical liberal Students for a Democratic Society!

(Google them if you're too young to remember!)

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

MAD About Trump!

A Brilliant Look at Our Brainless disgraced ex-President (up to 2018)

and/or

MAD About the Trump Era Error

(2018-2020)

Friday Fun MAD "Dr Seuss for the Digital Age"

With all the recent controversy about old Dr Seuss books...

...it's sad to remember there'll never be new ones like these, since the good Doctor passed 20 years ago!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

 The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss

A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel

Monday Madness MAD "Mad's All-Inclusive Do-It-Yourself Impeachment Newspaper Story"

When the previous criminal Repug Prez was about to be impeached in 1974...

...it was (unlike now) for a non-violent crime and MAD Magazine was at a creative peak, as demonstrated by this classic (and pretty comprehensive) piece by writer Frank Jacobs published in EC's MAD #170 (1974)!

The process took several months, allowing for such satirical pieces to be produced.

Today, sadly, MAD is gone, and the increased speed political matters are now proceeding at prevents such material from being created.

Friday Fun SNAFU "Understanding the Atom: Diagram of an Atom Bomb"

Considering Don da Con almost managed to stage a coup and gain total control of the government on Wednesday...

..we thought we'd offer this never-reprinted, easy-to-understand diagram of the weapon he's only one temper tantrum away from launching from #2 (1956) of Atlas/Marvel's short-lived 1950s MAD b/w magazine clone, SNAFU, written by Stan Lee and rendered by Joe Maneely.

Most of you are aware Marvel had a fairly-successful MAD clone in the 1970s-80s called CRAZY, but they also gave it a try back in the 1950s, with a three issue run!

#1

#2

#3

As you can see from the contents page of #2... 

...the incredibly-versatile John Severin and Joe Maneely handled literally all the artwork for the series.
Also, Irving Forbush was their Alfred E Neuman / Sylvester P Smythe-type mascot, whose face was shown constantly.
Later versions of Irv in Not Brand Echh, What Th--?, and other comics didn't show his face, and his "costume" as Forbush-Man included an all-concealing cooking pot with holes in it as a mask!
To date, none of the material from these very hard-to-find issues of Snafu has ever been reprinted, which is a pity, because it's pretty damn good! 

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Unquotable Trump

Sh*t My President Says:

Illustrated Tweets of Donald J Trump

MAD About Trump

A Brilliant Look at Our Brainless President

Monday Madness / Holiday Reading Room MAD "Comic Strip Characters' Christmas Party"

This is one heckuva piece (scanned from the original art)...

...from EC's MAD Magazine #68 (1962), featuring most of the major comic strip characters of the day, almost of whom are (sob) no longer being published...now only available in reprints!

Here's the complete list: Mr. Dithers; Dennis Mitchell; Henry Mitchell; Moonbeam McSwine; Dick Tracy; Hi Flagston; Lois Flagston; Joe Palooka; Steve Roper; Smitty; Archie Andrews; Ponytail; Tarzan; Minnie Mouse; Donald Duck; Gran'ma; Pigpen; Smokey Stover; Lucy Van Pelt; Sweetpea; Schroeder; Popeye; Simon Templar: the Saint; Daddy Warbucks; Little Orphan Annie; Sandy; Moon Mullins; Charlie Brown; Blondie Bumstead; Dagwood Bumstead: Hans Katzenjammer; Fritz Katzenjammer; Steve Canyon; Terry Lee; The Little King; Henry; Ferd'nand; Fearless Fosdick; Li'l Abner; Prince Valiant; Diana Palmer; The Phantom; Mandrake the Magician; Lothar; Nancy; Jeff; Alley Oop; Felix the Cat; Mary Worth; B.C.; The Lone Ranger; Summer Smith Olsen; Snoopy; Albert Alligator; Pogo Possum; Junior Tracy; Mr. Magoo; Miss Peach; Mark Trail; Rip Kirby; Dondi; Gravel Gertie.
What could be more appropriate for the last Monday Madness entry before Christmas?

BTW, we all know illustrator, Wally Wood, whose ability to do dead-on renderings of everybody from realistic adventure characters to "big foot" cartoons was incredible!
But writer Gary Belkin is all but forgotten to most comics fans.
However, he's still fondly-remembered by tv comedy fans!

Belkin was an Emmy-winning writer for such series as Carol Burnett Show, Tonight Show (Johnny Carson), Car 54, Where Are You?, Blondie (1968 series based on the comic strip), Ceasar's Hour (Sid Ceasar), and Sesame Street!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics at Christmastime!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Friday Fun / CoronaVirus Comics MAD "Failing Health Magazine"

Now that Halloween is over, we return to making fun of a real-life horror...

...by showing those who over-react to the slightest medical problem (and some that don't really exist) in a never-reprinted feature from EC's MAD Magazine #159 (1973)!

Scripted by Tom Koch and illustrated by the legendary Jack Davis, this was the sort of spoof MAD did better than anybody else in the humor mag business!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Absolutely MAD Magazine

50+ Years on DVD-Rom

The only place this story's been re-presented, albeit in digital low-res!

(Make sure you get the revised 2012 version for as complete a collection as possible)

Monday Madness GET LOST "The Circle, the Triangle and the Square"

Sometimes, a comic tale doesn't need perspective, anatomy, or even characters to tell a story...

...as this classic bit of storytelling from Mikeross' Get Lost #3 (1954) proves!

The graphics are simple, but effective...but the key is the captions and their use of slang to deliver the punchline!

Though it only lasted three issues, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito's Get Lost was one of the best of the MAD comic knock-offs, never quite hitting the heights of Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder's lunacy, but coming close with several tales, including this one!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Get Lost

The Complete Series

Monday Madness MAD "Stokley and Bess"

Before we begin the re-presentation of this never-reprinted tale adapting...

...I sincerely suggest anybody under 45 check out the links to these people...

Stokely Carmichael

Dick Gregory

Adam Clayton Powell

and this musical...

Porgy & Bess

...before proceeding.

I'll take it as given that even the youngest among you know who Malcolm X, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr and Muhammad Ali/Cassius Clay are...

Is there a reason this particular tale by Larry Siegel and Mort Drucker from MAD #111 (1967) has never been reprinted?

Was it controversial?

Did it generate too much negative reader response?

One thing's for sure...it wouldn't be done in today's cultural climate!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Porgy and Bess

(note: requires region-free DVD player since it's an import disc)

The movie's NEVER been released in the US on DVD or BluRay!

Monday Madness WHACK "Flush Jordan"

Yes, it's a Flash Gordon spoof...

..but it has a cultural reference most readers won't recognize!
Ming the Merciless usually looks like this...

...so who's "Bing", the golf-playing guy in the Hawaiian shirt and porkpie hat?

He's Bing Crosby, singer, comedian, obsessive golfer, and (when this comic was published) a pop culture icon!
With that in mind, please read...

The guy at the end, whining about "Thanks for the Memory" is comedian Bob Hope...

...Bing's co-star/rival in the 1940s-50s "Road to..." movie series as well as a pop culture legend in his own right!

Note: Thanks for the Memory" was Hope's personal theme song, used primarily to close his radio show, live appearances, and TV specials!

This never-reprinted story from #2 of St John's MAD clone WHACK was illustrated by William Overgard for 3-D use, but the collapse of the 3-D comic market forced St John to publish it in regular color comic format!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Sincerest Form of Parody