Space Hero Saturdays THE SECRET ORIGIN ( NO LIE) OF FLASH GORDON!

Because it's Thanksgiving weekend, and we're out shopping...

..due to the Dreaded Deadline Doom, we're re-presenting a classic (but rarely-seen) Flash Gordon tale...

...the untold story of Flash Gordon's first encounter with the inhabitants of Mongo!

Wow!

Writer Mark Schultz and artist Al Williamson pulled off what many these days would consider to be impossible...a retcon that doesn't contradict any of the previous stories, nor requires a reboot of the character's entire history!

(I thought only Rascally Roy Thomas was capable of such a feat!)

Not only that, but it includes visual Easter Eggs relating to various past versions of Flash, including the Clay People from the second movie serial, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, spaceships from the 1930s serials and the 1979 animated series, Flash's father (named "Alex" after artist Alex Raymond) looking remarkably like Buster Crabbe (the actor who played Flash in all three serials), and a young Dr Zarkov based on Al Williamson himself!

You can read the entire mini-series from the start by clicking HERE!

It's well worth your time to do so!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Al Williamson's

Flash Gordon

(which reprints the mini-series, but in black-and-white!)

It's 2020, and the Dinosaurs are About to Return...

...according to the sadly OOP series Xenozoic Tales!

Why hasn't this series, which combined the apocalypse, classic cars, and prehistoric monsters along with excellent writing and art, ever been a multi-media, mass-market favorite like Walking Dead or Game of Thrones?

How did all this come about?

This video (ironically, from the video game) explains quite succinctly how in 2020 the world we know will end!

Plotwise and chronologically, this story from Kitchen Sink's Xenozoic Tales #1 (1987), written and illustrated by Mark Schultz, is the first story in the series, featuring Hannah Dundee's introduction to the people of the City in the Sea.

Note: A tale (entitled "Xenozoic") introducing the series to the public, but published a couple of years earlier in Kitchen Sink's Death Rattle #8 (1985) takes place after this story.

When the entire series was reprinted in story-chronological order in Dark Horse hardcovers in 2003, the Death Rattle tale was placed between two stories in Xenozoic Tales #2.

The comic inspired a video game and well-done, but short-lived, animated TV series.

Despite those successes, it still has yet to hit the public consciousness the way other graphic novel properties have.

Perhaps now's the time to revive it?

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Xenozoic Tales

Volume One: After the End

Reading Room DEATH RATTLE "Xenozoic!" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...actually we haven't seen this...nor will we!

It's a "symbolic" cover, designed to hook you into reading the comic.

And, hoo boy, does it work!

On a post-apocalyptic Earth several centuries from now, a rescue team checks up on a scientific research outpost that went mysteriously silent.

They find one mutilated survivor, and the group splits up to search for others...

Wow!

Now THAT'S an introduction!

Up-and-comer Mark Schultz created, wrote, and illustrated this tribute to dinosaurs in general and EC Comics of the 1950s in particular.

Dennis Kitchen, editor-publisher of Kitchen Sink was so sure of the potential for this series, he didn't even wait to see how the sales were on Death Rattle #8, as shown by this ad in the back of the book...

The book ran for 14 issues, and sold well.

There was also a one-shot 3-D issue adapting earlier stories to the 3-D format.

Problem was that Mark Schultz, like Dave Stevens, Mike Kaluta, Neal Adams, and a number of other creatives, though incredibly-talented, was also exceedingly sloooooowww, so the book went from bi-monthly to quarterly to semi-annually.

Kitchen Sink tried using back-up tales (overseen by Schultz) by other writers and artists while Schultz did the lead stories, but the book always had trouble keeping a regular schedule.

Even with that, the series built up a devoted following and tie-in merchandise like t-shirts, action figures and other goodies were grabbed off comic store shelves as fast as they were stocked.

Marvel's Epic imprint reprinted the early tales in color under the name Cadillacs & Dinosaurs.

Interest from licensees in this version resulted in mainstream media tie-ins including a popular arcade game, home video console games, and an animated tv series...which resulted in its' own comic series from Topps that did new stories based on the tv show and sequels to Xenozoic Tales comic stories!

The stories continue to be reprinted (most recently in an IDW "Artists Edition"), and there are rumors of a feature film that could lead to an ongoing franchise!

Reading Room DEATH RATTLE "Xenozoic!" Part 1

With one simple, invented word and a passion for dinosaurs and EC Comics...

...a young writer-artist named Mark Schultz created one of the more successful comic series of the 1980s!

What has Jack discovered?

Find Out...

TOMORROW!

Plus, we'll toss in some background about both the series and the creator!

Reading Room: FLASH GORDON "Chapter 4.1: the Man Who Would be Ming!"

We Have Already Seen...

...all you really need to know is Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless are finally about to meet face-to-face!

A classic high-adventure tale by writer Mark Schultz and illustrator Al Williamson, little-seen in either its' first publication in Marvel's Flash Gordon #2 (1995) or the reprint in the HTF Flesk Publications' Al Williamson's Flash Gordon: a Lifelong Vision of the Heroic (2009).
We have more rarities coming up, so watch for them!

Reading Room: FLASH GORDON "Chapter Four: Showdown in Syk"

With the repressed memory of their decades-earlier encounter with Queen Azura restored...

...Flash and Zarkov, along with Dale, spring into action!

Next Week:

It's the thrilling conclusion that we just had to call...

The Man Who Would be Ming!