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

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Reading Room MAGAZINELAND U.S.A. Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...on the 50th Anniversary of their current plant's "christening" the operators of the largest comic book/comic strip printing facility in America celebrated with a promotional comic detailing how a comic book was created and printed!
After covering the editorial and preparation processes (and segueing into a photo album about the "early days") we now return to the printing plant itself...





As you can see, this was a major operation...


Besides the comic, there were tours of the facility.
This one, during the June 18th, 1977, featured Phil Seuling, known as the Father of the Direct Market and Comic Book Stores!

And that's how comics were produced from the 1930s until the early 1980s, when going to offset printing resulted in a slow transition to Canadian printers.

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Reading Room MAGAZINELAND U.S.A. Part 1

We Now Wrangle with Tariffs That Will Raise the Price of Comics & Graphic Novels...
...because the vast majority are printed in Canada!
But let's look back at when America printed its' own comic books...courtesy of this 1977 promotional comic celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the printing plant building, packaged by the then-brand new Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art!
This behind-the-scenes look at how comics were produced will conclude Thursday!

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "My Secret"

You may ask "Why is a simple crime story being published in a sci-fi comic?"
The answer will surprise you...
Y'know, Donald Trump and his ilk could take a lesson from this Steve Ditko-rendered tale...illegal alien makes good and government rewards him with a free pass!
Originally-published in Charlton's Out of This World #3 (1957), this oft-reprinted story's author is unknown, but suspected to be Charlton mainstay Joe Gill.
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Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Reading Room TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED / FROM BEYOND THE UNKNOWN "Cartoon That Came to Life"

Here's an off-beat tale...
Art by Nick Cardy
...that made the cover both times it was published!
Art by Bill Ely
...though I have to admit the original cover (above) is a bit dull compared to the reprint's cover (top)
Written by Otto Binder and illustrated by Bill Ely, it's a nicely-done story with one obvious question?
Why is the Martian called a "dragon-man"?
His wings are feathered and look more like a bird's...or even an angel's!
The new art for the cover of the reprint gives him scales and a beak so it's a little more like a dragon, but still...
Was the original concept much more lizard/dragon-looking, but the Comics Code Authority forced DC to "tone it down" to the rather innocuous-looking alien?
Trivia: This story is one of the few to be the cover feature both for its' original publication (Tales of the Unexpected #1 [1956]) and the reprint (From Beyond the Unknown #24 [1970])
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Sunday, January 26, 2025

Reading Room THIS MAGAZINE IS CRAZY "What Would Happen if Women Laid Eggs?"

As Egg Prices Leap to All-Time Highs, We Dare to Ask...
...utilizing this more-than-slightly misogynistic comic feature from one of the numerous MAD magazine clones published in the 1950s!
This never-reprinted feature from Charlton's short-lived MAD magazine clone This Magazine is Crazy V4N6 (1958) embodies the misogynist mindset that existed in the mainstream until the late 1960s and has recently-experienced a resurgence among Reich-wing/MAGATs!
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Friday, January 24, 2025

Friday Fun HILLBILLY COMICS "Man Who Hated the Moon!"

 Here's a tale of a guy like the good ol' boys who support the disgraced, impeached (yet re-elected) President...

...from a short-lived 1950s title telling their stories!
Yep, these are the people Don da Con and other Republicans play to while decrying the "educated elites".
"Bubbleville', according to Repug Mike Huckabee, represents the big cities of New York, Washington and Hollywood where the educated (but not smart) people live.
"Bubbaville", I guess, is everywhere else in the good ol' USA.
And that's where the "real people" are.
The ones who are smart...without all that fancy book-learnin'. 
The ones we city-folk call "deplorables"!
Written and illustrated by the highly-underrated Art Gates, this never-reprinted piece from Charlton's Hillbilly Comics #1 (1955) shows the "wisdom" the Cheeto Benito's audience is famous for!

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Reading Room WEIRD THRILLERS "Graveyard in the Antarctic"

The current cold wave reminded me of a recent TV mini-series about ill-fated Arctic explorers, The Terror! 
And here's a tiny true tale of frozen fear...from the back of Ziff-Davis' Weird Thrillers #4 (1952)!
Illustrated by Marvin Stein, it's purportedly based on a true story.
But I've been unable to verify it, as all of Levick's known studies were about penguins, not seals!
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Thursday, January 16, 2025

Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Antique Collectors"

What's "antique" really depends on your point of view...
...as this tiny tale (from 1959) demonstrates!
Cars from 1959 are extremely collectible now, and it's only 66 years later!
Both the writer and artist of this story from Charlton's Out of This World #13 (1959) are, sadly, unknown.
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Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Reading Room LOST WORLDS "Space Race"

If you think a high-speed auto race is fun...
...what if the race was between high-speed spacecraft?

This is the sort of story that proves the trope that most sci-fi of the Golden Age was just re-written Western stories.
Replace the horse or stagecoach with a spaceship, six-shooters with ray blasters, and Indians with aliens, and voila, a sci-fi story!
This never-reprinted tale from Lost Worlds #6 (1954) was penciled by John Celardo and inked by Bernard Sachs.
The writer is unknown.
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