Friday Fun: Before X-MEN '97! Before X-MEN the Animated Series! There was X-MEN "Pryde of the X-Men"!!!

When you watch X-Men '97 on Disney+...

...ask yourself what do you know about what led to it...even before the now-legendary animated TV series aired in the mid-1990s...

Did you know about the then-heavily-promoted pilot by Marvel Animation, New World Studios, and Toei Entertainment that aired in syndication during September 1989?

Marvel Comics devoted much of their monthly "prozine" Marvel Age's 63rd issue to the project (including a new cover by the pilot's primary character designer Russ Heath which was also used for the first VHS release of the cartoon)!

Here's the main article...

(Note the panels running along the bottom of the pages are actually from a storyboard used during production)

In addition, there was an animators' size-comparison chart...

...and the issues's back cover was an illustration showing the characters'...backsides!

Two special treats for you...

First, the centerfold from this issue of Marvel Age by ever-amazing fan-turned-pro writer/artist Fred Hembeck about the fan anticipation for the pilot...

...and here's the pilot itself!

Note, it's from an EP (6-hour speed) VHS release.

(The slower the speed, the poorer the quality!

But a studio could fit more shows and/or movies on a single video cassette at a bargain price!)

Note: There is an SP (2 Hour Speed) VHS from New World Video...

...released to comics stores and Tower Video (remember them)?
All the others are EP (6 Hour Speed)!

Try to find this version in used video bins!

Don't Miss X-Men '97!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Marvel Animation Special

X-Men

(A trade paperback "photonovel" graphic novel taken from screengrabs of the "Pryde of the X-Men" pilot!)

Paid Link

Friday Fun CRAZY "Hollywood Extra"

With the movie industry retrenching as audiences continue to not return to theaters...

...let's take a satirical look at how the film industry reacted the first time that phenomenon happened!

Writer Stan Lee and illustrator Russ Heath show, in this never-reprinted story from Atlas' MAD comic clone Crazy V1N7 (1954), that the movie business was losing customers to the then-new entertainment technology of television...and that was with TVs that had 15 inch (or less) screens and had only black-and-white transmissions (even when they broadcast color movies)!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Sincerest Form of Parody

Reading Room VENUS COMICS "Plot!"

With concern mounting about artificial intelligence (AI) taking over more and more control of our daily lives...

...we thought we'd take a look at one of the early tales about robots rebelling against Mankind!

As you might have guessed, we're re-presenting the never-reprinted back-up stories!

This back-up story from Atlas' Venus Comics #11 (1950), is illustrated by Russ Heath.

The writer is unknown.

Long before the Terminator and Matrix films, sci-fi literature presented examples of our creations such as the Robotmen of the Lost Planet one-shot comic we recently re-presented!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Reading Room (JOURNEY INTO) UNKNOWN WORLDS "Strange Car!"

Did you know there are many 1950s Atlas/Marvel never-reprinted "lost" tales?

...here's one of them, a never-reprinted story of autos, aliens, and alternate universes!

If the police found the body of the alien, Earl would've been charged with murder as well.

Perhaps they found the body, saw it was alien in nature, and thought it was a mannikin?

This tale from Atlas' Unknown Worlds #36 (1950) has an odd artistic pedigree.

The inker has been positively-identified as Russ Heath, but the penciler and writer are both unknown.
BTW, you'll note our post's title says (Journey Into) Unknown Worlds.
The indicia says Unknown Worlds, and as of the next issue, until the end of the run, it would read Journey into Unknown Worlds.
Also, this is the first issue of the title!
The book had been Teen Comics, and before that, All-Teen Comics.
Comics publishers did this because they were notoriously cheap, and each new comic title (classified by law as a new periodical) required a new second-class mailing license for subscriptions.
So publishers tried to keep the numbering of already existing titles, modifying the name just slightly, to keep the already paid license!
But the postal authorities caught them, and Atlas had to pay for a new second-class license and restart the numbering!
So, technically, this was #1, and as of what would have been #39, the numbering restarted with #4!

As a result, the book has two different numbers 36, 37, and 38...which drives current collectors nuts!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics PLANET OF VAMPIRES "Blood Plague" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Fellow Normal Humans..

This scene...sorta...appears in this issue

Astronauts Chris and Craig invade the virus-infected vampires' stronghold only to discover Craig's wife (and fellow astronaut) Brenda drained dry, as shown on the cover above.
(Except for the fact that Craig has a moustache and both Craig and Brenda are African-American, as shown HERE.)
Leaving Craig to mourn, Chris blasts his way into the Proctor's office...

What was "the Secret Project"?

We never found out, since the book was cancelled!

But it was already going though the transition that almost all the Atlas books that lasted more than two issues went through.

Radical changes in creative staffs, plotlines, even characters themselves were the norm as mercurial publisher Martin Goodman began shaking things up.

It's a sordid tale best told by one who was there, so click HERE for the details!

As for Planet of Vampires, the word was to make it more like Planet of the Apes and/or Kamandi.

This two-page spread in the back of the book by Larry Lieber and Al Milgrom gives an idea of what was to come...

Perhaps it's just as well there was no #4...
Next Wednesday:
Another Disease-Laden World of Wonder!
(There are a lot of them in sci-fi/fantasy!)

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

I Am Legend

the Graphic Novel Adaptation of the Original Book Which Inspired Generations of Creatives, including the Creators of Planet of Vampires!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder / CoronaVirus Comics PLANET OF VAMPIRES "Blood Plague" Part 1

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

...keep reading and the characters will explain what's going on right after the big explosion.
"What big explosion?" you may ask...

The battle concludes...Next Wednesday!

(and when we say "concludes", we mean concludes!)

Written by John Albano and illustrated by Russ Heath, Atlas' Planet of Vampires #3 winds up some plotlines and, unfortunately, kills off several major characters in the process.

Be here next week, when we'll show how far afield the book was about to go as it suffered the "Third Issue Curse" that befell most of the Atlas Comics books.

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

I Am Legend

the Graphic Novel Adaptation of the Original Book Which Inspired Generations of Creatives, including the Creators of Planet of Vampires!

Reading Room WILD "Big Wheels" by Russ Heath

You may know the late, great Russ Heath (1926-2018) from his meticulously-detailed...

...war, Western, or super-hero stories!

But we thought we'd pay tribute to his little-known humor work!

This never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Wild #3 (1954) was one of several Heath did for Atlas' 1950s MAD clones which also included Riot, Crazy, and Snafu!

Russ would later go on to occasionally-assist Harvey Kurtzman on the R-rated Little Annie Fanny...earning himself a long-term residency at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion, as recounted by Mark Evanier HERE!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Flesh and Steel

The Art of Russ Heath