The never-reprinted 1994 graphic novel based on Peter O'Donnell's first Modesty Blaise book, which provided about as much a basis for the 1966 movie as Ian Fleming's Casino Royale did for the 1967 flick based on that novel began running last week!!
If you've missed any of the action (written by O'Donnell himself and illustrated by Dan Spiegle and Dick Giordano), here's the links at
We also finished re-presenting the tale of a superhero who travels from comic books to the real world in a short-lived and long-forgotten (almost 40 years ago) TV series finally gets the attention it deserves at
With the movie Fantastic Four: First Flight finally incorporating the characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we're presenting this long-OOP (almost a half-century) premiere prose novel (as compared to graphic novel) featuring both the protagonists and one of the antagonists of the flick by long-time comics scribe Marv Wolfman right here at
...as Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin rip apart Gabriel's criminal organization from within at Crime and Punishment and Heroines! in a tale that winds up this week!
Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four began their prose novel career in a never-reprinted story from 1979 with a battle involving both science and magic against Doctor Doom both on this blog and Seduction of the Innocent!
And the tale of a superhero who travels from comic books to the real world in a short-lived and long-forgotten (almost 40 years ago) TV series finally gets the attention it deserves at Hero Histories and Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!
Starting July 1st, we're running several blogathons...
With Fantastic Four: First Flight finally incorporating the characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we're presenting this long-OOP (almost a half-century) premiere prose novel (as compared to graphic novel) about them right here at
Atomic Kommie Comics
The legendary Man of Bronze takes on the Nazis at the 1936 Olympics as they put up an athlete who was trained from birth using the same techniques that Dr Clark Savage Sr used for Doc in this never-reprinted, almost 40 year-old extra-long comic!
Guest appearances by historical figures including Jesse Owens and Adolf (You Know Who)!
See the Nazi-Punching action at
Hero Histories and Medical Comics and Stories
Almost 40 years ago, there was a "high-concept" series about a tired, disillusioned comic book creator whose characters (a wholesome, upright superhero and hardboiled private detective) entered the real world!
With only seven episodes produced (four unaired), it's been largely-forgotten.
But there was a never-reprinted 2-issue adaptation of the pilot episode!
You'll see that at
Secret Sanctum of Captain Video
Here's a never-reprinted 1994 graphic novel based on Peter O'Donnell's first Modesty Blaise book, which provided about as much a basis for the 1966 movie as Ian Fleming's Casino Royale did for the 1967 flick based on that novel!
See what O'Donnell really intended at
Heroines!
And, of course, another entry in our "Beach Read" book-length gothic romance comic story series at
Starring a host of tv and b-movie actors including handsome-but-wooden Leonard Hicks as the benevolent Martian leader Kimar, 60s villain/voiceover artist Vincent Beck (who did lots of work for Irwin Allen's sci-fi shows) as the film's mustache-twirling, scenery-chewing Martian villain, Voldar, and John Call as a pretty damn convincing cuddly Santa Claus, the film is classic kiddie matinee programming at its' retro campy best!
The plot's pretty simple.
The children of Mars are in a funk.
The adult Martians deduce it's due to the children's strict and sterile upbringing, and that to "normalize" them, the kids must have fun!
And what could be more fun than celebrating Christmas?
But, to do a proper Christmas, you need a Santa Claus!
Thus, the Martians journey to Earth to kidnap Santa Claus and force him to create a Christmas celebration on Mars!
Then, as they used to say in TV Guide's plot listings, hilarity ensues! (well, sorta)
As an example of low-budget filmmaking, it's amazingly-effective.
Every penny (what few of them they had) is up on the screen.
The costuming and Santa's Workshop and Mars sets are as good as those of tv shows of the period.
(The Martian robot is probably the weakest element from a design and execution standpoint, but, hey, nobody's perfect!)
There's extensive use of military stock footage (from Dr. Strangelove, no less).
And, the idea to utilize the then-current Wham-O Air Blaster toy guns as Martian weapons was either a stroke of marketing genius or clever use of limited funds. Either way, sales of the guns shot thru the roof after the film hit the kiddie matinee circuit!
If you're between 3-9 years old, the flick's a lot of fun.
If you're between 10 and whatever the local drinking age is, it'll drive you nuts, especially the theme song! And to prove it...here it is!
If you're over the local drinking age...do so before watching! It's available on a host of public domain DVDs and BluRays as well as one of the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 snarkfests.
BTW: The image at top is the cover of the comic book tie-in. There was also a 45rpm single of the theme, a spoken-word LP album of the movie's dialogue (which included the comic book), and a novelization, all of which are HTF...and expensive when you do find them!
Be Here Next Friday,
when we begin our re-presentation of the comic book adaptation of the movie!
Now I can't get that damn theme out of my head..."Hoo-ray for Santy Claus..."
To Be More Accurate, Our "Brother" RetroBlog... ...Secret Sanctum of Captain Video, will be celebrating with a month-long look at never-reprinted British comics (there weren't any American comics) from the mid 1970s featuring the characters from the short-lived (only fourteen episodes) tv series starring Roddy McDowall, Ron Harper, James Naughton, and Mark Lenard! The Saga Begins Friday, on the 50th Anniversary at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!
...on Tuesday thru Friday for the limited-edition, never-reprinted comic that accompanied the videogame Madness in MurderWorld!, which utilized the heroes and villains from X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, a pilot episode which pre-dated the long-running X-Men animated series! Plus the character info pages from the game manual!
And if you want some background about Pryde of the X-Men (along with the actual episode) go HEREnow!
...two long-running TV series, The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart.
But, how many remember his final series, Bob...which was set in the world of comic books and greeting cards?
(Silly side note, considering the progression of series titles from The Bob Newhart Show to Newhart to Bob, if he had done another series what was it going to be called..."The"?)
In the 1992-94 series Newhart played Bob McKay, a Silver Age creative now doing greeting cards, who created, wrote, and illustrated Mad-Dog, a super-hero with the abilities of...you guessed it...a dog!
(He also, somehow, retained the copyright to the character, a rarity for creatives before the 1990s!)
When a new publisher wants to revive the character, Bob agrees, provided he does the book.
But, that's not what the publisher has in mind...
Note: we don't call the 1990s "The Dark Age" for nothing!
As you can see, Marvel Comics published a never-reprinted six-issue tie-in comic in "flip-book" format, with one half being Bob McKay's Silver Age version, and the other half being Ace Comics' Dark Age version. In tribute to this unjustly-forgotten project, which featured an episode guest-starring noted comics creatives Jack Kirby, Bob Kane, Sergio Aragones, Jim Lee, and Mark Silvestri; we're interrupting our "Time-Lost" Summer Blogathon to do the following...
(If only these had been done as black-lite posters!)
Read the whole tale, based on the TV series Adventures in Paradise, at our "brother" RetroBlog, Secret Sanctum of Captain Video, HERE, HERE, and HERE! Plus... Before Aquaman!
Before Prince Namor; the Sub-Mariner!
There Was...
The son of Neptune (who may or may not be the Roman god), The Shark once lived in an undersea kingdom, but set out to fight all crime committed at sea by anyone; human, sea-dweller, or extraterrestrial alien!
He's called "Shark" because sharks often accompany him...and eat his enemies! The character is also a skilled scientist, who creates and uses technology far beyond then-current human science!
His super-powers include...
The ability to breathe underwater
Superhuman strength and near-invulnerability (which he loses on land unless he's in physical contact with a magic knife given him by his father)
Mental control of sea life!
Ability to create creatures made of water, which he can direct mentally!
With a strip appearing in both Amazing-Man Comics and Stars and Stripes Comics, The Shark lasted until Centaur Publishing (which also published pulp magazines) gave up comics.
You can read six of his tales (including his premiere) at another of our "brother" RetroBlogs, Hero Histories, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE!
Plus the OOP graphic novel that served as the basis for a recent flick starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in... Western Comics Adventures and right here at Atomic Kommie Comics And, finally...
The multiversal (and OOP) firstDoctor Strange prose novel, Nightmare (1979) by William Rotsler in both
Starring a host of tv and b-movie actors including handsome-but-wooden Leonard Hicks as the benevolent Martian leader Kimar, 60s villain/voiceover artist Vincent Beck (who did lots of work for Irwin Allen's sci-fi shows) as the film's mustache-twirling Martian villain, Voldar, and John Call as a pretty damn convincing Santa Claus, the flick is touted these days as the debut of future talentless chantuse Pia Zadora as Kimar's daughter Girmar. (Thankfully, she has rather limited screen time.)
The plot's pretty simple.
The children of Mars are in a funk.
The adult Martians deduce it's due to the children's strict and sterile upbringing, and that to "normalize" them, the kids must have fun!
And what could be more fun than celebrating Christmas?
But, to do a proper Christmas, you need a Santa Claus!
Thus, the Martians journey to Earth to kidnap Santa Claus and force him to create a Christmas celebration on Mars!
Then, as they used to say in TV Guide's plot listings, hilarity ensues! (well, sorta)
As an example of low-budget filmmaking, it's amazingly-effective.
Every penny (what few of them they had) is up on the screen.
The costuming and Santa's Workshop and Mars sets are as good as those of tv shows of the period.
(The Martian robot is probably the weakest element from a design and execution standpoint, but, hey, nobody's perfect!)
There's extensive use of military stock footage (from Dr. Strangelove, no less).
And, the idea to utilize the Wham-O Air Blaster toy guns as Martian weapons was either a stroke of marketing genius or clever use of limited funds. Either way, sales of the guns shot thru the roof after the film hit the kiddie matinee circuit!
If you're between 3-9 years old, the flick's a lot of fun.
If you're between 10 and whatever the local drinking age is, it'll drive you nuts, especially the theme song!
If you're over the local drinking age, do so before watching! It's available on a host of public domain DVDs and BluRays as well as one of the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 snarkfests.
And you just knew we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ were going to include Santa Claus Conquers the Martians in our Cool Christmas collection on stuff including kid and adult sweatshirts, hoodies, mugs and coasters, tree ornaments, throw blankets and snugglies, and greeting cards!
BTW: The image is from the comic book tie-in. There was also a 45rpm single of the theme, a spoken-word LP album of the movie's dialogue, and a novelization, all of which are HTF...and expensive when you do find them!
(Note: that doesn't include partners/sidekicks like the The Green Hornet'sKato or Crimson Avenger'sWing who didn't have their own strips. But Hero Historieswill get to them!)
