Enjoy an Autumnal ADVENTURE IN ROMANCE with "September Squall"

Since it's September and the cold winds are beginning to blow...

...we thought we'd re-present one of the few romance comic stories actually tied-in with the season from an experimental magazine-sized comic book which featured romance stories with high adventure, historical, and Western tales in a kool cross-genre mash-up!

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Reading Room DO YOU BELIEVE IN NIGHTMARES? "Man Who Crashed into Another Era"

Here's a short story featuring dinosaurs, illustrated by Steve Ditko...

...just before his stint on Charlton's Gorgo!

Ok, so it was the old "It's only a dream" scenario.

You got to admit, it's well-done!

From St John's Do You Believe in Nightmares? #1 (1957), a short-lived anthology produced just before St John went out of business.

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Unexplored Worlds

Steve Ditko Archives, Vol 2

Friday Fun ABBOTT AND COSTELLO COMICS "Hail, Hail, the Gangplank's Here"

You Want Fun?
Let the Cry Ring Forth..."Heyyyyy, Abotttttt!"

...as we proudly re-present a fun frolic unseen by readers since its' only reprinting in 1955 (70 years, readers!)

This tale, illustrated by Lily Renee & Eric Peters, was cover-featured in it's premiere appearance in St. John's Abbott and Costello Comics #8 (1949)

It's final appearance was in St John's Abbott and Costello Comics #28 (1955)

So, either way, unless you paid a hefty sum for either issue, this is the first time you're seeing it!

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Abbott & Costello Story
Sixty Years of "Who's on First?"
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Space Force Saturdays ATOM-AGE COMBAT "Sky Diver"

Though this 1950s Comic Usually Presented Future Atomic War Between Countries...

...it did present a couple of alien invasion tales during it's brief run!

Scripted by an unknown writer, penciled by Bob Brown and inked by Lew Gantz, this never-reprinted story from St John's Atom-Age Combat #5 (1952) was typical of the "Hell, we can handle any damn invaders!" attitude we Americans had back in the day!

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Science Fiction Comics
Taylor History of Comics
Vol 3

Friday Fun / Baker Reading Room CANTEEN KATE vs The Comics Code Authority!

Besides Romance Comics and Scantily-Clad Heroines like Phantom Lady & Rulah... 

...pioneering Black comic book artist Matt Baker also did a military humor strip featuring (what else) a scantly-clad, beautiful WAC (Womens' Army Corps) officer assigned to run a canteen at a US military base not far from the front lines in Korea!

(She actually encountered North Koreans in a couple of tales)

The following, "Foxhole Floozie", appeared in St John's Fightin' Marines #7 (1952), where Kate's strip appeared in almost every issue from #2 to #12...while she also had her own comic book!

Straightforward, fun story with a little harmless cheesecake thrown in, illustrated by a master of the craft!

However...

When Charlton Comics bought out St John Publishing's inventory and began reprinting it, the brand-new Comics Code Authority literally got its' panties in a bunch, insisting on some ridiculous changes in the retelling of this tale in Charlton's Fightin' Marines #17 (1956)

Start with putting a bra/bathing suit top on Kate, and putting a boulder over her shapely legs in the opening panel and removing the story's title "Foxhole Floozie"!

Plus, throughout the tale, her tasteful shorts are replaced with mid-calf length Capri pants, and there's an olive-drab t-shirt under her uniform shirt, covering her cleavage!

One additional point...

Usually, when Charlton, Avon, and other publishers modified previously-published art to conform to the Comic Code's demands, they usually did it only to the black plate art, but, to save money, not to the existing cyan, magenta, and yellow plates!
Here, the reprint is totally-recolored!
Plus the retouching is so clean that it looks like the original artist, Matt Baker did it himself!
Did Charlton have the original art along with photostats and photo negatives, and asked Baker (who was doing freelance work for Charlton) do the reworking himself?
In truth, it's the sort of thing I'd expect editor Dick Giordano to do!

But, sadly, we'll never know the answer, since all involved parties are no longer on this mortal coil!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

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Space Hero Saturdays WHACK "Flush Jordan"

Yes, it's a Flash Gordon spoof...

..but it has a cultural reference readers under 50 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!

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Sincerest Form of Parody
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