Monday Mecha Madness UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION "War Toy"

It's the July 4th Week of the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of America!

Art by Mike Kaluta

So let's tell a tale of military AI!

Written by Tony Isabella, penciled by George Perez, and inked by Rico Rival, this tale of a sympathetic, benevolent, yet deadly robot from Marvel's anthology b/w magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #2 (1975) was the only time a story that wasn't an adaptation of a classic sci-fi prose story was featured on the cover of the magazine!
Speaking of the cover, you'll note the published version (as compared to the original by Mike Kaluta seen above) had two planets added to it at editor Roy Thomas' request...even though the action takes place on Earth!

Trivia: When "War Toy" was reprinted in another Marvel anthology b/w magazine Marvel Preview #20 (1980)...

...artist Howard Chaykin included the character in a new cover painting which featured his character Dominick Fortune along with the retro-style spaceship from the EC tribute story "Good Lord!"

 Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Sci-Fi Art: a Graphic History

Paid Link

Tales Twice-Told STRANGE GALAXY "Vampires from Dimension 'X' "

 We Have Already Seen...

...this exact story, but presented, in color, by a different illustrator, who did it almost 20 years earlier!

Inspired by the success of Warren Publications' b/w horror magazines (Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella), schlock publisher Myron Fass dropped his line of poorly-selling color comics and decided to do a line of b/w horror magazines uncensored by the Comics Code Authority.

Though some of the material was pure reprint of b/w stats and photo negatives from defunct comics companies like Avon, Fawcett, and Farrell, Fass' supply of them was limited.

So he had new material produced based on stories in printed comics from those same out-of-business companies, employing South American artists who worked for lower rates than American or European artists the major companies used!

Illustrated by Argentinian artist Antonio Reynoso, this re-telling of Tuesday's story was, itself, reprinted several times throughout the Eerie Publications line after it's premiere in Strange Galaxy V1N11 (1971), though I suspect Reynoso was paid only for its' initial publication!
Eerie Publications continued from 1969 to 1980, when the birth of the Direct Market and comic book stores (who didn't carry the Eerie Publications titles) doomed it to diminishing sales.

Support Atomic Kommie Comics
Visit Amazon and Order...

Weird World of Eerie Publiications
Comic Gore that Warped Millions of Young Minds
Paid Link

Friday Fun CRACKED and CRAZY BiCentennial Features

MAD is Easily the Most Famous of the b/w Comic Parody Magazines...

...but there were others who were no slouches when it came to satire and parody, starting with this never-reprinted feature from Marvel's Crazy #19 (1976)...

Written by Michael Pellowski and illustrated by Tony Tallarico.

Now, let's look at the other major MAD competitor, with this three-pager written and illustrated by Don Orehek from Major Magazines' Cracked #137 (1976)...

Finally, another Cracked feature, this one from #136 (1976) by writer/artist Su Gumen which demonstrates how "media bias" works!

Hope you liked these 49 year-old flashbacks to the Bicentennial!

And I pray America's still around for her 250th Birthday next year!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Sincerest Form of Parody

Paid Link

Friday Fun P.S. The Batman Meets the ORIGINAL Bat-Man...or Is It ORIGINAL Man-Bat?

"But...We're Practically Brothers!"

A never-reprinted cartoon from Mercury Press' P.S. #2 (1966)

This immediately-followed the nostalgia article "Guys in the Trick Suits" about Golden Age comic books from the same magazine that we ran last Friday!

Monday Madness ANDROMEDA "Klang! Klang!"

Who Hasn't Dozed Off on a Bus or Train...or Trolley?

But what's important is where you are when you wake up!

This never-reprinted Victorian-era high adventure tale from Andromeda #5 (1978) by writer/artist Derek Carter shows a mode of transport that has all-but disappeared from the American landscape except for amusement parks.

(AFAIK, the only city that still has cable trolleys is San Francisco.)
Derek Carter did only four stories in comics, but has gone on to an active career in both commercial and fine art!
You can check out his website HERE.

Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Science Fiction Comics

Taylor History of Comics

Vol 3

Paid Link

Yesterday Was Free Comic Book Day, and I Couldn't Help Wondering...

...What If Comics Were All That Remained of Humanity?

This never-reprinted short from Warren's Heavy Metal knock-off 1984 #1 (1978), written by Bill DuBay and illustrated by Alfredo Alcala, offers a more-than-likely answer!

Reading Room / Tales Twice Told WEIRD "The Dead Live"

 Usually, in "Tales Twice Told" we present the original story first...

...but this time, we're going with the later, reworked version from the same script first!

Illustrated (or is that re-illustrated by Cirilo Munoz, this tale from Eerie Publications' Weird V8N4 (1974) is a re-working of a story from 20 years earlier that, up until then, had not been reprinted...despite the fact it had been illustrated by a major Silver-Age artist!
Trivia: that original tale remained hidden under the cowbwebs of history until 2008.over a half century later, and only in black and white!
But you'll see that story from 1954, in brilliant color, right here on Thursday!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy...

The Worst of Eerie Publications

Paid Link