Under the X-Mas Tree: Behold...the Blue Bolt!

In the 1940s, comic books were the equivalent of videogames today. Everybody started publishing them, even the staid Saturday Evening Post! Their comics line was Novelty Press, and to create the lead character, they commissioned young up-and-coming writer/artist Joe Simon.
Simon came up with the concept, plot, and character designs and produced the first issue of Blue Bolt. But, by the second issue, his workload between this and other projects was so overwhelming, that to stay on deadline (Yes, there was a time when comics artists actually MET deadlines!), he partnered with another young up-and-comer, Jacob Kurtzburg.
You know him as...Jack Kirby!
(In the '60s he would, with Stan Lee, co-create The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor...basically 95% of Marvel Comics' Silver Age line-up, almost all of whom are still going strong today! Yeah, THAT Jack Kirby!)
Thus, with The Blue Bolt, the legendary Golden Age team of Simon & Kirby born!
As to the character himself...he was a football star who was struck by lightning (twice), recovered, flew his private plane to get help, crashed it so hard that it fell thru to the center of the Earth where the inhabitants of an advanced civilization used radiation to save and improve him, was given a costume and weapon, and sent to battle the local super-villain, The Green Sorceress.
And that was just the origin story!
Then things really got busy!
It took a year for Blue to both fall in love with, and finally defeat, Greenie. Then realizing World War II was under way, he went to the surface to battle the Axis.
Simon & Kirby moved on to create other, even higher-profile, projects (Captain America, Newsboy Legion, Young Romance, etc.) but Blue Bolt chugged on, surviving until the early 50s, when, after changing from a superhero to horror title, it was laid to rest as a result of a public outcry against comics led by Dr. Wertham.
We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have resurrected the valiant hero as part of our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line, including his first appearance, his (in our opinion) BEST cover, and his final Golden Age cover appearance!
For a fan of the Golden Age of Comics, Jack Kirby, or the Blue Bolt himself, any of our shirts, mugs, mousepads or other goodies would make great Christmas gifts!
Show the fanboy (or fangirl) in your life you know what they like!

Joe Simon (1913-2011)

One of the most important figures of comics' Golden Age, both solo and in tandem with Jack Kirby.

Writer/Illustrator/Editor

Check out his personal website HERE.

Simon & Kirby's SuperHeroes!

Original cover concept...not final art

THE "Must-Have" Comic Book Fan Gift Book of 2010!
Titan Books' The Simon & Kirby Superheroes is a compilation of almost all the duo's superhero work for companies other than Marvel and DC (most of which is available in affordable hardcover or trade paperback).

Actual Cover Art

The lineup of heroes is...

The Black Owl

StuntMan

Vagabond Prince

 Captain 3-D

Double Life of Private Strong: the Shield

The Fly
Fighting American & SpeedBoy
(featured on the cover)

Curiously, the first superhero character the pair did,

 The Blue Bolt, is not included!
Nor is their Western superhero, Bulls Eye!
But a couple of the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ are included!
So why not combine one of our cool collectibles with this terrific tome to make a Golden Age Comics fan's birthday or Christmas present dream come true?

Second Cousin of SuperPowers Sunday!

For the next few Sundays, we're going to present the nifty updated designs of the Project SuperPowers characters by Alex Ross along with links to a couple of Squidoo pages of background info and links about the series and characters...
Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers
(featuring characters who've been cover-featured)
Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers Strikes Again!
(featuring the other characters)
Erik Larsen's the Next Issue Project & Savage Dragon
(featuring several of the same characters as Project SuperPowers and others, but set in a different universe!)
Plus solo pages for
The Classic Black Terror & Tim
and
The Classic Dare Devil

In addition, you can find Atomic Kommie Comics™ kool kollectibles emblazoned with the ORIGINAL 1940s classic cover art featuring these classic characters...
Amazing-Man
The Arrow
The Black Terror & Tim
The Blue Bolt
Captain Battle & Capt Battle Jr
DareDevil
(aka Death-Defying 'Devil
and Dynamic DareDevil)
The Green Mask & Domino
(in Solo Heroes)
PyroMan
Sub-Zero Man
U.S. Jones
(in Flag-Draped Heroes)
at
Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™!
Unfortunately, we've been unable to find solo cover appearances for either The Liberator or Vulcan.
If you know of any, e-mail us the issue numbers and we'll track 'em down and scan them!

And don't forget to buy the Project SuperPowers comics and collections including Black Terror, Death Defying 'Devil, Masquerade, and Project SuperPowers Volume 2!

ComicBookMovie.com...Not All I Hoped It Would Be!

I had previously plugged ComicBookMovie.com's fansites here.
It seemed like an ideal place for me to post historical articles and other goodies on a variety of subjects in a fannish way, including The Green Hornet, SuperHeroines, and Golden Age Heroes.
But, I'm afraid I have to change my mind.

I had posted several articles adapted from my blog entries for Green Hornet: Year One, Blue Bolt, Nature Boy, Air Man & RocketMan, and Friday Foster.
Audience response had been good, with a number of positive comments and "thumbs up"!
With great enthusiasm, I was preparing a number of pieces, going above the scope of what I had originally planned to do!

I logged on and was about to post the first of my Fantastic Femmes entries (Zoe Saldana!) on the Heroines fansite I created, when I noticed that my previous articles had...disappeared!
The site has some technical glitches, particularly in the "Articles" section. (I posted articles as "Features" because of their historical content, but they kept reclassifying as "News".) So I thought it was just a glitch that could be corrected, and the stories reloaded.

Not quite.

When I emailed the webmaster, I was told that the articles had been deleted...with no explanation or notification.
If I hadn't checked, I wouldn't have realized that they were gone!

I've communicated via e-mail with Jim Littler, who runs the site.
He sounds like a cool guy, doing his best under extremely trying circumstances, so this is in no way a put-down of him.
The problem, according to Jim, was that one of several new website editors deleted the articles without bothering to contact me with any questions he may have had.
Apparently, ComicBookMovies.com has no in-house log-on/tracking procedures for changes, nor any way to recover deleted material.
(Jim asked the editors and none of them has acknowledged doing the deletions.)

Sadly, I've decided that, until such matters can be corrected, I'll just post picture galleries into the three sites I have up, and won't be adding any more sites (I had planned several more for specific characters.)

While I will try to include info in the pic galleries, I could have done a lot more with the features, but I can't justify the time involved if things will just be deleted.

However, if you're comfortable with working within those parameters, feel free to join the community and participate.
It is fun, and a very responsive audience is there!

Tomorrow: back to business as usual with Design of the Week!

Son of SuperPowers Sunday!

For the next few Sundays, we're going to present the nifty updated designs of the Project SuperPowers characters by Alex Ross along with links to a couple of Squidoo pages of background info and links about the series and characters...
Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers
(featuring characters who've been cover-featured)
Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers Strikes Again!
(featuring the other characters)
Erik Larsen's the Next Issue Project & Savage Dragon
(featuring several of the same characters as Project SuperPowers and others, but set in a different universe!)

In addition, you can find Atomic Kommie Comics™ kool kollectibles emblazoned with the ORIGINAL 1940s classic cover art featuring these classic characters...
Amazing-Man
The Arrow
The Black Terror & Tim
The Blue Bolt
Captain Battle & Capt Battle Jr
DareDevil
(aka Death-Defying 'Devil
& Dynamic DareDevil)
The Green Mask & Domino
PyroMan
Sub-Zero Man
U.S. Jones
at
Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™!
Unfortunately, we've been unable to find solo cover appearances for either The Liberator or Vulcan.
If you know of any, e-mail us the issue numbers and we'll track 'em down and scan them!

And don't forget to buy the NEWEST Project SuperPowers comics including...
Black Terror,
Death Defying 'Devil,
Masquerade,
and Project SuperPowers "Volume 2",
as well as Savage Dragon!
ON SALE NOW!

Supermen! & Lost Heroes: the PERFECT present!

We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ are ecstatic that some of the "lost" classics of the Golden Age of Comics are being made available to a graphic novel-hungry audience in the magnificent new tome SUPERMEN! The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes! Fantagraphics has done absolutely spectacular work with previous 1930s-40s reprint albums and follows thru here equally well with a handsome volume worthy of any fan's library!)
We believe that Supermen! would make a great graduation or birthday gift for the graphic story aficionado in your life, especially when combined with one of the Golden Age-themed goodies from our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ collection, which features some of the exhibited heroes including...
Blue Bolt, The Claw, The Clock, DareDevil, The Face, The Flame, Marvelo, Silver Streak, SkyMan, and Sub Zero, in some cases, using the same cover art, on t-shirts, mugs, messenger bags, and other assorted items
Note: Marvelo & Sub Zero are in the Solo Heroes section, since we only have one cover for each character (at present)

As they'd say back in the 1940s: "Gosh, they'd make a swell present for a comics-loving guy or gal!"