See It NOW, Before It Goes to Broadway...and becomes a LOT MORE EXPENSIVE!

Legendary cartoon character Betty Boop has returned to pop culture prominence in a big way...

...a live-action musical!

(Hey, it worked for Little Orphan Annie!)

Photo: Mark Seliger

Starring gorgeous Broadway veteran Jasmine Amy Rogers as the embodiment of Betty,

...the show looks like an absolute hoot!

With award-winning creatives handling writing, directing, and production

(including effects like transitioning the cast and sets from black and white to color on stage), the production should appeal to old (who remember the cartoons) and young, who will be introed to the pop art icon!
If you're in the Chicago area now through Christmas Eve, see
Boop! the Musical!

November: the Month Betty Boop Returns...

Legendary cartoon character Betty Boop returns to pop culture prominence in a big way...

...a live-action musical!

(Hey, it worked for Little Orphan Annie!)

Photo: Mark Seliger

Starring Broadway veteran Jasmine Amy Rogers as the embodiment of Betty,

the show looks like an absolute hoot!

With award-winning creatives handling writing, directing, and production

(including effects like transitioning the cast and sets from black and white to color on stage), the production should appeal to old (who remember the cartoons) and young, who will be introed to the pop art icon!
As for us, we're turning our "sister" RetroBlog, Heroines, over to Betty for November, beginning tomorrow with Betty's first comic strip...which wasn't really her strip!

(Don't worry, we'll explain tomorrow!)
The week of November 13th, you'll see the appropriately-entitled 1990 one-shot comic...

by comics pros (and major Betty-philes) Leslie Carbaga, Joshua Quaqmire, and Milton Knight!
Finally, starting the day after Boop! the Musical's November 19th premiere, you'll see the first couple of months of Betty's actual comic strip!

Check Out
Heroines!
starting tomorrow
and, if you're in the Chicago area over Thanksgiving, see
Boop! the Musical!

Reading Room TEEN BEAM "Monkees Family Album"

As we mentioned earlier, the 2nd (and last) issue of DC's Teen Beat/Beam had comics/cartoons...

Here are Joe Orlando's renderings of TV's Monkees...

This wide shot was published sideways on one page.

We've swung it 90 degrees to its' proper orientation.

This is a two-page spread with a very rare (at the time) "gutter bleed"

There are a couple of unrelated single page strips, which you'll see tomorrow!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

MEOW!

My Groovy Life with Tiger Beat's Teen Idols!

YouTube Wednesday: CAPTAIN AMERICA!

The Living Legend of World War II is coming to movie screens on July 22nd...

But Cap's been popping up on movie screens since 1944!

Yeah, there's no Red Skull, or Bucky, or shield, or even wings on his cowl!

But DAMN, that's exciting!

Cap's next appearance was on TV, as part of the Marvel SuperHeroes Show...

...which used the actual Jack Kirby artwork (as well as Stan Lee's scripts) for the most-accurate adaptations EVER from comics to film/TV!

In the late 1970s, with successful live-action series featuring both the Hulk and Spider-Man running on CBS, Marvel tried pilots of other characters including Dr Strange and Captain America...

In fact, they tried Cap twice...

..but despite the presence of legendary baddie actor Christopher Lee, the show never went to series.

Cap continued to guest-star on other animated shows, but his next solo appearance was in 1990.

Don't remember it?

It's ok, no one else does, either!

See you at the movies...
 Check out the

Movie Serial Captain America Shirt
or these kool dvds and video cassettes from Amazon...

YouTube Wednesday: THE HUMAN TORCH

Continuing our weekly feature "YouTube Wednesday"...

 With the death of Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch II, let's take a look at several of his various media incarnations...
He first appeared in the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon...

BTW: the voice of Galactus is Ted Cassidy (Lurch from the The Addams Family tv series.) and The Silver Surfer is Vic Perrin (the Control Voice/narrator of the original Outer Limits.)


He also "appearared" on several lp albums including Golden Records "Amazing Spider-Man #1", "Fantastic Four #1" (Note: the most bizarre thing about these records is all the sound effects in the story were actually spoken with an echo effect.
So, when the cosmic rays hit the spacecraft, you hear an actor saying "RAK-TAK-TAK!"),

 and the Power Records book and record series including "The Way it Began"

His next "appearance" was audio-only when Bill Murray (SNL, GhostBusters, Groundhog Day, etc.) portrayed him on a 1975 13-episode radio series modeled after the dramatic shows of the 1930s-50s!

Fantastic Four: "Menace of the Mole Man" radio show mp3

or if you want "visuals" with your radio show...

Johnny did not appear in the 1978 FF animated series, replaced by Herbie the Robot (The Jar Jar Binks of FF history)..

Jack Kirby's original model sheet for H.E.R.B.I.E.

BTW, Johnny was replaced because The Human Torch was optioned for a live-action tv pilot which never got beyond Development Hell, not because the network thought kids would immolate themselves imitating him!

And finally, the trailer for the low-budget 1994 Roger Corman movie version starring Jay Underwood as Johnny! (The music is from Battle Beyond the Stars!)

BONUS: the ONE scene of Johnny in action as the Human Torch!

Interestingly, his animated form seems based on the Fleisher Brothers Superman from "The Mad Scientist" (the first cartoon)!

The Muhammad Cartoon You NEVER Saw!

Remember when this cartoon ran in your local newspaper's Sunday funnies on October 3rd?
Nope.
Because they DIDN'T!
Read the fascinating explanations by newspaper editors as to why they didn't run a cartoon that DOESN'T SHOW Muhammad HERE!
Ironically, you CAN order a huge color print for your wall by clicking HERE!

SyFy Silliness--"Rocket Robin Hood" Redux!

Among the new shows announced by SyFy...
Sherwood. In this "Robin Hood" story for the 23rd century, a young man of privilege teams up with a misfit spaceship crew to right the wrongs of his family.
Like this...?

It's an animated series from 1967 called Rocket Robin Hood, done by the many of the same creative personnel who did the first Spider-Man cartoon and The Marvel Super-Heroes anthology cartoon series.

The Canadian-produced series had limited distribution on US tv, but VHS and DVD releases have given it new life among both animation and Robin Hood aficionados!
Considering the "creators" Damian Kindler, Martin Wood, and Amanda Tapping of SyFy's new Sherwood are all Canadian (and, no doubt, saw RRR as kids), one can only hope they make their futuristic "re-imagining" of the Robin Hood legend different from the previous  futuristic re-imagining!
We'll see...

This Christmas, go "Back to the Past"!

Traditional values!
That's what we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ espouse!
And with our G-Rated Tykes, Toddlers & Tiny Tots (and Their Mommies)!™ section, we restore the classic animated cartoon/comic book style that Disney, Warner Brothers, the Fleischer Brothers, and others in the 30s, 40s, and 50s did so wonderfully, to a new line of kiddie clothes and accessories!
Funny animals (including SuperDuper Mouse, Cosmo Cat & SuperDuper Cat), clowns, cowboys, spacemen, and much more in the retro style your parents and grandparents wore when they were little!

Available on
Organic Clothing from American Apparel
Bibs
Onesies / Creepers / Infant BodySuits
Infant / Toddler T-shirts
Kids' T-Shirts
PLUS
Diaper Bags / SchoolBags
Shopping / Tote Bags
Nursery / Kids' BedRoom Clocks
Mugs
MousePads
Nursery / Kids' BedRoom Calendars
Refrigerator / BedRoom Magnets

Give your child something that SCREAMS "cute"!
You'll thank us when you show off the pix of them wearing our kidswear!

"...there are pictures for children who know how to look..."

--Fredric Wertham, M.D.
Seduction of the Innocent

...and it turns out, the whole controversy was a FAKE...from 2004!
Nothing EVER dies on the Internet, especially a lie!