Baker Reading Room "Behind the Scenes of 'Half Man-Half What' "

Here's Tuesday's tale...

...but from the original Matt Baker/Al Williamson art!

Take particular note of the areas "whited out", probably at the request of the Comics Code Authority!

BTW, note that in the story, Dr Talbot's right side is altered, but on the cover, his left side is affected!

Let's look closely at that final panel...

Dr Talbot's right side has been totally-whited out.

Was it still metallic?

And his face originally wasn't happy!

Did the original ending show him at the beginning of the process, wondering if it would succeed, and leaving the door open for a sequel if it didn't?

Was the Comics Code Authority responsible for the odd changes?

We'll never know...
Penciler Matt Baker was one of the few Black comic book artists of the Golden and Silver Ages, and was easily the most prolific of them!
Though known for his "good girl" art, including the famous (and infamous) Phantom Girl stories, he handled every genre with ease, including horror, war, sci-fi, and romance!
Sadly, though, few of his stories featured Black characters...who were rare in comics until the mid-1960s!
You can read a short, but complete bio HERE!
He'll be our featured artist this month in the Baker Reading Room at Atomic Kommie Comics, spotlighting his amazing cross-genre versatility!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour
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Baker Reading Room ALARMING TALES "Half Man-Half What"

"Scientists Tampering with Things Man Should Not Meddle In!" is an old cliche...

Art by John Severin

...given a new look by a most unusual assortment of artists...at least four, along with the writer...

Art by the Bob Powell Studio

OK.

Let's identify the talents involved in this never-reprinted tale from Harvey's Alarming Tales #5 (1958)...

Cover art by John Severin

Script by Dick Wood.

Opening page (which was actually the lower part of the contents page) by the Bob Powell Studio.

Story pencils by Matt Baker (who's the reason this is included in Black History Month).

Story inks by Al Williamson.

Thursday:

the entire story (and cover) in original art form, with some revealing alterations and footnotes!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

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Monday NSFW Madness VOODOO "Corpses of the Jury" & TERROR TALES "A Jury of Skeletons"

On the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz...

...we're combining fictional horror with the real-life horrors of the Holocaust and concentration camps!

Warning: NSFW!

Memories of World War II and the Nuremberg Trials were still fresh in peoples' minds when this tale was published in 1953 in Ajax/Farrell's Voodoo #5.

There were stories aplenty of hidden Nazis being tracked down, but most involved them being tried and executed by Allied (American/British/French) law-enforcement, not spectral beings, and certainly not in so gruesome, yet poetic, fashion.

BTW, the identities of any of the Iger Studio creatives associated with this tale are, sadly, unknown!

Now, here's a b/w remake from the 1970s (using the same script), since the original couldn't be reprinted in color comics due to the Comics Code Authority!

South American artist Enrique Cristobal illustrated this redo from Eerie Publications' Terror Tales #V6N1 (1974), 21 years after the never-reprinted original's publication.

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Complete Maus

(Multiple Award-Winning Graphic Novel)

Friday Fun MODNIKS "Noel Talent: the Most Unkindest Cut"

By the early 1970s, Jack Davis was an established, successful, and busy, commercial artist...

...so when was this weird filler piece, published in 1970, created?

Written by Gary Poole and illustrated by Davis, this one-off tale appeared in the second (and final) issue of Gold Key's Modniks in 1970.

But here's the weird part...

The previous issue of this title appeared three years earlier...in 1967!

That's a loooonnng time between issues!

Plus, Davis had never done any work for Gold Key, and it had been years since Jack had done any work for Dell (which Gold Key split off from)!

And, Poole didn't start working in comics until the mid-1960s, after GK had split from Dell, so this wasn't inventory from that period!

Did Davis know Poole (who had been a radio/tv writer for years before coming to comics) and illustrated this as a favor for a friend entering the field?

We'll never know...

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Jack Davis

Drawing American Pop Culture: a Career Retrospective

Space Heroine Saturday BARBARELLA 2.2

When Last We Left Our Space Heroine...

With Captain Dildano and the rest of his crew dead, and their ship a derelict, Barbarella is stranded on Lython...

There are more plot elements and characters who ended up in the movie, though at the flick's beginning, rather than midway through the story, as they do here.

Some characters like "Klill, the horrid little Martian", didn't appear in the film.
The explanation of why the inhabitants are dressed in mid-19th Century Earth fashions was utilized a year later in the Classic Star Trek episode "Squire of Gothos".
At any rate, the "antique-looking" clothing and technology didn't make it into the movie's version of this sequence!

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Barbarella

2-Disc 4K Blu Ray

with Lots of Kool Extras

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Reading Room / Tales Twice Told SUSPENSE DETECTIVE "Short Step to Oblivion"

With the revelation that Fredric Wertham lied about comics' effects on kids...

...it seems appropriate to take a look at how his far-reaching deception altered pop culture as we know it!

BTW, most people (myself included) felt that Wertham exaggerated his claims, but altering/modifying evidence to validate his theories went over the line.

This pre-Comics Code tale appeared in Fawcett's Suspense Detective #1 (1952), illustrated by George Evans, but the writer is uncredited.

It seems to be a straightforward tale of mistaken identity and justice served with some violence mixed in, but nothing over-the-top, right?

Not according to the Comics Code Authority!

Be back Thursday to see how the Code altered this story, which they considered too violent!

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Ten-Cent Plague

The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

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