Friday Fun FROM HERE TO INSANITY "Century's Most Practical Inventions"

What could be a better way to end the week...

...than a never-reprinted Basil Wolverton story?

Charlton tried several times to match the success of EC's MAD, both as a color comic and a b/w magazine!

This particular book, From Here to Insanity V3N1 (1957), was comic-book sized, but tried to look like a b/w magazine with "spot color" elements!
The remaining seven issues in the series were the same b/w magazine format as MAD.

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Sincerest Form of Parody

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

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

...just before his stint on 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.

Monday Madness SPACE PATROL COMICS "Push Button Tyrant"

Ziff-Davis' Space Patrol comic featured stories based on the TV series...

...and unrelated one-shot tales, like this never-reprinted "Cold War of the Future" story from #1 (1952).

 

Boy, they were obsessed in the 1950s that the Commies would win the Cold War!
The writer and artist are officially unknown, but I see a great deal of Carmine Infantino's penciling style in a number of panels.

Coming Sunday...the ULTIMATE RUSSKIE SMASHER!

There's an interesting sub-genre of superheroes, known as the "inspired-bys".

These are characters who are inspired by other characters to take up the mask and seek justice.

Usually they're family members who take up the same identity as their predecessor (The Phantom, Black Canary, Silk Spectre of The Watchmen, The Black Hood, HourMan, etc.)

Sometimes, as in this case, they're inspired by an unrelated hero who just happened to be published by the same company!

The best-known example is DC Comics' WildCat, inspired by the Golden Age Green Lantern to become a crimefighter.

Magazine Enterprises' The Avenger had a similar origin.

When his brother is taken hostage by Communist spies who wanted the prototype StarJet aircraft, inventor Roger Wright is inspired by remembering stories of the Original Ghost Rider (also published by Magazine Enterprises) to take up a masked identity to rescue his captive sibling!

Proclaiming himself "an Avenger against the evils of Communism",  Roger dons a red costume in defiance (Communists were often described as "the Red Menace" because their flags were predominiantly red) and uses his StarJet to attempt a rescue.

Unfortunately, his brother, who had attempted to escape, was already dead! The Commies were dealing, of course, in bad faith!

Roger captured the spies, and declaring "No man can be complacent while such as you are bent on enslaving all Mankind", began a one-man war against Communists everywhere!

The war lasted only four bi-monthly issues from 1954-55.

The Avenger, like Nature Boy and several other mid-1950s heroes came along just before the audience was ready for the return of superheroes, who had all but disappeared from comics in 1949!

It wasn't until an updated version of The Flash appeared in Showcase #4 (a year after the last issue of The Avenger) that the Silver Age of Comics, and the resulting explosion of superhero books that continues to this day, got going!

Beginning today, we'll be re-presenting his Russkie-smashing saga at Hero Histories!

BTW, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have digitally-restored and remastered what we believe to be his first and best cover appearance by Golden Age great Bob Powell, on an assortment of pop-culture collectibles, including t-shirts, messenger bags, mugs and other goodies!

Show you believe in capitalism and buy an Classic Avenger goodie or two.

You don't want him thinking you're a Communist, do you? ;-)

Note: this character is in no way related to the earlier pulp/comic character The Avenger published by the same company as Doc Savage and The Shadow, and currently being revived by Dynsmite Publishing

Egg-citment for Easter!

Choose from...

...Bunny Family Painting Eggs...

...Bunny Daddy, Baby Duck...

or Ducky's 1st Easter!

Bibs, creepers, toddlers' and kids' t-shirts, sweatshirts, and adult goodies like maternitywear!

Order now, so you'll have it in time for Easter!

Monday Madness: How Repugs Think We Can Fight Russkies in the Ukraine!

I'd say they read these comics as kids...

#2 (1953) Art by Jim McLaughlin

...presuming they could actually read!

#3 (1953) Art by an unknown illustrator

Click on the links to our "brother" RetroBlog War: Past, Present & Future...and read about...

Atomic War

&

World War III

...which were two different 1950s series with two different plotlines and histories of the same potential future (the 1960s) from the same publisher!

What Should You Get for the Pop Culture Lover in Your Life on Valentine's Day?

Comics aren't just about spandex-clad heroes and heroines in battles of cosmic import!

They also tell intimate tales of heartbreak and true love, betrayal and redemption, and misery and sheer joy!
With that in mind, Valentine's Day is coming!
And what says "True Love" better than a kool, kitchy gift from True Love Comics Tales™? (Plus, it's both longer-lasting AND cheaper than a dozen roses!)
Choose from over 50 heart-rending designs in eleven categories including...

All You Need is Love...

Confessions

Dear Beatrice Fairfax 

(The ORIGINAL LonelyHearts Columnist)

Diaries and Letters

Lovers Lane
Mod Love in the 1960s

School of Love 

(or is that Love in School?)

Tender Love Stories of the 1970s
WarTime Love

Weddings

Western Love

on greeting cards, teddy bears, calendars, shirts/tops/intimate wear, diaries, and many other kool kollectibles!

A public service announcement for all lovers and would-be lovers from your BFFs at Atomic Kommie Comics™

The ORIGINAL "Miss LonelyHearts" Can Help YOU Get Your Message Across on Valentine's Day!

Comic books aren't just about spandex-clad heroes and heroines in battles of cosmic import!

They also tell intimate tales of heartbreak & joy, betrayal & redemption, and misery & true love.

God knows, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ can relate to those emotions...

On that note, here are kool, retro, romantic, Valentine's Day kollectibles featuring Beatrice Fairfax!

"Who?", you may ask!

Before Dear Abby, before Ann Landers, she was the original Miss Lonely Hearts, dispensing sage advice in her newspaper column long before the Internet was even a gleam in a techie's eye.

Let her help you express your true feelings on the Most Important of Days--Valentines Day with greeting cards, teddy bears, mugs, and even "naughty" undies!

And, if she can't assist your love-life, perhaps something from one of our other sections at True Love Comics Tales™ can help you get your point across!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder MYST "Passages"

One of the most popular video games of the 1990s was never played in an arcade...

...because it was conceived and designed, from the beginning, for use on then-new desktop home computers!

The puzzle-solving game was a phenomenon of the time, with the title (and sequels) becoming the best-selling computer game series until after The Sims debuted a decade later!

This never-told tale from Dark Horse's Myst #0 (1997) is the prequel to the comic book series which itself is a prequel to the events of the game...

Written by Chris Ulm and illustrated by Kirk Van Wormer, the tale expands on the backstory already presented in the game and associated novel, The Book of Atrius.

It lead into the mini-series Myst: The Book of the Black Ships...which was cancelled after only one issue due to creative differences between Dark Horse and the game's creators at Cyan, Inc.

But You'll See It Here...in March!

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MYST Reader

Omnibus of All Three Novels

In the Technological Dark Ages, Before Social Media...

...the main way people kept track of their love lives was thru Love Letters & Love Diaries!

In fact, they made up one of the most popular sub-categories of romance comics, with literally dozens of titillating titles!

Let our selection of the best of these these kitchy, campy (and very kool) classic comics covers help you express your true feelings on the Most Important of Days--Valentines Day on greeting cards, teddy bears, mugs, and even "naughty" undies!

And, if they can't assist your love-life, perhaps something from one of our other sections at True Love Comics Tales™ including...

All You Need is Love...

Beatrice Fairfax

Confessions

Lovers Lane

School of Love 

(or is that Love in School?)

Tender Love Stories of the 1970s

WarTime Love

Weddings

Western Love

will help get your point across on the Most Important of Days!

But order quickly, V-Day is less than a month away!

Best of Reading Room UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION "Behold the Man" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Art by Frank Brunner

Time traveler Karl Glogauer journeys to Palestine almost 2,000 years in the past to confirm the existence of Jesus Christ.

With his time machine damaged beyond repair and discovering he's gone a decade too far back, the now-stranded Glogauer encounters John the Baptist...

Published in the British sci-fi magazine New Worlds (which Moorcock himself edited) in 1966, the non-linear story running two parallel plot/timelines won the Nebula Award for "best novella".

Moorcock expanded it to novel length...

Art by Robert Foster

...and it is that currently OOP version which is best-known to American audiences and served as the basis of this never-reprinted adaptation in Marvel's Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #6 (1975) by writer Doug Moench and artist Alex Nino.

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Behold the Man
by Michael Moorcock