Sunday, March 6, 2022
Egg-citment for Easter!
Sunday, February 6, 2022
What Should You Get for the Pop Culture Lover in Your Life on Valentine's Day?
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...
A public service announcement for all lovers and would-be lovers from your BFFs at Atomic Kommie Comics™
Sunday, January 30, 2022
The ORIGINAL "Miss LonelyHearts" Can Help YOU Get Your Message Across on Valentine's Day!
Sunday, January 23, 2022
In the Technological Dark Ages, Before Social Media...
Sunday, November 7, 2021
CYBER-SANTA: the Future of Cool Christmas Cards
They're included in our collection along with numerous comic book covers featuring Santa in the past, present, and future!
Monday, November 1, 2021
BARSOOM! (You call it "Mars")
He's 110 years old, but not only was he the basis for a recent big-budget sci-fi / fantasy film, his multi-volume high-adventure saga is the inspiration for almost every major space opera in print or on-screen since his debut in 1911*!
He's John Carter!
In the opening pages of "Under the Moons of Mars", the author reveals that Carter can't remember his childhood, having always been a man of about thirty years old.
Generations referred to him as "Uncle Jack," but he always lived to see all the members of the families grow old and die, while he remained young.
Kerry Conran had just finished the first all-CGI movie, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and wanted John Carter of Mars to be his next project!
(Hey, everybody else is already promoting Christmas gifts!)
For the remainder of November, we'll be presenting never-reprinted John Carter/Barsoom comic stories!
Don't miss them!
Sunday, October 31, 2021
SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS "Headless Horseman Rides Again" Cover
The creative process is an absolutely beautiful thing, eh?
Sunday, September 19, 2021
I Love Zombies! You Love Zombies! We ALL Love Zombies!
But it, as well as all the other films and tv series currently featuring zombies owe a debt to the visual depictions of the shambling undead from the horror pulps and comics of the Golden Age (1930s-1950s)!
Like video games today, those periodicals were deemed so harmful to the psyches of impressionable youths that the government held hearings about possibly banning them altogether!
The comics industry barely survived, but ended up toning down horror comics to a mere shadow of their blood-dripping selves, only recently, in the 1990s, returning in all their gruesome glory!
Even with modern technology, today's zombie flix are hard pressed to match these classic comics for visceral visual thrills.
So, it's with pardonable pride that Atomic Kommie Comics™ re-presents some of the creepiest and koolest covers from those bygone days, digitally-restored and remastered, on a line of collectibles including mugs, hoodies,and book/messenger bags!
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Best of Trump Reading Room: Donnie Deep-Sixes Democracy!
Visit Amazon and Order...
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Whether You Call Him "Kris Kringle" or "St Nick" or "Santa Claus", He's the Embodiment of the Christmas Spirit!
DID YOU KNOW...the image of Santa Claus, as we Americans know it, is based on the work of two artists over 70 years apart?
1) Thomas Nast, who illustrated the first published version of Clement Clark Moore's The Night Before Christmas in the 1860s
and
2) Haddon Sundblom, who took Nast's visual concepts, refined them, and used them to illustrate Coca-Cola's Christmas advertising campaigns in the 1930s
TRIVIA:
Both Nast and Sundblom are equally famous for their other artistic accomplishments...
Nast was primarily a political cartoonist, whose illustrations of New York's "Boss" Tweed were considered the main reason the corrupt politician was forced from office!
Sundblom also created the image of the Quaker Oats man, and was a noted pin-up girl artist! (In fact, his last published artwork was a pin up girl semi-dressed in a Santa outfit for Playboy's December, 1972 cover!
I'm not going to show it, but you can Google it with sundblom playboy...)
We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ offer a dozen different renderings of 'ol Kris Kringle which follow in the visual tradition of Nast & Sundblom, on a host of Cool Christmas™ collectibles ranging from tree ornaments to hot cocoa mugs to sweatshirts and hoodies for kids and adults!
While they range from paintings to comic book cover art (like the art at the top of this post), they all feature the "classic" image of Santa known to Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials!
So give your "special someone", whether they're a spouse, lover, friend, or relative, a warm feeling this Christmas with a kool kollectible featuring the personification of the Christmas Spirit--Santa Claus!
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Retro-Kool Christmas Collectibles!
It's time to reveal the coolest Christmas goodies ever, exclusively for your shopping pleasure! (Don't ya just love soft-sell?)
Ornaments, greeting cards, clothing, mugs, throw blankets, shopping bags, magnets, and many other items with stylish retro graphics that will make great under-the-tree gifts or stocking stuffers!
the very FIRST edition EVER and the 1951 movie starring Alastair Sim!
Bah, Humbug!
Sunday, September 6, 2020
A Halloween Treat (No Trick!)...Horror Comics of the 1950s!
Noted psychiatrist Dr Fredric Wertham SAID SO in his classic book Seduction of the Innocent!
I say...CELEBRATE the stuff your grandparents said would warp your parents' minds!
After all, they turned out OK, didn't they?
Didn't they?
Oh, well...
What could be more appropriate for Halloween than the frightening images of Horror Comics of the 1950s™ on tote bags, t-shirts, mini-buttons,and other ghoulish goodies?
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Give the Gift of the ORIGINAL "Homeland Security" for Christmas!
(Admittedly a mis-label, since Native Americans aren't from India, the name has stuck from 1492 to the Present.)
Remember, if it wasn't for the generosity of the local Indians, the Pilgrims wouldn't have survived their first year in the harsh New England environment!
Yet, in most of pop culture (including comics), Indians are "bad guys"!
Even in the 1950s, there were several attempts to show America's original inhabitants in a more favorable light.
Besides sidekicks to heroes like The Lone Ranger and Red Ryder, there were several Indian characters who were the "lead" heroes!
We've found two of the best, Green Arrowhead (who appeared in Indian Braves) and Red Arrow (who had his own title!) and incorporated them into our Western Comics Adventures™ line with four exciting covers!
Both characters fought for truth and justice against anyone, Indian or White, who threatened peace in the Old West!
So, if you're looking for a Western-themed Christmas gift for that special someone, consider the option of a Native American-oriented graphically-kool collectible!
Thursday, October 31, 2019
A Halloween THRILL!
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Secrets of Santa Claus!
1) Thomas Nast, who illustrated the first published version of Clement Clark Moore's The Night Before Christmas in the 1860s
TRIVIA:
Both Nast and Sundblom are equally famous for their other artistic accomplishments...
Nast was primarily a political cartoonist, whose illustrations of New York's "Boss" Tweed were considered the main reason the corrupt politician was forced from office!
Sundblom also created the image of the Quaker Oats man, and was a noted pin-up girl artist! (In fact, his last published artwork was a pin up girl semi-dressed in a Santa outfit for Playboy's December, 1972 cover!)
We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ offer a dozen different renderings of 'ol Kris Kringle which follow in the visual tradition of Nast and Sundblom, on a host of Cool Christmas™ collectibles ranging from tree ornaments to hot cocoa mugs to snugglies, sweatshirts and hoodies for kids and adults!
While they range from paintings to comic book cover art, they all feature the "classic" image of Santa known to Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials!
So give your "special someone", whether they're a spouse, lover, friend, or relative, a warm feeling this Christmas with a kool kollectible featuring the personification of the Christmas Spirit--Santa Claus!
Sunday, December 2, 2018
It's Almost Christmas, and the Elves are ON STRIKE!
(You'll note that the cover is dated January, 1939. But it was actually on sale in November, 1938! Publishers used to cover-date comics and pulps two to three months ahead of the actual on-sale date to keep the books on the stands for as long as possible!)
Thus do we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ present another retro-styled collectible for your Christmas gift-giving consideration, and offer you a bit of media history at the same time!
In this case, we proudly present one of our Christmas in the Comics line from our Cool Christmas collection: nine different digitally-remastered comic covers featuring classic characters celebrating Christmas, including The Green Lama, SuperSnipe, and Edison Bell: Boy Inventor, as well as two long-out-of-print versions of The Big Man, Santa, himself!
Available on a multitude of memorabilia including greeting cards, mugs, hoodies, and other goodies, these pop-art collectibles are NOT available in any brick-and-mortar stores, only on-line thru us!
And don't forget our Santa Claus--the Man Himself, A Christmas Carol starring Scrooge, the Hardly-Abominable SnowMan, and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians lines!
There's something for everyone under the tree at Atomic Kommie Comics™!
Sunday, November 25, 2018
SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS
They are BIG Green Men from Mars with an even BIGGER robot!
Before Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, they were the ingredients for the weirdest Christmas movie ever!
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was filmed in 1964 in that bastion of the cinema, Long Island (in an unused aircraft hangar).
Starring a host of tv and b-movie actors including handsome-but-stiff Leonard Hicks as the Martian Leader (and kids' father) Kimar, 60s villain/voiceover artist Vincent Beck (who did lots of work for Irwin Allen's sci-fi shows) as the film's mustache-twirling villain, Voldar, and John Call as a pretty damn convincing Santa Claus, the flick is touted as the debut of future talentless chantuse Pia Zadora as Martian Kid Girmar. Thankfully, she has rather limited screen time.
As an example of low-budget filmmaking, it's actually pretty effective.
Every penny (what few of them they had) is up on the screen.
They make good use of stock footage (from Dr. Strangelove, no less).
And the use of then-popular Wham-O Air Blaster toy guns as the Martian weapons was either a stroke of marketing genius or clever use of limited funds. Either way, sales of the guns shot thru the roof after the film hit the kiddie matinee circuit!
If you're between 3-9 years old, the flick's a lot of fun.
If you're between 10 and whatever the local drinking age is, it'll drive you nuts, especially the theme song!
If you're over the local drinking age, do so before watching! It's available on a host of public domain dvds as well as one of the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 snarkfests.
And you just knew we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ were going to include Santa Claus Conquers the Martians in our Cool Christmas collection on stuff including kid and adult sweatshirts and hoodies, mugs and coasters, tree ornaments, and greeting cards!
BTW: The image above is from the comic book tie-in, which you can read in three parts...
There was also a single of the theme, a spoken-word LP album of the movie's dialogue, and a novelization!
Now I can't get that damn theme our of my head..."Hoo-ray for Santy Claus..." AARRRGGGHHH!
An early Christmas gift from us to you:
The Mystery Science Theatre 3000 version of the film (don't tell Dr Forrester)...
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Design of the Week Redux: HALLOWEEN HOLE-IN-THE-HEAD!
With Halloween coming, it seems only appropriate that we go with scary themes for the next few weeks.
Kicking off our compilation of creepy collectibles is this ghoulishly-graphic image from one of the types of comic books that gave Dr Fredric Wertham such fits in the 1950s!
(Wertham was the psychiatrist who claimed that horror comics caused juvenile delinquency, resulting in the demise of the genre and the near-death of the comic book industry. Despite his heroic efforts, juvenile delinquency continued to flourish!)
Yeah, it's gruesome, but in a campy, cartoonish fashion!
Isn't that exactly what you're looking for in Halloween-wear?
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Design of the Week: HALLOWEEN HOLE-IN-THE-HEAD!
This week...
With Halloween coming, it seems only appropriate that we go with scary themes for the next few weeks.
Kicking off our compilation of creepy collectibles is this ghoulishly-graphic image from one of the types of comic books that gave Dr Fredric Wertham such fits in the 1950s!
(Wertham was the psychiatrist who claimed that horror comics caused juvenile delinquency, resulting in the demise of the genre and the near-death of the comic book industry. Despite his heroic efforts, juvenile delinquency continued to flourish!)
Yeah, it's gruesome, but in a campy, cartoonish fashion!
Isn't that exactly what you're looking for in Halloween-wear?