Celebrate D-Day...by Reading Comics/Graphic Novels!

It's the anniversary of D-Day, when the Allies, led by America, invaded Fortress Europa...

...and we at Atomic Kommie Comics had our "brother-in-arms" RetroBlog War: Past Present and Future post numerous graphic tales of that epic day, beginning with Marvel's Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos hitting the beach on D-Day!

Yes, it was reprinted in a Marvel Masterworks over a decade ago, but those are extremely-expensive and didn't sell very well, so most of you have never seen this tale from over a half century ago!

We gave equal time to Fury's DC counterpart, Sgt. Rock, presenting his never-reprinted D-Day adventure...which was also the final story illustrated by his co-creator Joe Kubert!

It was really crowded at Normandy on June 6th, 1944 since Blackhawk and his team were also there, so it's only fair we present their never-reprinted D-Day adventure...which also doubles as their previously-unrevealed origin...at Hero Histories!

The EC Comics crew, best known for sci-fi and horror, also did a story about D-Day...by three ex-military personnel as seen HERE!

And one of their crew, who served in the Merchant Marine before becoming a paratrooper, did this tale  about our paratroopers on D-Day...

We here at the "parent" RetroBlog joined in with both a brief three-pager...

...and a multi-part retelling courtesy of Gilberton, the publisher behind Classics Illustrated and World Around Us!

Enjoy, and if you have a friend or family member who's a D-Day veteran, tell him "Thank You" for us!

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Essential Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos

by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers and others

And

Showcase Presents Sgt Rock

by Robert Kanigher, Joe Kubert and others

Space Hero Saturdays WEIRD FANTASY "Judgement Day!"

Not every Space Hero uses a ray gun to save the day!

Sometimes, simply talking, the way Tarleton does, is the most effective way!

As Rod Serling, Gene Roddenberry, and Al Feldstein (who wrote this story) could tell you, one of the best aspects of science fiction is the opportunity to present commentary on social issues that you couldn't otherwise show due to censorship.
Most of this blog's audience is too young to know, first-hand, that the societal conditions shown on Cybrinia were, in fact, the way society in most of America was structured up to the mid-1960s.
(And there are aspects that continue to this day!)

This story originally-appeared in EC's Weird Fantasy #18 (1951) to mostly-positive feedback.

But that was pre-Comics Code!

When it was scheduled to be reprinted in Incredible Science-Fiction #33 (1956) it had to be submitted to the newly-created Comics Code Authority.

As explained in the superb book Tales from the Crypt: the Official Archives by Digby Diehl...

This really made ‘em go bananas in the Code czar’s office. 

“Judge [Charles] Murphy was off his nut. He was really out to get us”, recalls [EC editor Al] Feldstein. “I went in there with this story and Murphy says, “It can’t be a Black man”. 

But … but that’s the whole point of the story!” Feldstein sputtered.

When Murphy continued to insist that the Black man had to go, Feldstein put it on the line.

“Listen”, he told Murphy, “you’ve been riding us and making it impossible to put out anything at all because you guys just want us out of business”.

[Feldstein] reported the results of his audience with the czar to [EC publisher Bill] Gaines, who was furious [and] immediately picked up the phone and called Murphy.

“This is ridiculous!” he bellowed.

“I’m going to call a press conference on this. You have no grounds, no basis, to do this. I’ll sue you”.

Murphy made what he surely thought was a gracious concession.

“All right. Just take off the beads of sweat”.

At that, Gaines and Feldstein both went ballistic.

“Fuck you!” they shouted into the telephone in unison.

Murphy hung up on them, but the story ran in its original form.

It was the final color comic book EC Comics published.

MAD was converted into a b/w magazine, removing it from Comics Code approval, and reprints of EC's comics (including this story)...

...in Tales of the Incredible (1965). were published in standard paperback format by Ballantine Books also exempting them from the Code.
EC tried a line of four magazine-sized b/w titles known as "Picto-Fiction" with a more adult approach to storytelling, like pulp magazines, but with more illustrations.
Like MAD, their magazine format bypassed the Code's restrictions, but none of them got past the second issues.

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Tales from the Crypt

Official Archives

(which covers a lot of EC Comics history, not just the horror titles!)

Space Hero Saturdays MARVEL PREVIEW "Good Lord!"

A very kool tribute to EC's Weird Science and Weird Fantasy (& Weird Science-Fantasy)...

...which often combined sci-fi space hero adventure with horror elements!

There's an especially-ironic note to this EC tribute tale...the "Crusty Bunkers" inker ensemble, who like EC's "Fleagle Gang", who would help each other out with tight deadlines in the 1950s!
The Fleagles consisted of Al Williamson, Angelo Torres, Frank Frazetta, and Roy Krenkel with occasional assistance by Russ Heath, Wally Wood and Joe Orlando.

Their projects were often last-minute art "jams" with people doing anything from a figure or backgrounds in a panel to full pages at a shot.

The 1970s/80s equivalent was "The Crusty Bunkers", and consisted of artists based at Neal Adams' Continuity Associates art studio.

On this particular tale from the b/w magazine Marvel Preview #1 (1975), written by Marv Wolfman and penciled by Dave Cockrum, they were...(in alphabetical order) Neal Adams, Terry Austin, Pat Broderick, Russ Heath, and Joe Rubenstein.

And, like the Fleagles, they inked the story piecemeal, so you can see several different artists' styles on various pages, and even individual panels!

Penciler Dave Cockrum himself was at an artistic peak, having recently-finished his run on DC's Legion of Super-Heroes and was working on Marvel's then-recently-revived X-Men series that would make Marvel's mutants marketable again!
(Say that five times fast!)

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

Monday Madness / Holiday Reading Room MAD "Comic Strip Characters' Christmas Party"

This is one heckuva piece (scanned from the original art)...

...from EC's MAD Magazine #68 (1962), featuring most of the major comic strip characters of the day, almost of whom are (sob) no longer being published...now only available in reprints!

Here's the complete list: Mr. Dithers; Dennis Mitchell; Henry Mitchell; Moonbeam McSwine; Dick Tracy; Hi Flagston; Lois Flagston; Joe Palooka; Steve Roper; Smitty; Archie Andrews; Ponytail; Tarzan; Minnie Mouse; Donald Duck; Gran'ma; Pigpen; Smokey Stover; Lucy Van Pelt; Sweetpea; Schroeder; Popeye; Simon Templar: the Saint; Daddy Warbucks; Little Orphan Annie; Sandy; Moon Mullins; Charlie Brown; Blondie Bumstead; Dagwood Bumstead: Hans Katzenjammer; Fritz Katzenjammer; Steve Canyon; Terry Lee; The Little King; Henry; Ferd'nand; Fearless Fosdick; Li'l Abner; Prince Valiant; Diana Palmer; The Phantom; Mandrake the Magician; Lothar; Nancy; Jeff; Alley Oop; Felix the Cat; Mary Worth; B.C.; The Lone Ranger; Summer Smith Olsen; Snoopy; Albert Alligator; Pogo Possum; Junior Tracy; Mr. Magoo; Miss Peach; Mark Trail; Rip Kirby; Dondi; Gravel Gertie.
What could be more appropriate for the last Monday Madness entry before Christmas?

BTW, we all know illustrator, Wally Wood, whose ability to do dead-on renderings of everybody from realistic adventure characters to "big foot" cartoons was incredible!
But writer Gary Belkin is all but forgotten to most comics fans.
However, he's still fondly-remembered by tv comedy fans!

Belkin was an Emmy-winning writer for such series as Carol Burnett Show, Tonight Show (Johnny Carson), Car 54, Where Are You?, Blondie (1968 series based on the comic strip), Ceasar's Hour (Sid Ceasar), and Sesame Street!

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Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Friday Fun / CoronaVirus Comics MAD "Failing Health Magazine"

Now that Halloween is over, we return to making fun of a real-life horror...

...by showing those who over-react to the slightest medical problem (and some that don't really exist) in a never-reprinted feature from EC's MAD Magazine #159 (1973)!

Scripted by Tom Koch and illustrated by the legendary Jack Davis, this was the sort of spoof MAD did better than anybody else in the humor mag business!

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Absolutely MAD Magazine

50+ Years on DVD-Rom

The only place this story's been re-presented, albeit in digital low-res!

(Make sure you get the revised 2012 version for as complete a collection as possible)

CoronaVirus Comics PICTURE STORIES FROM SCIENCE "Battle Against Bacteria"

Here's an explanation of the human body's defenses that's so simple...

...even Don da Con could understand it!

(Plus it has pictures!)

Yes, I know bacteria aren't viruses, but the principles are the same...

Written by Morris Nelson Sachs and illustrated by Don Cameron, this never-reprinted short from EC's Picture Stories from Science #2 (1947) was produced when EC was Educational Comics, not the later horror, crime, and sci-fi oriented Entertaining Comics!

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MediKidz Explain Swine Flu

CoronaVirus Comics PICTURE STORIES FROM SCIENCE "Man's Unseen Foe: the Story of Germs"

Here's an EC Comics tale that isn't designed to scare you...

...because it's from the pre-horror days when "Entertaining Comics" was "Educational Comics"!

Who sez comics can't teach ya nuthin'?

Certainly not writer Morris Nelson Sachs nor artist Don Cameron in this never-reprinted story from EC's Picture Stories from Science #2 (1947)!

They've just visually-presented the difference between bacteria, germs, and viruses (such as CoronaVirus)!

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Top 10 as We Hit Bottom

What Global Warming, Nuclear War, Cyberwar, Pandemics, SuperVolcanoes, Asteroid Strikes, Out of Control AI, and Other Unpleasantness Can Do to Us

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder WEIRD FANTASY "Judgement Day"

This 1950s comics tale is considered the gold standard in utilizing a sci-fi motif for social commentary...

...rightfully-so, I must say!

Perhaps it's a tad slow-paced, even pedantic, by today's standards and the pay-off isn't as shocking as you might expect, but this oft-reprinted tale by writer Al Feldstein, artist Joe Orlando and colorist Marie Severin from EC's Weird Fantasy #18 (1953) was quite controversial when it first appeared.
Even when it was reprinted in the Comics Code-approved Incredible Science Fiction #33 (1956), it caused hassles.
The Code wanted Tarlton changed to a White guy!
Publisher Bill Gaines refused!
The Code tried to get EC to, at least, remove the beads of sweat from Tarlton's brow!
Bill Gaines, again, refused!
The Code refused to approve the comic.
Gaines said he didn't care.
As it was, "Judgement Day" was a reprint fill-in for a new story ("An Eye for an Eye") the Code refused to approve, and, since it was EC's last color comic ever, they'd print it without the Code stamp.
The Code gave in and approved the reprint without changes.

No less a personage than Ray Bradbury praised "Judgement Day" effusively in the final letter (among many...except one...that praised the tale) in Cosmic Correspondence...

Public praise from one of the Masters of Science Fiction/Fantasy!

Can't argue with that...

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Judgement Day and Other Stories
Illustrated by Joe Orlando

Fantagraphics' EC Comics Library