Showing posts with label fanboy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fanboy. Show all posts

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Haunted House Reading Room UNCANNY TALES "I was Locked in a...Haunted House!"

Here's a tale that was so kool...
...Stan Lee and the artists at Atlas/Marvel told it three times...with variations, of course!
Written by Stan Lee, illustrated by Joe Maneely, this story from Atlas' Uncanny Tales #7 (1953) featured comic book fanboys as the protaganists.
(Note they only read Atlas titles like MysticMarvel Tales, and Uncanny Tales!
None of that EC crud for these guys!)
Be here Tuesday when Stan Lee and another Silver Age great re-tell this tale!
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Saturday, January 11, 2020

Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "Abduction of Henry Twigg"

Here's a dream come true for all us fanboys and nerds (Yep, I'm one)...
...in this Joe Kubert-illustrated tale from Avon's Strange Worlds #8 (1952)...
Talk about politically-incorrect...from both sexes!
But it's still entertaining, and that's what counts, eh?
Note: we've run stories from two different series named "Strange Worlds".
This tale is from the first one, published by Avon Comics in the early 1950s.
By the late 1950s, Avon Publishing had abandoned comic books and concentrated on "traditional" publishing (hardcovers and paperbacks) in various genres (including sci-fi and horror).
Curiously, when comics became "hot' in the 1960s, Avon did not reprint their comic library in paperback format the way Ballantine Books did with EC ComicsSignet did with DC Comics, and Lancer did with Marvel.
Considering they owned the material and didn't have to pay to reprint it like all the other publishers did, it seems like a lost opportunity for Avon to make some quick cash.
Note: We've recently re-presented several tales from the other Strange Worlds, published by Atlas Comics in the late 1950s, literally right before they became Marvel in 1961!
It's easy to tell which is which, since the Atlas/Marvel version features work by creatives like Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Steve Ditko who would be the creative mainstays of the Marvel Age of Comics, while the Avon books have art by illustrators who would make their mark at DC, like Joe Kubert and John Forte!

Monday, April 23, 2018

Reading Room LEGEND OF "COMIC BOOK" McFIEND "Bella Button Caper"

You thought Golden Age characters SuperSnipe and "Comics" McCormick were fanboys?
They were mere dilettantes compared to this Bronze Age guy!
This origin story actually ran a year after the character's previous published appearance (shown HERE)!
Published in the final issue of DC's Plop! (#24 in 1976), neither story has ever been reprinted, but probably served as one of the inspirations for the 1990s DC character FanBoy!
"Bella Button" was based on NY Congresswoman Bella Abzug, famous for her kick-butt attitude.
Though Abzug never tried to do a "Seduction of the Innocent"-type purge of mass-market comics, she did influence government military comics in the 1970s, when she and fellow Congresscritters William Proxmire and Orrin Hatch urged PS Magazine to"tone down" the mag's female leads Connie and Bonnie to less-sexy imagery.
(PS Magazine was provided to tech/mechanical support personnel with info and updates about equipment in an easy-to-absorb comic format)
The duo had been played as cheesecake from the 1950s through the 1970s, targeting the male GIs.
But with an increase in female recruits for non-combat/support services after the Draft ended, the characters were redesigned more as "buddies" than "babes", since women were now also reading and utilizing the magazine!
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Monday, April 16, 2018

Reading Room "COMIC BOOK" McFIEND "Collector"

We've presented stories featuring fanboys SuperSnipe and "Comics" McCormick...
..now we present the too-brief run of DC's Bronze Age fanboy, starting with his second tale, which was published first!
Appearing in DC's b/w magazine, Amazing World of DC Comics #6 (1975), this piece was meant to show off cover-featured creator Joe Orlando's editorial skills.
(Exactly how, I have no idea!)
Written by Don Ewing and rendered by Dave Manak, this was the second in a series of fanboy misadventures featuring the character, who was meant to be a semi-regular feature in Plop!
Oddly enough, the book was still going strong at this point, and there was no room for this particular strip.
A year later, the book was being cancelled, and the first McFiend story (his origin) was used to fill out the final issue.
You'll see that one next Monday!
Trivia:
1) there were few comic shops in 1975, so this ongoing magazine was available by subscription from DC or at conventions.
They're HTF and expensive!
2) neither of the Comic Book McFiend tales have been reprinted since their initial appearances in 1975-76!
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Wednesday, March 14, 2018

RIP Stephen Hawking (1942-2018)

This is one of those posts I'd hoped I'd never have to write...
(yes, I know "hurry" is misspelled, but the point is valid!)
The greatest intellect of our era has departed this mortal coil.
But do not mourn him!
Celebrate his many achievements.
Enjoy the fact that not only was he a scientist, but a sci-fi fan, as well!
(Note: Hawking was the only person to play himself on any Star Trek TV show or movie!)
Consider how he redefined our universe and our place in it!

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Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Reading Room 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY "Inter-Galactica" Conclusion

...astronaut/fanboy/nerd Harvey Norton and an alien he calls "Princess" are fleeing from hostiles in her spacecraft...
We never learn who the aliens are or what becomes of the transformed Norton.
(The next story details a different astronaut "upgraded" to a cosmic fetus.)
Was this never-reprinted tale from Marvel's 2001: A Space Odyssey #6 (1977) by writer/artist Jack Kirby and inker Mike Royer a "love letter" to comics fans or a snide rip at them?
Considering readers (and many staffers at Marvel) were vocal in their unhappiness at Kirby's work after his return to the "House of Ideas" in 1975, it would be understandable if "The King" chose to vent a bit via his storytelling...

Monday, March 28, 2016

Reading Room 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY "Inter-Galactica" Part 1

...fanboy/nerd Harvey Norton, influenced by the Monolith, joins the space program and ends up on a research flight to Neptune, where he and his crewmates find an alien space capsule with a passenger inside.
Then a group of unfriendly aliens show up to claim it and the passenger...
Have they run out of space and time?
Tune in tomorrow to find out!
This never-reprinted tale from #6 of Marvel's 2001: A Space Odyssey sequel series took some strange turns I'm sure Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C Clarke never envisioned.
But ya gotta admit writer/penciler Jack Kirby and inker Mike Royer made it interesting...