Monday Monster Madness MONSTERS TO LAUGH WITH "Best of #1"

Let's see how funny the legendary Stan Lee could be...

Now who could argue with that?

And so this issue's parade of classic monster pix ends with...

...but there's more next week, boy fiends and ghoul friends!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Order...

Monsters to Laugh With #1

(Not a reprint! The original magazine!)
Paid Link

Monday Monster Madness MONSTERS TO LAUGH WITH / MONSTERS UNLIMITED & MONSTER MADNESS

Besides comic books, Marvel made occasional forays into the b/w magazine market...

..with this seven-issue 1965-66 title being their longest-lasting Silver Age series!
(Note: with the second issue, Stan Lee's name was added to the cover as a selling point!)

Other mags had used the gimmick of captioning old movie and tv photos for a feature in a magazine...but never an entire magazine!

At this point, the book changed it's title...

...nobody's really sure why, but it seemed to work!

One of the koolest aspects was that Stan Lee wrote the captions...

...bringing the same kitchy vaudville-level humor that he used for decades in Marvel's humor comics!

I'm not sure if declining sales or Stan Lee's increasing workload caused the cancellation!
(Besides his writing/editing duties, he was now the public face of Marvel, giving interviews, making appearances on tv, even touring college campuses where Marvel Comics were the "in" thing!)
In 1973, when Marvel unleashed an entire line of b/w magazines, ranging from horror to kung fu to Planet of the Apes...

...they revived the concept, still written by Stan Lee!

...but this time, the book was the least-successful of the b/w line!
It was re-tooled into a Famous Monsters of Filmland/Castle of Frankenstein format, adding features about both old and current films and tv shows...

...but the alteration didn't help and the book was cancelled.

Marvel tried again, later that year with a Famous Monsters of Filmland/Castle of Frankenstein clone called Monsters of the Movies, which lasted for eight regular issues and an Annual.

Starting next Monday, through the rest of October, you'll be seeing the best (IMHO) of Monsters to Laugh With and Monsters Unlimited!

Don't Miss It!

Space Heroine Stories BARBARELLA 4.2 aka Conclusion!

 When Last We Left Our Heroine...

After surviving the Excessive Machine, Barbarella ends up in the bedroom of the Queen of Sogo.
The pair manage to escape and free the blind angel, Pygar.
However, unskilled in piloting the alien craft they are traveling in, Barbarella crashes the ship, and in the ensuing confusion, the Queen escapes...

This multi-part comic strip was turned into a graphic album, and then adapted into a feature film starring Jane Fonda in the title role.

Japanese poster

Barbarella wouldn't have a new adventure until 1974, when Wrath Of The Minute Eater was published in France.
Two more graphic novels, False Moon aka Moon Child (1977) and Storm Mirror (1982), have appeared since.
Dynamite Comics has been running new comics (not by Jean Claude Forrest), both several solo mini-series and a crossover with another space heroine, Dejah Thoris: Princess of Mars!
Nelvana Animation, proposed doing an animated series during the 1990s, but no network was willing to finance it.

Proposal art by Jean-Claude Forrest

Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Spy Kids, and Machete franchises) had a movie remake in development, but it died in 2009, and, to date, no one else seems interested...

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy

Barbarella

2-Disc 4K Blu Ray

with Lots of Kool Extras

Paid Link

Space Heroine Saturdays BARBARELLA 4.1

It's been a couple of months since we checked up on Barbarella...

...so let's begin the final chapter of her 1960s adventures!

Next Month:

The Fantastic Finale!

Plus some fun facts!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy

Barbarella

2-Disc 4K Blu Ray

with Lots of Kool Extras

Paid Link

The REAL Superman Returns...

The Buzz is BIG for James Gunn's new Superman movie...

....comparing it favorably to the two Richard Donner Superman films starring Christopher Reeve, returning the character to the wholesome embodiment of, well, "Truth, Justice, and the American Way"!

And in these cynical times, we certainly need that!

Bring that guy back!

I'm looking forward to it!

Here's a, dare I say, SuperCut of the best of the numerous trailers...

Go See It!

Space Heroine Saturdays BARBARELLA 3.2

When Last We Left Our Heroine...

Barbarella met a number of inhabitants of the labyrinth surrounding Lythion's capital city, Sogo, including Pygar the blind angel, and Earth scientist Durand.
With their help, Barbarella defeated the LeatherMen and is now en-route to the city itself.

While many elements were adapted into the feature film with minimal alteration, there's one startling difference...Durand, the main villain of the movie, is a good guy in the original comic strip!

More Barbarella soon.

Support Atomic Kommie Comics

Visit Amazon and Buy

Barbarella

2-Disc 4K Blu Ray

with Lots of Kool Extras

Paid Link

Space Hero Saturdays STAR TREK Did You Know the Very First Captain of the USS Enterprise...

...was Jesus Christ?

Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ in King of Kings (1961)

 Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike with Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock in Star Trek "The Cage" (1964)

Here's"six degrees of separation" trivia in only five degrees:

• John Huston, who later did a prequel movie, The Bible: In the Beginning, directed Moby Dick, using a screenplay adapted by legendary science fiction author Ray Bradbury from the Herman Melville novel.
• Ray Bradbury wrote the scripts for the voiceovers in King of Kings spoken by Orson Welles.
• Welles' The Shadow and Mercury Theatre radio series co-star Agnes Moorehead served as dialogue coach to Jeffrey Hunter (Jesus Christ) in King of Kings.
• Jeffrey Hunter later played Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Starship Enterprise in the pilot episode of Star Trek, "The Cage".
• Star Trek did an episode, "Bread and Circuses", about a planet where parallel evolution produced a society that resembled a 20th Century version of the Roman Empire, complete with it's own "Christians" and a Jesus Christ (who doesn't appear on-camera, but is mentioned in dialogue)!
  
  
  How's that for an "Easter Egg"?