Flag Day

 

Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Filbert's Frightful Future!"

After Mighty Thor began his run in Journey into Mystery as of #83......

...and before Norse mythology-related backup series like Tales of Asgard began, the one-shot shorts like this never-reprinted tale continued to fill the back of the book until the inventory was used up!

Don Heck penciled and inked this story from Marvel's Journey into Mystery #85 (1962).

Stan Lee plotted it, but experts are not sure if he scripted it.

Lee usually co-signed the later shorts he scripted, but only Heck's signature is here.

Just about everything Lee didn't script at this point was handled by his brother Larry Lieber.

(Stan's birth name is Stanley Leiber. He used "Stan Lee" on his comics work because he wanted his real name on the Great American Novel he planned to write.

When he finally realized he would be forever known for his comics and not any prose novel he might write, he legally changed his name to "Stan Lee".)

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Volume 1 

featuring the Thor stories that appeared in front of the never-reprinted tales we present!
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Space Hero Saturdays SPACEHAWK "and the Uncanny Underwater Tank!"

As we saw last time, SpaceHawk was reassigned by Uncle Sam himself to protect Earth......specifically, the United States of America, from harm...as you can tell from the strip's new sub-head!

Here's where the problem begins!

It's clear the underwater tank's crew are unfamiliar with rocket ships!

But the SpaceHawk strip was set in the future, where the entire solar system (including Earth) utilized advanced technology!
The previous story offered no indication that SpaceHawk was in the 1940s instead of his own time, but this tale from Novelty's Target Comics V2N3 (1941), showing an American fleet of battleships with smoke-spewing engines, and crewmen of an underwater tank who don't know about rockets, is a pretty clear indication our Space Hero is now in the "present day" (1940)!
BTW, the fact the underwater tank exists isn't proof the series is still in the future!
Pop culture (including comics, pulps, movies, and radio shows) showed both the Allies and Axis using advanced weaponry during WWII (as shown HERE and HERE)! 
In review the remaining SpaceHawk tales, we see our hero remains Earthbound for the remainder of the run, thus, he's no longer a "Space Hero"!.
So it is with a heavy heart that we'll be discontinuing his adventures after one final appearance two weeks from now!

But why are we waiting?

Be here in two weeks to see!

X

Space Hero Saturdays TARGET COMICS "SpaceHawk Answers Uncle Sam's Call!"

Pretty appropriate for the 4th of July weekend, eh?
...as the realities of pre-Pearl Harbor America interrupt Spacehawk's fictional far-future exploits!
The story's about to take a sharp turn for SpaceHawk as things get multiversal, kiddies!
Oddly, the 1861 image, showing the Civil War, doesn't show a cavalryman wearing either Union blue or Confederate gray...but green, which wasn't an official uniform color during that period in American history!

In 1940, with World War II underway, most Americans accepted it was only a matter of time until we were drawn into the war.

As the government began to scale up military preparations, the entertainment media started turning their characters towards dealing with the potential threats from across both oceans!
Comic book and pulp heroes began encountering thinly-disguised surrogates for German, Japanese, and Italian spies and soldiers.
In perhaps the best-known of these stories, Superman invaded Germany and Russia, grabbing Hitler and Stalin, and brought them to trial!
(And this was in 1940!)
As for this tale from Novelty Press' Target Comics V2N1 [13] (1941), though the writer is unknown, it may be editor David Adams.
Illustrator Ben Thompson likely was assigned the cover and short feature because he wasn't the artist on any of the series, but made an effort to deliberately match the various styles of the other artists on their respective characters.
SpaceHawk didn't begin his assignment immediately, as he was finishing up a two-part story on Neptune, as we showed HERE!
With the next issue, though, he jumped into the fray!
But, due to racial stereotypes common to World War II entertainment media, we can't show it to you on this blog!
You'll have to go HERE to see it!

 

Friday Fun NOT BRAND ECHH! "Original Origin of Charlie America!"

It's almost the 4th of July, so we thought we'd kick back and enjoy...

...this spoof of one of the most-retold origins of all ('cause we're really nice guys)!

Admittedly, this ain't exactly how they portrayed his origin in Captain America: the First Avenger.

But hey, this classic from Marvel's Not Brand Echh #3 (1967) is a lotta fun anyway!
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Not Brand Echh!

Tomorrow is Memorial Day

...but we have a kool Monday Madness post I didn't want to wait on!

So pay tribute to our defenders (active and retired) today and tomorrow!

BTW, this is a World War II-era flag!

That's why it has only 48 stars!
Alaska and Hawaii didn't become states until 1959!

Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Behind Locked Doors!"

Here's a never-reprinted Silver Age tale by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko...

...which backed up a Mighty Thor tale in Journey into Mystery!

Bonus: it features Russkies!

We're so patriotic, even our machines defend our country!

Today, since almost all our products are manufactured overseas, this story wouldn't make sense!

Penned by Stan Lee and rendered by Steve Ditko, this tale from the back of Marvel's Journey into Mystery #88 (1963) is truly a product of its' time!

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Thor Masterworks
Volume 1 
featuring the Thor story "Vengeance of Loki!" that appeared in front of this never-reprinted tale!

Captain America Isn't the ONLY Patriotic Super-Hero!

"I'm NOT Captain America, or Superman, you sieg-heiling swine!
I'm Super-American!"

Yes, you know about Captain America, but you might want to have a look at the other star-spangled heroes introduced during the Golden Age of comic books!

You did know Captain America was not the first superhero to wrap himself in the "colors that never run", didn't you?
The very first flag-wearing hero was Archie (then MLJ) Comics' The Shield who predated Cap by over a year!
Then, between 1940 and 1945, dozens of stars-and-stripes-wearing heroes (and heroines) flew, leaped, punched, kicked, and back-flipped thru the four-color newsprint world of comic books!
(Technically, Superman wore red, YELLOW, and blue, so he wasn't visually a flag-waving hero.
But Wonder Woman's Amazon garb was meant to show alliance with America's values and beliefs!)

In that virtuous vein, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ want to tell you about a plethora of patriotic pummelers at Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ in our Flag-Draped Heroes line of kool kollectibles!

We're talking about
American Crusader
American Eagle (now Burning Eagle)
Captain Battle & Captain Battle Jr
Captain Courageous
Captain V
The Conqueror
The Eagle & Buddy
The Flag
Fighting Yank
Major Victory
Man of War
Miss Victory
Stars & Stripes
Super-American
Unknown Soldier (now Soldier Unknown)
U.S. Jones
V-Man
Yank & Doodle
Yankee Doodle Jones & Johnny Reb

on t-shirts, mugs, messenger bags, and other goodies!

There's even a Flag-Draped Lost Heroes 12-Month Calendar!

So fly the flag (or The Flag himself) this 4th of July with Flag-Draped Heroes ONLY at Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™!

Safety Tip from the Fighting Yank on the 4th of July...

Here's the word, kids, from the Fighting Yank himself...

Art by Mort Meskin

...from the final issue of his 1940s series, Standard's Fighting Yank #29 (1949)

Art by Alex Schomburg

And here's the patriotic cover from that issue!

Celebrate Flag Day with Flag-Draped SuperHeroes!

Here's some Patriotic Super-Heroes...who wear the Red, White and Blue and Stars and Stripes!

Captain V

The Conqueror

Captain Courageous

Super-American

American Crusader

American Eagle

V-Man

U.S. Jones

The Flag

and, of course...

 Uncle Sam, himself!

Korean War Collectibles: As Timely Now as They Were in the 1950s!

With Kim Jong Un doing whatever psycho things he does (including setting off a-bombs) when he gets bored or desperate, rumors of war with North Korea are once more circulating thru the Free World.

So, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ thought now is the time to re-present art showing how pop culture (in particular, comic books), portrayed the Korean Police Action to the American public during the original hostilities back in the 1950s!

We're offering these rarely-seen classics of pop art to a modern audience on a number of kool kollectibles including t-shirts, mugs, magnets, and a 12-month calendar, all featuring a dozen classic 1950s comic covers, digitally-restored and remastered directly from the actual kick-Commie-butt books!

For those who wish to relive those days, or those who hope the end result this time will be the same as last time, this is the present for them!

Let Kim Jong Un BEWARE!

We did it before and we can do it AGAIN!

Happy 4th of July with the Living Legend of World War II!

Art by John Romita Sr from the 1976 Marvel Bicentennial Calendar!

A classic image featuring Captain America in front of the Declaration of Independence!
(Courtesy Rip Jagger's Dojo)

Art by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia from Captain America's Bicentennial Battles

 Captain America and Uncle Sam!